Additional Articles

• Fraud alert: Christopher Steele speaks

  The disgraced former British spy Christopher Steele has kept a low profile in recent years. Understand-ably so, given that investigations revealed his dossier – the collection of anti-Trump stories he compiled to try to undermine Donald Trump’s 2016 presidential candidacy – was filled with falsehoods and unverifiable claims.

  18 hours ago

• Foster care a crucial part of pro-life platform

  In the abortion debates, the polarized discussion often focuses on death. Which is a shame, as foster care and adoption are important, even crucial, parts of the pro-life platform.

  18 hours ago

• Will Trump try to become the 47th president?

  Here is where the Old Contrarian (me) seeks to diminish the importance of what Old Yeller (not the 1956 children’s book, but the 45th president of the United States) did the other day by traveling to Iowa and proclaiming that the 2020 election was “rigged” and that Washington Democrats are taking the country “to the brink of ruin.”

  1 day ago

• Keeping the magic of the cinema alive

  Mickey Baker has owned The Strand – our local movie theater – since the new releases starred Virginia Mayo. The Strand, naturally, is an icon here.

  1 day ago

• The travel ban with Canada

  Since the beginning of the pandemic, our border with Canada has remained closed to non-essential travelers. The Biden administration has kept delaying the opening, and now says it will be in early November. If there’s a good reason not to do it now, we’d like to hear it.

  1 day ago

• What’s really ‘killing this country’

  Iowa is represented in the U.S. House by three Republicans and one Democrat. After last year’s census, an independent advisory commission drew a new map that reaffirmed the current balance, but made one of the Republican districts slightly more competitive.

  2 days ago

• Honoring Native American heritage

  Traditionally, October and November have been two months that South Dakota celebrates and honors Native American heritage.

  2 days ago

• Washington, D.C., cardinal pours praise on the press

  With a controversial Catholic in the White House, there was no way for Cardinal Wilton Gregory to face a pack of Beltway journalists without fielding political questions.

  2 days ago

• The imagined woes of so called ‘real Americans’

  Driving home from the dog park, I was surprised to hear the (Dixie) Chicks’ terrific song “Wide Open Spaces” on the country oldies station. The group had been banished from country radio since 2003 after saying George W. Bush made them embarrassed to be Texans.

  3 days ago

• A new use for the mall, for better and worse

  Members of the Yankton School Board heard some good news Monday night when they were told that River City Gymnastics and Cheer, which has been using facilities at Yankton High School (YHS), would be moving to a new training location: the former JC Penney space in the Yankton Mall.

  3 days ago

• An ode to the pheasant capital of the world

  For many South Dakotans, the third Saturday of October is Christmas morning’s toughest competition. Opening weekend is a time when friends and loved ones can come together, enjoy a beautiful fall weekend, and hopefully bag a few ringnecks in the “pheasant capital of the world.”

  3 days ago

• Take a deep breath and be grateful

  It’s either a routine or an addiction, I’m not sure. But I’m in the habit of watching the evening news, religiously. It’s most likely a religious addiction since I seldom have a “high” afterwards; rather, I’m left wanting more, and better. I realize the networks do their best to leave us with one cheery down-home story at the end of each newscast, but it doesn’t compensate for what we saw and heard earlier.

  4 days ago

• Sticky situation

  Often, for me, it’s a sin­gle image that real­ly makes a poem, and in this poem by Jeff Wor­ley, from his chap­book “Lucky Talk,” pub­lished by Broad­stone Books, it’s ​“a man con­duct­ing an orchestra/​of bees.”

  4 days ago

• It’s National Disability Employment Awareness Month

  I’ve spent a lot of time lately talking about South Dakota being ranked one of the hardest working states in the nation. And we continue to be the No. 1 state for economic recovery – Moody’s Analytics has our economy operating at 105% on its “Back to Normal Index.” Despite all these positive economic indicators, businesses here are still struggling with a common challenge: workforce shortages.

  4 days ago

• Noem speech presents startling meth picture

  Gov. Kristi Noem presented her first State of the State speech Tuesday and included a startling picture of the methamphetamine crisis plaguing our state.

  2 years ago