#south-dakota

#south-dakota

It's hard to escape the glare from big cities and metro areas to see all the wonder that the skies have to offer, but several national parks are looking to serve as better windows into the cosmos.Light pollution obscures the views of the stars and planets, making it more challenging for people to marvel at them in the dark skies.

Doctors on the frontlines of reproductive rights debates say these challenges are already having a devastating impact on the profession and on people who seek care.Experts on Friday's panel said that many medical students are traveling to California, which has been investing in building its abortion training programs, or to other states that support abortion rights, like Maryland and New York, where Mamelson is heading to continue her education.

Cars Car thefts are down in Massachusetts, but the top target for thieves is not a Tesla or BMW.It's a Honda.Contrary to what you might expect, the most frequently stolen car in Massachusetts isn't a luxury vehicle - it's an everyday fuel-efficient sedan.A new report from Quote Wizard, a car insurance quote website, found that the Honda Accord is the most frequently stolen car model in the Bay State.

Minnesota's Democratic Gov. Tim Walz signed an executive order Wednesday directing state agencies to take action to protect and support access to gender-affirming health care across the state.All state agencies must, to the fullest extent of their lawful authority, pursue opportunities and coordinate with each other to protect people or entities providing, assisting, seeking or obtaining gender affirming health care services in Minnesota, the order says.

Residents of Gila River Indian Community listen during a "Road to Healing" event, Friday, Jan. 20, 2023, at the Gila Crossing Community School in Laveen, Ariz.Matt York (AP) During seventh grade at Phoenix Indian School, Pershlie Ami signed up to go on what the school called an outing, promoted as opportunities for Native American students to earn spending money off campus.

Hardline conservatives have agreed to end their blockade of the House floor while they continue discussions with House Speaker Kevin McCarthy about future spending decisions and a new power-sharing agreement, according to multiple members leaving the speaker's office.Conservatives who had voted against a procedural vote in retaliation for how GOP leadership handled the debt ceiling deal now say they are willing to support the procedural vote, after they received new commitments from McCarthy about how the California Republican plans to operate going forward, though they said the exact details are still being worked out and did not say whether they would ever be made public or put into a written statement.

House Speaker Kevin McCarthy helped secure a debt limit deal now he has to secure its passage in the House, with little room for error.McCarthy faces a test on Tuesday when House lawmakers return to Washington and a powerful committee takes up the bill to suspend the debt limit through January 1, 2025.

Rep. Chip Roy accused House Speaker Kevin McCarthy on Monday of cutting a deal that could complicate negotiators' efforts to pass a bill to raise the US debt ceiling this week.But McCarthy's allies quickly refuted the Texas Republican, underscoring the tension ahead of a key meeting of the House Rules Committee on Tuesday and putting new pressure on a conservative holdout, Rep. Thomas Massie of Kentucky, who has yet to take a position on the plan.

Congressional leaders negotiating over a deal to raise the debt ceiling and avoid the first default in the nation's history are working against an unforgiving force: the legislative calendar.President Biden and Speaker Kevin McCarthy's meeting on Tuesday afternoon to try to break their impasse over increasing the cap comes just over two weeks before the projected X-date of June 1 the day the Treasury Department has projected it could no longer pay the United States government's debts.

Two people recently harassed a bison calf in Grand Teton National Park in Wyoming by approaching and touching it, officials said, prompting an investigation into the latest instance of park visitors overstepping boundaries with wildlife.National Park Service rangers have asked for help in identifying the two individuals who touched the bison calf on June 4 at the southern end of Elk Ranch Flats.

Republican congressional leaders said Thursday they were making progress toward a deal with President Biden to raise the debt ceiling while cutting spending, cautioning that an agreement that was still being hammered out would inevitably disappoint lawmakers in both parties.Speaker Kevin McCarthy told reporters at the Capitol that bargainers had worked well past midnight and resumed negotiations later on Thursday morning, trying to find a resolution to avert a default on the nation's debt before the projected June 1 deadline.

South Dakota is set to prohibit nearly all forms of gender-affirming treatment for transgender minors after a proposed law gained sweeping approval through its state legislature.The state Senate passed a House bill banning surgical and non-surgical gender-affirming treatment for minors on Thursday in a 30-4 vote, advancing the legislation to Gov. Kristi Noem's desk.

Virtually everyone who met Drew and Sadie Williams's dog after the married couple from Louisiana first adopted Zoey three years ago could tell the labrador-German shepherd puppy had a long tongue.It turns out it wasn't just long it was longer than that of any other dog in the world.The story of the Williamses and how Zoey's 5in (12.7cm) tongue landed her a global mark for the longest tongue on a living dog first appeared on Friday on Guinness World Records' website.

There is no question that families have been really struggling to cover basic needs like food, rent, and transportation.There's been so much fluctuation between inflation and issues with supply chains that finding anywhere to save a little money each month can feel impossible.A new report from gives a snapshot of how costly keeping a roof over our heads has become, and a released a map of monthly changes in rent.

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The No TikTok on Government Devices Act that was introduced by Senator Josh Hawley (R-Missouri) has just crossed a major milestone.Members of the US Senate have unanimously voted to approve the bill, which will ban the TikTok app on all government-owned phones and other devices.

Cherlynn Low / Engadget  We've talked a few times about the appeal of capable digital styluses and e-ink note-taking.Surely, it's the perfect study tool?This time, Amazon tries it out.The Kindle Scribe, at $340, is costlier than a basic e-ink reader, but it has stylus input, high latency and a few more tricks.

MIAMI GARDENS - The three months between the NFL draft and the start of Miami Dolphins training camp will be particularly interesting for sixth-round pick Elijah Higgins.The former Stanford slot receiver who stands at 6 foot 3, 238 pounds is converting to play tight end in the NFL.Ahead of his first practice with the Dolphins at Friday's start of rookie minicamp, Higgins said he got his playbook a few days earlier and tight ends coach Jon Embree has had him studying tape of 49ers perennial Pro Bowl tight end George Kittle, whom Embree coached in San Francisco.

Missoula, Montana KFF Health News Jacqueline Towarnicki got a text as she finished her day shift at a local clinic.She had a new case, a patient covered in bruises who couldn't remember how the injuries got there.Towarnicki's breath caught, a familiar feeling after four years of working night shifts as a sexual assault nurse examiner in this northwestern Montana city.

After a patient leaves, Jacqueline Towarnicki prepares the examination room in case she gets a call that someone else needs to see a sexual assault nurse examiner.Katheryn Houghton/KFF Health News Jacqueline Towarnicki got a text as she finished her day shift at a local clinic in Missoula, Montana.She had a new case, a patient covered in bruises who couldn't remember how the injuries got there.

Kentucky Democratic Gov. Andy Beshear on Friday vetoed a Republican-led bill that would prohibit transgender minors from receiving gender-affirming care, such as surgical procedures or the use of certain hormones, bucking a growing trend of states restricting access to the treatments.Republican state lawmakers passed the bill last week, arguing that children should not be allowed to make such consequential decisions and that the ban would protect minors.

New Mexico Democratic Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham on Thursday signed into law a bill that prohibits local municipalities and other public bodies from inferring with a person's ability to access reproductive or gender-affirming health care services.HB7, the Reproductive and Gender-Affirming Health Care Freedom Act, also prohibits any public body from imposing laws, ordinances, policies or regulations that prevent patients from receiving reproductive or gender-affirming care.

Summer is just around the corner.If you haven't locked in your vacation plans, or you're desperately looking for day trips to keep the kids busy, a new map that outlines which national parks have the best biodiversity might be a great way to start your search.Vacation rental company Casago wanted to find out the best state parks across the U.S. that are perfect for families who are obsessed with wildlife.

A school district in Missouri could become the next to adopt a four-day educational week for students, joining a growing number of school districts across the country in shifting to a truncated school week.St.Joseph School District in Kansas City recently announced that administrators and board members are considering a truncated week after board members in another Missouri district voted 6-1 to shorten their school week from five to four days.

Rent prices - and the cost of housing in general - has been one of the more persistent pains of the current inflation situation.But - although rents are still much higher today than they were a year ago - things are finally looking up (or down, depending on how you look at it.)Basically, new data shows that rent is finally dropping nationwide, month-over-month.

Kristi Noem's hate and hypocrisy know no bounds.Last week, South Dakota's gay-hating governor signed a pledge written by the anti-LGBTQ+ group conservative PAC Moms for Liberty to "advance policies that strengthen parental decision-making.""In South Dakota, we're building stronger families by protecting parents' rights," Noem announced on Twitter.

Babies born to opioid users had shorter hospital stays and needed less medication when their care emphasized parent involvement, skin-to-skin contact and a quiet environment, researchers reported Sunday.Newborns were ready to go home about a week earlier compared to those getting standard care.Fewer received opioid medications to reduce withdrawal symptoms such as tremors and hard-to-soothe crying, about 20% compared to 52% of the standard-care babies.

Organ donations and transplantations increase during major US motorcycle rallies due to crashes, according to a new study, signaling a need for increased safety measures.The researchers analyzed more than 10,000 organ donations and 35,000 transplantations from 2005 to 2021.In regions near where motorcycle rallies were held, there were 21% more organ donors and 26% more transplant recipients per day during rallies than in the four weeks before and after.

MyPillow chief executive Mike Lindell talks to reporters at the Republican National Committee winter meeting in Dana Point, Calif., Friday, Jan. 27, 2023.Jae C. Hong/AP ST.PAUL, Minn.An arbitration panel has ordered MyPillow chief executive Mike Lindell to pay $5 million to a software engineer for breach of contract in a dispute over data that Lindell claims proves that China interfered in the U.S. 2020 elections and tipped the outcome to Joe Biden.

Azeen Ghorayshi Reporting on gender and science On Thursday, the Williams Institute, a research center at the U.C.L.A. School of Law, released a new report estimating the number of transgender young people at risk of losing access to gender-related care as a result of state bills sweeping the country.

Image Credit...Brian Rea Rex and Katharine met on a trip in South Dakota.She wanted a baby; he did not.Could he be a sperm donor?No problem.The agreement was simple.They would both get what they wanted: Katharine would raise her baby in California, and Rex would continue his life as a builder and tinker in Michigan.

"Where do you call home?" a reporter once asked me in an interview for her newspaper."Iowa," I said."I thought you lived in Chicago," she replied."I do," I said."But I'm out of Iowa.I'm from there, and I left there."Then, I explained that I'd lived in Chicago for most of my life but was slowly migrating back to Iowa the whole time.

Gasoline with higher blends of ethanol could be sold year-round in eight Midwestern states beginning in 2024 under a rule proposed Wednesday by the Environmental Protection Agency.The proposed rule is a victory for the biofuels industry, which for years has pushed to allow sales of gasoline blended with 15% ethanol during the summer, which hasn't been allowed because of concerns that it would worsen smog during hot weather.

SIOUX FALLS, S.D. - South Dakota's six public universities plan to offer in-state tuition rates to students from Wisconsin and Illinois by next fall.The South Dakota Advantage plan has until now offered in-state tuition to undergraduates and graduate students from Colorado, Iowa, Montana, Nebraska, North Dakota and Wyoming residents, the Argus Leader reported Thursday.

It's the holiday season, and I'm looking forward to sharing my kitchen with some talented cooks - along with the culinary innovations that will surely accompany them.Last year in a flurry of inspiration, we revised traditional Midwestern menus with additions suggested by that uppity newspaper from out East.

A prisoner at Chicago's beleaguered high-rise federal jail in the Loop was raped by a cellmate in September despite his repeated pleas to guards that he was in danger and needed to be moved immediately, according to recently unsealed federal charges.Darious Robinson, 34, was charged with one count of aggravated sexual assault in the Sept. 22 attack at the Metropolitan Correctional Center on West Van Buren Street and is being held without bond, court records show.

Deshawn Hendricks, 26, wants to check his drugs for the powerful opioid fentanyl when he can, because as a crack user, he worries it could cause a life-threatening overdose.Matthew Todd, 32, tests for another reason: As an opioid user, he has come to depend on the quick and intense high fentanyl provides, and wants to make sure what he purchased is real.

Good morning.It's Wednesday.We'll meet a World War II code breaker who turns 100 today.We'll also look at a filing by Representative George Santos that suggests he is already considering running for another term in Congress.Image Credit...Michelle V. Agins/The New York Times Somewhere in Rockaway Park, N.Y., is a World War II code breaker who is finally talking.

Almost 23% of trans youth in the United States have lost access to gender-affirming care.A new report from the Human Rights Campaign (HRC) found that of the 300,000 trans youth ages 13 through 17, there are 66,600 living in states that have passed bans on this lifesaving care.And 84,700 more trans youth (28.2%) live in states that are currently considering bans.

A drink order can say a lot about a person...and a state.Do you prefer martinis or margaritas?A dive bar or a cocktail lounge?We've covered your state's favorite Super Bowl dips and Christmas cookies.Now, we're revealing your state's favorite drink orderand tipping habits.Upgraded Points surveyed 2,200 people across the U.S. to study their bar-ordering habits, including beer and classic cocktail of choice.

The European Commission on Thursday banned the use of the TikTok short video app on corporate devices and on the personal devices of employees enrolled in the commission's mobile device management service.The ban was enacted to enhance cyber security at the behest of the commission's Corporate Management Board, which oversees and coordinates management issues for the EU's executive arm.

Some US lawmakers are working to ban TikTok.That wold be a boon to Snap, Meta, and Google, CFRA says.The research firm says TikTok could make $9 billion-$10 billion in US revenue in 2024.There probability TikTok will be banned is still low but it's gone up significantly over the last six months, the firm said.

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TikTok will be outlawed on almost all devices issued by the federal government after lawmakers passed a $1.7 trillion spending bill.Officials crammed the No TikTok on Government Devices Act, which the Senate unanimously approved in mid-December, into the mammoth 4,155-page omnibus bill.

After obtaining Senate approval last week, the No TikTok on Government Devices Act could become law thanks to the $1.7 trillion spending bill federal lawmakers unveiled early Tuesday morning.In addition to allocating more funding for Ukraine and earmarking $40 billion for natural disaster recovery efforts across the US, the sprawling 4,155-page bill includes provisions that would prohibit the use of TikTok on government-owned phones and other devices.

Mario Tama/Getty Images A bipartisan bill to ban TikTok in the United States was introduced in Congress on Tuesday.The Averting the National Threat of Internet Surveillance, Oppressive Censorship and Influence, and Algorithmic Learning by the Chinese Communist Party Act, or ANTI-SOCIAL CCP Act, would forbid transactions to TikTok or its parent company Bytedance Ltd., or a subsidiary or a successor company of the two.

YUICHI YAMAZAKI/AFP via Getty Images/Brandon Bell/Getty Images Texas Governor Greg Abbott has officially banned TikTok from all state-issued tech devices including phones, computers, and tablets.On Wednesday, Abbott made it official, citing concerns that the app, which is owned by the Chinese internet tech company ByteDance Ltd, could target state secrets, influence its users, and conduct surveillance on people unknowingly.

Big cars and trucks could end up costing California drivers more in vehicle registration fees, if a new bill that was introduced in the state Legislature is approved.Vehicle registration fees in California are based on the value of the car, but a bill introduced by Assemblymember Christopher M. Ward (D-San Diego) would look at what the impact could be if there was a fee based on weight.

With no lottery winners matching all six numbers Tuesday, the Mega Millions jackpot has grown to nearly $1 billion, one of the largest prizes in the game's history.The next drawing on Friday will be for an estimated $940-million prize, the multi-state lottery body announced on Wednesday.This marks the fourth-largest jackpot since the Mega Millions launched in 2002.

The company said it had shut down the pipeline after oil spilled into a creek near a Kansas town of about 1,000 people.Miles of unused pipe, prepared for the Keystone XL pipeline, sit in a lot on October 14, 2014, outside Gascoyne, North Dakota.Andrew Burton / Getty Images Climate campaigners on Thursday were outraged but unsurprised as TC Energy in Canada - the company behind the Keystone XL pipeline proposal defeated last year - announced the 22nd spill from its original pipeline.

Defying their right-wing political leaders, South Dakota voters on Tuesday approved a constitutional amendment to expand the state's Medicaid program under the Affordable Care Act, a move that will extend public health insurance coverage to around 45,000 low-income people.With Tuesday's vote, which currently sits at 56% in favor of the amendment and 44% against, South Dakota is set to become the seventh state to expand Medicaid through a ballot measure, keeping the undefeated streak for Medicaid initiatives intact.

Game tied at 123 in front of 2,340 fans.Next point wins.It was overtime in South Dakota.Reggie Perry tried to score from the perimeter, but got walled off by Sioux Falls' defence, so he passed it out to David Johnson.Perry stuck his hand out, calling for the ball.His hand, his body language screamed, "Give me the damn ball, let me score this!"

Sean Sherman, better known to his fans as the Sioux Chef, began hosting pop-up dinners around his adopted hometown of Minneapolis, Minnesota, in 2012, using foraged ingredients like sunflowers, milkweed and sage.After finessing his craft and writing a successful cookbook he finally decided to up the ante, opening Owamni, a modern Indigenous restaurant overlooking the Mississippi River.

Perhaps you missed the big news: In 2023, there will be a record-breaking 12 women serving as governors around the nation.Way over the previous record of  nine.And your reaction is: Hey, that's 24 percent  not bad.That's less than a quarter!Are any of them going to run for president?And does that mean we have to discuss Kamala Harris?

WAIMEA, HI - DECEMBER 8: Makuakai Rothman, Sunny Garcia, and Ibon Amatrian ride a wave during the first round of the Quiksilver in Memory of Eddie Aikau Competition big wave surfing contest on December 8, 2009 in Waimea, Hawaii.Thousands of spectators and surfers are flocking to Hawaii's beaches to see some of the largest waves in the state in half a decade.

Indiana's attorney general filed a pair of lawsuits against TikTok on Wednesday, accusing the company of misleading users about its ties to the Chinese government and showing mature content to minors, as first reported by The New York Times.In his first complaint, Attorney General Todd Rokita claimed that TikTok deceived parents on the amount of sexual and drug-related content accessible to young users of the app.

Developments & Construction "We talked about something distinctive.I think we got it."The newest addition to Boston University's campus zigzags skyward, its unusual shape reminiscent of a precarious Jenga tower or - perhaps more fittingly - an off-kilter stack of textbooks.And the 19-story Center for Computing & Data Sciences is just as interesting on the inside, from its whiteboard walls to its groundbreaking geothermal system.

Health Maine wasn't far behind, coming in at number eight.Massachusetts is the third most stressed state about education in the country, a new analysis found.The report, by PlushCare - a telemedicine website, found that people in only two other states - Montana and South Dakota - were more stressed about their education.

STR/NurPhoto via Getty Images  TikTok is now facing its first state lawsuit over data security.Indiana's Attorney General has sued TikTok for allegedly misleading users about China's data access and violating child safety.The social media service supposedly broke state consumer law by failing to warn that the Chinese government could theoretically obtain sensitive data.

Public sector bans of Chinese platform TikTok on the grounds of national security have arisen in both Taiwan and additional US states following last week's ban in South Dakota.US FCC Commissioner has praised Taiwan's move as "smart" and its Ministry of Digital Affairs as having "strong leadership."

Chesnot via Getty Images  Kristi Noem, the governor of South Dakota, has signed an executive order prohibiting government employees, agencies and contractors from downloading and using TikTok on state-owned devices.In her office's announcement, Noem said she issued the order due to growing security concerns that the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) has been using the social media app to gather information from American users and leveraging it to manipulate them.

NEW YORK  The company tasked with locking down the assets of the failed cryptocurrency exchange FTX said they've managed to recover and secure $740 million in assets so far, a fraction of the potential billions of dollars likely missing from the company's coffers.The numbers were disclosed on Wednesday in court filings by cryptocurrency custodial company BitGo, which FTX hired in the hours after the company filed for bankruptcy on November 11.

While Mexicans still make up the largest share of U.S. Latinos, the population has become increasingly diverse in the last 20 years, with the fastest growth coming from countries in South America.That's according to a new report from the  UCLA Latino Policy and Politics Institute.Researchers used U.S. Census data from 2000 and 2020 to examine demographic and socioeconomic changes among Latinos descending from 19 countries.

Voters in Montana rejected a ballot measure that would have declared an embryo or fetus a legal person entitled to medical care if they are born alive at any stage of development, including after attempted abortions.Montana was one of five states with abortion-related ballot measures on Tuesday, and was the only one left unresolved.