A healthcare advocacy group has lost a legal fight. The state Supreme Court says voters will decide a ballot question that could affect Medicaid expansion. 

This and more in today’s SDPB News Podcast. Find it on Apple Podcasts or Spotify today.

In the Moment, May 7, 2021 Show 1044.

• Matt Zimmer is back with us talking Jackrabbit football. SDSU is one win away from a first-ever national championship as they take on Delaware this Saturday morning at Dana J Dykhouse stadium in Brookings.

• Jonathan Martin with the New York Times discusses his recent wrote article, "Why Kristi Noem is Rising Quickly as a Republican Prospect for 2024."

A healthcare advocacy group has lost a legal fight.

The state Supreme Court says voters will decide a ballot question that could affect Medicaid expansion. 

The state Legislature is asking voters to make it harder to pass ballot questions that raise taxes or require the state spend 10 million dollars over five years. Those ballot questions would require 60 percent voter approval.

Rick Weiland is with the Dakotans for Health, which opposes the measure. He’s disappointed but respects the court’s decision.

As vaccination rates increase, more events are open to the public. The University of South Dakota took a creative way to share opera with the public by having an “Opera Pop Up” in public places around Vermillion.

Between classes Students stop and sit in the grass to listen to the first live performance the USD opera has had in months. Community members also gather in front of Slagle hall as they are drawn by the sound of harmonizing voices. Performers take turns singing, accompanied by a small orchestra. A crowd grows from dozens to nearly a hundred. 

The Sierra Club has standing to challenge a confined hog and cattle operation in Clay County. That's the unanimous decision of the South Dakota Supreme Court, who heard arguments in October 2020.

A lower court dismissed Sierra Club's lawsuit against the Clay County Board of Adjustment. The high court says that lawsuit can continue.

Victoria Wicks has more of this story for SDPB.

In the Moment, May 6, 2021 Show 1043.

Agriculture may be South Dakota’s number one industry, but the state’s farmers and ranchers need second jobs to pay the bills. And they are not alone. According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, nationwide, 90 percent of farmers and ranchers do not earn a majority of their income from the farm or ranch.  SDPB’s Lura Roti has this story.  

If you want to understand why so many of South Dakota’s farmers and ranchers need a second income, just ask them.

“The cattle market is not good enough to put groceries on the table,” Shane Fastnacht says.

Governor Kristi Noem says she doesn't have plans to issue a public service announcement urging South Dakotan to get vaccinated for COVID-19. A dozen advocates and relatives of missing and murdered Indigenous women spoke at the the state Capitol in Pierre to call for protection and justice. 

All this and more in today’s SDPB News Podcast. Find it on Apple Podcasts or Spotify today.

The company behind a long-lingering uranium mine proposal wants to start the state permitting process, but opponents say state hearings are premature until legal fights over federal approval are complete.  

A Canadian company, Azarga Uranium, and its South Dakota subsidiary, Powertech, want to mine in the remote Dewey-Burdock area of the southwestern Black Hills near Edgemont. The uranium would go to nuclear power plants. 

In the Moment, May 5, 2021 Show 1042.

Laura Edwards is the SDSU Extension State Climatologist. She joins to discuss the U.S. Climate Normal Report and its significance to how we view weather along with highlights from the report and how they pertain to South Dakota.

Richard Two Bulls talks with an episcopal priest who has a Native American food kitchen in the twin cities.