Lori Walsh

Doug Bamforth is Professor of Anthropology at the University of Colorado Boulder. He will present a lecture at Augustana University on March 3rd at 7 p.m. in the 3-in-1 room, Morrison Commons.

Film expert Julie Anderson Friesen offers insight into awards season. From the Oscars to the Spirit Awards, Anderson Friesen gives behind-the-scenes glimpses at how foreign films are submitted for consideration, the ongoing journey of "Songs My Brother Taught Me," and how Cinema Falls supports diversity in the industry.

Cinema Falls brings Norweigan popcorn thriller "The Wave" to Sioux Falls on Sunday, March 6. Anderson Friesen also discusses the classic American disaster movie and how Norweigan filmmakers adapted the model to create a Scandanavian nail-biter. 

Attorney General Marty Jackley has returned from the winter meeting of the National Association of Attorneys General. He joins Dakota Midday host Lori Walsh to discuss updates in state legislation, including HB1008 and the vehicular homicide statute. AG Jackley also highlights the significance of US Attorney General Loretta Lynch's address to the state Attorneys General.

The book that gave the world William Shakespeare is one of the most treasured tomes of all time. Shakespeare’s First Folio is visiting the National Music Museum on the campus of the University of South Dakota. It’s a traveling exhibit from the Folger Shakespeare Library and it’s making one stop in each of the 50 states.

Dakota Midday spends a literary lunch hour swimming in all things Shakespeare with Dr. Darlene Farabee, project director and chair of the English Department at the University of South Dakota, and Cleveland Johnson, director of the National Music Museum.

The South Dakota Chapter of The Wildlife Society is celebrating 50 years in the state. Shane Mahoney is keynote speaker for their annual meeting. He’s the president and CEO Conservation Visions Incorporated. He’s a scientist, a film maker, a writer, a wildlife manager, and a policy innovator.

Representative Shawn Bordeaux, Mission, and Representative Kevin Killer (Pine Ridge) return to Dakota Midday to discuss the legislative session after crossover day. From education to mascots, from legislation that is succeeding to bills that have been defeated, Bordeaux and Killer talk about what's ahead for the rest of the session.

Paige Carda, executive director of REACH Literacy, previews the upcoming 2016 Brewhaha fundraiser. From storytelling to beer tasting, the event helps connect adult learners with tutors to achieve literacy.

Tony Harrison is the South Dakota Fraternal Order of Police national trustee. He’s also in charge of narcotics investigations with the Pennington County Sheriff's Department. Tony Harrison  joins Dakota Midday host Lori Walsh to talk about the FRONTLINE special “Chasing Heroin” on SDPB-TV, and whether or not heroin is a challenge for South Dakota law enforcement officers.

Andreas Widmer travels the world working with entrepreneurs, investors, and faith leaders. He talks about virtuous business practices and enterprise solutions to poverty. He’s the president of The Carpenter’s Fund, an organization that provides loans for building infrastructure in developing countries. He’s also author of the book “The Pope & The CEO: Pope John Paul the Second’s Lessons to a Young Swiss Guard.”

Chad Hutchinson is the newly appointed music director of the South Dakota Symphony Youth Orchestra. He sits down with Dakota Midday host Lori Walsh to discuss the vision for the orchestra's future, what musicians can learn from visual artists,  and the value of connecting young musicians with professionals.

Poet Barbara Duffey reads poems from her upcoming collection "Simple Machines" and USD's Marcella Remund discusses the Vermillion Literary Project's upcoming literary celebration.

The South Dakota Native American Student Achievement Advisory Council recently released its historic report, featuring an urgent call to close the achievement gap between Native and non-Native South Dakota students.

Mato Standing High, Indian Education Director for the state of South Dakota, joins Dakota Midday to discuss legislation that resulted from the NASAAC report, the importance of language and culture for Native students, and why all students desire to be held to high standards.

Tomorrow night at 8:00 p.m. CT, SDPB-TV airs the premiere of the new FRONTLINE documentary “Chasing Heroin.” 

This intense documentary explores how America is experimenting with radical new approaches to the drug problem in the face of a heroin epidemic.  Following four addicts in Seattle, the film probes U.S. drug policy and investigates what happens when addiction is treated like a public health crisis, not a crime. 

Flint Michigan is a city of about 100,000 residents, 41 percent of whom live below the poverty line. On January 16, President Obama declared a state of emergency in Flint because of severe drinking water contamination. Because of changes in the city’s tap water supply, the people of Flint had been drinking and bathing in water highly contaminated with lead … a powerful neurotoxin that causes lifelong health consequences, many of which are severe. The problem with water in Flint has been going on for at least two years, and is still not fully resolved.

Arthur Haas was one of two ranchers who found a fossil but didn’t learn until many years later that it was a unique genus of aquatic reptile.  The Haas family had the honor of naming it.  It’s now on display now at the Adams Museum and it’s SDPB’s Images of the Past feature this week.

Darrel Nelson, Deadwood History Inc., Exhibits Director, and Bill Haas, the grandson of a man who found a plesiosaur fossil near Belle Fourche in 1934, join Dakota Midday to talk aboutt the discovery, the artifact, and the naming of Pahasapasaurus haasi.

The Dakota Discovery Museum in Mitchell has received a donation of 26 original Corn Palace mural works by Oscar Howe.  Included are four from 1955 and complete sets of 11 from 1957 and 1958.  Rod Brown of the Dakota Discovery Museum visited about the works on Dakota Midday.

More than ten years ago, Frank Warren stood on a corner in Washington DC and passed out 2000 self-addressed postcards to strangers. He asked those strangers to tell him a secret. It had to be a true secret. And it had to be something they had never confessed to anyone before.

Since that day, Frank Warren has received more than a million postcards from all over the world. Some of them are funny. Some are heartbreaking. He has turned his idea for a collaborative confessional art project into a global testament to the power of telling the truth.

The Case School of Music is offering its first Day of Percussion in Sioux Falls, Saturday, February 20. Instructors Daniel Heier and Tyson Conn discuss the art of percussion, from double bass drumming to jazz improvisation.

Lucas Lentsch is Secretary of Agriculture for South Dakota. He joins Dakota Midday to discuss issues farmers and producers are watching during the 2016 legislative session.

We all have stories to tell about the greatest blizzard on record … at least in the record of our own imaginations. For this week's Images of the Past, Bill Hoskins, director of the Siouxland Heritage Museumes, shares the story of the Blizzard of 1909 - forecasted via telegraph, traveled with the help of skis and bobsleds, and cleared with an early version of the snowblower.

A son of Chinese immigrants (his parents came to the U.S. via Cambodia during the war in Vietnam) Lim Bun grew up celebrating Chinese New Year.

Lim Bun sits down with Dakota Midday host Lori Walsh to talk about lucky money, the largest human migration on the planet, and how to maximize the volatility of the upcoming Year of the Fire Monkey.

Justice Antonin Scalia served three decades on the United States Supreme Court. He died this weekend at the age of 79. Called a “leader of a conservative intellectual renaissance" by the New York Times Scalia was known for his intellect and his wit as much as for his legal legacy.

USD law professor Jonathan Van patten discusses the impact of Justice Scalia ... why he was admired, why he was criticized, and why he was such good friends with intellectual opponent Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg.

Mandie Weinandt is faculty advisor for the University of South Dakota’s LGBTQ student group. She joins Dakota Midday to talk about what it means to be an “ally” during conversations regarding transgender legislation.

Ben Jones is Dean of Arts and Sciences and Associate Professor of History at Dakota State University. He’s an Air Force veteran and he’s taught at the Air Force Academy. He also served as an advisor to the National Military Academy in Afghanistan. 

He joins Dakota Midday host Lori Walsh to discuss his new book "Eisenhower's Guerillas: The Jedburghs, The Maquis, and the Liberation of France."

For more information about the book, click below:

Lunafest is a national showcase of short films that highlights women filmmakers and women's issues. Peg Ryan is the chair of the Lunafest Custer committee. She joins Midday to discuss the power of a short narrative and the importance of bringingg international film to Custer.

House Bill 1008 is a bill that restricts the use of bathrooms by transgender students. It would require all students to use bathrooms, locker rooms and dressing rooms aligned with the gender they were assigned at birth, regardless of their gender identity now. Supporters say it protects the privacy of all students. Opponents say it isolates and discriminates against transgender South Dakotans and takes control away from local decision-makers.