An unsuccessful primary candidate for District 7 House is back in the news. Former Republican legislative candidate Jeff Struwe is back in the news as he was apparently recommended to serve on the Brookings Human Rights Commission by the Brookings County Commission.

Except people’s memories are longer than Jeff and commissioners might hope, as his reputation has apparently preceded him:

Local Democrats have taken to facebook to oppose the appointment due to the claim that “Jeff has publicly advanced descrimination (sic) and falsehoods about minorities.”

If you recall, Jeff’s prior notoriety comes from his last legislative campaign to remove what he calls “porn books” (such as diary of Anne Frank) from libraries, which made him run for the legislature because the local school didn’t do what he wanted. A mission he continues to harangue local library staff with, despite the fact no one has ever actually asked the local public library for a book to be reviewed/removed.

Local Democrats certainly have their own reasons for not wanting Struwe in the office. But really, do we want to appoint people to office if they believe it’s their mission in life to force government to be the gatekeeper of what people think, what they can read, and how they should parent?  Not just no, but Hell, No.  We can do just fine without the zealots using government as a weapon, thank you very much. Jeff’s advocacy for more government is about as welcome as the dozen or so flock cameras around town tracking where we drive.   As in, not at all.

We need a less intrusive government. Not a nanny state.

While the post might be pulled down already, before that, it didn’t take readers long to screenshot this and to send it to me.

D17 Democrat House candidate Leslie Gerrish apparently took to facebook today to declare to followers she’s a liberal who wants to raise taxes. And if a person who is a homeowner does get tax relief under Governor Rhoden’s property tax program, she thinks people should make huge donations to charity. Because property tax relief equals ill-gotten gains or something?

You know, sometimes the postcards just write themselves. A liberal who wants to raise your taxes. Usually a campaign has to try to convince voters that’s the case and hope the recipient of the campaign material agrees with the conclusion.  As opposed to the candidate coming right out and saying it in print.

Which might be why Gerrish took her facebook post down within a couple hours of making the case against voting for her.

This is the same Leslie Gerrish who was managing Jamie Smith’s campaign for Sioux Falls Mayor. Which tells Sioux Falls residents how big a bullet they just dodged.

I can’t wait for her to continue making the case about why voters should reject her.

Rounds Introduces RANCH Act to Help Rebuild America’s Cattle Herd

Voluntary working lands program would restore 20 million acres of grazing land in the United States

WASHINGTON – U.S. Senators Mike Rounds (R-S.D.) and Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.), ranking member of the Senate Agriculture Committee, today introduced the Rebuilding America’s National Cow Herd (RANCH) Act. This legislation would create a new voluntary grazing land restoration program that would open up to 20 million new acres for grazing. At full enrollment of 20 million acres, the program established by the RANCH Act would provide sufficient grazing land to support an estimated two to four million additional beef cows.

“Anyone who has spent time around cattle understands one simple truth: no grass means no cattle,” said Rounds. “With ranchers facing drought, high input costs and a shortage of grazing land, America’s beef cow herd is at its smallest size in over 70 years. The RANCH Act would create a voluntary Ranchland Program that helps producers restore eligible marginal cropland into grasslands for grazing. Producers can use their land in a way that makes the most sense for each individual operation, giving those who know their land best the tools needed to succeed.”

“With the U.S. cattle herd at its smallest size in over 70 years, many farmers and ranchers need new opportunities to stay afloat,” said Klobuchar. “The bipartisan RANCH Act will help farmers looking to start a cow-calf herd or expand their existing herd while also providing wildlife habitat on the land. In the long-term, this plan can rebuild the domestic cattle herd and help drive down beef costs.”

The RANCH Act:

• Strengthens American food security by expanding the domestic beef supply and reducing reliance on imported beef.
• Puts American ranchers first, expanding the grazing land base needed to rebuild the national cowherd and meet growing consumer demand.
• Expands domestic demand for American-grown grain and forage, giving U.S. farmers a stronger, more reliable market as the cattle herd grows.
• Supports commodity prices for row crop producers by modestly tightening grain supply through a reduction in planted acres.
• Makes U.S. farmers and ranchers more competitive in the global marketplace while building a stronger domestic agricultural base.
• Enhances water quality, soil health and wildlife habitat through established perennial cover and managed grazing.
• Reinvigorates rural communities through the economic benefits of increased livestock production, grain demand and wildlife populations.
• Lowers the barrier to entry for beginning ranchers through targeted cost-share and signing incentive payments, bringing the next generation onto the land.

The RANCH Act is supported by the South Dakota Cattlemen’s Association, Society for Range Management, Pheasants Forever, the World Wildlife Fund, the National Audubon Society, Delta Waterfowl, Ducks Unlimited, the National Wildlife Federation and the Minnesota State Cattlemen’s Association.

“South Dakota cattle producers understand that well-managed grazing is not only compatible with conservation, it’s one of our most effective conservation tools,” said Craig Bieber, President of the South Dakota Cattlemen’s Association and owner and operator of Bieber Red Angus Ranch near Leola. “Expanding access to grass, keeping working lands in production, and creating opportunities to responsibly grow the nation’s cattle herd can strengthen ranch families, rural communities, and the health of our natural resources. The South Dakota Cattlemen’s Association appreciates Senator Rounds’ efforts to recognize cattle as an essential part of healthy, productive landscapes.”

“I’m encouraged to see Congress listening to the voices of farmers and ranchers who work in grasslands every day. Strong grass-based agriculture depends on healthy, productive grasslands, and investments in voluntary grazing and conservation practices help keep ranching businesses profitable for the long term,” says Dan Rasmussen, who, with his wife, Dawn, stewards 33 Ranch near Belvidere, South Dakota. “Through our work with Audubon and other partners, we’ve seen firsthand that when we manage grasslands well, our cattle benefit, wildlife thrives, and water quality improves. That’s a win for ranchers, rural communities, and everyone who depends on these working lands.”

“The RANCH Act is a smart investment in America’s working lands at a critical time for farmers, ranchers, and rural communities,” said Andrew Schmidt, Director of Government Affairs for Pheasants Forever and Quail Forever. “Giving producers the tools to convert marginal cropland to grazing land can help ranchers grow their operations, bring more grass back to the landscape, and increase the habitat that pheasants, quail, and other wildlife depend on. Pheasants Forever and Quail Forever thank Senators Rounds and Klobuchar for their leadership on this important legislation.”

“The RANCH Act meets a critical need for America’s ranchers and grasslands, particularly in the Great Plains,” said Alexis Bonogofsky, Vice President of the Great Plains Program at the World Wildlife Fund. “It would create a dedicated program to restore grasslands for grazing and enable effective grazing management plans, which are essential to the productivity of both ranchers and grassland ecosystems. While the scale of marginal lands that need to be restored far exceeds the 20 million acres this program would support, this is a significant and welcome step forward.”

“The RANCH ACT is the sort of legislation and idea that we have long worked on and hoped for to find new ways to incentivize creation of working forage to support ranchers, cow calf operations and cover for nesting ducks and other species,” said John L. Devney, Chief Policy Officer at Delta Waterfowl. “We sincerely appreciate Senator Rounds and Senator Klobuchar for advancing this important idea.”

“Healthy grazing lands are essential to a healthy landscape,” said Ryan Taylor, Director of Public Policy at Ducks Unlimited. “The RANCH Act recognizes the conservation value of these working lands while helping address the need for additional livestock grazing. This legislation helps ranchers restore marginal cropland to perennial cover and managed grazing. Ducks Unlimited supports voluntary, rancher-driven solutions that improve habitat, soil health, and water quality while keeping ranchers on the land for generations to come.”

“The Minnesota State Cattlemen’s Association is grateful for Senator Amy Klobuchar’s and Senator Mike Rounds’ support of the RANCH Act, which would establish a new voluntary grazing land restoration program to support and enhance grazing lands across the country,” said Jake Thompson, President of the Minnesota State Cattlemen’s Association. “Grazing is an incredible tool for land management, and it is great to see a program that offers cost-share and signing incentive payments to offset financial costs for the producers.”

Click HERE for a summary of the bill. Click HERE for full bill text.

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As sent to me from a reader:

Is it just coincidence, or is there something about District 1 where some legislators have a tendency to quietly move away?

Gov. Rhoden Expands Drought Mitigation Strategies

PIERRE, S.D. – Today, Governor Larry Rhoden signed Executive Order 2026-10 to expand assistance to South Dakotans during this drought emergency. The order expands South Dakota Wildland Fire’s assistance and resources to help rural fire departments outside the Black Hills Forest Fire Protection District. In addition, the Governor extended the provisions of EO 2026-08 on flexibility for hay hauling.

“As a volunteer firefighter, I understand that every second counts when attacking a fire. And as a lifelong rancher, I recognize the difficulty feeding livestock during this ongoing drought,” said Governor Larry Rhoden. “Supplementing local resources with approved state assistance will improve response time, saving lives and property.”

Over 90% percent of South Dakota is suffering from abnormally dry or moderate to extreme drought conditions.

Governor Rhoden previously signed EO 2025-03, which allows for the deployment of firefighting airplanes and helicopters to assist with fires within the Black Hills Forest Fire Protection District. This order extends those resources to any fire in the state if needed to protect lives and property.

This year, the Governor has verbally declared an emergency to exist for the “79 Fire” in April and the “Bear Butte Fire” in August because those fires were outside the Black Hills Forest Fire Protection District. This order approves similar future deployments to assist local fire departments immediately.

As drought conditions continue to negatively impact feed availability for livestock across South Dakota, this order also extended the expiration date so the provisions of EO 2026-08, which increase access to hay for farmers and ranchers, lasts through the end of the season. Hay hauling can continue for two hours before sunrise and two hours after sunset from now until November 15, 2026.

These haulers must be properly equipped with warning lights, and they cannot run overweight. Permits are available to allow oversize movement of hay up to 12 feet wide and to extend the time allowed for movement of vehicles from 4 a.m. to 10 p.m., provided the load has reflectorized or lighted oversize load signs on the front and back of the vehicle(s). The permits are free and available by contacting the South Dakota Highway Patrol Permitting Office at 605-698-3925.

Earlier this spring, Governor Rhoden activated the state Drought Task Force to monitor drought conditions across South Dakota and be available to quickly respond to emergencies like this. The Drought Task Force endorsed these waivers at their meeting today when presented by the Governor’s Office and the Department of Agricultural and Natural Resources.

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Attorney General Jackley Announces Winner Man Indicted For Attempted First Degree Murder, Aggravated Assault

 PIERRE, S.D. – South Dakota Attorney General Marty Jackley announces a Winner man has been indicted for Attempted First Degree Murder and Aggravated Assault of another man while they were inmates in the Winner Jail.

Andrew Durroh, 24, was indicted Monday by a Tripp County Grand Jury. He faces a maximum prison sentence of 25 years for Attempted First Degree Murder and a maximum prison sentence of 15 years for Aggravated Assault. 

Durroh is also being charged by separate information alleging that his crimes were related to Durroh’s affiliation as a street gang member. Durroh’s street gang affiliation and criminal history, if proven, could increase the sentence he would face if convicted on either charge.

Durroh is accused of assaulting a fellow 29-year-old inmate at the Winner Jail on April 20, 2026. The victim suffered serious injuries.

The investigation was conducted by the South Dakota Division of Criminal Investigation (DCI) with cooperation from the Winner City Jail. It is being prosecuted by the Attorney General’s Office.

Durroh is currently in custody. His next court appearance will be determined at a later date. He is presumed innocent under the U.S. Constitution.

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August 2026 SDGOP FEC Report by Pat Powers

Just like Yogi Berra quipped, It’s just like deja vu all over again.

Here we are and all the SDGOP managed to do in the last month is to raise $20 in their Federal account.  By the numbers:

$20 raised.  $3.75 in interest $710.69 robbed from the State Account.

They started with $29,706.91, and they ended with less. $29,525.21.

Where are all the people who wanted to be in charge?  I would have thought they would be enriching the party’s coffers to overwhelming levels to defeat all comers?

Instead, they leave South Dakota Republicans with pronouncements of their superiority through ai slop posts on facebook and malaise.

 

Fresh off of being on the front lines of forcing South Dakota Democrat Julian Beaudion out of the race for US Senate…

Beaudion writes that “an influential Democrat in the state … told me that I was the most toxic thing ever to happen to the South Dakota Democratic Party. He told me that if I remained in the race, donors would leave the party and that he intended to contact people about it.”

Beaudion also relates a direct conversation with independent candidate Brian Bengs, in which Bengs says, “if you stay in the race, things will get worse for you.”

Read that here

“Allegedly Independent” Brian Bengs has been part of a behind the scenes effort to make sure there was no traditional Democrat in the race, preferring his own brand of using Democrat Party resources to do and say anything he wants to get elected.  Instead of referring to him as Independent Bengs, after the Beaudion substack article, we might need to refer to him as “dirty fighter Bengs” after he cleared his opponent off the field.

Like it or not, Bengs’ strong arming of Julian Beaudion is the past. So Let’s talk about Bengs in terms of a more current topic. Data Centers – the new boogie man in South Dakota Politics, which is convenient for Bengs to use as a throw away issue.   Fresh off the the newly cleared slate, Data Centers are one of his first selling points that he’s is pushing in an effort to appeal to populists, according to KOTA News:

Brian Bengs, the independent candidate who is now the only remaining challenger for Sen. Mike Rounds’ seat, is receiving national coverage for his criticism of the war in Iran and other issues.

And..

Bengs also discussed his opposition to data centers during the CNN interview. He said that if a local community votes in favor of building a data center facility, he would support that decision.

Read that here.

Here’s that very same story on Forbes:

I say it’s a throw away issue for Bengs, because he’s skipping a couple of items when it comes to them. He’s failing to disclose that BRIAN BENGS has investments in data center companies according to his financial disclosure filed with the US Senate in May:

Here’s the write up:

Kyndryl Holdings operates a global footprint of roughly 66 data centers across 25 countries, alongside strategic hyperscaler cloud integrations, combining legacy asset management with modern colocation and hybrid IT infrastructure services.Global Operations & FootprintOperates facilities spanning major regions including North America (such as Markham, Ontario and Edmonton, Alberta), Europe, Latin America, and Asia-Pacific.Relies on an asset-light strategy, consolidating traditional real estate footprints while expanding colocation hosting capacity and peering partnerships.

And let’s not forget an oldie but a diverse company from Bengs’ portfolio that also likes it’s data centers:

IBM’s data center related activity? Here you go:

IBM operates over 60 global cloud data centers across 19 countries and 6 continents. These centers use a multi-zone region (MZR) design to offer high-availability, low-latency cloud infrastructure, bare-metal servers, and strict federal compliance standards like FedRAMP.Infrastructure and NetworkZones: Independent fault domains grouped inside metropolitan regions to limit downtime.Security: 24/7 on-site guards, surveillance, and restricted physical entry.Power: Redundant N+1 power and cooling systems.

So, Bengs thinks Data Centers are bad, unless they can make Bengs bank?

Go read Brian Bengs’ financial disclosures for yourself, and come to your own conclusions.

I’m sure there’s other breadcrumbs he’s left along the campaign train as to where he really sits on the issues.

In a substack post attributed to former Democrat Senate candidate Julian Beaudion, the recently exited candidate wastes no time in relating his story. One that seems like it comes from a darker time in our country.

Beaudion wastes no time accusing people including un-named state Dem party leaders of racism and says Brian Bengs personally participated in trying to pressure him out of the race:

I learned that representatives associated with American Muckrakers had contacted the South Dakota Democratic Party regarding financial information about me. According to what was relayed to me, the message was essentially this: pressure Julian to leave the race or damaging information would be released.

I did not leave.

And..

On Saturday, Brian reached out and asked to meet face-to-face with me and my wife, Inkka.

And…

I will never forget how that conversation began.

My recollection of his words is:

“I’m not dropping out of this race, and if you stay in, things will get worse for you.”

And..

According to her account, she was given information about efforts against my candidacy, including an allegation that people connected to the earlier “East River White Men” effort included individuals holding senior positions within the South Dakota Democratic Party.

She told his campaign manager that she was uncomfortable with how personal things had become and reminded him that I had young children.

And..

This is what systemic white supremacy can look like.

Not necessarily a person wearing a hood.

Not necessarily someone shouting a racial slur.

Sometimes it is a system in which institutions, money, relationships and access to power converge in ways that determine who is considered acceptable, who gets protected, who gets heard, and who is told that continuing to participate will make life worse.

Read the entire story here.

These are Beaudion’s words.. as he points a finger at his former opponent Bengs, and the party on who’s behalf he was running.

 

(Get the popcorn ready for another crazy ****-show led by Garcia and California Carley – PP)

MEDICAL MARIJUANA OVERSIGHT COMMITTEE TO MEET

PIERRE – The Medical Marijuana Oversight Committee will hold its first meeting of the 2026 Interim on Monday, August 17, 2026, beginning at 10:00 a.m. (CT). The meeting is being conducted in Room 413 of the State Capitol in Pierre, South Dakota.

The Medical Marijuana Oversight Committee, chaired by Representative Josephine Garcia (R-Watertown) with vice chair Senator John Carley (R-Piedmont), will meet to receive an overview and status update on the state’s Medical Cannabis Program and hear from representatives of the National Conference of State Legislatures on federal cannabis rescheduling and its effect on state actions. Public comment will also be taken. The full agenda is available online.

Those wishing to present or testify before the committee should register electronically prior to the meeting. The online registration form can be accessed through the link or the QR code that appear on the meeting agenda or by clicking the “Register to Testify” icon next to the agenda link at https://sdlegislature.gov/. Individuals should complete and submit the online registration form regardless of whether they will appear in person or remotely.

In addition to Representative Garcia and Senator Carley, committee members include Representative Bobbi Andera (R-Sioux Falls); Senator Lauren Nelson (R-Yankton); and non-legislators Francise Arneson, Julie Bostic, Kasey Entwisle, Kristi Palmer, Andrew Schock, Jon Thum, and Pat West.

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