RAPID CITY, S.D. (KOTA) – Climatologically speaking, Western South Dakota is one of the sunniest parts of the Nation.

“The eastern side of the Black Hills is kind of notorious for having a lot of sunshine,” Dr. Darren Clabo, South Dakota State Fire Meteorologist, said, “300 some-odd sunshine days a year.”

With that in mind, our fusion reactor in the sky can be a lucrative energy source.

Jacob Van Cleave is a grad student studying wildfire growth in the meteorology program at the South Dakota School of Mines and Technology, where Dr. Clabo teaches. He used his research and a forecasting internship with an energy company to study the impact of wildfires on renewable energy.

“We have longer periods of those clear skies,” Van Cleave says, “We have more direct contact with peak solar heating; we’re pretty similar in the rate of the energy production you would get in Florida.”

But with all the dry weather and sunshine that’s happened, there is a caveat, Dr. Clabo explains.

“Over the past ten years, we’ve seen an increase in the number of fires across the Western United States,” Clabo said, “And so, the smoke production has also gone up considerably.”

And the longer this pattern goes on, those looking to capitalize on solar energy have some things to consider because of how solar cells work.

“If you cover up a solar panel, think of a three-by-three or four-by-four sized solar panel with a penny, you reduce (the solar panel) to one percent of generation,” Van Cleave explained, “The way the cells work … they’re interlocked together. If you block one cell, you only get the charges that jump from the one cell to the next.”

When you relate these effects to wildfires, this is how smoke and ash affect solar panels:

“When you get wildfire smoke, those particles not only stick if they fall and act like a sediment – stick on to the panel – not only will they affect how efficiently that panel can absorb energy from the sun, you’ll also have solar rays hitting those particulates in the atmosphere and reducing production 20 to 50 percent depending on how extreme the smoke case is,” Van Cleave said.

There is at least something those using solar panels can do to take care of what touches the panel during a smoky wildfire. Van Cleave says they can work with the Environmental Protection Agency to find a company that can professionally clean them.

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GRAND FORKS — The UND football program will try to snap out of a two-game road losing skid by returning to the Alerus Center to face the two-time defending national champions South Dakota State.

Here are eight things you need to know about the Jackrabbits.

Two former UND players are on South Dakota State’s roster in offensive tackle Sam Hagen and wide receiver Marcus Preston.

Preston, a senior, caught 29 passes for 285 yards across his first three seasons of college football at UND.

The Kansas native has never become a major factor in Brookings. He has one catch this season for 4 yards – a touchdown against Youngstown State on Oct. 12.

Hagen, a Fordville, N.D., native, transferred to SDSU after the 2023 season as UND lost its offensive line coach (Joe Pawlak to Montana) and offensive coordinator (Danny Freund to SDSU) in the offseason.

Hagen has been slotted as the starter for the Jacks all season, although he missed a few games with an injury in the middle of the season. He’s expected to play against his old team on Saturday.

The Jackrabbits will have two coaches with UND backgrounds in the Alerus Center this weekend.

Former UND quarterback and assistant coach Danny Freund now shares offensive coordinator duties for SDSU, while former UND running backs coach Robbie Rouse is a running backs coach for the Jacks.

After leaving UND, Rouse spent one season at Cal Poly before joining SDSU in 2023.

As a player, Freund was 16-6 as a two-year starter for the then-Fighting Sioux, finishing his career as the program’s most accurate passer (68.9 percent). He threw for 5,239 yards and 47 touchdowns.

Freund coached running backs (2011-12), quarterbacks (2013), wide receivers (2014-18) and was then elevated to offensive coordinator following the 2018 season.

Freund spent the 2022 and 2023 seasons with the associate head coach label.

South Dakota State head coach Jimmy Rogers paid a compliment to UND wide receiver Bo Belquist during a weekly press conference in Brookings.

“I think they have arguably the best wide receiver in FCS football in Bo Belquist,” Rogers said. “He should be an All-American the way he competes and plays.”

Belquist, a fifth-year senior who became UND’s all-time receptions leader earlier this season, has 48 catches for 754 yards and nine touchdowns this season.

South Dakota State quarterback Mark Gronowski is beating teams with his arms and legs – a trait that hurt UND in the latest back-to-back road losses.

Gronowski enters the weekend with his hand in 114 career touchdowns: 82 passing, 31 rushing and one receiving.

In 2023 in Brookings against UND, Gronowski threw for 167 yards and a touchdown and ran for a touchdown.

In 2022 at UND, Gronowski threw for 197 yards and three touchdowns. He also ran for two touchdowns.

In a loss at UND in the spring of 2021, Gronowski threw for 309 yards and two touchdowns and was intercepted twice – the only two-interception game of the season.

South Dakota State has become an NFL pipeline in recent years with six former Jacks on opening day NFL rosters in 2024, led by tight ends Dallas Goedert of the Philadelphia Eagles and Tucker Kraft of the Green Bay Packers.

SDSU had two players selected in the 2024 NFL Draft with Mason McCormick taken in the fourth round by the Pittsburgh Steelers and Isaiah Davis taken in the fifth round by the New York Jets.

Davis has returned seven kickoffs for 179 yards this season. He has four carries for 18 yards.

UND enters the weekend coming off back-to-back losses and Rogers knows that could create a desperate opponent.

“They need this win, and they know that,” Rogers said. “We have to play with a certain edge. It’s a tough environment. We have to be prepared for a 60-minute game.”

The Jackrabbits trailed 14-0 the last time SDSU came to Grand Forks. The Jacks, however, used an interception return for a touchdown to flip momentum in a 38-21 victory.

With Isaiah Davis now in the NFL, SDSU has new opportunities in the backfield and Angel Johnson has emerged as a threat.

Johnson ran for a career-best 132 yards on just seven carries last week in a dominant win over Murray State. He scored on a 67-yard run late in the first quarter.

Of Johnson’s nine career touchdowns, six have covered 50 or more yards, including all three this season.

He scored on a 50-yard touchdown run against UND in 2023.

South Dakota State’s 2023 standout wide receivers – Jadon and Jaxon Janke – have graduated, opening the door for a breakout season for sophomore Griffin Wilde.

Wilde had seven catches for 150 yards in the season opener at Oklahoma State.

Wilde had 10 catches the following week against Incarnate Word.

For the season, Wilde has 44 receptions for 571 receiving yards.

Wilde has cooled on his torrid start but still had three catches for 78 yards last week against Murray State.

In her quest to become the first female president, Vice President Kamala Harris portrayed herself as a champion of women’s rights, putting abortion rights at the forefront of her campaign. 

But she fell short, South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem explains in an interview, because in doing so, Harris and the Democrats failed to meet voters where they are. 

“I think what was so interesting during this campaign is we consistently saw Kamala Harris and the Democrats try to put women in a box,” Noem told Fox News Digital. “They tried to define women as only caring about abortion and their health care. They didn’t really give them due credit for being the individuals out there that are raising families and caring about their children’s education and paying their bills and pursuing their careers.”

Among the more surprising findings from the 2024 election is that Harris under-performed with women compared to President Biden’s support four years ago.

HARRIS FORMALLY CONCEDES ONE DAY AFTER TRUMP’S SWEEPING VICTORY

President-elect Trump prevailed Tuesday in a decisive victory, sweeping all the key battleground states and winning a majority in the national popular vote – the first time a Republican has done so in 20 years. Voter concerns about the economy and immigration propelled Trump’s triumphant return to the White House. But he also expanded his base with traditionally Democratic constituencies, including Black, Hispanic and young voters, according to the Fox News Voter Analysis. 

The election showcased many of the nation’s deep divides, particularly in gender. Men voted for Trump by 10 points, while women supported Harris by 8 points. The 18-point gender gap was slightly bigger than in the 2020 presidential election (17 points).

That widening was due to Trump improving 5 points among men since 2020. But Harris also under-performed with women compared to President Biden, who won the female vote by 12 points. 

Harris became the Democratic frontrunner after President Biden suspended his bid for re-election in July amid reports of his declining mental acuity in the wake of a poor debate performance against Trump in June. Biden quickly endorsed Harris, who made “reproductive rights” a top issue on the campaign trail, a strategy that would ultimately not win over enough swing state voters. Harris was the Democrat nominee for only about four months.

DONALD TRUMP JR., KRISTI NOEM JOIN FRANKLIN GRAHAM IN HELENE-TORN NORTH CAROLINA WITH SAMARITAN’S PURSE

Vice President Kamala Harris put abortion and women’s rights at the forefront of her unsuccessful 2024 campaign.  (Getty Images)

GOP strategists told Fox News Digital that the Harris campaign’s abortion strategy was ineffective against Trump, who had argued the issue returned to the states after the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade in 2022. 

Noem added that abortion is just not the only priority for women in America.  She campaigned for Trump in Pennsylvania and other swing states, promoting his policies and taking questions from voters. 

“We’ve got women running businesses that want their communities to be safe. They want to thrive. And they certainly don’t want a president that doesn’t protect women and the opportunities they have in front of them,” she told Fox News Digital. 

The governor also criticized Harris’ team for “minimizing women” in the closing weeks of the election, referencing how Harris surrogate Mark Cuban had said Trump never surrounds himself with “strong, intelligent women.” 

SOUTH DAKOTA GOV. KRISTI NOEM SIGNS BILL BANNING SOME GENDER-RELATED MEDICAL, SURGICAL PROCEDURES FOR MINORS

South Dakota Governor Kristi Noem greets attendees as she speaks on Day 1 of the Republican National Convention (RNC) at the Fiserv Forum in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, on July 15, 2024.  (REUTERS/Brian Snyder)

“They even went so far as to call women weak and dumb, you know, by their surrogtates. And I think that was offensive to many of us across the country,” said Noem. 

She also said the Democrats’ far-left positions on abortion and transgender issues have made it easier for Republicans to take “common sense” positions that most Americans agree with.

“Kamala Harris and her Democratic Party have become more and more extreme on gender issues, on abortion. It’s easier for Republicans and our candidates and President Trump to use common sense to talk to the American people about truly how extreme the Democrats want to take this country and what we can do to make sure that every single person in this country, whether you’re a man or woman, that you get an opportunity,” she said. 

The Trump campaign and associated political action committees leaned in to the culture wars with millions of dollars spent on ads that attacked Democrats and Harris as too liberal on gender issues.

Governor of South Dakota, Kristi Noem visits FOX Business Network’s “Varney & Co” at Fox Business Network Studios on May 7, 2024, in New York City.  (John Lamparski/Getty Images)

“Kamala is for they/them. Trump is for you,” one of Trump’s strongest attack ads concluded. The New York Times reported that Trump’s anti-trans ads shifted the race 2.7 percentage points in Trump’s favor after viewers watched it. 

Noem has also fought the culture wars. In South Dakota, she signed legislation that banned puberty blockers, cross-sex hormone treatments and sex-change operations for transgender individuals under the age of 18. She has spoken repeatedly about keeping biological men who identify as transgender out of women’s sports and protecting opportunities for women and girls.

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“President Trump is not going to let mediocre men take away opportunities for our outstanding women,” Noem said. It was Harris, she argued, who would have women on an “uncompetitive playing field.” 

Asked if she had discussed joining the new administration, Noem said she had not had any conversations with the president-elect about a job. 

“He knows I’ll help him any way that I can. But I spoke to him today, and he’s in great spirits. He’s looking forward to getting his administration set up. And I think he’s already getting phone calls from world leaders and working with people on his transition team to make sure that he’s ready to hit the ground running.” 

“I love being the governor of South Dakota,” she added. “So we’ll continue to be a strong advocate for President Trump. He’s my friend, I’m so happy for him. And if he asks me to do something, well, we’ll make a decision at that time.”