Dakota Digest

South Dakota is now in the middle of a bitter cold snap with the kind of frigid temperatures not seen in several years.  

In the coming days parts of the Black Hills will see high temperatures that are still below zero.

On this Dakota Digest we check in with our reporters around the state about the cold weather. 

We begin in Aberdeen with SDPB’s Jenifer Jones  who takes a look at  snow totals on the ground in the wake of the arctic air blast .

Governor Dennis Daugaard has his plan for fiscal year 2015 which includes millions of what leaders call unexpected money. That starts just about seven months from now. The governor’s suggestions are a far cry from deep, overarching cuts he proposed just a few years ago, and the plan capitalizes on one-time money.

Think of places where kids are hanging out on the streets, with nowhere to go and getting into trouble - and New York, Chicago or Los Angeles might come to mind. But that’s the very situation that was taking place during the late 1950s and early 1960s in Rapid City – until an answer was found. Today we visit the Club for Boys on its 50th anniversary to talk to members – old and new – about what it’s like to have somewhere to go.

The United States Supreme Court heard arguments last week regarding prayer before public meetings. It’s a complicated topic, pitting various First Amendment rights against one another. Depending on the outcome of this case, the Rapid City Common Council could face a lawsuit for its invocation practices. For today’s Dakota Digest, the fourth in a five-part series, SDPB’s Victoria Wicks distills the Supreme Court arguments.

This week the U.S. Supreme Court heard arguments regarding prayers at public meetings. Although the controversy settles on the practices of a city council in Greece, New York, similar primarily Christian invocations are offered by the Rapid City Common Council. Depending on the outcome of the Supreme Court case, the Rapid City council could face a lawsuit.
 

On Wednesday, Nov. 6, the U.S. Supreme Court heard arguments for and against offering prayers before public meetings. Depending on the outcome, the Rapid City Common Council might face a lawsuit for its practice of starting meetings with predominantly Christian prayers.

On Wednesday, November 6th, the United States Supreme Court is hearing arguments involving prayers or invocations at public meetings. This year the Rapid City Common Council has been threatened with a lawsuit for hosting predominantly Christian invocations before meetings. At issue is the First Amendment establishment clause that prohibits Congress, and by legal extension, governmental bodies, from establishing or promoting a particular religion.

The hunt for dark matter continues.  That’s the word from researchers at the Sanford Lab.  It is home to the LUX experiment one of the on-going global efforts to directly detect dark matter.

While the initial three month run didn’t turn up any eureka moments–the knowledge gained in fine tuning and calibrating the experiment are proving valuable.   The findings help scientists hone the search.

On today’s Dakota Digest SDPB’s Charles Michael Ray has the latest play by play in the global race to find dark matter.

The Black Hills town of Deadwood has a reputation for ghostly encounters at all times of the year – not just on Halloween. So many, in fact, that it’s almost hard to keep track of whose spirit is floating around Deadwood – and where. Today we go in search of a spirit whose presence no one has reported…yet.

Mount Moriah Cemetery…round midnight. The streets below are quiet after a weekend of Halloween revelry; an annual tradition in Deadwood.

If you’re over the age of twenty-five and are thinking about starting or going back to college, you’re not alone. Education officials say more and more non-traditional students are enrolling in the state’s higher-education facilities. Here we take a look at how the infrastructure of higher education is keeping up with the growing demands of non-traditional students in South Dakota.

The phrase, “I’m forty and I have homework.” may sound a bit amusing but education officials say non-traditional students are making a comeback in South Dakota and across the nation.
 

If you’re interested in music and have aspirations to be a musician, people might suggest you study guitar, piano or maybe a brass instrument. But studying “turntable” is unlikely to enter the conversation. Today we attend a class where students learn that being a DJ – or disc jockey - involves a lot more than just playing songs.  

Disc jockeys. They’re those usually upbeat, occasionally loud guys and gals who spin records – or now actually use computers, to get the songs we like to hear on the air waves.

The freak October blizzard that dumped more than four feet of snow has killed tens of thousands of cattle west of the river. Their carcasses are now tangled in barbed wire fences and emerging from the melting snowdrifts.

But the government shutdown means part of the safety net is gone; the programs normally operated by the USDA and other federal agencies to assist ranchers are shuttered.

South Dakota Public Broadcasting’s Charles Michael Ray caught up with a few ranchers while they were out in the field corralling the surviving animals.

Western South Dakota suffered one of the worst blizzards ever recorded in the region over the weekend.   

Three days after the start of the storm -- tens of thousands are still without power, thousands more, especially in rural areas remain snowbound. 

Officials warn the public to stay away from the downed power lines.    They add that it will be Tuesday before many roads are opened-- the restoration of power may take much longer in some cases.  

SDPB's Charles Michael Ray has the latest.

South Dakota’s economy includes some major players – think health care organizations and a solid banking industry. But the backbone of the state’s economic stability is the earth and the life that agriculture professionals develop. As South Dakota Public Broadcasting examines the State of Our State, this story delves into the area’s number one industry: agriculture.

To be a sculptor you need two primary tools – a hammer and a chisel. To complete a sculpture with those tools you need talent, training, practice and most of all patience. Today we return to Rapid City’s Main Street Square for more insight on how to create art from stone in “Sculpting 101”.

It’s been three months since work began on the Passage of Wind and Water sculpture project at Rapid City’s Main Street Square. During that period we’ve visited the location several times to speak with the artist about his work, but haven’t explored how he actually creates his art. Today we take another tour of the sculpture site for the first of a two-part series calledToday we take another tour of the sculpture site for the first of a two-part series he’s calling “Sculpting 101”.    “Sculpting 101”.  

"Every picture has a story, and for a lot of children art is the medium that helps them get their story out," -- Linda Thompson with Lutheran Social Services.

The Art of Healing is the focus of a week-long series on SDPB.  We’ve heard how positive artworks in hospitals can speed recovery.  But, the act of creating art can also lead to healing and recovery.
 

Art is playing a larger role in healthcare.  Administrators consider everything from the design of a building to the art inside as a way to create a positive healing experience.  As the series Art of Healing continues we look at how healing is found in the act of creating art.

August 2, 2011 is a day many Rapid City Police officers will never forget.  It's the day Officers Nick Armstrong and Ryan McCandless were shot and killed during a routine traffic stop.  Throughout the Art of Healing series we're hearing how art in hospitals can speed recovery and also how artists find healing from personal tragedy.  Here we examine how art plays a role in helping an entire community heal in the wake of tragedy.