Category: Breaking News

Reporters over at Sioux Falls Simplified caught our eye with this headline: “Why the city is spending $6000,000 on a new website.“

Whoa! That’s a big splash of cash!

As folks that have had a professional toe in the online waters for a few decades, that seems like a bangin’ big deal, and a darn tasty one for whatever IT/marketing firm that succeeded in landing the contract. Really, that’s the whole year’s budget for many a mid-sized web-design company. That’s the whole team going all in one thing. Plus donuts and coffee.

We find it odd that the reporters didn’t mention the company behind it. But maybe that’s our job? Hmmm… time to makes some calls. And perhaps offer our services. Seems like with a budget like that, there’s gotta be a few crumbs left over, eh?

As reported by the good folks at The Dakota Scout, Kristi Noem says “no way!” to using TikTok on state-supplied phones and things. While that’s fine by us — not that we’re paranoid about the Chi-coms hacking our telecoms — but really, shouldn’t that kind of thing be a blanket policy already?

Much as we’d like to see our state reps posting goofy dances between sessions, we’re pretty sure that serious government business precludes such nonsense. You guys are too busy saving the state, amiright??

Get yourself back to facebook folks, and leave the tik’n-and-tok’n for the kids!

We’ve always wondered just how green the electricity is in South Dakota. Here in the middle, we aren’t beholden to coal like a lot of the east side of the country, but we’re also pretty far from the big dams out west. Well, now we know. According to the Argus Leader, windmills are now the biggest generator in the state, most days. Number 2, you ask? That goes to hydro.

Of course, the wind doesn’t always blow, and the sun doesn’t always shine. So we still get around a quarter or so of our juice from natural gas and coal.

But things are looking up! For a full breakdown of the stuff, check out the official U.S. Energy Administration website.

Plug in your Tesla in peace, kids!

What does the venerable granddaddy of Sioux Falls journalism and your buddy’s indie band have in common? They’ve both set up on GoFundMe accounts to make ends meet!

Ok, this is unofficial. The Argus isn’t asking directly for your free money, but the staff is…after finding out they’d be “furloughed” over the Xmas holiday.

While we still shill out for digital subscription to keep up on stuff around town (it’s our duty, and reddit can only do you for so much) we’ve been watching sadly as more and more reporters bolt from El Argus for the private sector or to go-it-alone.

We’re guessing this kinda thing is the reason why. Merry Christmas, indeed!

When we moved to Sioux Falls, duty called us to sign up for the local paper. We’d never done that before. Other (bigger) ‘burgs we’d lived in had plenty of local coverage competing for our eye-balls and ear-holes. But, at the time, the Argus Leader was more-of-less the only game in town. After a few dozen cut-backs, subscribing to the ever-thinning local rag became silly. So we stopped. Easy call.

Here’s what can’t be stopped: The vocational call to journalism. Some of the Argus’s best-and-brightest can still be read online. Folks like Jodi Schwan, Patrick Lalley, & Megan Rapoza are doing their thing, better than ever.

Now we can add two new names to that list of fearsome freelancers: Jonathan Ellis and Joe Sneve. After both spent decades at the Argus Leader, tirelessly doing the good work of calling the powerful to account, they’ve launched a new project: The Dakota Scout.

To misquote Timothy Leary: these guys Dropped Out and Turned On. We’ll be Tuning In!