Thursday,  Feb. 13, 2014 • Vol. 16--No. 212 • 23 of 38

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• North Dakota Democratic Sen. Heidi Heitkamp, a member of the committee, asked Purdon about expanding the federal court presence on reservations. Purdon noted one wide-ranging case, Operation Prairie Thunder, where the federal magistrate came to Standing Rock and held court on the basketball court in the school gymnasium.
• "We as U.S. attorneys need to be working with the courts to try and do more of that sort of thing, of bringing the federal court and making it relevant to Fort Yates or Belcourt," Purdon said.
• Heitkamp said lawmakers would continue to look at locating courts where people live.
• "I think we should create an expectation in the Congress that, look, we understand you like your federal courthouses and that you've got a lot of security," she said. "But you also have an obligation here, especially related to major crimes, when you bring it and people can see that there's consequences, that has an effect, too."
• Purdon touted federal programs for American Indian youths in the Dakotas that are based upon getting work done on the reservations. He told senators that Gary Delorme, an assistant U.S. attorney in North Dakota, makes monthly presentations on safety at lyceums on the Standing Rock high school and middle school.
• Purdon noted that Brendan Johnson, the U.S. attorney in South Dakota, has focused on keeping the less-serious juvenile offenders under the supervision of tribal court for as long as possible in order to foster rehabilitation.
• "In South Dakota, the Johnson model is a great model," Purdon said. "I've asked my prosecutors to look at that."

SD Senate kills proposed pay raise for lawmakers

• PIERRE, S.D. (AP) -- The South Dakota Senate has rejected a proposal to give state lawmakers a pay raise.
• Senators voted 18-15 for the measure. But it needed a two-thirds majority, or 24 votes, to pass.
• Lawmakers get a salary of $6,000 a year now. The bill would have boosted that to $10,000, beginning next year for new members of the Legislature. Current members of the Legislature could not have received the pay raise until 2017, assuming they had won re-election and were still in the Legislature.
• The bill's main sponsor is Sen. Craig Tieszen. The Republican from Rapid City says lawmakers' salaries were last raised in 1999. He says legislative pay needs to be raised so more people can afford to run for the House and Senate.

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