I once won $700. It was at a time in my life when $700 would have made the difference between ramen noodles and ramen noodles with a slice of bologna on the side. I was earning minimum wage, paying off car and college loans, and eating vegetarian meals, but not by choice. Seven hundred dollars would have been lifestyle changing. And I won it!  Too bad I wasn’t there to claim it.  I won a goldfish once though, and I was there to claim it—unfortunately. A goldfish is only slightly worse than the one thing my sister has won thus far: an oat bucket. She won it long ago at a 4-H event so ..read more

Another library book sale has come and gone. They happen twice a year; in the spring and the fall. They are organized and delivered by Friends of the Brookings Public Library (seen above in a photo on the library’s Facebook page) and all the proceeds go toward library needs. We are Friends, having purchased a lifetime membership and are able to attend the sale the first evening it is open. As usually happens, we left after 45 minutes with three bags full. It’s not that we need more books, but, I must confess, I have an addiction. I always justify it by saying, it’s not cigarettes, or booze, or ..read more

A report that a circus elephant briefly escaped from its cruel captors and ran loose through the streets of Butte, Mont., on Tuesday, April 16, caught my eye and my heart. Viola escaped from Jordan World Circus and ran panicked before she was captured, according to the People for Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA). It reports that she is owned by Carson & Barnes Circus, which PETA says has been cited for more than 100 violations of the federal Animal Welfare Act. It’s the third time Viola has made a break for it. Escapes in 2010 and 2014 also failed, since it’s difficult for an elephant t ..read more

Rapid City’s historic Vision Fund, established in the aftermath of the 1972 flood, has played a pivotal role in Rapid City's development. The fund’s revenue comes from a sales tax created through a special election to fund the construction of the Barnett Arena. Once the bonds were paid, the revenue from the tax has supported numerous community projects over the past five decades, significantly enhancing the quality of life and city infrastructure. The fund finances diverse projects ranging from park improvements and infrastructure upgrades to economic development and community facility initiat ..read more

In my forties I delighted in buying AARP memberships as 50th birthday gifts for my friends to remind them they were now officially “over the hill.” You can imagine their delight in doing the same for me when I turned 50. I remember the disbelief in realizing that I was really a senior citizen. I let my gift membership lapse after the first year. Now, 18 years later, there is no denying I am a full-blown senior. The increasing amount of time I have to spend on maintaining my health and the increasing episodes of forgetting where I placed my reading glasses are not something that I really relis ..read more

Jim Burg was one of the last of a vanishing breed — a rural Democrat in South Dakota. They once roamed the prairies in vast numbers — well, for South Dakota, anyway. They helped elect George McGovern to two terms in the House of Representatives and three terms in the Senate. They voted for candidates like Dick Kneip, Jim Abourezk, Frank Denholm, Tom Daschle, Tim Johnson and, most recently, Stephanie Herseth Sandlin. But now their numbers are dwindling. Finding a lot of Democrats in small towns, farms and ranches is like hunting for dinosaur bones — they are out there, but most are buried. The ..read more

Political contingencies keep us living in the moment, so as we move closer to November the focus in the economic headlines and campaign chatter will probably remain on inflation. Trump supporters won’t let up on how high prices have gotten in recent years, while Biden’s backers keep reminding us that during his administration the inflation rate went down from 9% a couple of years ago to the 3.5% that was recorded last month. The essential flaw in both these claims, of course, is the illusion that presidential policies have something to do with inflationary pressures that build up over time.&nb ..read more

Part 2 of 2 Suicide was the 11th-leading cause of death overall in the United States in 2021, claiming the lives of over 48,183 people, according to a report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. That’s more than 20,000 more deaths that were attributed to homicide, with 26,031 deaths bearing that classification in 2021. Suicide was especially common for younger people, according to the CDC. “Suicide was the second-leading cause of death among individuals between the ages of 10-14 and 25-34, the third-leading cause of death among individuals between the ages of 15-24, and the fif ..read more

Part 1 of 2 Kevin Hines learned to ignore the voices who urged him on, encouraging him to kill himself. Hines (seen above, photo courtesy of Kevin Hines) heeded their call once, falling 223 feet from the Golden Gate Bridge into the icy San Francisco Bay on Monday, Sept. 25, 2000. He miraculously survived that suicide attempt, and soon realized he heard another voice. This one was telling him to share his story with people, to tell them not to give into the grim lure of death. Life, Hines told me recently, is worth living no matter what pain you are going through. That’s a sentiment a lot of pe ..read more

Editor’s note: District 26 state Rep. Eric E. Emery is a Democrat from Rosebud. This open letter to Gov. Noem was posted on X on April 12, 2024: Recent events concerning Gov. Noem’s ban from the Rosebud Sioux Tribe (RST) and her refusal to return the RST tribal flag have brought to light critical issues of reconciliation and respect between Indigenous communities and government officials. As members of a society striving for unity and understanding, we must address these matters with sensitivity and a commitment to justice. First, it is crucial to recognize and respect the decision by the Rose ..read more