Blogroll

Whither arts funding in bad economic times?

It didn’t take long. Within hours of Gov. Mike Rounds announcing he was proposing cutting all funding for the South Dakota Arts Council, the e-mails started flying. One I received even contained a sample letter to cut and paste and send your legislator (or the entire Legislature) urging reinstatement of that funding. And arts organizations […]

Time to be pulling those heads out of the sand

I’ve been hearing the line for months now. The Sioux Falls economy is such that we are relatively immune from the recession or, at worst, there will be limited impact. Whether it was optimism, hope or delusion, the last 24 hours or so demonstrates that head-in-the-sand feeling should be replaced by the consternation expereicned across […]

Those pesky technicalities

One thing that drives me nuts is hearing someone say a person avoided criminal charges or a conviction because of a “technicality.” That concept ignores the fact that, in most cases, the “technicality” is a legal right, usually found in something called the Constitution. So it really drives me nuts when people who should know […]

Education funding rant

Neale inquired in the last post why my kids were going to college in Nebraska. I was simply going to respond in the comments but his question combined with something in the local daily to lead me to a rant.

To clarify, my oldest daughter does attend the University of South Dakota and loves it. […]

Part of the reason we’re last?

A headline on the last page in the local news section of the local daily this morning: “Iowa slips to 41st in teacher pay rank.” You had to go to the fifth paragraph to find out South Dakota ranked dead last. (On a somewhat positive note, the NEA report (PDF file) indicates South Dakota rose […]