South Dakota issues the Argus Leader is watching into the new year
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With just days before that calendar rolls over to a new year, the Argus Leader staff already knows what hot-button issues could be at the forefront of next year’s news cycle in South Dakota.
That’s based on topics they’ve already covered extensively, as political and community leaders alike try to make headway in shaping the future of the state.
But as they make their moves, whether it’s how law enforcement is keeping neighborhoods safe, to how experts are responding to housing and mental health crises, to how the state plans to spend its budget, we’re watching closely.
Here’s a look at what we’re keeping an eye on in 2022:
Public safety
From high-profile murder trials delayed because of the COVID-19 pandemic to the upcoming legislative session, here are five topics to keep an eye on in 2022 that relate to how South Dakota keeps its communities safe.
Death penalty trial for man accused of kidnapping and killing a woman
After nearly a year of delays, Amir Hasan Beaudion Jr. is expected to appear for trial and face the death penalty in relation to the 2020 kidnapping and killing of Pasqalina Esen Badi.
Jury trial is expected to begin in September, but it’s also possible it could be moved to January 2023, according to court documents. Originally, the trial had been scheduled for April 2021, but Beaudion’s lawyers asked for it to be moved because of COVID-19.
More:Prosecutors to seek death penalty against man accused of January homicide of Pasqalina Badi
Lincoln County prosecutors sought the death penalty in July 2020, stating that the case had multiple circumstances that meant it should be tried as a capital case.
Beaudion faces more than 10 charges, including first-degree murder, in connection to Badi’s death, who had been taken from the east side Walmart and found dead the next day south of Harrisburg.
More:Minnehaha County jail guard assaulted, held in closet by murder suspect, according to court docs
Other homicide cases we’re watching closely:
Asher Wayne Parks is expected to appear in a Minnehaha County courtroom on March 14 to stand trial for the murder of 19-year-old Dillion Montileaux-Trevino. He was charged in connection with the first 2021 homicide in Sioux Falls.
Parks faces various charges including first-degree murder, second-degree murder, first-degree manslaughter, aggravated assault and attempted robbery.
The 18-year-old allegedly shot Montileaux-Trevino early on Aug. 17 after an argument, police spokesperson Sam Clemens said at the time.
Parks also threatened to shoot Montileaux-Trevino’s mother, according to court documents.
Jeff Pour and Steven Tuopeh are also charged with murder in the case of Christopher Mousseaux, after allegedly stabbing him in the head in early October.
Mousseaux, 32, was taken to a Sioux Falls hospital and died there on Oct. 14, according to previous reporting.
Pour, 28, and Tuopeh, 26, face various counts of second-degree murder and first-degree manslaughter, according to court documents.
The two are expected to stand trial on Jan. 24.
State-level criminal justice spending
In her budget address to the South Dakota Legislature, Gov. Kristi Noem asked for more than $650 million for public safety and criminal justice budgeting.
The money will go toward pay increases for correctional employees, where morale and payment have been documented to be low, as well as funding a new community work center for women in Rapid City.
More:Gov. Kristi Noem’s stimulus-packed budget faces fiscal hawks in South Dakota Legislature
Noem also asked for money to modernize courthouse security as well as hire new specialists in the Attorney General’s Office who would look into human trafficking and the epidemic of missing and murdered Indigenous people.
How South Dakota transitions to trained mental health crisis professionals
By the summer of 2022, people experiencing a mental health crisis will be able to call 988, a national phone number meant to connect them to trained local and state professionals who can help them get services they need.
More:South Dakota looks to adopt 988 national suicide hotline
The goal of 988 to connect a person in a mental health crisis to a trained counselor who’s able to intervene and help provide them with resources and supports, Tiffany Wolfgang, Division Director of Behavioral Health at South Dakota Department of Social Services, said in September during a mental health task force meeting.
“It’s also to reduce healthcare spending with a more costly effective early intervention model, reduce the use of law enforcement, public health, and other safety resources that can be taxing to our communities, and also to meet the growing need for crisis intervention,” she said.
Sioux Falls has also invested heavily in The Link, a mental health and addiction triage center, which has seen high numbers of admissions since it opened in June.
More:Sioux Falls City Council advances initial funds from $3 million set to improve The Link
– Annie Todd, breaking news and communities reporter
City of Sioux Falls, surrounding areas
It’s been a fascinating year on the city beat in Sioux Falls, and 2022 is certain to have even more going on. Here are some of the biggest topics you will see us following.
Can Sioux Falls solve its housing crisis?
“Under normal circumstances, the addition of 1,000 more jobs would be an enormous win for the city of Sioux Falls, yet these are not normal circumstances.”
That’s a quote from Sioux Falls Mayor Paul TenHaken earlier this year, speaking about the announcement that Wholestone Farms would be building a plant in Sioux Falls.
It was an uncharacteristic statement from the mayor, who said it stemmed from the city’s “historic housing challenges.”
More: Sioux Falls housing board weighs $30K no-interest loans for home repair, rent help
The rapid growth of Sioux Falls hasn’t come without its challenges, one of them a housing crisis the city continues to face. Realtors have said they’ve never seen a more challenging market in which to buy a home, especially if your budget is below $300,000.
The city has organized a five-year housing action plan to center their efforts, but there’s no silver bullet that can fix the issue.
One potential bright spot? The city continues to permit multi-family residential units at a record pace, a trend that began last year.
Through November 2021, 1,739 new multi-family residential units have been permitted, triple where that same figure sat in November 2019.
And they’ll need them, with thousands of new jobs coming from new businesses like Amazon and CJ Foods in the next few years, hoping to benefit from — and add to — the city’s rapid growth and workforce.
Can TenHaken hold off a challenger?
TenHaken has also made it through a challenging first term that’s included flooding, tornadoes and, of course, the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.
While he’s drawn some controversy for strict regulations on the city’s developing medical marijuana industry and some of the measures his administration did (or didn’t) take on things like mask mandates, it wasn’t surprising when he announced in September he’d be running for a second term.
TenHaken has been popular, and incumbency is usually a strong asset. Immigration attorney Taneeza Islam has her work cut out for her as she looks to take the position of mayor with a platform of inclusivity and addressing the city’s growth.
More: Sioux Falls immigration attorney announces run for mayor against incumbent Paul TenHaken
Her best bet? A strong get-out-the-vote campaign, which she mentions several times on her website as a cornerstone of her strategy.
The first round of the 2018 election was, after all, the lowest turnout for a mayoral election since Sioux Falls adopted the strong-mayor system in 1994 at 30.5%. Turnout crept up only slightly for the runoff election, when TenHaken received 20,867 votes to beat Jolene Loetscher’s 12,413.
And there’s always the possibility of more candidates joining the race alongside David Zokaites, a regular at public input during city council meetings who hopes to get enough signatures to make it on the ballot. Something he didn’t manage to do when he last tried to run for mayor in 2018.
How many council races will have challengers?
But the mayoral race shouldn’t be the only local election on your mind. Along with a joint election with the Sioux Falls School District for open school board seats, four city council seats will be on the ballot as well, and term limits for Councilors Rick Kiley and Christine Erickson will guarantee at least two new faces on the council.
Councilor Curt Soehl’s reelection campaign for the central district is so far unopposed, but Councilor Janet Brekke has yet to commit to whether she’s looking for another four years in the city’s at-large A seat.
As for the newcomers, both Sarah Cole and Bobbi Andera are hoping to take over the at-large A seat, creating the possibility of a three-way race if Brekke does decide to run again.
More: Avera pediatrician aims to bring perspective as single mom to Sioux Falls City Council
It’s also the only race that’s actually a race so far, with pastor Rich Merkouris the sole candidate for the at-large B seat, and lawyer David Barranco yet unchallenged for the southeastern district.
But with more than a month before candidates can even begin circulating their nomination petitions, there’s certainly time for hopefuls to take their shot at a council seat. My bet? We haven’t seen everyone yet.
Marijuana drama
The rules have been made. The regulations have all been lined up. The bingo cage was spun, distributing the city’s five medical marijuana dispensary licenses (assuming everything goes right for them).
But we’re not done talking about marijuana. Not by a long shot.
There’s plenty more work to be done before these dispensaries can begin dispensing — and for those that need a conditional use permit, the public will have a chance to share their thoughts as well.
More: Analysis: We know who might sell medical cannabis in Sioux Falls, but there’s still a ways to go
And we still don’t know how businesses in Minnehaha or Lincoln counties could play into the issue as well. Marijuana cultivation businesses aren’t legal in Sioux Falls, but they are in Lincoln County.
The South Dakota Supreme Court striking down Amendment A recently does simplify things for the city somewhat. However, the shadow of recreational marijuana had hung over most discussions about its medical counterpart, with city officials making clear that the two would not be treated the same.
Liquor license confusion
Two years ago, the Sioux Falls City Council voted to stop adding names to the waiting list for on-sale liquor licenses, leaving 18 names on the list as the city pondered a better way to distribute the licenses, which had become worth their weight in gold on the secondary market.
It was assumed it would be several years before that waitlist would clear out, certainly enough time to figure out the new system. Instead, the city’s growth shown in the 2020 Census data meant that the city was granted 19 new licenses.
More: Sioux Falls’ liquor licenses could get even pricier
The 18 entrants on the waitlist will soon have to decide whether they’re interested in the license — or if they’ve got the fee, which the council recently voted to raise by $50,000.
As for the city, it’s still unclear how they’ll distribute any remaining licenses, of which there will be at least one.
“There’s been two years that a process could have been created, and nothing’s been done,” Councilor Christine Erickson said in November.
– Trevor Mitchell, city government reporter
Human rights in South Dakota
Next year’s expected to bring hot issues to the forefront of court systems, whether you’re at the local, state or national level.
With abortion once again in the spotlight of litigation, and South Dakota inmates struggling to get access to mental health support behind bars, how our state handles these issues will be worth watching closely.
Abortion in court again
The passing of Texas’ Heartbeat Act in September re-ignited a pro-life movement in conservative states to overturn Roe v. Wade. Emboldened by Texas’ law, which bans abortions after six weeks, Noem signed an executive order banning telemedicine abortions a week after the Supreme Court refused to block the Texas abortion law.
More:South Dakota has led the fight against abortion for years. It’s about to take its next steps.
Noem’s executive order afterward was a part of her plans to ensure South Dakota has the “strongest pro-life laws in the books.”
The Supreme Court has yet to decide on a major Mississippi case banning abortions after 22 weeks, another opportunity to overturn Roe v. Wade. Their decision is expected to come in 2022 and will set the stage for what could happen in South Dakota.
Noem is also currently leading an appeal in South Dakota’s case against Planned Parenthood, which challenges an anti-coercion law requiring a pregnancy consultation 72 hours before an abortion procedure. The case will also be taken up sometime next year.
Delays in jail-based mental health competency restoration
In 2015, the Argus Leader uncovered a prolonged wait time for those behind bars with severe mental illness to get competency restoration evaluations, primarily handled by the Human Service Center (HSC) in Yankton. This, in turn, resulted in people waiting months in jail facilities to get a mental health evaluation before standing trial.
South Dakota is still struggling with this issue, with jails operating as holding facilities for people with severe mental health illnesses. Delays for competency restoration center on the HSC’s long-standing challenge to maintain appropriate staffing and address a shortage of beds.
“Unfortunately, jails have become some of the largest mental health providers in the country,” Pennington County sheriff Kevin Thom said at a legislative mental health task force meeting in late October.
Next year, the Argus Leader will be following the $15 million outlined in Noem’s new budget to “construct regional mental health crisis management centers across the state” that could potentially help alleviate pressures felt at the HSC.
Gaps in mental health system for juveniles, replacement of JDC
The Argus Leader reported on a concerning spike in mental health holds of youth at Minnehaha County’s Juvenile Detention Center in 2021. The facility services 16 counties and has had to take in a rising number of youth acting out violently at Avera Behavioral in Sioux Falls.
“Our biggest concern is when the kids are in crisis, Avera may be full so they come to us and we have to put them in a jail cell with a camera, and in a suicide gown,” said JDC director Jamie Gravett, at an October legislative mental health task force meeting. “It just feels we’re adding to their crisis at that time.”
Sen. Kevin Jensen, R-Canton, served as the chairman of the legislative mental health services delivery task force, which worked to identify focus the scope of gaps in South Dakota’s mental health system.
In the task force’s final report to the executive board, seven recommendations were put forth addressing mental health for juvenile and adolescent youth, finding ways to alleviate the pressure at the HSC and developing regional facilities and virtual services to fill in rural service gaps.
“A lot of what we’re doing is for the adult population, but we’re also concerned with the juvenile population because we have a myriad of issues there,” said Jensen.
We’ll also be following the potential replacement or renovation of Minnehaha County’s JDC. In the latter half of 2021, the county began conducting assessments on the facility and hired consultants to analyze population trends and projections.
More:Minnehaha County hires consultant to assess juvenile detention center’s future
“This is the next step in our process toward evaluating the juvenile detention center and its future,” said Tyler Klatt, Assistant Commission Administrative Officer for Minnehaha County.
– Nicole Ki, human rights reporter
State politics
With Noem at the helm of state government, a mid-term election on the horizon and South Dakota’s first-ever impeachment proceedings taking place, 2022 will bring no shortage of political news to keep up with in the Mount Rushmore State.
Gubernatorial election
Noem this fall formally announced her candidacy in the November election. And while the 50-year-old Republican doesn’t yet have a declared Democratic challenger, state party officials say an announcement is near.
In the meantime, though, Noem will have to deal with political opposition from within her own party.
She faces state Rep. Steve Haugaard in the GOP’s June primary election. Haugaard is a staunch fiscal and social conservative who’s been on the offensive against the governor for everything from the size of her proposed budget to allegations of abuse of power regarding the state’s appraiser certification program and Noem’s use of the state airplanes.
While Noem remains popular in South Dakota and is not seen as vulnerable to lose her place at the state Capitol, Haugaard could use his platform as a state lawmaker only a year removed from being Speaker of the House to make a fundraising splash in the early portion of the 2022 campaign cycle.
Department of Corrections, state penitentiary reforms
Wholesale changes could be coming to the South Dakota Department of Corrections after a California consulting company finishes its work on an extensive study of statewide prison operations.
CGL Companies was hired this summer to vet culture, policies and organizations structure within the DOC following the abrupt termination of a multiple prison officials in July and August stemming from complaints of sexual misconduct, nepotism and poor working conditions within the South Dakota State Penitentiary in Sioux Falls.
Gov. Noem at the time said every aspect of the DOC, including its staff, were being scrutinized as part of an investigation into the allegations that began in May.
CGL Companies’ work is anticipated to be completed this month.
Recreational cannabis
The South Dakota Supreme Court struck down an amendment that would have legalized recreational marijuana, but the debate around whether cannabis consumption, cultivation, possession and sales should be legal in the state is far from over.
South Dakotans for Better Marijuana Laws are actively gathering petitions to again put the question before voters in the November election, and with more than 15,000 already collected with months to go before a deadline, odds are that the group will be successful.
But the matter could be settled before then. That’s because lawmakers during the 2022 South Dakota Legislative Session will consider a formal recommendation from a summer study committee on cannabis to end marijuana prohibition while taxing and regulating marijuana sales.
However, the conservative-dominated Legislature remains splintered on the topic of legalizing marijuana, dragging down the likelihood marijuana is legalized legislatively no matter how much debate and discussion around cannabis is had.
Medicaid expansion
Similar to cannabis policy, both voters and lawmakers could have a chance to decide whether South Dakota should expand the number of people in the state who would qualify for federal health insurance.
South Dakotans Decide Healthcare earlier this year announced it successfully obtained the necessary signatures to place the question of Medicaid expansion on the 2022 general election ballot in the form of a constitutional amendment.
But whether a separate ballot measure gets the blessing of voters five months earlier could have a lot to do with whether South Dakotans Decide Healthcare will be successful. That’s because Constitutional Amendment C, which will appear on ballots during the June primary, proposes requiring a 60% approval threshold for passage of ballot measures that would raise taxes or cost the state more than $10 million in a five year period.
That means that if Amendment C passes in June, at least 60% of voters in November will need to sign off on Medicaid expansion.
Lawmakers during the winter Legislative session are expected to consider pre-empting a vote of the people and passing Medicaid expansion on their own as well, though those efforts face steep opposition among House Republicans.
Attorney General Jason Ravnsborg impeachment
The saga around Attorney General Jason Ravnsborg’s fatal crash in September 2020 that killed 55-year-old Joe Boever near Highmore will go into 2022.
A nine-member committee of lawmakers investigating the conduct of Ravnsborg related to the crash, which resulted in the Republican lawyer being convicted of two misdemeanor traffic violations, hasn’t begun its work yet.
But the committee is expected to meet in the coming weeks now that House Speaker Spencer Gosch, R-Glenham, has appointed Rapid City attorney Sara Frankenstein to serve as special counsel to the Special Investigative Committee on Impeachment. She’ll guide the panel through the proceedings before a recommendation on impeachment is made to the entire state House.
A final vote on whether to impeach, which would trigger a trial in the state Senate, could occur during the 2022 Legislative Session. The session starts in January.
– Joe Sneve, State politics reporter
Higher and K-12 education
Beyond just bills, here are some of the topics and themes we’ll be following this year in education. In no way is this a comprehensive list. As we’ve seen in the past two years as the COVID-19 pandemic continues, anything can change.
School funding and teacher pay
Noem proposed a historic 6% increase to education funding in her budget address earlier this month. She’s said school districts need to give that money directly to teachers and staff.
What she proposed is higher than the current funding formula laid out in state law “inflation or 3%, whichever is less,” and an increase from the percentage increases in years past: 2.5% in FY 2020, 2% in FY 2021 and 2.4% estimated for FY 2022.
More:‘Dash for Cash’ provided a strong metaphor for chronic education underfunding, teacher pay
It will be an ongoing source of funding embedded in state general funds, according to education officials, and will be at least “a start” in addressing the state’s history of ranking last in the nation for average teacher pay.
Associated School Boards of South Dakota supports implementing new target teacher salary accountability targets only if new, ongoing funding beyond the annual increase in state aid that schools receive is provided.
If new targets are set exceeding what districts receive in state aid, school boards will be unable to meet those targets or be forced into budget cuts to reach them, ASBSD states in its legislative resolutions.
More:Will Gov. Kristi Noem’s proposed 6% increase in state aid to education help increase teacher pay?
Workforce shortages
Almost every industry has seen a workforce shortage in 2021, and schools were no exception.
This year, schools saw shortages of teachers, substitutes, custodians, bus drivers, food service staff, after school program staff, support staff and coaches.
More:Sioux Falls schools encourage parents to become drivers as bus driver shortage continues
There were more than 100 teaching positions open across the state at the end of October. Education secretary Tiffany Sanderson said previously that the pipeline of available educators hasn’t kept pace with the number of positions that schools are hiring as student enrollments have grown.
And in Sioux Falls, a shortage of school bus drivers led to impacted route times and sometimes, late buses.
In 2022, it will be crucial for schools and colleges alike to address the workforce shortage and find creative solutions to bring in more staff to fill the gaps.
Social studies standards
The social studies standards review process is going to start up again in 2022 after the first attempt at cyclical review scheduled for 2021 was ordered to restart this year by Noem after telling the Argus Leader the standards didn’t meet her expectations.
In case you missed it, the fiasco with the social studies standards started when members of the original workgroup spoke out and shared concerns that the draft of standards publicly released by the DOE online before going to four public hearings across the state had changed from an originally-agreed-upon version the workgroup reviewed 10 days earlier.
Changes released by the DOE included the removal of more than a dozen references to the Oceti Sakowin, which is the Lakota, Dakota and Nakota, collectively. Officials said changes were made to provide “greater clarity and focus.”
More:DOE seeks applicants for second social studies standards revision workgroup
Workgroup members were told in June that the standards should generally include more Indigenous history and culture, but were never told to keep critical race theory and action civics out of the standards. And a consultant was hired by the state and paid hundreds of thousands of taxpayer dollars to guide the standards process.
As a reaction to the changes, members of the South Dakota Education Equity Coalition and other Indigenous education advocates held the Oceti Sakowin March for Our Children in Pierre in September, demanding Indigenous history education for all.
More:Indigenous-led march against proposed social studies standards set for Monday in Pierre
Soon, the DOE moved standards hearings to larger venues after receiving nearly 600 public comments on the changes. Days later, Noem asked her DOE to delay the process up to a year.
The committee’s new timeline includes feedback from January to March, developing standards over the summer, releasing a draft of standards for public comment in August and then four public hearings on the proposed standards over the fall and winter.
South Dakota should establish a long-term commitment to consider implementing OSEUs or other curriculum and coursework in South Dakota American Indian history and culture in order to improve public educational outcomes for Native American Indian students, ASBSD states.
It will be a topic to continue to watch in 2022 after spurring protests, a relaunch and widespread media coverage in 2021.
Critical race theory
Odds are, much like South Dakota State University President Barry Dunn, you had to search the internet to learn about what critical race theory (CRT) was — or wasn’t — this year.
Google Trends data shows searches for critical race theory were minimal until late spring and early summer in 2021, and the top searches on the topic for the year mentioned Texas, where a new law limits CRT, and “is critical race theory taught in schools?”
While CRT, an academic concept created by legal scholars and educators in the 1970s that focuses on how racism is embedded in legal systems and policies in the U.S., largely doesn’t show up in South Dakota’s content standards or curriculum in K-12 or colleges, it has permeated discussions everywhere from school board debates in Sioux Falls to policy decisions at the Board of Regents in 2021.
More:Gov. Kristi Noem drafts bill to limit critical race theory education in schools, universities
Although it’s an elusive concept, with many different meanings to different groups as Sanderson has said, and has become a boogeyman for education among the right, it’s one we’ll continue to monitor next year and is almost certain to be mentioned everywhere from session to school boards.
New laws dictating what content, courses and instructional materials schools can or can’t utilize would hinder state and local boards who are the knowledgeable decision makers in these areas, and would potentially limit students’ education, ASBSD states in its legislative resolutions this year.
It’s unique that ASBSD has to include such a stance this year in a state that has long supported school choice and local control.
But it’s a proactive measure, as 29 states have introduced bills or taken other steps to restrict teaching critical race theory or limit how teachers can discuss racism and sexism, according to Education Week. North Dakota has banned CRT and Iowa has limited how teachers can discuss race and gender.
Both Rep. Fred Deutsch and Rep. Steve Haugaard have announced plans to draft bills on “curriculum transparency” in schools, giving parents the fundamental right to know what’s being taught to their children.
Content standards are already public on the DOE website, but decisions on curriculum are made by local school districts.
CRT and curriculum issues are subjects we’ll continue to watch in 2022.
– Morgan Matzen, education reporter
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