Consumer advocates might have choked a bit when the Ohio Supreme Court ruled a restaurant diner who got a bone stuck in his throat from “boneless” chicken wings couldn’t sue.

The court ruled 4-3 on July 25 that reasonable customers should expect the meal might have chicken bones, despite the menu billing the dish as bone free.

SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (Dakota News Now) – What would it feel like to be an adult and find out you were considered a missing person since you were a baby?

That’s the real-life story of a woman with ties to South Dakota.

First Alert Investigator Beth Warden brings us the twists and turns in an incredible life story.

This woman, born in South Dakota, is proud to say her name.

“Ohitikaȟwiŋ Aŋúkašúŋ Ȟopá. Translated, that means brave woman, beautiful bald eagle.”

For many years, she didn’t know her name or her past. Older sister Phyllis remembers the tiny infant who she called Roberta, a half-sister who disappeared.

“My dad was working in law enforcement, and his ex-wife was Roberta’s mom. She and my father got into it, and she took the babies and headed out.

Phyllis said her dad, a tribal law enforcement officer, searched for his daughter, reporting her missing.

“He never did find him,” Phyllis said.

Meanwhile, with her mother, Ohitikaȟwiŋ was growing up in a hell of her own.

“I just knew that, as far back as I can remember, I was locked in an attic and in a very abusive family,” said Ohitikaȟwiŋ.

She was kept away from others.

“Having a little window to look out, and I remember seeing kids outside and wondering why I can’t be out there,” said Ohitikaȟwiŋ. “I just couldn’t understand why love had to hurt.”

Social services got a tip and removed the beaten, sick and emaciated girl.

“Lucky enough to land in a foster home with a lady named Florence Krause, and when I would feel that pain, she was right there to accompany me, letting me know that I was safe and that I didn’t have to feel that fear anymore,” said Ohitikaȟwiŋ.

Her next step was the Job Corps.

“Into welding-iron work because a lot of people told me that I’m a female — ‘You can’t do that.’ Like, ‘Alright, I’m going to do it, especially since you said I couldn’t.’”

And when she wasn’t at work?

“I guess, with all the anger I had, I would fight in the streets. And a promoter saw me and got me into boxing, and I trained with Jeff Mayweather, and then I went from boxing to the MMA cage. So that helped me get a lot of my anger out,” said Ohitikaȟwiŋ.

Her foster mom discovered a family connection.

“Did some research about me and everything, and she was the one that actually told me, ‘You do have a dad out there. You do have another family. You’re Native American,’” said Ohitikaȟwiŋ.

That’s when she learned that she was a missing person.

“I didn’t know that I was taken until my sister Phyllis told me,” said Ohitikaȟwiŋ.

The fear of rejection melted away as her dad on the phone said, “Please come home.”

“When I first laid eyes on my dad, I just started crying. I was like, ‘I know that’s my dad.’ I look just like him. And he met me at the gate where he lives, and we both just hugged each other and just started crying,” said Ohitikaȟwiŋ.

“My dad was so happy. He said, ‘I’ve always wondered where you were. Always wondered everything about you,’” said Phyllis.

She met and heard stories of her siblings — all 23 of them.

“What? I have that many brothers and sisters? I felt so alone for so long, and to find out that I have all these brothers and sisters — I was just so happy,” said Ohitikaȟwiŋ.

She’s following in her dad’s footsteps in the film industry and as a model. Discovering her family and her culture brings healing.

“A lot of the pain, a lot of the anger that I had, I don’t have anymore. I’m happy,” said Ohitikaȟwiŋ.

For those still missing a loved one — “To the ones that are lost, don’t give up. Never give up.”

Ohitikaȟwiŋ said she did look at pressing charges against her mother but was told it was too late due to the statute of limitations.

If you have tips about a missing person, you can contact law enforcement or remain anonymous by reporting your tips through Crimestoppers.

Copyright 2024 Dakota News Now. All rights reserved.

MANITOWOC – In the port cities that line Wisconsin’s eastern coast, access to Lake Michigan supports a broad swath of industries including cargo transportation, heavy machinery manufacturing, agricultural exports and the malt supply for some of Wisconsin’s iconic craft brewing operations.

In a recent visit to three of those ports, U.S. Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg was traveling in his official capacity, despite reports indicating he is likely in consideration as a potential running mate for Democratic Vice President Kamala Harris. Harris is expected to meet this weekend with several candidates as she takes the helm of the Democratic presidential ticket, following President Joe Biden’s withdrawal from the race late last month.

While Buttigieg — a former mayor of South Bend, Ind., and 2020 presidential candidate — adhered to the constraints of traveling as a representative of the federal government rather than a campaign, his message was clear: the investments he was highlighting exist in the context of an administration that enacted the $1.2 trillion Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, $17 billion of which was directed to ports and waterways.

“The last administration (under Republican former President Donald Trump) talked a good game about infrastructure but failed to get a package through,” Buttigieg told the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel during a Tuesday stop at Briess Malt & Ingredients Co. “This is different. This is a season of infrastructure, not just a so-called Infrastructure Week, which was getting to be a bit of a joke in Washington in the last administration. This is an infrastructure decade, and we’re in the middle of it.”

The $1.2 trillion package, which Biden signed into law in 2021, addresses nearly every facet of American infrastructure, including public transportation, roads, bridges, ports, railways, power grids, broadband internet, as well as water and sewage systems. It marked the largest investment in the country’s infrastructure in decades and, Buttigieg said, will make streets safer, improve the climate and save lives.

“Everything about this excites me. And it’s just so powerful to look at the difference between talking and doing,” he said.

Buttigieg had made his way down to Manitowoc from Menominee, Mich., and visited Milwaukee the following day.

The Menominee Harbor port received $21 million in federal funding in June to reconstruct deteriorating port infrastructure and boost rail capacity. 

In Manitowoc, Buttigieg toured Broadwind Heavy Fabrications, which processes more than 100,000 tons of steel each year, enabling the production of a variety of components and machinery including large cranes used by the U.S. Navy, mining equipment and wind turbines.

He then visited Briess, a family-owned business of more than 100 years that produces malts, or malted barley, used by breweries including New Glarus, Central Waters, Great Dane and Milwaukee Brewing Company.

“Our real goal here is to look at another side of America’s supply chains. Container shipping at the coast is important, but that’s only part of the story. Another very important part of the story is our Great Lakes ports, and the economy that connects into them,” Buttigieg said.

In the Marinette, Wisconsin and Menominee, Michigan area, Buttigieg said, he saw how much the port has grown and noted the influence of the wind industry and pulp movement on the supply chain and the creation of good-paying jobs.

“Here (in Manitowoc), we saw these enormous, colossal cranes that are such an important part of America’s defense system, and the range of products from that, to the barley that we’re looking at as part of this malting process, that they’re all only possible because of goods movement,” he told the Journal Sentinel. “And that’s why we’re investing in the ports as well as the railroad improvements, the roads and bridges and highways and everything else. That’s part of the Biden-Harris infrastructure package.”

Asked what, as transportation secretary, he would like to see from Congress to further support infrastructure funding, Buttigieg noted the government is “smack in the middle of the life of this five year bill, (so) we’re already starting to talk about what will happen in 2026.”

“We need sustained support for meaningful infrastructure investments,” he said. “Some of these, including the port infrastructure development programs, are funded with year-to-year appropriations. So it’s not just the Biden-Harris infrastructure package; we need support every single year to keep these programs going, to make investments like the ones we’re making in Wisconsin.”

Buttigieg said it’s also important for lawmakers to stay engaged with the federal government to ensure local projects are receiving the support they need.

“This is something that we talk to (Wisconsin Democratic Sen.) Tammy Baldwin a lot about,” he said. “She was there for us when we were trying to get the (infrastructure) bill passed. She’s also very focused on things like ‘made in America’ and project delivery that are going to help make sure the projects are successful.”

As Harris and Trump face off for the presidency, Baldwin faces a challenge from Republican businessman Eric Hovde as she seeks a third Senate term.

In a call with reporters ahead of his Wisconsin visits, state Republican officials called Buttigieg’s events a “taxpayer-funded trip for the secretary to come out and audition for vice president.”

“What he’s not going to do is talk to voters, show up at a grocery store checkout counter and understand the frustration that people have with the Biden-Harris administration,” U.S. Rep. Bryan Steil said. 

Asked about federal grants for infrastructure that Buttigieg is highlighting in Wisconsin, Steil said “logical investments in our state infrastructure is a positive thing.”

“(The) concern that all of us have with the Biden-Harris administration is the overall amount of reckless spending,” he said. “When you see the secretary come in, he’s going to cherry-pick key investments. What he’s not going to do is highlight the number of flawed investments that his administration is trying to shove through, in particular electric vehicle charging stations, the inability of the FAA to operate efficiently.”

Republican Party of Wisconsin Chairman Brian Schimming referred to Buttigieg’s visit as “the Democrat vice presidential Olympics” making an appearance in Wisconsin.

Asked what kind of role he’d like to hold in a potential Harris administration, Buttigieg said, “All I’ll say is I’m proud to be doing the work that I’m doing.”

Buttigieg said he’s honored the Biden-Harris administration trusted him with the opportunity “because there’s never been a more dynamic or exciting time to be the Secretary of Transportation.”

Hope Karnopp of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel contributed.

Jessie Opoien can be reached at jessie.opoien@jrn.com.