It is the season for salamanders!

Nicholas Gaye, a naturalist with Lake Metroparks, said Northeast Ohio is home to about 15 species of salamander, each with their own habitat. But one of these species, the mole salamander, has a habitat unlike the others.

“Most of their time they’re spending is actually underneath the ground,” Gaye said.

Mole salamanders emerge once a year during the transition from winter to spring. This yearly migration was the delight of Lake County nature enthusiasts Saturday at the Penitentiary Glen Reservation, where nationalists shared facts about these elusive amphibians, pointing them out and guiding families along the trail.

During these migrations, the salamanders trek to the surface in search of vernal pools, bodies of water that fill with rain and melted snow but dry in the summer and lack fish, the predators of salamander eggs.

Then, after four to eight weeks of development, the baby salamanders will emerge and spend a year or three in that vernal pool until they can survive on land.

If you missed it, don’t worry, because Gaye said the migration typically lasts for a week or two at the beginning of the season, and he expects further opportunities for viewing depending on the temperature. Mole salamanders require moist conditions to travel, so look for rainy and warm nights.

Additionally, he expects that another species, the marble salamander, will undergo its annual migration in the fall.

If you plan to join the hunt, however, Gaye asks for caution.

“As humans, we are stewards to our environment,” he said. “And it’s really important that, when we get out there to enjoy these amazing opportunities, that we’re being respectful and caring towards the critters that we’re coming across.”

Nicole Chaps Wyman

Salamanders are slow-moving, so Gaye said observers should bring a flashlight to avoid stepping on them. Then, if you intend to touch them, he said to avoid anything on your hands that contains heavy metals, such as scented lotions, sunscreen, bug spray, or other products.

“Salamander skin is semi-permeable, meaning things can get through it easily and, if those heavy metals get through, they can really hurt the salamanders,” Gaye said.

Wet hands are also encouraged, as is limited exposure to what, at the end of the day, is considered a wild animal.

Lake Metroparks also has a salamander migration email list, which you can sign up for on their website.

PIERRE — Two pieces of a property tax reduction package prepared by South Dakota’s legislative leadership and the executive branch are moving forward, but one bill failed during votes on Monday as lawmakers began the final week of the annual legislative session.

The House of Representatives voted

42-27

in support of

Senate Bill 245

, which would pull future revenue from a scheduled sales tax increase from 4.2% to 4.5% next year into a relief fund for homeowner property taxes, and use nearly $56 million in one-time money to seed the fund before the sales tax increase.

The Senate supported

House Bill 1323

, which would reduce the number of petition signatures needed to force an election on a local government’s decision to levy property taxes beyond limits set by the state. The Senate passed the bill 19-15.

Both bills have to return to the opposite chamber for consideration of amendments.

The Senate rejected

House Bill 1253

, which would cap annual assessment growth for owner-occupied homes and commercial properties at 5% annually and reset assessments back to market value every five years. The bill failed with a 9-24 vote.

The bills are part of a broader,

five-bill legislative package

targeted at property tax relief.

Another bill

in the package, which would allow counties to implement a half-percent sales tax with proceeds going to homeowner property tax credits, is awaiting the governor’s signature after he proposed it and it received both chambers’ approval.

The legislative budget committee is scheduled to consider a fifth piece of legislation in the package on Tuesday.

The bill

would reduce maximum property tax levies for school districts.

SB 245 would capture revenue from the impending sales tax increase to deposit into a “homeowner property tax reduction fund” meant to reduce property taxes levied by school districts. The Legislature and then-Gov. Kristi Noem reduced the state sales tax rate three years ago but scheduled the reduction to sunset in 2027.

House Speaker Jon Hansen, R-Dell Rapids, told lawmakers on Monday that the bill would be an “investment in the people,” because it’ll give South Dakota homeowners more money to spend as they choose. Hansen, the bill’s sponsor and a candidate for governor, said that would lead to more spending and, therefore, more sales tax revenue. The state relies on sales taxes, while counties and schools rely on property taxes, and cities receive revenue from property taxes and sales taxes.

Some opponents said the legislation would favor wealthier, property-owning South Dakotans rather than lower-income renters.

Rep. Mike Weisgram, R-Fort Pierre, worried that automatically diverting future state revenue to reduce homeowner property taxes would come at the cost of other priorities, such as annual funding increases for state employees, Medicaid providers and public schools — which are known as the “big three” budget priorities. Lawmakers often

aim

to increase funding for the groups by 3% or inflation, whichever is less. An inflationary increase this legislative session would be 2.5%, according to the state Department of Education.

“We are just clawing to get 1.4% for the big three,” Weisgram said. “I don’t think any of us are proud of that.”

Hansen said the decision “is not an either-or” situation.

“We can help the property taxpayers in the state who desperately, desperately need it,” Hansen said, “and then I trust fully that this state is going to continue to grow and that we are going to be able to meet the needs of our core obligations of this state.”

The bill was introduced as an amendment to placeholder legislation last week, and it will head to the Senate for approval. The Senate narrowly rejected a

similar proposal

earlier this legislative session.

The version of House Bill 1323 that passed the Senate would set the number of petition signatures needed to force an election on an excess tax levy (often called an “opt-out”) for a local government at 2,500 or 5% of registered voters within its jurisdiction, whichever is less. The current threshold to refer decisions by a local government is 5% of registered voters in the district, without a 2,500 signature cap.

The bill’s sponsor, Sen. Taffy Howard, R-Rapid City, said it will still be difficult to refer decisions by a local government to voters.

“You’re talking dozens and dozens of volunteers, weeks of organized effort,” Howard said. “There’s not a lot of people that have been through that and can even organize that kind of effort. So it’s not a trivial bar.”

Because the bill was amended since it last appeared in the House, it’ll now go to the House for approval.

HB 1253 intended to provide South Dakota homeowners and commercial property owners predictable increases in their property assessments, which factor into property taxes they pay, over five year periods.

But opponents said the change would shift the property tax burden onto farmers and ranchers and surprise homeowners every five years when assessments would be re-based on market value, which could lead to double-digit increases in assessments.

This story was originally published on

SouthDakotaSearchlight.com.

BELOIT, Wis. — State Senator Mark Spreitzer (D-Beloit) and Representative Clinton Anderson (D-Beloit) introduced LRB-5709 on March 5, legislation that would implement ranked choice voting for state, federal, and local elections in Wisconsin.

The Wisconsin legislation would also eliminate the need for February primaries in nonpartisan elections.

Today, voters in Wisconsin almost never elect independent candidates, because the state’s elections are decided by first-past-the-post plurality voting (FPPV). In this system, a voter’s expression of preference is restricted to a single candidate. Each voter has just one choice, and if there are more than two candidates in the race, winning by plurality rather than majority is quite possible. 

Consequently, no matter how attractive an independent candidate may seem in the spring, summer, and early fall of an election year, he or she will be tarnished as a “spoiler” on Election Day and will almost certainly lose. 

This unfortunate situation reduces the supply of independent candidates willing to compete and perpetually forces Americans into one of two warring factions.

In contrast, ranked-choice voting (RCV) allows voters to express their true preference for each candidate by ranking them in order of preference. 

If no candidate wins an outright majority, the candidate with the lowest number of first-place votes is eliminated, and the second-preference votes of his or her supporters are redistributed to the remaining candidates. 

This “instant runoff” process continues until a majority winner is determined. Not only does RCV give voters “more voice” in elections, but it also has the potential to stop our political system from tearing us apart into two camps.

Senator Spreitzer called the bill an improvement over a system that forces strategic voting. 

“Under ranked choice voting, voters can vote for the candidate they like the most instead of having to strategically vote against the candidate they like the least,” he said.

“It is a system that encourages positive campaigns, ensures that winners have the support of a majority of voters, and allows more candidates to run without being seen as a waste of a vote or a spoiler.”

Representative Anderson pointed to existing models as evidence that the system works. 

“Ranked choice voting is not a new idea. It’s already working in states like Maine and Alaska, and in cities like New York City,” he said.

“Our current system rewards candidates for tearing each other down instead of building broad support. Ranked choice voting changes that. It encourages campaigns focused on issues and coalition-building, ensures nominees win with a true majority, and creates space for more voices beyond the two-party system.”

For the best analysis of the pernicious effects of a lack of competition in our political system, please read The Politics Industry by Wisconsinite Katherine M. Gehl and her co-author, Harvard Business School professor Michael E. Porter.