Free Republic

PIERRE, S.D. (AP) - A Democratic state representative who lost a June primary election battle for a Senate seat has switched parties and will try again to defeat Democratic Sen. Theresa Two Bulls. Jim Bradford has served eight years in the House and is term-limited. He failed by 28 votes in the primary to beat Two Bulls. Both are from Pine Ridge. Bradford's political switch was announced Tuesday by the state Republican Party, which substituted him on the GOP Senate slate in the coming general election for a Republican who earlier dropped out of the District 27 race.

CNN co-anchor Don Lemon, during a brief report on Tuesday’s Newsroom program about a pro-life measure on the ballot in South Dakota that would greatly restrict abortion, gave only the pro-choice side of the debate over the proposed law. He also oversimplified Barack Obama’s stance on the abortion issue. Lemon stated how the Great Plains state "is becoming a new focal point in the abortion debate" due to the measure, which is called Initiated Measure 11. He then introduced the sole sound bite from a Planned Parenthood official: "Opponents say it would be one of the most rigid and inflexible...

A Watertown pastor suspected tonight of having sexual contact with a child. KSFY obtained these court documents which lays out the case against Dennis Hayes. In documents released by Watertown Police, we're told the suspected contact happened last Friday when Hayes took a juvenile boy he had been mentoring from the "Southwest Youth Services Center" in Magnolia, Minnesota to a library in Luverne, Minnesota. The boy claims during the drive to Luverne, Hayes held his hand and told him he loved him. While at the Luverne library, he claims Hayes rubbed his back outside his shirt. During the drive back...

Over at S.D. Watch, Todd Epp has reported a truly breath-taking story that has the potential to derail Barack Obama’s and Hillary Clinton’s big Unity push just as it’s beginning. … the Clinton campaign offered a major fundraiser to the state (SD Dem) party in exchange for two superdelegate votes … Todd promises more details, and I, for one, am waiting at the edge of my seat. Given what he’s reported so far, this seems to be an ongoing offer from Clinton rather than something that faded away after the June 3 primary. An intra-party dispute erupted Thursday during the...

The idea is to keep it as close as possible. If she keeps it close in both states she wins the popular vote nationwide. Then when the left brings up 2000 we can say 2008 and you did it to your own party voters.

Obama: Actually, I can quit you Pittsburgh Tribune-Review By Salena Zito WASHINGTON -- After the second Academy Award-winning performance by a pastor at his family's church, Trinity United in Chicago, Sen. Barack Obama quit his parish. Robert Gibbs, Obama's campaign communications director said Obama had resigned from the church "over the last few days."

What would Michelle Obama do if she were called sweetie? WWMD? TRIBUNE-REVIEW By Salena Zito A tip of the hat to Ben Smith over at Politico for reporting that Sen. Barack Obama referred to a female reporter in Detroit as "sweetie" when answering her question. Actually, when not answering her question. Kind of makes you wonder how wife Michelle would feel if she were referred to as "sweetie"?

In a campaign of unfamiliar names, South Dakota voters probably know the least about Republican U.S. Senate candidate Charles Lyonel Gonyo of Trent. That's saying something, too, since the "big names" in the Republican Senate primary are Joel Dykstra, Sam Kephart and Bert Tollefson. Gonyo has been missed entirely by most South Dakota reporters covering a primary campaign that so far has captured little public attention and inspired few news stories. But he was the first of the four GOP candidates to get the necessary 2,070 valid nominating-petition signatures confirmed by the South Dakota secretary of state. Secretary of State...

PINAL COUNTY, Ariz. — The government of this fiefdom south of Phoenix claims that when it approved Dale Bell's blueprint for his Western-theme restaurant with an outdoor stage in an enclosed courtyard, it assumed the stage would be used for mimes or poetry readings. Mimes in Arizona scrubland? Poetry at the San Tan Flat Steakhouse and Saloon? The authorities were, they insist, shocked when country music broke out, and they are scandalized because some customers, not content to tap their feet to the Western beat while they eat, get up and dance.

Bakken and Torquay Formations - A Saudi Arabia of oil under Saskatchewan, North Dakota, South Datkota, Montana and Manitoba The Bakken oil formation is possibly the largest conventional oil discovery in Canada since 1957. If this oil formation plays out toward the higher end of size and recoverability then it will change the geopolitics of oil and the economies of the United States and Canada. If a lot of the oil proves difficult to recover now, new technologies could still drastically improve the percent recoverable. The motivation to pull out another 100 billion barrels would be $9 trillion at todays...

Mitt Romney, Sergeant Bluff, Iowa Event (After Action report) This is a first hand account of a campaign event. A few weeks ago I looked online and realized South Dakota is the last state to Caucus/Vote (yes we are last) on June 3rd so I better get on down to Iowa to show my support. We get many radio and TV channels across the border from Iowa so I have been following the Presidential race from a closer perspective than some. Disclaimer, I supported Romney here on FR since before he declared. My posting history will show I supported him...

At a time when some voters are asking how the religious views of candidates will shape their policies, a professor’s discovery of how little tax the biggest landowners in her state paid to finance the government has prompted some other legal scholars to scour religious texts to explore the moral basis of tax and spending policies. The professor, Susan Pace Hamill, is an expert at tax avoidance for small businesses and teaches at the University of Alabama Law School. She also holds a degree in divinity from a conservative evangelical seminary, where her master’s thesis explored how Alabama’s tax-and-spend policies...

The Rev. David Baer is out to save the town of Whitewood’s honor from the shame of a street named Hooker. Baer, a Lutheran pastor in the small northern Hills town, asked the Whitewood city council to rename the street that honors the Civil War general, Joseph Hooker. Baer finds it offensive because of the word’s connotation with prostitution. We heard from many readers who found Baer’s sign-change campaign humorous, sad, silly and maybe even a little dirty-minded. One man, who happens to be named John W. Hooker Jr., thinks it is Baer, not his family name, that’s offensive. “I...

FORT PIERRE, S.D. (AP) State Senator Dan Sutton of Flandreau has been sued for $250,000 in damages by former legislative page Austin Wiese (WEES), who alleges Sutton groped him in a motel room in Fort Pierre. Wiese's lawsuit alleges two counts of sexual battery and one count of sexual assault. It's a civil lawsuit no criminal charges have been filed. The suit claims Sutton invited Wiese to stay with him at the motel during the 2006 session. Court documents say they shared the one bed in the room and that on three nights in a row, Sutton inappropriately touched and...

Democratic Sen. Tim Johnson of South Dakota is still recovering from a December brain hemorrhage, but his office appears to be beefing up his staff for a 2008 re-election campaign. Drey Samuelson, Johnson's chief of staff, said Wednesday that the office has hired Steve Jarding as deputy chief of staff. Jarding, who will work for the senator's congressional office in Rapid City, S.D., is a veteran political consultant who served as a top strategist for James Webb, the Virginia Democrat who upset Republican Sen. George Allen last November.

SIOUX FALLS, S.D. — A 25-year-old man awaited a lethal injection Wednesday for the torture and slaying of a teenager who was forced to drink hydrochloric acid during a robbery of his home. It was to be the state's first execution in 60 years. Elijah Page, 25, gave up his appeals and asked to die for the 2000 murder of Chester Allan Poage, who was also stabbed, kicked and bashed with large rocks in a torture session that lasted two to three hours. Page was scheduled to be put to death at 10 p.m.

SIOUX FALLS, S.D. - A blaze in southwestern South Dakota killed one person and destroyed 20 homes Sunday, and hundreds of people have evacuated homes in the paths of fires in Nevada and Washington state. Residents of about 50 homes had fled the wildfire burning near Hot Springs that also had injured two firefighters, state and federal officials said. Roughly 8 square miles had burned since the fire started Saturday. The 8,000-acre wildfire in northern Nevada was threating up to eight blocks of homes in the town of Winnemucca, about 170 miles east of Reno. "It's right up to the...

For much of the past month, the Senate has been considering a comprehensive immigration reform bill. The debate has been a contentious one, and this week the Senate decided that it would not move ahead with the bill in its current form by a bipartisan vote of 46-53. I opposed the bill because it would have provided nearly immediate legal status to between 12 and 20 million illegal immigrants. I believe that, before we deal with those illegal immigrants already here, we must first secure the borders of our country to effectively cut off the flood of illegal immigrants. Otherwise,...

WASHINGTON — Attorneys with the Alliance Defense Fund have helped to secure exoneration by the Internal Revenue Service for two non-profit organizations targeted by a leftwing special interest group in Washington. Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington sent a complaint to the IRS, demanding that it open an investigation to revoke the tax-exempt status of a crisis pregnancy center and an abstinence information clearinghouse in Sioux Falls, S.D. “Pro-life and pro-abstinence viewpoints should not be treated as second-class perspectives. This is just another attempt by political special interests to silence these viewpoints in the great debates of the day,”...

Deaf lesbian chainsaw murder shocks US April 09, 2007 THE trial in South Dakota of a deaf, black lesbian accused of murdering a rival and dismembering her with a chainsaw has shocked the rural midwestern US state. Daphne Wright, 43, could become the first woman sent to death row in South Dakota, which has not executed a prisoner in more than 60 years. Wright is accused of kidnapping and murdering a heterosexual deaf woman, Darlene VanderGiesen, 42, whom she thought was spending too much time with her girlfriend. Emotional testimony and gruesome exhibits filled the first week of her trial,...

WASHINGTON, April 8, 2007 – TV cooking-show icon Emeril Lagasse offered a culinary salute to the military Friday when he filmed two episodes of “Emeril Live” featuring servicemembers and their winning recipes. “Emeril’s Army-Navy Cookoff” and “Emeril’s Military Contest,” filmed at the Food Network studios in the Chelsea Market building, will air on June 29 and 30, respectively Lagasse went looking for a few good recipes last fall and found them through a military-only cooking contest. “I was so impressed with the creativity from all ranks, from every branch of the service,” Lagasse said of the hundreds of recipes...

Drops more than 1 foot of snow on Wisconsin A large, fast-moving snowstorm closed sections of major highways on the Plains on Saturday and dumped more than a foot of snow on the Upper Midwest. Seven deaths were blamed on the weather, all in traffic accidents on slippery Wisconsin roads. Interstate 70, a major cross-country route, was closed for about 200 miles in both directions from just east of Denver to Colby, Kan., because of blowing snow and slippery pavement, according to Colorado and Kansas highway officials. Between Denver and the beginning of the highway closure, about 35 cars collided...

PIERRE--An abortion ban with exceptions for rape, incest and health of the mother was rejected Wednesday morning by legislative committee in Pierre. The Senate State Affairs Committee just voted 8 to 1 to kill HB1293 without a vote of the full Senate. Supporters of the bill can still force the bill out of committee with a one-third vote of the full Senate, but even key supporters of last year’s ban spoke against the measure. Sen. Brock Greenfield, R-Clark, called abortion “a scourge on South Dakota,” and he called HB1293 a “noble effort.” But he also said the bill would not...

Pam Spaulding, a self-described lesbian activist, admitted a blog, which she administers, titled "Pam's House Blend," posted a death threat against a popular conservative activist. Spaulding, who lives in Durham, North Carolina, oversees the website which promotes the homosexual lifestyle. The blog, originally posted by Barry Wick of Rapid City, South Dakota, was on "Pam's House Blend" from mid-January until February 7, 2007. The target of the death threat was Peter LaBarbera, founder and president of Americans For Truth (AFT) [www.americansfortruth.org], a non-profit organization, headquartered in a suburb of Chicago. LaBarbera was previously employed by Accuracy In Media (AIM), Concerned...

South Dakota State Senator in Sex Scandal, Guess Which Party He's In? Posted by nkviking75 on January 25, 2007 - 00:34. In this AP story which I spotted on FoxNews.com, the wire's reporter Chet Brokaw sums up the story of South Dakota state senator Dan Sutton of Flandreau, who's mired in allegations of improper behavior with an 18-year-old male page. You can read the story for all the details if you're interested, but what I wanted to point out was the party affiliation of the Senator. Care to guess? If you said "Democrat", you're right. And where does that information...

WASHINGTON - Sen. Tim Johnson (news, bio, voting record) is taking part in three hours of physical, occupational and speech therapy every day, and his tracheotomy tube has been removed from his throat, doctors said Friday. Johnson, who suffered a brain hemorrhage over a month ago, has been working with parallel bars and participating in speech therapy, including naming objects, his office said in a statement. That includes strengthening exercises to gain mobility on his right side, said Dr. Philip Marion, head of rehabilitation at George Washington University Hospital. Johnson's right side was weak when he arrived at the hospital...

PINE RIDGE, S.D. — Here in the poorest corner of the poorest Indian reservation in the country, Geraldine Blue Bird's household was one of the worst off. Then-President Clinton stopped by her home during his 1999 tour of the nation's most impoverished places. Blue Bird, who lived on a disability check, was squeezing 28 adults and children, most of whom she had taken in from the streets, into a four-room shack with no plumbing and a pop-up camper out back. When word got out, donations poured in, and continued for years. Blue Bird even received a brand-new double-wide mobile home...

Sen. Tim Johnson, D-S.D., was in critical condition Saturday and resting from brain surgery. In South Dakota, the governor said people were standing behind the stricken lawmaker and he urged patience during Johnson's recovery. "At this point, no news is good news," said the senator's spokesman, Noah Pinegar. GOP Gov. Mike Rounds, who would appoint a replacement if Johnson were to leave office, said, "It just happens that we have one of our friends, one of our colleagues, who is going through a tough time. When that happens, we stand by him. And that's exactly what the people of South...

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- With Democrat's grasp of the Senate relying on the thinnest of margins, ultimate control of the chamber hung on the health of a South Dakota senator who underwent brain surgery Thursday morning. Sen. Tim Johnson of South Dakota was in critical condition, said David Boyd, a nursing supervisor at a George Washington University Hospital. Should Johnson not be able to complete his term, which ends in 2008, South Dakota Gov. Mike Rounds, a Republican, would appoint his replacement, which could shift the balance of power in the Senate.

Sen. Tim Johnson, a Democrat from South Dakota, was hospitalized Wednesday after what his office at first called a "possible stroke," leading to concern among Democrats that their new one-vote majority in the Senate could be in danger. By the end of the day, after what his office called "a comprehensive evaluation by the stroke team" at George Washington University Hospital here, a spokeswoman for Johnson said that he had not suffered a stroke or a heart attack. The spokeswoman, Julianne Fisher, gave no further details about Johnson's medical condition.His office said that Johnson, who will turn 60 on Dec....

13 states have GOP governors and Democrat Senators. Total of 19 Senators. California : Dianne Feinstein, 73 Barbara Boxer, 66 Connecticut : Christopher Dodd, 62 Joseph Lieberman, 64 Florida : Bill Nelson, 64 Hawaii : Daniel Inouye, 82 Daniel Akaka, 82 Indiana : Evan Bayh, 51 Minnesota : Amy Klobuchar, 46 Missouri : Claire McCaskill, 53 Nebraska : Ben Nelson, 65 Nevada : "Dingy" Harry Ried, 67 North Dakota : Kent Conrad, 58 Byron "Helmet Head" Dorgan, 64 Rhode Island : Jack Reed, 57 Sheldon Whitehouse, 51 South Dakota : Tim Johnson, 60 Vermont : Patrick "Leaky" Leahy, 66 Bernie...

Rejected measures: Arizona gay marriage ban, South Dakota abortion ban David Crary Canadian Press Wednesday, November 08, 2006 (AP) - In a triple setback for conservatives, South Dakota rejected a law that would have banned virtually all abortions, Arizona became the first state to defeat an amendment to ban gay marriage and Missouri approved a measure backing stem cell research. Countrywide, a total of 205 measures were on the ballots Tuesday in 37 states, but none had riveted political activists across the country like the South Dakota measure. Passed overwhelmingly by the legislature earlier this year, it would have been...

Time for Democrats to Prove our Point Fr. Frank Pavone National Director, Priests for Life Pendulums swing, and political experts point out that the results of yesterday’s elections are not unusual for the sixth year of a two-term President. I will leave to them the detailed political commentary about the dynamics of this election. Let me share with you, however, some key points for us to keep in mind as a pro-life movement, and as we continue with renewed zeal to press forward with our goals. 1. The Democrats gained power by latching onto our momentum, not theirs. These comments...

On November 7, this nation will have a national election. Along with the candidates for federal and local offices, there is a ballot measure in South Dakota that will ban abortion in most cases. Most of us here on FR will not be voting in South Dakota. But we can pray that the good citizens will cast the vote that will begin the end of the practice of infanticide. This is a prayer request. My wife and I will be praying on the seventh, and would this is something that we all need to pray for. My bride’s mom is...

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Rev. Jesse Louis Jackson was born Jesse Louis Burns on Oct. 8, 1941, to 16-year-old and unmarried Helen Burns. Helen had herself been born to teenage and unmarried Matilda Burns. Helen became pregnant with Jesse by next-door neighbor Noah Robinson, a prosperous married man in his 30s with other children. According to laws on the books in all states, Robinson committed statutory rape against Burns. Jesse was the product of that rape.

SIOUX FALLS, S.D. — In the downtown headquarters of those opposing a ban on nearly all abortions in this state, there are notes from around the country taped up and down the hallway: “They need to butt out of women’s lives” and “Why did S.D. vote for this?”

Editor's Note: The abortion debate is steeped in faith and emotion. Appeals to rationality tend not to create much of any change. After much consideration, however, we determined it would be inappropriate for the American News to avoid taking a position on only this issue. One of the most solemn rights United States citizens have is the right to vote. Traditionally, as is the case with this election, we encourage citizens to vote on all matters before them. Voters should not leave their voice unheard on any topic, especially this one. Referred Law 6 is among the most controversial and...

Rev. Jesse Louis Jackson was born Jesse Louis Burns on Oct. 8, 1941, to 16-year-old and unmarried Helen Burns. Helen had herself been born to teenage and unmarried Matilda Burns. Helen became pregnant with Jesse by next-door neighbor Noah Robinson, a prosperous married man in his 30s with other children. According to laws on the books in all states, Robinson committed statutory rape against Burns. Jesse was the product of that rape. Noah rejected Helen. Neighbors shunned her. Her church expelled her. She lived in one of the poorest sections of town. She sacrificed her dream of a singing career....

He is on the ballot for re-election in three weeks, but a South Dakota state senator's career is in jeopardy because of an accusation that's been brewing for eight months. The father of an 18-year-old male page says democrat Dan Sutton sexually groped the young man while the two roomed together during the legislative session. Now state senate leaders are asking Sutton to resign or face legislative action. We won't identify the page because he is a potential victim. But his father is involved in politics and Sutton's lawyer Mike Butler says the father and Sutton were long-time friends. Butler...

Voters wanting to learn more about the congressional candidates this election can tune in for two live debates on KELOLAND TV. Tonight, we'll hear from house candidates Stephanie Herseth and Bruce Whalen. The debate begins at 7:00 central time.

There are some things so ingrained in our history that even our rocks cry out. As South Dakota works to restore protection to its children waiting to be born, the voices of our past cheer them on from a mountain in that state where the faces of Presidents Washington, Jefferson, Roosevelt and Lincoln are chiseled in stone. It was from his farewell address, but the message from the father of our country is just as true to the people of South Dakota: The fate of unborn millions will now depend, under God, on the courage and conduct of this...

Abortion and birth control are antagonistic to Creation. They waste under their own curse as they course toward self destruction. They leave in their wake the deaths of individuals, the destruction of families, a void in communities, and the downfall of nations. They rip, slash and tear at the moral fabric of a religious people. Coming events foreshadow themselves as several states introduce legislation to abolish or restrict abortion. Most of this legislation will undoubtedly be gutted with exceptions for rape, incest, or lifestyle of the mother. South Dakota legislators have kept most these exceptions from defiling House Bill 1215....

Target South Dakota! Dear Prayer Warriors, LIFE is on God’s heart for the nation right now. South Dakota is at the center of the heartbeat. On 2-22-06 South Dakota lawmakers passed the most restrictive anti-abortion law in the nation – SD HB 1215. It prohibits abortions in the state with only one exception – the life of the mother. Governor Mike Rounds signed it into law on March 6, 2006. However, NARAL, Planned Parenthood, NOW and other liberal organizations have challenged the law. A local pro-abortion group gathered signatures to put Referendum 6 on the November 7th ballot. This referendum...

Two quick updates from South Dakota... *** 1.) The leaders of the effort to protect the South Dakota abortion ban will be featured on Friday's broadcast of the "Focus on the Family" radio show. Leslee and Allen Unruh will join Dr. James Dobson to discuss South Dakota's recently-passed abortion law and the urgent need to defend the legislation against the determined efforts aimed at overturning it. Learn more, or find a local radio station carrying the show by visiting: http://www.family.org/fmedia/broadcast/a0042103.cfm Tune in and help spread the word to others so they can listen in on this important discussion! *** 2.)...

Were you there on the phone Thursday night -- with hundreds of other pro-life leaders from around the country -- when history was made on the "Emergency South Dakota Briefing" call? Top national pro-life leaders joined me on the phone to share the latest news, discuss the urgent needs to help South Dakota protect its abortion ban, and detail the sweeping national implications of what is happening RIGHT NOW. We heard stirring calls to action from... >> JANET FOLGER, President of Faith2Action >> JUDIE BROWN, President of American Life League >> GIANNA JESSEN, abortion survivor >> FR. FRANK PAVONE, National...

It only took slightly over 20 months, but this morning Pope Benedict named Msgr Paul Joseph Swain, heretofore vicar-general of Madison, as bishop of Sioux Falls, succeeding Bob Carlson, who had been dispatched to Saginaw in December 2004. A convert from Methodism, the bishop-elect marks his 63rd birthday in two weeks. Having attended law school at the University of Wisconsin, he served in Vietnam in air intelligence and, after his return home, was legal counsel to then-Wisconsin Gov. Sherman Dryfus. Received into the church in 1982, he attended Pope John XXIII National Seminary at Weston and was ordained in...

We Had Abortions Join in a campaign for honesty and freedom. In its 1972 debut issue, Ms. magazine ran a bold petition in which 53 well-known U.S. women declared that they had undergone abortions—despite state laws rendering the procedure illegal. These women were following the example of a 1971 manifesto signed by 343 prominent French women, who also declared they had abortions. Even then, to many it seemed absurd that the government could deny a woman sovereignty over her own body. It is even more absurd in 2006 to learn that an abortion ban has passed into law in South...

SIOUX FALLS, S.D. - No one in the bleachers at the Sioux Falls Canaries game was quite sure what was going on down on the field. They were all quiet, wondering and transfixed on the little old man digging into the batters' box. The infielders moved up on the grass, giggling, and pitcher looked as uncomfortable as anyone else would have felt. But to 83-year-old Jim Eriotes, it was serious business. Eriotes led off Tuesday's game for the Canaries against the St. Joe (Mo.) Blacksnakes and took four big swings _ even fouling a pitch off _ before striking out....

PIERRE, SD (Army News Service, June 27, 2006) – South Dakota is paying a veterans bonus of up to $500 to certain military personnel who were legal residents of the state for no less than six months immediately preceding entry into the Armed Forces, who are currently on active duty or were honorably discharged from the Armed Forces, and who served on active duty during one or both of the following periods. For service between the dates of Jan. 1, 1993 through Sept. 10, 2001 payment will be made only to those who served overseas and were awarded the Armed...