TexasTowelie
TexasTowelie's JournalSouth Dakota landowners hit with $1 million in liens during Keystone XL road dispute
RAPID CITY, S.D. - Brandenburg Drainage filed 23 mechanic's liens totaling $1.01 million against Meade County landowners in mid-March, leaving recipients shocked and upset.
Seven of the liens were released Wednesday, March 27, without any public explanation, after a flurry of communications during preceding days among landowners, lawyers and the three companies involved in the situation. The three companies are Brandenburg Drainage; Diamond Willow Energy in New Town, North Dakota; and TransCanada in Alberta.
TransCanada has an agreement with Meade County to improve and maintain county roads that would be subjected to truck and equipment traffic during the construction of TransCanada's proposed Keystone XL crude-oil pipeline. The controversial pipeline, which has been in pre-construction limbo because of litigation brought by its opponents, would pass through western South Dakota en route from Canada to Nebraska.
When Rod Ingalls opened his letter in early March, he “just about fainted.” When Lyle Weiss opened his, he “couldn’t believe it.” JT Vig got “fuming mad.”
Read more: https://www.inforum.com/business/energy-and-mining/997839-South-Dakota-landowners-hit-with-1-million-in-liens-during-Keystone-XL-road-dispute
Sioux Falls VA Joins Legislature in Promoting Universal Christianity
The South Dakota Legislature passed Senate Bill 55 forcing every public school to tell its students that we’re all Christian. The Sioux Falls VA hospital is apparently saying the same thing about all missing American soldiers.
The Sioux Falls VA has placed in its lobby a “Missing Man” display (as if women haven’t also gone MIA) which includes a Christian Bible. A local Buddhist veteran who served in Vietnam complained about the lack of inclusivity and got some backup from the Military Religious Freedom Foundation. According to Crooks and Liars, Sioux Falls VA Acting Director Barbara Teal responded by replacing the Bible with “a donated artifact belonging to a former WWII POW”—another Bible:
I wish I could look to Sioux Falls as an island of progressive urban inclusivism (since every great city is built on immigration and diversity), but hey: this is the town that elected Paul TenHaken mayor. Even in burgeoning and bustling Sioux Falls, the Buddhist vet feels he must remain anonymous about his complaint, lest he face small-town backlash:
He first tried to get the VA to correct it themselves, but he couldn’t even get an email address to communicate his complaint.
“I called the director’s office to get an email to send an email complaint, and I was basically told by the secretary that she wouldn’t give it to me, and that I should tell her my problem that she could take care of it,” he said. “But she wanted my name and everything else first.”
That’s a problem anywhere, as anonymity is essential for the complaint process to work, especially where religion is concerned, especially in a place like Sioux Falls. “It’s a beautiful place, but the only trouble is, is also very insular and very Christian,” he said. “I’m fairly active in the veterans community here, and if it came out that I was doing this, my kids would be in trouble, I would be in trouble, probably drummed off of the few of the veterans things that I do…. There definitely would be some retribution” [Paul Rosenberg, “Sioux Falls VA Respects the Dead—As Long As They’re Christian,” Crooks and Liars, 2019.03.30].
For the umpteenth time: we non-Christian South Dakota aren’t asking all the Christians in South Dakota to stop being Christian. We would just like Christian South Dakotans to stop acting like they’re the only South Dakotans.
Read more: http://dakotafreepress.com/2019/03/31/sioux-falls-va-joins-legislature-in-promoting-universal-christianity/
North Dakota senators turn down Equal Rights Amendment rollback
North Dakota senators narrowly rejected a proposal backing away from the state's support of the Equal Rights Amendment Monday, amid a renewed national push to amend the U.S. Constitution.
The proposal sought to clarify that North Dakota's 1975 ratification of the ERA, which is aimed at a level legal playing field between women and men, expired in 1979. Backers said fully ratifying the ERA now would make a "mockery" of the process and have consequences unforeseen by prior lawmakers.
Sen. Judy Lee, R-West Fargo, rejected "fear-mongering and misleading statements about the ERA," stating that it's not about abortion or gender identity issues. She said she worked on ratifying the ERA in the 1970s and noted that it simply says that equal rights under the law "shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any state on account of sex."
"We all owe a great deal to the women and the men who worked hard to raise people's awareness of the issues and who supported the ratification of the Equal Rights Amendment," Lee said, calling the rollback resolution "a sharp stick in the eye of everyone who worked hard over the past 45 years to make laws more fair to men and women."
Read more: https://bismarcktribune.com/news/local/govt-and-politics/north-dakota-senators-turn-down-equal-rights-amendment-rollback/article_ddab5be9-6fab-59b8-bd2f-138b8bad71f2.html
North Dakota lawmakers open floor session with Hindu prayer
North Dakota senators heard what was likely the first Hindu prayer to open a legislative floor session in the state's history Monday.
Rajan Zed, president of the Universal Society of Hinduism based in Reno, Nev., gave the opening prayer in English and Sanskrit. Wearing an orange robe, he told senators to work "with the welfare of others always in mind."
Zed, who was born in India, said his appearance was meant to be educational.
"We are the oldest religion in the world," he told reporters before his prayer. "
People) misunderstand us, but they don't know everything about us."
Read more: https://bismarcktribune.com/news/local/govt-and-politics/north-dakota-lawmakers-open-floor-session-with-hindu-prayer/article_5a888d69-354d-5e83-86aa-b6898803cb3d.html
In reversal, North Dakota lawmakers remove controversial bill amendment on rapist parental rights
A North Dakota House committee agreed to remove a controversial bill amendment exempting spouses from a bill allowing judges to terminate a rapist’s parental rights Monday.
The House Judiciary Committee removed the bill language before giving the original legislation a "do pass" recommendation. It allows judges to terminate the parental rights of somebody who has pleaded guilty to or has been convicted of a rape that led to the child's birth if it's "in the best interests of the child."
But an amendment previously adopted by the committee, chaired by Rep. Kim Koppelman, R-West Fargo, attracted backlash. It would have exempted parents who are married "to the victim of the sexual act."
Koppelman, a bill cosponsor, previously said the amendment was meant to address an unlikely circumstance in which a couple stays together after a rape. He introduced the amendment during a committee meeting last week, though he said it came about through panel deliberation.
Read more: https://bismarcktribune.com/news/local/govt-and-politics/in-reversal-north-dakota-lawmakers-remove-controversial-bill-amendment-on/article_59671d5d-c3b4-5a60-87a7-05d63053eb8f.html
North Dakota Senate approves fund repayment plan
BISMARCK — North Dakota senators approved a plan to repay some constitutional funds that state officials said have been shorted in recent years Monday, April 1.
State officials have said three constitutional funds have been shorted about $262 million over roughly the past decade, meaning money flowed to other government pots, due to "ambiguous" language in state law governing oil tax allocations.
Under the plan offered by the Republican Senate Majority Leader Rich Wardner last week, the Common Schools Trust Fund would receive $64.4 million in earnings from the state's oil tax piggy bank. The fund supplements state aid to schools.
Allocations for the Resources Trust Fund, which is meant to finance water infrastructure projects and energy conservation programs, would be bumped up until reaching $128.7 million, which is expected to take more than two decades.
Read more: https://www.inforum.com/news/government-and-politics/997450-North-Dakota-Senate-approves-fund-repayment-plan
North Dakota Senate passes amended bill for forfeiture reform
BISMARCK — North Dakota's Senate on Monday, April 1, passed an amended bill to reform North Dakota's forfeiture laws.
Senators voted 46-1 on House Bill 1286, brought by Rep. Rick Becker, R-Bismarck, to eliminate the "perverse incentive" of "policing for profit." Civil asset forfeiture applies to property involved in criminal activity.
The bill requires a conviction for forfeiture proceedings, requires annual reporting of seizures and forfeitures to the attorney general and raises forfeiture proceedings' standard of proof from preponderance of the evidence to clear and convincing evidence.
But the bill has some exceptions to a conviction, including death, disappearance, deportation, abandoned property and a Senate amendment for evidence beyond a reasonable doubt of a property's criminal involvement.
Read more: https://www.inforum.com/news/crime-and-courts/997830-North-Dakota-Senate-passes-amended-bill-for-forfeiture-reform
Organizers hope to pressure caucus hopefuls on ethanol
There are a few rarely challenged observations about Iowa politics. Lyon County is red, Johnson County is blue and corn is king from the Missouri River to the Mississippi.
One national organization, however, hopes to challenge that third assumption in the lead-up to the 2020 caucuses.
Mighty Earth in Washington, D.C., is employing organizers in Iowa City, Des Moines and Davenport to raise skepticism about food-based biofuels such as ethanol.
The group is educating Iowans about environmental issues, with the hope they will pressure visiting presidential hopefuls to be more critical of the status quo in energy policy.
Read more: https://www.thegazette.com/subject/opinion/staff-editorial/organizers-hope-to-pressure-caucus-hopefuls-on-ethanol-20190331
Why state leaders needed to step back from work requirements
State work requirements for Medicaid recipients appear to be scuttled, at least for this year. That’s a good thing because research and experience show the numbers don’t add up for participants or for taxpayers.
The bill passed by the Iowa Senate, Senate File 538, required the Department of Human Services to petition the federal government for permission to implement Medicaid requirements beyond those already in place at the federal level. Those new stipulations centered on work requirements. Specifically, “able-bodied” recipients would need to work or volunteer a minimum of 20 hours each week, and government officials would need to make larger investments in software and staffing in order to track the changes with the increased veracity required by the bill.
State investments, which the Legislative Services Agency projected would cost millions, were a significant blow to the proposal, adding fuel to opponents’ warnings of the bill producing no taxpayer savings. But the more likely end of the proposal, according to Gazette news reporting, appears to be at the hand of House Republicans, who are refusing to take up the measure without additional information related to people impacted and taxpayer cost.
While Iowa has debated the possibility, the national landscape on the issue also has changed.
Read more: https://www.thegazette.com/subject/opinion/staff-columnist/iowa-mediciad-work-requirements-sf-538-human-services-state-budget-taxpayer-cost-house-senate-legislature-20190401
Beto O'Rourke to stop in Iowa City as part of four-day Iowa swing
IOWA CITY — Former Texas congressman and Democratic presidential hopeful Beto O’Rourke is set to return to Iowa this week, including a stop at the University of Iowa campus Sunday.
O’Rourke’s campaign announced a four-day drive through Iowa with 17 stops. It is O’Rourke’s second visit to Iowa since declaring his candidacy last month to join the crowded Democratic field vying to unseat President Donald Trump in 2020.
Stops include a town hall at Iowa State University in Ames on Wednesday; Carroll, Denison and Morningside College in Sioux City on Thursday; Storm Lake, Fort Dodge, Marshalltown and Grinnell on Friday; a day of house parties in the Des Moines area on Saturday; and wrapping up in Iowa City on Sunday — the only Eastern Iowa stop.
The Iowa City event is scheduled for 11 a.m. on the second floor of the Iowa Memorial Union.
Read more: https://www.thegazette.com/subject/news/government/beto-orourke-to-stop-in-iowa-city-as-part-of-four-day-iowa-swing-ames-carroll-grinnell-morningside-20190401
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Gender: MaleHometown: South Texas. most of my life I lived in Austin and Dallas
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Current location: Bryan, Texas
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