|
(Continued from page 16)
stained glass windows in a $3 million restoration project at the South Dakota state Capitol.
• The panels will be returned Thursday to the barrel vault above the main marble staircase. Thirty of the 90 panels in the skylight were cleaned in place because they aged better than others.
• The crews from Conrad Schmitt Studios have travelled back and forth several times between New Berlin, Wisconsin and Pierre.
• Glass panels are being cleaned and re-leaded in Wisconsin. Time and gravity has strained the 100-year-old glass.
• Stained glass in the House and Senate chambers and the domed rotunda are still being cleaned. They will return to the Capitol in September.
• The entire project will be completed before the state's 125th anniversary.
•
South Dakota opens door on its fiscal data
NORA HERTEL, Associated Press
• PIERRE, S.D. (AP) -- South Dakota Gov. Dennis Daugaard signed an executive order this week requiring the regular release of data related to state revenue, expenditure and cash balance.
• It's the latest of several steps toward transparency in state government in the last few years, but open government advocates contend the state still has work to do. House Democratic Minority Leader Bernie Hunhoff called the efforts small steps in the right direction.
• The financial reports, also called a "dashboard report," present a partial view of how the state is doing. Daugaard has received paper versions every month from the state Bureau of Finance and Management, and the plan to digitize and publicize the information took shape in the last month.
• "If you're managing an organization, it gives you the high level of statistics to show how you're doing week to week, month to month," said Tony Venhuizen, Daugaard's director of policy and communications.
• He said the reports may prove useful to legislators, journalists and interested members of the public. South Dakota has been rated poorly for lack of government openness compared to other states by the State Integrity Investigation, a partnership of media and watchdog groups. State legislators and advocates have criticized state policies for the same reason.
• Since taking office the governor has taken steps to make state government more transparent -- including updating the open.sd.gov website and launching rules.sd. (Continued on page 18)
|
|
