To the Editor Congratulations? Ipswich now has a mayor that no one elected. How did that happen? From what I can determine, the first step was to illegally ignore City Ordinance 1-1-4 which mandates that “At the first regular meeting after the annual...

Monday a.m. I was outside checking our rain gauges. Bad idea! Why? I heard a loud clap of thunder and instantaneously got soaked in the matter of a seconds. Yes, I literally got drenched. That’s right! I’m glad I had recently purchased a pair of air...

We have endured March-like temps recently. But hopefully it will start improving now that we are in to May, which is one of the busiest months of the entire year. That’s for sure. Hard to believe, but the Graduation edition is coming soon. Hint: i...

Many of Saturday’s area high school events (including Ipswich) fell victim to rather disagreeable weather conditions. Oh well! Let’s hope that conditions return to more normal. But then again what is normal in our climate changed weather pat...

It is certainly the time of year for sports’ fans. And I believe that true baseball fans really enjoy major league baseball as well. But we should mention that there is year-around NBA basketball with the women’s version during the summer and the...

DEG saved this from last week after his column was X’d when it turned out the Council candidates were too long. So a few post-Easter thoughts. There is nothing tastier than leftovers, especially when they are ham dinners. Think of the many d...

To the Voters of Ipswich City: Did you read the published meeting minutes from the City Equalization Meeting held on March 21? There appears to be a serious conflict of interest regarding the assessment votes at that meeting. Five of the six council...

The long month of March is quickly coming to a close, as it always seems to. And along with that the Easter weekend is this week! So Happy Easter everybody! Be kind to the Easter Bunny and leave him (or her) some eggs or even candy. But before that...

The state's Class B boys basketball tournament certainly lived up to its pre-tourney hype and then some. The tournament concluded with a narrow championship win in overtime by Howard thus preventing DeSmet from obtaining its fourth straight title....

Tornadoes rolled through Rapid City last weekend. Fortunately they weren't real tornadoes, but they were a girls basketball team playing in the State B there. That's right the Centerville Tornadoes would cap their amazing weekend with an impressively...

Senate Report by Bryan Breitling 2024 Legislative Wrap-up The 2024 legislative session is complete! The South Dakota legislative process is amazing; nine weeks of work to complete the state’s balanced budget and update any lawmaking necessary to f...

To the Editor: What is it with our Representatives? A few things going on in our political realm you may or may not be aware of. We have Senator Thune, Rounds and Congressman Johnson that are off the rails! A vote to censor Congresswoman Rashida...

Big surprise here, but the return of Daylight Savings Time is just around the corner. And I'm still getting used to the current time! I would imagine that would also be true for many of our readers if we took a poll. But it is between late winter...

To the Citizens of Edmunds County: I am writing today to encourage you to support the upcoming bond election that would create a new law enforcement facility here in Edmunds County. As some of you may know we had shut our jail down and move our dispa...

To the Editor: The Edmunds County proposed Sheriff's Office, Jail, and Dispatch building project is ultimately the Edmunds County voters decision, although as a concerned citizen and as one of your Edmunds County Commissioners, I am interested to...

Senate Report by Bryan Breitling Final Legislative Week With the end of session, there are a few more deadlines to focus on this week. Monday, all bills need to pass both houses, and by Wednesday, the General Budget bill needs to be heard in the...

There was a really great Aberdeen Concert performance in the Johnson Fine Arts Center in Aberdeen last Thursday. It was three young ladies from the Los Angeles area, singing the popular hits from the ‘50s and ‘60s. The acoustics are amazing in tha...

Senate Report by Bryan Breitling Final Budget Setting With crossover week complete, legislators are now focusing on bills from the other house and beginning to work on conference committees for when a bill passes the first house and amended in the...

House Report by Scott Moore As we enter the final two weeks of legislation many spending bills will get debated as legislators look to finalize the budget. The incarceration fund, financing our state prison updates, will be a big topic during our...

A new Jail is a WIN for everyone in Edmund’s County After the closing of the Jail in Ipswich at the County building it has come to my attention that anyone that is detained by the Edmund’s County Sheriff has to be transported to the nearest jail tha...

We are quickly transitioning into post-season local sports events starting with Kadyn Weisser and Sophia Knittel going to the State B in wrestling for Ipswich-Bowdle. So good luck! Some other regional results were not available in time for this...

House Report by Scott Moore February 16, 2024 As South Dakota Legislators close out week six and move into week seven the workload continues to be steady but organized. In week six House Education committee heard bills on school funding HB 1048....

Aren't overtimes exciting? Just ask the Super Bowl fans. Although I should admit that this OT was just a little past my usual bedtime. Maybe one too many commercials, that's for sure! But there can be overtimes or the equivalent of an OT in just...

Senate Report by Bryan Breitling Revenue Setting Stage of Budget Finalization Now that we are past the halfway point of the 2024 legislative session, this week is revenue setting. We will hear economic reports from the Bureau of Finance & Management...