South Dakota
States should be reimbursed for sending law enforcement to border, Curtis says – South Dakota Searchlight
Utah Republican Rep. John Curtis has introduced a bill in Congress that would reimburse states for costs they incur at the nation’s southern border.
Curtis announced the Border Security State Reimbursement Act earlier this week ahead of his Thursday visit to the border — his third — in Sierra Vista, Arizona, where he spoke in an oversight hearing of the Natural Resources Subcommittee on Federal Lands.
The bill is one sentence: “The Secretary of Homeland Security shall reimburse to a State each expense of such State determined by the Secretary to be related to securing the southern international border of the United States.” The legislation does not currently have any cosponsors.
Curtis blamed President Joe Biden and Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas for allowing the situation at the border to deteriorate to the point that it requires state intervention.
“Congress has the power of the purse, and we must support these states spending dollars to end this humanitarian crisis. It is enabling fentanyl trafficking that hurts Utahns,” Curtis said in a statement.
Curtis pointed to $4 billion Texas has spent in the past two years on border security measures, and a request from Arizona Gov. Katie Hobbs to the federal government for reimbursement of $512 million that state has spent at the border.
Other states have sent, or are sending, National Guard troops to the border. South Dakota has spent at least $1.3 million from its Emergency and Disaster Fund on two state-ordered National Guard deployments to the Texas border, plus $1 million to support the deployments from a wealthy donor in Tennessee. South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem has said she ordered the troop deployments with no expectation of repayment.
Curtis announced the bill the same day that Utah Senate President Stuart Adams told reporters he believes Gov. Spencer Cox should send troops to the border, both to assist in management efforts and to show solidarity with other states.
A bipartisan proposal to reform federal immigration law fell apart earlier this week in Congress.
— The staff of South Dakota Searchlight contributed to this report.
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South Dakota
Republican businessman Toby Doeden advances to primary runoff in South Dakota governor’s race
Republican businessman Toby Doeden has advanced to a runoff in South Dakota governor’s race, NBC News projects.
Gov. Larry Rhoden, who replaced Kristi Noem last year when President Donald Trump nominated her to lead the Department of Homeland Security, was battling with Rep. Dusty Johnson and former state House Speaker Jon Hansen for a second spot in the July 28 runoff. The primary will go to a runoff because no candidate eclipsed 35% of the vote.
Trump did not issue an endorsement in the race. Doeden branded himself on his campaign website as “a total political outsider who’s tired of the government’s failure to deliver on its promises” and one of Trump’s “fiercest supporters.”
Rhoden, a former lieutenant governor, agriculture secretary and lawmaker, campaigned on property tax cuts and lowering crime in his bid for a four-year term.
Johnson is the state’s lone representative in the House, where he previously was chair of the Republican Main Street Caucus. Hansen, who was elected to the South Dakota House in 2010, held several leadership positions before he became speaker.
The Republican nominee will be the favorite to win the general election in the solidly red state this fall. A Democrat has not served as governor in South Dakota since the 1970s, and Trump carried the state by 29 points in 2024.
News
Agronomist: eastern South Dakota crops hit and miss
An agronomist in eastern South Dakota says corn and soybeans are hit and miss as the growing season begins.
Steven Zemlicka with AgTegra Cooperative tells Brownfield, “We’ve got corn anywhere from V1 all the way up to V4. Biggest stuff’s maybe touching V5. Corn’s coming right along, looks pretty good. A little bit of hail here too, but I don’t think it’s going to be much of an issue. Stands for the most part are pretty good, pretty solid.”
Zemlicka says soybean emergence has been slow due to the wet, cool conditions, and there are a few fields that still need planted.
“People were still working on planting soybeans when we got the recent rain.”
He says recent rain totals ranged from a half inch to as much as four inches in the northeast part of South Dakota; the southern part of the state has been drier.
South Dakota’s corn is rated 61 percent good to excellent, with soybean conditions rated 57 percent good to excellent, according to USDA’s first condition ratings of the season.
RAPID CITY, S.D. (KOTA) – The South Dakota Community Foundation is encouraging nonprofits to apply for funding this June.
Beth Massa and Ginger Niemann joined us live with what you need to know before applying.
Watch the full interview above.
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