• Argus Leader, Sioux Falls, Feb. 18, 2013
• Waiting period law fine as is
• Some South Dakota lawmakers support a bill that would essentially extend the time that women must wait before having an abortion.
• South Dakota law already requires a 72-hour waiting period before an abortion. Now some representatives want to exclude weekends and holidays in that waiting period.
• What an insult to women.
• The proposal, sponsored by Rep. Jon Hansen, R-Dell Raids, has passed the full House.
• South Dakota already has a conservative law that does an unusually good job of balance when it comes to women seeking a legal abortion. There is no clamor that indicates women have not been able to seek and receive the counseling that is mandated under the 72-hour waiting period.
• There is no reason for this latest proposed requirement other than what appears to be an attempt to backhandedly control the rights of women.
• It is fine for a lawmaker to be against abortion as an option. But legislative power should not be used to grandstand and chip away at the legal right to an abortion by challenging whether women can get adequate counseling if weekends and holidays are included in the 72-hour waiting period.
• We send lawmakers to Pierre to represent their constituency, to come together on key issues that make life better in South Dakota. We don't send them to Pierre to keep tinkering with a law until it fits their own personal agenda.
• We urge lawmakers to drop the extended wait idea and get to other matters for the good of our state.
• ___
• Rapid City Journal, Rapid City, Feb. 20, 2013
• Keep up funding for beetle program
• Pennington County is dipping into its emergency fund to keep paying for a crucial mountain pine beetle eradication program. The county commission on Tuesday authorized the transfer of $80,000 to keep the beetle eradication program running through the end of February.
• The transfer was necessary because of a shortfall in expected federal funds to

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