Nov. 16-20th is American Education Week. The Gazette talked to these students and staff members on Monday, Nov. 16 as school was starting to get their thoughts on what education means to them.
Beckett Dickey
“It means that if I wanted to become a plumber, then I’ll need math, and this will help me learn what I need to do.”
Abby Fetter
“It’s important every single day and in every single way. Not only do you get to see friends every day, but you learn new things and see that the world is full of lots of possibilities.”
Landon Koster
“I want to become a mechanic. Sure, school can be hard sometimes, but it’s worth it.”
Zach Uhl
“Education gives you insight. What jobs are available for you, what your interests are and most importantly finding out what you’re good at.”
Michelle Pliska
“Education is the most important thing. It is the tool that gets you through life.”
Lauren Stoterau
“Education lets you do anything, it helps these students to do whatever they want in their lives as they grow.”
Make a Difference Day! Henry G Fix American Legion Auxiliary Unit 23 honored our Veterans and spouses November 5, 2020.
Due to the pandemic having affected many in our Unit and Community, we as a unit decided to MAKE A DIFFERENCE for them.
Care Baskets were made and distributed to eight Nursing Home Residents and thirty-three community/unit members.
Auxiliary members donated fruit cups, fruits, 2021 calendars, pudding cups, baked goods, snack bars, chips, emery boards, hand sanitizers, tea, cheese and crackers, fruit snacks, assorted prepackaged cookies, and fruit bars. All items not used to fill baskets will be used for the Back-Pack Program at the Treasure Chest
Pictured above are unit members - Sue Jensen, Ethel Kurtz, Cheryl Lyngen, Kathy Evenson, Liz Bennett, Judy Hanson, Denise Schmidt. Not pictured -DaNann Kistler, Rhonda Kirton and Wini Iverson.
By Halle Ramsey, business development specialist, Center for Rural Affairs
The COVID-19 pandemic has caused many events to be cancelled this year, but it does not take away the opportunity to shop local during the holiday season. Communities across the country have found innovative ways to keep both business owners and customers safe.
For example, the Valley County Chamber in Ord, Nebraska, made their annual Snowball Drop a virtual event. Starting in early November, the Chamber posted questions about local businesses on their social media. Every community member who responds to a post is entered to win prizes from local businesses on Nov. 28, which is Small Business Saturday.
In 2019, Americans spent nearly $20 billion at local businesses on Small Business Saturday, according to the Small Business Saturday insights survey. Events like these are crucial for our local businesses, especially in the midst of recent surges in COVID-19 cases. The impacts of the pandemic have been detrimental for many of our main street businesses which make initiatives like Small Business Saturday even more timely.
Almost two-thirds of small businesses have a website, according to the Small Business Administration. As you search for the perfect gifts, intentionally seek options local businesses have for online shopping. If that is not available, you can directly call the business owner. Chances are you or someone you know already have their number.
While shopping may look different than in years past, there are still a multitude of ways we can shop safely and locally this holiday season.
Established in 1973, the Center for Rural Affairs is a private, non-profit organization working to strengthen small businesses, family farms and ranches, and rural communities through action oriented programs addressing social, economic, and environmental issues.
The Garretson School Board met in regular session on Nov. 9, 2020. This meeting, the main topics of discussion were a vote to return COVID-19 testing kits to the Department of Health, approval of instituting a girls wrestling program, an update on how the pandemic is affecting our school and discussions on winter sports activities.
Wrestling will still happen this year, with the addition of a girls wrestling program and several precautions to help reduce the spread of the virus. (file photo)
The board first approved the regular and consent agendas, including the school’s current financial statements and assessments.
Having no old business, the board proceeded directly to new business. First the board acknowledged that Nov. 16-20th was American Education Week, and they took a moment to recognize the importance of education in our community.
On the heels of this, they discussed the Associated School Boards of South Dakota Delegate Assembly, which will be held virtually this year. Many things about this year’s legislative session would not likely be business as usual. Board President Shannon Nordstrom was reappointed as the board’s ASBSD Delegate. Nordstrom reviewed and discuss with the board ASBSD standing positions and drafted legislative resolutions.
From that discussion, the following things should be noted. The ASBSD and our school supports shifting a state funding model of South Dakota Schools to a 2-year, rather than a 1-year model, so that school business managers and boards can have some continuity in budgetary planning. Their jobs are made more difficult when every year they have to wonder what the state legislature is going to do. Also, they want the state legislature and the Governor to follow the law, and increase school funding annually by either two percent or the rate of inflation, whichever is lower. There is reason to be concerned about this, as the state has ignored this law in the past. They also firmly expressed the stance that unfunded mandates not be supported in any way.
Superintendent Guy Johnson also talked about the mandatory testing this school year, and how it might not be feasible at all this year, especially if the school has to switch to an online learning model. They also talked about support for a measure that included a proviso to state law, that if the state ignores the annual budgetary requirement rule, that the schools would not have to comply with mandatory testing requirement.
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While a majority of South Dakotans continue to approve of the overall performance of Gov. Kristi Noem, a new poll shows that women are far less supportive than men of the governor, her handling of health-care issues and the state’s response to the coronavirus pandemic.
The poll results come at a time when Noem has become nationally known for her strong resistance to calls by health officials to control the virus by preventing large gatherings, reducing travel, restricting commerce, limiting close personal interaction and urging or requiring the wearing of masks.
In public appearances in recent months, Noem has openly flouted state Department of Health recommendations to socially distance and wear masks to reduce the spread of the deadly virus, and has regularly promoted her hands-off approach to the pandemic in social media posts and advertising campaigns in South Dakota and beyond.
The poll showed that women — who research has shown are enduring a greater financial and emotional burden than men during the pandemic — are far less supportive of Noem’s actions and approaches. Noem, a Republican, is the state’s first female governor.
The poll, sponsored by South Dakota News Watch and the Chiesman Center for Democracy at the University of South Dakota, showed that among all respondents, 53.8% strongly or somewhat approved of Noem’s overall performance in 2020, while 40.9% strongly or somewhat disapproved.
But while 63.8% of men strongly or somewhat supported Noem’s overall performance, only 44.0% of women indicated that level of support. Likewise, while only 31.6% of men strongly or somewhat disapproved of Noem’s overall performance this year, 49.9% of women strongly or somewhat disapproved of her performance.
Women were also less confident than men that Noem has communicated a clear plan of action on the pandemic, and significantly less confident than men that Noem has successfully managed health-care challenges in the state. While 65.2% of men said they felt strongly or somewhat that Noem “cares about the safety and health of my community,” only 45.0% of women felt strongly or somewhat the same way.
Women also felt less confidence in Noem’s ability to manage economic challenges, with 49.2% of women strongly or somewhat agreeing Noem was managing the economy well, compared with 68.0% of men in approval.
The largest gender gap present in the News Watch/Chiesman poll was on whether respondents felt the state should be doing more to handle the pandemic, with 40.1% of men feeling strongly or somewhat in agreement that more needs to be done, compared with 60.5% of women feeling more should be done by the state.
Political science professors interviewed by News Watch have a number of theories on why Noem is struggling to gain support of women. Augustana University professor Emily Wanless noted that Noem has never done well with women during elections and exhibits a leadership style that can appear masculine, potentially turning some women away. University of South Dakota professor Julia Hellwege offered that Noem has perhaps not shown enough empathy for people, especially women, who have been heavily affected by COVID-19.
David Wiltse, a political science professor at South Dakota State University, said the poll results show that Noem has lost some constituent support during the pandemic.
“We’re seeing some real softness among Independents, and in some important regards, there is a gender gap where women just aren’t as supportive of her as men are,” said Wiltse, who recently conducted his own poll on Noem’s performance.
In interviews with News Watch, a handful of South Dakota women had mixed reviews of the governor’s performance and handling of the pandemic, particularly her decisions to urge personal responsibility over mandates and not to require businesses to shut down.
“Kristi Noem has made it quite obvious that our state is made up of a lot of small businesses and is allowing us to stay open and earn an income and try to stay safe as adults, and I think she’s done a great job on that,” said Eileen Rossow, 72, a business owner in the Black Hills who is a registered Independent. “She’s letting me make my own decisions.”
But Marcia Langdeau, a 65-year-old Democrat from Fort Pierre, said she’s unsatisfied with Noem’s performance and handling of the pandemic.
“I don’t think she’s doing enough,” Langdeau said. “The virus is totally out of control in the Dakotas right now. There should have been a quarantine like there was in other states.”
Noem, Langdeau said, has taken too many cues about handling COVID-19 from President Donald Trump, who has also eschewed masks and urged opening of schools and the national economy.
“She needs to have her own opinion,” Langdeau said. “I thought the governor was supposed to create an agenda to make the state better; I don’t think she’s doing that.”
The telephone poll conducted by Pulse Research of Oregon included more than 13,000 calls and resulted in 600 completed surveys. It was conducted from Oct. 22-28; respondents were overwhelmingly registered voters in South Dakota, with a fairly even mix of respondents based on age, gender and income levels. The margin of error is 4%.
The poll was conducted at a time when COVID-19 cases, hospitalizations and deaths were rising in South Dakota, and since then, infections and deaths have continued to climb at a record pace. As of Nov. 11, the state had 55,705 total positive cases, with more than 600 current hospitalizations and 567 overall deaths; 62 of 66 counties had “substantial community spread” and daily new cases topped 1,200, according to the Department of Health.
Respondents were contacted at a time before the Nov. 3 election when Noem was frequently traveling out of state to campaign for Trump. Noem has since continued her vocal support for Trump, using social media recently to question the results of the election in which former Vice President Joe Biden collected enough electoral votes to win the presidency. Noem even suggested the election may have been “rigged.”
News Watch sent an email with many of the poll results and a list of questions to Noem’s office and received this response from Ian Fury, the governor’s communications director. “Governor Noem appreciates the trust of South Dakotans, and she’ll continue to trust them to make the best decisions for themselves and their loved ones.”
Gender roles, stereotypes show up in poll results
Recent research by the United Nations and other institutions has shown that women globally are bearing a disproportionate burden of the pandemic in comparison with men, both emotionally and economically.
Women make up 67% of the global health-care workforce and about 80% of nurses are women, giving many an up-close view of the illness and death caused by the pandemic. Up to four times more women than men are primary family caregivers, again placing them on the front lines of the health outcomes caused by the virus.
Women have been more affected than men when it comes to losing jobs or work hours during the pandemic. Those and other factors have created a difference in how men and women view the pandemic, the risks of COVID-19 and what responses government should take, experts said.
Hellwege, who studies the role of women in government and society at USD, said there are several likely reasons why women in the News Watch/Chiesman poll showed less support than men for Noem.
Since the pandemic began, Noem has espoused and also boasted about her approach to the coronavirus, which has been to allow businesses and schools to remain open, to promote large gatherings such as the Mount Rushmore fireworks and the Sturgis motorcycle rally, and to recommend the wearing of masks but not require it while also casting doubt on the efficacy of masks in protecting wearers from the virus.
Hellwege, who serves on the Vermillion City Council, said men are more likely to support a leader who doesn’t impose rules on them, such as requiring masks to protect themselves or others.
“They see masks as a sign of weakness, or not cool, or shameful,” Hellwege said. “For many men, taking precautions against a virus would somehow mean they are weaker than the virus. Men seem to have this idea that it’s not going to happen to them, and that overconfidence leads to them being less careful.”
But the gender gap in support of Noem is also certainly tied to the greater negative impacts the pandemic has had on the lives of many women and a sense among women that the governor has not been proactive enough in pushing precautions or restrictions to limit the spread of the virus.
Women, she said, are feeling increased impacts of the pandemic. Women are more likely to work not only in health-care fields but also in service, restaurant or retail positions that have been subject to layoffs or elimination during the pandemic.
Also, with more women serving as caretakers of children and the elderly, some are more sensitive to whether leaders are doing enough to prevent COVID-19 cases.
“Women have been much more burdened financially and emotionally with care responsibilities than men,” Hellwege said. “It’s a gendered social phenomenon that women are essentially forced, either socially or systematically, to take care of young children when day cares are closed or home-schooling is required.”
Hellewege, 34, who has no political-party affiliation, recently had her second child and said it is likely that the traditional mothering role played by women has made them more supportive of virus precautions and thereby less supportive of Noem.
“I would bet that if you asked these questions and further differentiated between women who are mothers and those without children, you’d see an even stronger response in favor of more precautions from women who are mothers,” Hellwege said.
Wanless, an associate professor in the Government and International Affairs Department at Augustana University in Sioux Falls, said she was not surprised to see poll results showing that Noem had less support among women than men.
Wanless said Noem has historically performed better with male voters, and the COVID-19 crisis may be exacerbating that difference.
“When I saw the gender gap, I saw that this is an issue that Democrats are never going to be happy with Kristi Noem and women are more likely to be Democrats, and they may judge someone harsher on a response that basically is seen as not nurturing,” Wanless said. “Her response is very much in line with a conservative approach to handling the pandemic, which is less about lifting a community up and more about personal responsibility.”
Noem, Wanless said, is in a tough spot as a woman in a leadership position during a crisis, especially with her politically conservative views. Her approach could be seen as traditionally masculine, which might cost her some support among women in South Dakota, Wanless said.
“If you think about her response to the coronavirus, it’s a very conservative argument — personal responsibility and taking care of ourselves,” Wanless said. “That runs counter to these feminine stereotypes where we believe women should have a communal, sensitive, caring outlook.”
As Noem traveled the country campaigning for Trump, Wanless said some South Dakotans may view her as trying to advance her own political career, which may attract criticism from her home-state constituency. “Women politicians are often penalized if appearing to be power-seeking, much more so than men,” Wanless said. “This is a role that requires her to be commanding, which might be associated with more masculine traits and which we might forgive of men but not women.”
Wanless added that Noem may be losing some support due to her frequent out-of-state travel at a time when the coronavirus is peaking in South Dakota.
“I don’t think the timing is opportune to not be present in your state,” she said. “It’s never played well with voters here when you become too focused on the national political scene and forget about your South Dakota roots.”
Since the election, Noem has been seen back in South Dakota, in Pierre but also visiting some communities including Buffalo, Bison, Belle Fourche, Groton, Aberdeen and Parkston.
Partisanship part of the equation
Wiltse, who teaches in the School of American and Global Studies at SDSU, said the recent poll he conducted largely dovetailed with results from the News Watch/Chiesman poll. In the SDSU poll, Noem was the most popular among all statewide South Dakota elected officials, but he did see less support among women.
Wiltse said he understands why a majority of respondents agreed with the statement that the governor had effectively communicated a clear plan of action on the virus, even as a wider majority responded that South Dakota overall should be doing more to handle the virus.
“You’re giving people a partisan cue, just by mentioning her name, and that’s going to bring out people’s partisan inclinations that are strong in South Dakota,” Wiltse said. “The second question is more neutral, and you’re depersonalizing it and removing the partisan influence.”
South Dakota remains a state with a wide majority of GOP voters and is especially dominated by Republicans in elected offices. As of November, the state had about 278,000 registered Republicans (48% of all registered voters), about 159,000 registered Democrats (27%) and roughly 142,000 Independents, Libertarians or no-party affiliation voters (24%). But results from the Nov. 3 election in partisan races in South Dakota showed a near-complete GOP sweep in statewide and legislative races.
Due to the strong Republican leanings, Wiltse said, the poll results showing a wider majority of respondents saying the state, rather than just Noem, should be doing more to handle the coronavirus is a more valuable representation of how South Dakotans feel about the overall pandemic response.
While both polls showed a majority of respondents are supportive of Noem’s performance as governor, Wiltse noted that the results from both polls indicate some “softness” in overall approval and support of the pandemic response by Noem, who won the governor’s race in 2018 by just 3.4 points over Democrat Billie Sutton.
The SDSU poll, he said, showed that about 20% of Republican respondents were not satisfied or were neutral on the governor’s handling of the pandemic.
“It’s not breaking down straight on partisan lines,” Wiltse said. “Democrats are very unified in their opposition to the governor’s handling of the virus, but there is some serious dissent within the Republican Party.”
The new statewide poll shows that women are less supportive than men when it comes to almost every aspect of the performance of Gov. Kristi Noem, a Republican who is the state’s first female governor.
The poll of 600 residents was conducted from Oct. 22-28 and sponsored by South Dakota News Watch and the Chiesman Center for Democracy at the University of South Dakota.
To learn more about what women are thinking and feeling about the governor and her actions, News Watch interviewed a few South Dakota women who were provided some of the News Watch/Chiesman poll results in advance. Here are some of their responses.
Mixed feelings from a licensed counselor
Nicole Heenan, 38, is a mental-health therapist who owns the Dharma Wellness Institute in Rapid City.
In emails with News Watch, Heenan wrote that she supports Noem’s decision not to lock down commerce in the state while also providing financial support to businesses and individuals hurt by the pandemic.
“It’s important for me to say as a small business owner, I’ve truly appreciated Noem’s response to the pandemic,” said Heenan, who is still taking on new clients and hosting virtual counseling sessions. “Her response, undoubtedly, saved my business.”
Yet as a licensed counselor and the mother of 18-year-old twins, Heenan is less supportive of Noem’s hands-off response to instituting precautions against the pandemic, including her reluctance to push the widespread use of masks.
Heenan, a fifth-generation South Dakotan and registered Independent who ran unsuccessfully for the Pennington County Commission in 2018, said she also feels that Noem has used the pandemic as a platform to advance her political career and push her own re-election. Heenan said Noem appears unwilling to implement COVID-19 restrictions because it could hurt her politically.
“My criticism comes with the belief that Noem’s current efforts are more about getting re-elected than taking care of her at-risk constituents,” wrote Heenan, who is the South Dakota president of the American Association of University Women. “It’s in my humble opinion that she’s too afraid to impose a mask mandate, to mitigate additional stress to our state, for fear of losing power.”
Heenan said Noem has not expressed much sympathy or empathy over the human costs of the pandemic, including for those who have died or been sickened and their families, or for the health-care workers who are enduring the trauma up close on a daily basis.
“It’s not too late to implement a mask mandate now; it would save lives and reduce stress on our healthcare system and its workers,” Heenan said. “We’re seeing communities and relationships break down because we have a leader who’s afraid to lead and to enforce the use of masks. If Noem would use that power, county and municipal governments could redirect their energy into other issues; families and social communities could put the arguments aside and start to heal and rebuild. We elect leaders to make tough choices and she’s failing to do so.”
Inn operator appreciates response
Eileen Rossow, 72, owns Peregrine Pointe Bed and Breakfast southwest of Rapid City and supports Noem’s approach of not imposing restrictions on businesses or mandating their closure during the pandemic.
Rossow shuttered her lodge from March to July but has rebounded with a strong summer season at the small inn that has five guest suites on 15 acres of Black Hills woodlands. Rossow regularly wears a mask and has taken a wide range of steps, including promoting social distancing, to keep guests safe from the coronavirus.
Her website describes virus precautions that include bleaching bedding and towels after use, sanitizing rooms with UVC lights and providing hand sanitizer in public areas.
Still, Rossow is in favor of Noem’s statements supporting the rights of South Dakotans, business owners and visitors to decide for themselves what level of precautions to take. She does not think mask mandates by government are effective in slowing the virus.
“We’re all adults, we take the responsibility for our own lives and if you do stupid things and get the virus, that’s on you,” she said. “It’s not on somebody else or on the governor or on a mayor to tell you, and to hold government officials responsible for a virus I think it basically stupid.”
Rossow, a registered Independent, called Noem “a typical independent South Dakotan” who should not be held responsible for solving health-care challenges facing the state.
“I don’t know what the governor can do to manage health-care challenges; that’s up to the general public and the health-care community,” Rossow said.
Rossow, who does not have children, said she understands that some women might not support Noem and her hands-off approach to the pandemic because women are more likely to be responsible for the health and education of their children during a time of great tumult.
After several months of speaking with her guests, many from out of state, Rossow said Noem has widespread support outside of South Dakota, and those discussions led her to offer another reason why men may support the governor more than women.
“I have to tell you, and you’re probably going to dismiss this, but maybe it’s because she’s pretty. Maybe that’s why women aren’t as supportive,” Rossow said with a chuckle. “And the guys have always said she’s not too bad to look at either.”
Coffee shop owner’s hope has faded
Noem’s refusal to wear a mask and her questioning of the efficacy of masks are examples of how the governor has put her own views and political aspirations above the health of the people of South Dakota, according to Leslie Gerrish, a parent of two and owner of The Bean coffee shop in Vermillion.
Gerrish, a registered Democrat, said she at first supported Noem’s efforts to contain and combat the virus, including her recommendation to close schools in April and her initial support for limiting gatherings, travel and commerce. “I found her calming and reasonable and comforting at the beginning,” said Gerrish, 40.
But in the months since, Gerrish said she has been turned off by Noem’s cavalier attitude toward the virus and the death and devastation it is causing in South Dakota.
“I disapprove of her performance and I strongly disagree that she cares about the health and safety of my community,” said Gerrish. “I don’t feel she’s taking everything about the virus seriously; it feels like it’s second or even third on her priority list.”
As a mother and business owner, Gerrish said she has been put off by Noem’s frequent out-of-state travel and her recent ad campaign that promoted “Less COVID, more hunting” and which showed the governor shooting a pheasant. The governor’s ads also promote the sale of T-shirts, with proceeds going to her re-election campaign account.
“People have lost people, and are hurting financially, and she’s out hunting and making T-shirts,” Gerrish said. “Whether you want to keep the economy going or not, there should be no jokes right now and nothing flippant.”
Gerrish said she and other women she knows are suffering deeply during the pandemic, both emotionally and economically.
Gerrish has lost significant revenues at her store, which now serves only carry-out, uses online ordering and requires masks of all employees and patrons. Her side business as a contract event planner has dried up completely. She has also taken on more of the stress of caring for her children during a very stressful period.
“Women’s day-to-day life has changed so much more than men, and I’m not talking about getting the virus,” she said. “My husband’s life flipped upside down but mine flipped upside down a million times more.”
Gerrish said Noem has seemed tone-deaf in her public statements and frequent appearances on conservative national TV outlets, where she boasts that South Dakota is open for business, relocations and vacationing, and trumpets her hands-off approach to the virus at a time South Dakota cases and deaths are spiking.
“I want her to follow the science in this, but also just be present and show us she cares,” Gerrish said. “Show me you care; say the words, ‘I care,’ and talk about the people who are suffering. This is a health emergency and she’s done nothing to say that we should be sticking together, that we can be safe together.”
Republican senator supports mask use
State Sen. Deb Soholt, R-Sioux Falls, said she generally supports the efforts of Noem and her administration in trying to handle the virus.
“I think that essentially she and her team have been working very hard to try to bring us through this pandemic and I really respect the work they have done,” Soholt said. “I do know our governor is working very closely with our health systems.”
But as a nurse and mother, Soholt, 64, said she believes masks help prevent the spread of the coronavirus and disagrees with Noem’s hesitancy to wear a mask, urge or mandate their usage and promote their effectiveness.
Soholt said she had recently visited two other states with Republican governors — Arizona and Utah — where mask use was supported and she saw greater use in public. As a result, she felt safer in moving about and participating in the local economy.
“On this issue of masking, I do disagree, but reasonable people will disagree; it doesn’t mean I think she’s a terrible leader,” Soholt said.
Greater mask usage statewide could more quickly flatten the rising curve of virus cases and ultimately result in the South Dakota economy’s opening up further and more quickly, Soholt said.
Noem has opposed mask mandates and has repeatedly stressed that individuals can decide for themselves whether to wear a mask. Soholt said that even a short-term, widespread mask mandate in South Dakota could slow the spread of the virus and likely save lives.
“This is where our rugged independence kind of gets in our way of looking out for our collective community,” Soholt said. “My mask is about caring about you, and your mask is about caring about me. To me, with this virus, it’s one of those things where every now and then, we have to rise up tougher as people and care about each other more than we care about ourselves.”
The transition of power from President Donald Trump to President-elect Joe Biden will be unlike any other in modern America history and is likely to lead to significant turmoil, two of the nation’s top political journalists said in a Nov. 9 virtual town hall meeting hosted by South Dakota News Watch.
Susan Page, Washington bureau chief for USA Today, and Jim VandeHei, co-founder and CEO of the news website Axios, said that Americans need to brace for a rocky couple of months as Trump, a Republican, appears unwilling to concede the election and Biden, a Democrat, plans to reverse many Trump administration policies.
Page and VandeHei spoke as part of the virtual town hall meeting, “The 2020 Election: What Just Happened?”, hosted via Zoom by South Dakota News Watch.
Susan Page; Jim VandeHei
The 2020 presidential election was held during a global pandemic, saw record numbers of people vote early or by mail and shattered overall voter turnout records. The election results were also unconventional. Biden won the presidency, but he will be the first Democratic president since Grover Cleveland in 1885 to take office without also carrying his party to majorities in both chambers of Congress, Page said.
Defying convention has been a hallmark of the Trump administration. That is unlikely to change just because he lost an election, Page said, pointing to the Nov. 9 firing of Defense Secretary Mark Esper. The secretary of defense is a key cabinet position and would be an essential part of the transition process even if America was not still at war in Afghanistan, Page said. Removing Esper could complicate the transition process, she said.
“We don’t know if there are more firings on the horizon before (Trump) gets out of town, we don’t even know that he’ll voluntarily leave town since he has not yet acknowledged that he lost the election,” Page said.
Trump is unlikely ever to admit that he lost the 2020 election, said VandeHei, the co-founder and former editor of Politico.
“I think he’ll forever say that this election was stolen, that he was a victim of media bias,” VendeHei said. “And I think 40% or more of the country will agree with him.”
The president’s refusal to accept defeat, coupled with the silence of many key Republican leaders on the election result, will likely serve to polarize the American people further and disrupt what is already expected to be one of the most important and complicated presidential transitions in history.
Not only is the U.S. facing a pandemic that has killed nearly 240,000 people, but there are substantial foreign policy challenges to face, including a changing climate. Meanwhile, the national economy needs to recover from the devastation caused by COVID-19, the speakers said. On top of all that is a ballooning federal budget deficit, VandeHei said.
“There are just so many things, and on any one of these, you could say, ‘Oh, my gosh, I could spend my whole presidency on this and only tinker around the edges,’” VandeHei said. “God bless him [Biden]; this will be a tough one.”
One of the things Biden has going for him is that he is a fairly moderate Democrat, VandeHei said. The president-elect has shown some trepidation about his party’s extreme left wing and has a history of working with Republicans while a U.S. senator.
“In some ways, Joe Biden is the right person to run the country right now, in terms of the Democratic Party, to run the country because I do think he understands intuitively some of the grievances that 50% of the country feels,” VandeHei said.
One of the big surprises to come out of the 2020 election was just how well Trump and the Republican party he has led for four years fared, despite polls showing big leads by Biden. Both VandeHei and Page acknowledged that the national press and polling firms missed something about how voters view Trump.
“I’ve never seen so many people take money out of their own pocket and paint a president’s name on their boat or their truck or their house,” VandeHei said. “Something was happening out there, where he became almost a fashion statement and an identity statement and a cultural statement.”
Another unique factor about covering President Trump and the 2020 election is Trump’s loose relationship with facts, the speakers said.
Reporters struggled early during Trump’s tenure in office with his frequent stretching, bending or outright disregard of facts, Page said. News organizations were forced to beef up their ability to fact-check the president quickly and fairly. During the election and now during the transition, there has been a constant struggle to challenge the president when he misstates a fact while at the same time remaining objective.
“That’s one of the ways in which we responded, but of course, with the erosion of trust in the news media, there are a lot of people who simply don’t believe us when we do fact checks,” Page said.
Part of the reason trust has eroded in the news media, VandeHei said, is that so many of the nation’s best political reporters can be found on Twitter being very clear about which side of the political aisle they identify with and who they are cheering for.
“I’ve said this before and I’ll believe it, I think, now forever; Twitter might have destroyed journalism or a big piece of it,” VandeHei said.
Public Safety is one of the responsibilities counties are required, by state law, to provide. Over 50% of the County General Fund is allocated to public safety expenses. Those taxpayer dollars cover costs for the Sheriff department, which includes jail expenses and law enforcement. Those public dollars also fund defense attorneys, prosecution of persons accused of crimes, and court expenses. Officials who manage these budgets are doing a great job monitoring and controlling costs. As leaders, we work collaboratively together to make improvements that will save taxpayer dollars while keeping the community safe.
In 2017, Minnehaha County was awarded a two-year Innovation Site grant by MacArthur Foundation. The grant provides seed money to create the community vision of the Link. The Link, opening in early 2021, will consist of a detoxification program and a sobering center along with behavioral health triage programing. Our goal is to reduce unnecessary emergency room visits, reduce the number of certain individuals in jail, and link people, in need of behavioral health or other community services, to programs. This effort, made possible through collaboration of public and private entities, is available to individuals regardless of ability to pay.
Due to the success of the Innovation Project, we were asked to apply to be an Implementation Site of the MacArthur Safety and Justice Challenge initiative. In 2019, Minnehaha County was awarded this grant and, just this fall, we were asked to renew our project for another two years. A collaborative committee oversees execution of five over-arching strategies to bring programming and resources to people who are in the justice system. These strategies include pre-arrest, pretrial, criminal justice case processing, special populations (behavioral health), and community engagement/racial and ethnic equities.
Racial and ethnic equity work has been on our radar for over 10 years. Minnehaha County has supported a juvenile justice Racial & Ethnic Fairness Coordinator for the last 6 years, and now with support by MacArthur, are widening the scope to include adults. We are adding a leadership training and mentoring program for justice involved individuals and culturally based services for our Native American people impacted by the justice system. We believe the solution lies within the community, not just the criminal justice system; we have the City of Sioux Falls, Greater Sioux Falls Chamber of Commerce, local hospitals, and schools at the table working to make Minnehaha County a better place to live and work
COVID-19 cases continue to rise in the state, with South Dakota continuing to see record active cases. As of Tuesday, the state had 18,624 active cases, with 4,622 in Minnehaha County. Hospitalizations have continued to be between 550-600 statewide, with both Sanford and Avera implementing surge plans. Last week was one of the deadliest in South Dakota’s COVID pandemic history, with 104 deaths recorded between Wednesday, November 11 and Sunday, November 15. This brought the monthly total to 219 deaths, more than were recorded in all of October.
Due to this, on Tuesday the South Dakota Medical Association sent a request to Sioux Falls Mayor Paul TenHaken for a mask mandate in Sioux Falls, South Dakota’s largest city. This was the first time a mandate had been requested by the Medical Association, according to Mayor TenHaken.
COVID-19 Cases 11-19-20 included 31 more deaths and 1,071 new positive cases. Minnehaha County had 262 new cases.
Due to this request, the Sioux Falls City Council was slated to vote again Tuesday on a citywide mask mandate, and it looked likely to pass. The measure had failed on Mayor TenHaken’s tie-breaking vote the week prior.
Mayor TenHaken stated at a press conference on Tuesday that he had a phone conference scheduled with other mayors in the Sioux Falls area to help ensure all local municipalities were on the same page with regards to mitigating strategies.
The strain the surge has placed on local healthcare systems has been tremendous, with Avera’s Dr. David Basel stating on Tuesday that Avera hospitals were running at or over capacity. According to Dr. Basel, in all of the Avera system, only 11 ICU beds were available on Monday, and 160 patients were at home with supplemental oxygen in order to free up beds for those who were more critical.
On Monday, Sanford Infectious Disease Specialist Dr. Wendell Hoffman sent a plea to Governor Kristi Noem to change course on how the state was handling the disease.
“I get that you don’t want strict lockdowns, neither do I,” he said. “Those are devastating, too. But we can’t just let this virus run without throwing everything we have at it.”
Last week, Governor Noem was photographed several times at the University of South Dakota DakotaDome without a mask, despite a mandatory mask requirement by both USD and the South Dakota State High School Activities Association during the state football games.
“And that means, Governor, that you need to be out in front of the people, and you need to encourage all of the mitigating strategies that even have the potential, including masks, which I know you have sort of said, the results were mixed,” said Dr. Hoffman. “I’m sorry, Governor, but all of medicine is mixed results. That’s what we do every day. We have to take a different course.
“Right now, we do not have a curve, we have a straight up line,” Dr. Hoffman continued. “We have no end in sight at this point.” He requested help for the people who are suffering.
On Tuesday, Dr. Allison Suttle, Chief Medical Officer at Sanford, spoke about “bending the curve.” This is getting back to some of the behaviors that decrease the number of cases, including restricting shopping and eating out, restricting activities such as sleepovers, or gathering in groups. Many of these endeavors have been relaxed over the past few months.
“It all still boils down to personal behavior and personal responsibility,” Dr. Suttle said. She spoke about the upcoming holidays, requesting all people think about how they can reduce gatherings in order to keep case numbers down.
“Large groups of people getting together, for long periods of time in indoor spaces, is a great way to spread the virus,” she said.
“This virus spreads without any symptoms,” Dr. Suttle continued. “So, although [the] majority of people won’t have severe illness, the more we spread the virus, the more likely we are to reach those individuals that are vulnerable, and that may become very ill.”
During the weekend, South Dakota ER nurse Jodi Doering went viral after posting about those who still refused to acknowledge COVID-19 was real.
“I can’t help but think of the Covid (sic) patients the last few days,” Doering wrote on Twitter. “The ones that stick out are those who still don’t believe the virus is real. The ones who scream at you for a magic medicine and that Joe Biden is going to ruin the USA. All while gasping for breath on 100% Vapotherm. They tell you there must be another reason they are sick. They call you names and ask why you have to wear all that “stuff” because they don’t have COViD (sic) because it’s not real.” She noted in a later interview that she’s had patients who’d rather believe they had lung cancer.
“These people really think this isn’t going to happen to them. And then they stop yelling at you when they get intubated. It’s like a [expletive] horror movie that never ends. There’s no credits that roll. You just go back and do it all over again,” Doering wrote.
Burnout among healthcare workers is a real threat, as they treat so many patients, work double and triple shifts in areas they aren’t used to, and see people in their community who are not implementing any mitigating strategies.
And while there is hope on the horizon for a vaccine and an IV treatment that can be given prior to the need for hospitalization, prevention is still the most effective way to protect oneself and others.
“So, we all need to consider what our Thanksgiving and Christmas plans will look like this year,” said Dr. Suttle. “This is the one year to say, ‘We’re not going to get together in a big group.’ I would urge all of us to consider just getting together with those immediate family members. Get creative.
“Really seriously consider, this is the one year you can always go back and talk about, the one year we had a Zoom Thanksgiving. The one year where we couldn’t get together and how did we do it.”
By Gavin: First get a turkey. Cook the turkey for 100 minis 40 dugrez. Next you must cool it off. Last you eat it.
By Amayah: First I will go to the stor. Next I will make it for 10 dugrez 10 minits. Then tak it out to cut it. Last I will et it.
By Kennedy: First you cot a trce. Then you git the trce and you put the trce for 29 minits and 100 dugrez. Last you et it.
By Koda: First stor. Next 100 dugrez. Then tac the chickin. Et.
By Garrett: first you by it. Next you cook it in the uven to 10 minits. Then you put it to 20 dgrees. Las you turn it off. Very last you take it out.
By Jase: First go tow the rosheshr shro. Next anrep it and cok it for 5 minis. Put pepr. Last you tek it out av the aven in et it.
By Brylee: First go to the sure. Next take the rapr off of the trcy. Then you put soffing in the trcy. Last you put it in the ovin for 10 dugrez then you put it in for 14 minits. Eat with silvwr.
By Colton: First you bi it then you cuk it for 40 dugrez 30 minits. They you eat it.
By Hannah: First go to the shop. Next you put stuffing in it. Then you put it in the ovin for 100 dugrez 2 minits. Last you eat it.
By Haxton: First you get the turkey and then you klen it off. Next you put it in the uvin for 40 minits and 40 dugrez. Then you tok it owt of the avin. Last you et it.
By Brieanna: First go to the stor and dri it hom and cook for tow minis and tack it oat and put it on the plat and put sot et it.
By River: First you git a trke. Next unrap the trke. Then put solt and pepr on it. Last cook it for a 100 dagres put it awt then et it.
By Cooper: You shod it then tac the fedrs off. It sed it on a 100 dugrez 20 minis then ed et.
By Ember: Fisrt you go sopeing. Next you pt stfing. Then you go hom and cit it the avein for ten minits. Last you et it!
By Jesean: First hut a trke. Now we put it in for 24 at 100 dgrst. Naw kut the trke. Naw we put in the sot. Now we get a nif en we et it.
By Alaina: First you buy a turkey. Next you cook it and tack the raper off and set it for 20 minits and 50 dugrez. Last set it on the tadall and eat it.
By Tessa: First go bi trkey. You go cuc it. You pud it at 100 zyn ed it.
By Gage: First you get a turkey. Next put it in the oven at 100 degreas for 90 minis. Then you cut it up. Last eat it.
How to Cook a Turkey, by Ms. Backer's Class
Drew Ellefson: First, git a turkey fum Target. Next, put it on the pan. Then, put in oven for 50 minse. Last, eat the turkey.
Seaton Boyer: First, trap the turkey. Next, put on pan. Then, put in oven for 60 mites. Last, eat it!
Hudson Kuik: First, hunt for a turkey! Next, cut it in! Then, put in oven for 20 minutes! Last, eat it!
Kade Hoeck: First, you get the turkey. Next, butter. Then, put it in the uvin for 15 mins. Last, wait until Thanksgiving.
Madilyn Jessen: First, hunt for a turkey. Next, put on the pan. Then, put in the oven for 20 minutes. Last, eat it.
Rylee Hoogland: First, get the turkey at the grocery store. Next, you put it on the pan and put on the seasoning. Then, put in the oven for 20 minutes. Last, take it out of the oven and cut it and eat it.
Alexis Leisure: First, get turkey at store. Next, put on seasoning. Then, put in oven for 77 minutes. Last, take out of oven and eat.
Summer Block: First, I would get it in the store. Next, put it on the pan and I will put the seasoning on and that is it. Then, put it in the oven for 20 minutes. Last, take out of the oven and I will wet for athers.
Landen Snyders: First, hunt for a turkey. Next, put it on the pan. Then, put it in oven for 40 minutes. Last, take it out then wait for it to cool down after 5 minutes.
Katelyn Fetter: First, hunt a turkey and sesen. Next, put it on the pan. Then, put in the oven for 22 minutes. Last, I will eat on Thanksgiving.
Weston Greer: First, hunt for a turkey. Next, cut it and put on seasoning. Then, put in oven for 20 minutes. Last, I will eat on Thanksgiving.
Noah Van Beek: First, hunt for turkey and haul. Next, pot on seasoning. Then, put in oven for five minutes. Last, I will eat it at Thanksgiving.
Sutton Schroeder: First, hunt for a turkey. Next, put on seasoning. Then, put in oven for 20 minutes. Last, eat the turkey.
Emmalyn Garcia: First, get turkey at the store. Next, put on the pan. Then, put it in the oven for 5 minutes. Last, take out of the oven and eat it.
Easton Schwebach: First, I am going to hunt for a turkey. Next, cut it. Then, I will put in oven for 20 minutes. Last, I will eat on Thanksgiving.
Jaxson Freestone: First, hunt for a turkey. Next, put it on pan. Then, put in oven for 10 minutes. Last, I will eat on Thanksgiving.
Quinn Williamson: First I would hunt for a turkey. Next, put it on the pan neckst put on seasoning. Then, put in oven for 20 minutes. Last, eat it. Take it out of oven.
It’s early October, which means the hops have been cut and baled, the aronia berries shaken from their bushes and frozen and the flax swathed. No, agriculture isn’t all corn and beans in South Dakota.
In the September/October issue of South Dakota Magazine, we feature a handful of farmers who grow more unique crops. They include ancient grains, the tiny cones that give beer its flavor and perhaps the healthiest berries on the planet.
Jeff and Jolene Stewart survey the aronia berry crop at their farm, Stewarts Aronia Acres, near Wagner. (Photo provided by SD Magazine)
Jeff and Jolene Stewart initially thought chokecherries were growing on their farm in Idaho, but after investigating they discovered the tiny fruits were aronia berries. When they moved to a farm near Wagner in Charles Mix County, they planted a row in a windbreak just to see what would happen. The shrubs flourished. The Stewarts learned more about the powerful aronia berries, explored marketing and sales opportunities and now tend about 10 acres.
Aronia berries contain the highest antioxidant levels of any known cultivated berry or fruit. They are rich in anthocyanins, which give them a dark purple color and also promote joint health and improve circulation. A handful of aronia berries a day has also been known to help digestion and protect the liver from chemical damage.
Just a couple counties to the east on the edge of Yankton, Ryan Heine and his wife, Michelle Donner, grow 5 acres of hops on their 6th Meridian Hops Farm. Heine grew hops to use in home brewing when they lived in the Omaha suburbs, but when he and Michelle decided to give their children the rural life they had enjoyed (both grew up in northeastern Nebraska, just across the Missouri River) he greatly expanded his hops crop.
Hops grow as cones that are stripped from the plant, dried, baled and frozen. During late fall or early winter, the hops are milled into a powder and pressed into pellets, which are then sold to brewers throughout the Midwest. Their alpha acids act as bittering agents, used to help balance the sugary sweetness of the wort during brewing. Their natural antibacterial properties help reduce the chance of beer spoilage and contamination. They also impart a wide range of aromatics. More than 250 essential oils are found in hops, which give beers flavors such as citrus, pine, melon or stone fruit. 6th Meridian’s signature hop is the Dakota Challenger, a key ingredient in the West Side Park IPA brewed at Ben’s Brewing Company in Yankton.
In Clark County, Gene and Wanda Bethke were looking for a way to diversify their 1,200-acre corn and soybean farm, so about 15 years ago they tried flax. “Flax used to be grown on a regular basis around here, but it wasn’t grown for the seed,” Wanda told us. “It was grown for the straw. They made cigarette paper and different things out of the flax straw. Now we don’t do anything with the straw anymore.”
Flax is among the world’s oldest crops. It was cultivated as early as 3,000 BC. More modern research has revealed that flaxseed is rich in the plant form of omega-3 fatty acids called alpha-linolenic acid (ALA), which has been shown to be heart-healthy. Flaxseed is also high in fiber and lignans, an antioxidant.
The Bethkes built their own packaging facility and sell flaxseed through their business, Purity Seeds USA.
Our feature also includes garlic, flower and mushroom farmers who each add to South Dakota’s agricultural economy in their own colorful way. And there are no doubt many others who are working the soil and making a living by growing something special.
