South Dakota
Staffing crisis cancels showers, activities at South Dakota State Penitentiary in Sioux Falls
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SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (Dakota Information Now) – Gov. Kristi Noem made modifications to the Division of Corrections final 12 months, hoping to resolve staffing shortages. The difficulty has solely gotten worse on the South Dakota State Penitentiary in Sioux Falls.
Final September, there was a 25% emptiness price for Correctional Officers on the Penitentiary, based on a report from a consulting agency employed by the Division of Corrections, CGL. The emptiness price now could be 46%, based on correctional officers.
“These are actual folks not imagined issues,” mentioned a member of the legislative corrections fee, Senator Troy Heintert. “You realize, it was over a 12 months in the past that we began speaking about staffing points , on the Penitentiary.”
Staffing on April 22-24 was so low that inmates couldn’t go away their cells for showers. Different actions have been canceled, together with a Pow Wow scheduled months in the past. Invites had been despatched to group and members of the family, and their safety functions have been reviewed for attendance.
“We had donated 100 kilos of buffalo meat,” mentioned Heinert. “So I don’t know if that, , now has went to waste.”
The Division of Corrections consultant, Michael Winder, says the meat is within the freezer for use on the subsequent Pow Wow.
Heinert is wanting ahead to listening to options from Kellie Wasko, the brand new secretary of corrections, “We now have to present the brand new secretary somewhat little bit of time however with very, very clear expectations.”
Heinert needs the legislature would have collectively taken extra motion over the last session and factors to the Governor’s workplace, “You realize, this governor has not included the corrections fee in her doubt occurring for years of workplace.”
Heinert isn’t the one one questioning state management. A Correctional Officer who needs to stay nameless additionally wrote in.
“It’s horrible. We’re shedding extra employees than we are able to rent. They’re shutting down actions on the weekends simply to get aid for the officers. The Warden has made the best name. Everyone’s burnt out from the obligatory time beyond regulation. It’s actually not the Warden’s fault its the laws’s fault for not bringing the aggressive wages to Sioux Falls to fulfill the demand of officers that we’d like.
That California report got here out and said that for each officer we employed two stop. We’re operating at half capability employees. I don’t know any enterprise that might deal with shedding half their workers and nonetheless operate correctly. Throw within the form of work we do or it’s already tense and harmful.
Proper now we’re receiving bonuses until June however these can be ending. Some employees are already planning on quitting when these finish.
Our Governor mentioned she was going to care for this downside, mentioned she backed regulation enforcement in South Dakota. All she did is put a band-aid on the issue, repair it quickly with bonuses. When it got here time to advocate for us long run she was nowhere to be heard or discovered.
When the report got here out we have been at 25% emptiness with 48 employees openings we are actually at 88 openings for the reason that report got here out now we have a complete of 191 officers. We are actually at 46% Emptiness.
After you depend in for officers taking a trip, folks calling in sick, a brand new employees being educated. It hardly leaves a functioning employees.”
When an inmate is upset by cancelations, correctional officers need to handle the frustration, making their job much more tough.
“When life was made tough for inmates, their jobs are going to be more durable,” mentioned Govt Director of the South Dakota State Workers Affiliation, Eric Ollila.
Seasoned employees imagine they’re second thought as focus shifts to hiring new employees.
“We’re shedding veteran valued workers for some scheme to attempt to herald some new people,” mentioned Eric Ollila.
Ollila pulled up a graphic on his pc of a flyer displaying a $5,000 hiring bonus for the primary 5 folks to just accept employment or take sure shifts at numerous prisons across the state. He believes the candidates gained’t even know in the event that they qualify for the hiring bonus or not.
Legislative summer time research conversations could discover options, like sharing state and native house.
Consultant Al Novstrup of Aberdeen believes an answer might be combining county and state sources with shared workplace and cell house and “representatives of counties representatives of state saying what’s one of the simplest ways to get the job performed on the lowest value,” mentioned Novstrup. In Aberdeen, a concrete-walled constructing is out there that Novstrup believes might be a great location.
Heinert says if a mixed house can be created, it must be extra centrally positioned for each east and west river wants.
As legislators take a look at options that can take time to implement, the problem of sufficient employees is obvious now on the State Penitentiary, particularly on weekends. There’s an odd workforce and a good workforce that takes reverse shifts every weekend. One of many groups is especially scuffling with sufficient protection. Correctional officers say the one overlap throughout that shift change on the weekends are the officers on obligatory time beyond regulation.
We reached out to Governor Noem’s workplace for an interview or assertion and didn’t obtain a response.
The Division of Corrections media consultant did reply saying:
Our present, annualized emptiness price for all positions within the DOC is 31.5%. We’re persevering with to work on employees pay, recruitment, and retention points. A number of examples embody:
- The Legislature accredited a historic 6% pay increase for state workers.
- Additionally included within the accredited finances was $6 million in focused pay will increase for present correctional employees.
- Positions included in these focused will increase embody the next: Corrections Specialist, Correctional Officer, Corrections Corporal, Corrections Sergeant, Corrections Captain, Corrections Main, Corrections Lieutenant, Unit Supervisor, Unit Coordinator, Case Supervisor, Sr. Case Supervisor, Coaching Specialist, Cultural Affairs Coordinator, Parole Agent, Sr Parole Agent, Jail Store Foreman, Springfield Vocational Industries employees, Senior Juvenile Corrections Agent, and Juvenile Corrections Brokers.
- The brand new beginning price of a brand new correctional officer will quickly enhance from $17.89 per hour to $20 per hour
- We’re providing a $5,000 hiring bonus to new correctional officers in Sioux Falls, Pierre, Springfield (night time shift).
- The momentary pay enhancements which were in place since July 2021 have been prolonged to June 8, 2022:
- Evening Shift Differential (hourly workers):
- $1.50 per hour can be paid for all hours labored throughout designated night time shift hours (5:30 PM to five:30 AM, 6:00 PM to six:00 AM) every single day of the week
- Workers working these hours will even obtain current weekend and different accredited differentials
- Shift Protection Price (hourly workers):
- Double-time (two occasions your base price) can be paid on a shift for which employees voluntarily fill hours. This price will apply to full and partial shifts. This price is paid on voluntarily coated shifts whatever the variety of different hours labored within the interval.
- The time-and-one-half time beyond regulation price applies on common shifts when hours exceed 80 hours within the two-week interval
- A retention bonus is being paid for current correctional employees primarily based on the variety of weeks an worker works. Full-time workers have been compensated as follows: October 1st- $400, December 1st- $500, February 1st- $600, April 1st $1,000.
- DOC pays a referral bonus to DOC workers who efficiently refer buddies or household to work as correctional officers
- BHR sponsored a invoice with the help of Gov. Noem to repair the vacation pay problem in order that hourly people who work on a vacation obtain the paid profit for his or her complete hours labored. Senate Invoice 68 handed the Legislature and was signed into regulation by the Governor.
- We’re additionally engaged on employees recruitment in numerous methods:
- DOC is a part of the Governor’s nationwide regulation enforcement recruitment marketing campaign
- We now have labored with the Bureau of Human Sources to carry job festivals the place potential employees can instantly apply for correctional officer positions
- We labored with a manufacturing firm to provide ads for tv, radio, and social media,” mentioned DOC consultant Michael Winder.
Copyright 2022 Dakota Information Now. All rights reserved.
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South Dakota
Videos: Gundy, Players Recap Win against South Dakota State
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STILLWATER — The Oklahoma State football team beat South Dakota State 44-20 on Saturday to start the season 1-0. After the game, Mike Gundy, Ollie Gordon, Alan Bowman, De’Zhaun Stribling, Collin Oliver, Korie Black and Trey Rucker met with reporters to recap the game.
South Dakota
South Dakota State vs. No. 17 Oklahoma State live stream (8/31/24): Watch college football, Week 1 online
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The South Dakota State Jackrabbits face the No. 17 Oklahoma State Cowboys on Saturday, Aug. 31, 2024 (8/31/24) at Boone Pickens Stadium in Stillwater, Oklahoma.
Fans can watch the game with a subscription to ESPN+.
Here’s what you need to know:
What: NCAA Football, Week 1
Who: South Dakota State vs. Oklahoma State
When: Saturday, Aug. 31, 2024 (8/31/24)
Where: Boone Pickens Stadium
Time: 2 p.m. ET
TV: N/A
Channel finder: Verizon Fios, AT&T U-verse, Comcast Xfinity, Spectrum/Charter, Optimum/Altice,Cox,DIRECTV, Dish, Hulu, fuboTV, Sling.
Live stream: ESPN+
***
Here’s a college football story from the Associated Press:
Y’all ain’t played nobody!
It might as well be college football’s slogan. Debates about strength of schedule are part of the fabric of the sport, like marching bands, cheerleaders and tailgating.
With the size of the College Football Playoff tripling in size from four teams to 12 this season — including seven at-large bids — expect the arguments over the relative difficulty of teams’ schedules to increase exponentially.
The posturing and politicking has already begun.
“This is the NFL of college football in my mind,” Nebraska coach Matt Rhule said during Big Ten media days. At Southeastern Conference media days, the NFL was also invoked when the topic steered to schedules.
“As coaches we want to play the best. People forget that when you’ve spent time in the NFL, every week was like that,” Georgia coach Kirby Smart said. “So when Texas and Oklahoma came into the conference, every schedule was going to get harder.”
The debates aren’t just about which conferences are the best. With super-sized conferences of 16-18 teams, the differences in strength of schedule within leagues can be significant.
The CFP selection committee uses a strength-of-schedule rating provided by SportSource Analytics that includes components such as wins and losses, scoring differential and game location.
Balancing who you played with how you played will be harder than ever.
“There’s a weight on the committee that’s new. I want to see how the committee processes that,” SEC Commissioner Greg Sankey said during spring meetings. “And my encouragement is that this, ‘Well, we have an undefeated team so they’re in’ is not the standard. It never was the standard. Obviously, that stirred up controversy last year.”
Toughest schedules in the Power Four
There are dozens of data-based rating systems to measure the relative strength of college football teams, and all have some type of schedule-rating component.
The AP took three systems — ESPN’s SP+, FEI and KFord Ratings — and averaged their strength of schedule rankings for all 134 Bowl Subdivision teams to determine where each Power Four team’s schedule ranks nationally (all games, not just conference games, are factored in).
Using those projections, SEC teams on average will be facing the toughest schedules this season.
The average strength-of-schedule ranking among the 16 SEC teams is 11.2, from Florida (a unanimous No. 1 among all three systems) to Missouri at 36.7.
Half the teams in the SEC have schedules with an average national ranking of 10 or better, including No. 1 Georgia at 3.7. No. 11 Missouri is the only SEC team with an average schedule-strength ranking below 25.3.
Rating the rest
The Big Ten, now including Southern California, UCLA, Oregon and Washington, is next with an average strength-of-schedule ranking of 26.9 among its 18 teams.
Purdue’s 7.7 average ranking is the highest followed by No. 23 USC at 9. Big Ten favorite No. 2 Ohio State’s average is 34. No. 3 Oregon’s is 26.7.
The ACC and Big 12 are about the same. The 17-team ACC has an average strength of schedule ranking of 49.9. The 16-team Big 12′s average ranking is 47.3.
Assessing strength of schedule
Straight up rankings can be deceiving. How to quantify the difference between facing the sixth-ranked schedule and 26th?
Brian Fremeau, the creator of FEI, does it three ways, asking three questions: How many games would an elite team lose facing a particular schedule? How many would a good team lose? How many would an average team lose?
AP used FEI’s strength of schedule ratings based on good teams in its composite rankings, since good teams are going to be the ones in the CFP race.
Based on FEI projections, the difference between playing Georgia’s schedule (rated 3.4 among the hardest in the nation) and Ohio State (34) is about one more loss for a good team against the Bulldogs’ slate. The difference between Alabama’s schedule and Big 12 favorite Utah’s is about two losses for a good team against the Tide’s.
If these schedule strength projections held — they will change throughout the season — it would then be reasonable to compare an 11-1 Utah to a 9-3 Alabama.
Reasonable to compare doesn’t necessarily mean the one with the tougher schedule should automatically be ranked higher.
“I don’t judge a team on its schedule. I judge a team on how it performs against a schedule, or my system does. And that is a little more of a nuanced take then, ‘Well, we played a tougher set of opponents than you did, therefore, we’re better,’” Fremeau said. “There’s a bit of a balancing act between the two.”
Intraconference debates
The SEC and Big Ten are both bigger and division-less for the first time. That necessitated new tiebreaker procedures to determine which teams qualify for conference title games featuring the top two teams in the standings.
Within the guidelines is an acknowledgment that the rigor of conference schedules will vary when teams are playing barely half the league. After head-to-head and record vs. common opponents are used to break ties, both leagues go to results that favor the team that fared better against the better conference opponents they play.
The ACC, a year ahead of the the SEC and Big Ten in abandoning divisions, has a similar nod within its tiebreakers to strength of schedule.
ACC Associate Commissioner Michael Strickland said the conference used 10 years of data that measures the success of its football teams to help create a new schedule rotation that would be competitively balanced. But the ACC also to had weigh travel now that Stanford, California and SMU are members, as well as protecting some traditional annual rivalries.
The ACC’s fourth two-team tiebreaker is combined winning percentage of conference opponents.
“Our head football coaches suggested that we insert that during our review process,” Strickland said.
The CFP choices
The CFP field announced Dec. 8 will be comprised of the five highest-ranked conference champions, regardless of league, and seven at-large selections. There is no limit to the number of at-large bids a conference can receive.
The most interesting comparisons for the CFP selection committee might end up being between the many conference rivals that do not play each other in the regular season.
What to do with a 10-2 Missouri and a 9-3 Alabama (composite strength-of-schedule ranking, 9.3)? Or Iowa (37) at 10-2 and Michigan (16) at 9-3? Over in the ACC, what would happen while assessing a 10-2 Virginia Tech (68) and a 9-3 Florida State (30.3)?
“Especially when we’re picking (seven) teams now, we’re looking at the loss column with a bit more scrutiny,” Fremeau said. “They’re going to be debating teams like that with a one or possibly two-game difference in record, but a comparable difference in expected schedule rating and they’re going to have that debate about which one they value more.”
(The Associated Press contributed to this report)
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South Dakota
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