|
(Continued from page 20)
• Wild Card 2 is played in the Dakotas, Montana and Idaho.
• The jackpot for Wednesday is estimated at $225,000.
•
Lawmaker to push for repeal of SD death penalty
• PIERRE, S.D. (AP) -- A South Dakota lawmaker says he'll ask the Legislature to repeal the death penalty in the session that starts Tuesday in Pierre.
• Rep. Steve Hickey is a Sioux Falls Republican who also is a pastor.
• He previously supported capital punishment but says he changed his mind after reviewing the Bible and deciding that the death penalty does not deter people from committing horrible crimes, save money or improve public safety.
• Hickey has said his bill would apply only to future cases.
• He'll face long odds in a Legislature that has consistently supported the death penalty.
• South Dakota Attorney General Marty Jackley will oppose repeal, arguing that the death penalty is appropriate for vile crimes and is used sparingly in the state.
•
SD lawmakers hope to avoid partisan fights in 2014
CHET BROKAW, Associated Press
• PIERRE, S.D. (AP) -- When South Dakota's legislative leaders unveiled a new economic development program near the end of last year's session, Republicans and Democrats went out of their way to brag that they had cooperated to avoid the kind of partisan fighting that caused gridlock in Congress.
• Leaders from both parties now hope they can again avoid, or at least limit, bitter partisan fights in the legislative session that opens Tuesday.
• The two parties often disagree on issues, particularly funding for education, but the 2013 session was known for cooperation between Republicans and Democrats on the economic development plan and a measure that revamped South Dakota's criminal justice system.
• "People have seen the dysfunctional atmosphere in Washington, and I really believe legislators in South Dakota come to Pierre thinking we're not going to be like that," said House Democratic Leader Bernie Hunhoff of Yankton. "I think there's a very conscious effort to be not like Washington."
• House Republican Leader David Lust of Rapid City said he wishes Congress could learn a lesson from the way the South Dakota Legislature operates.
• Lust also notes that because Republicans hold sizable majorities in both the (Continued on page 22)
|
|
