Excerpts from recent South Dakota editorials

Yankton Daily Press and Dakotan, Yankton, March 2, 2015

One of the more embarrassing and aggravating examples of what our government is now all about is occurring right now - at an extraordinary and precarious moment, at a time when we need a little bit of unity to face a serious threat to our domestic security.

This involved the battle in Washington over providing funds for the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), an agency whose very purpose for existing can be directly tied to the 9/11 attacks that are still scorched into our memories and still guide our national thinking.

On Friday, Congress narrowly avoided a partial shutdown of the DHS with a one-week funding extension. The fate of this agency's funding has become a hot potato after House Republicans tied this funding matter to President Barack Obama's executive orders on immigration. It basically comes down to this: Undo the orders and the DHS funding passes; don't undo the orders and DHS is defunded and the key defensive apparatus in our war on terror is crippled.

All this occurs at the precise moment that the Islamic State (ISIS) terrorist group is creating security ripples across the planet with its ingenious social media campaign that fires off warnings, recruits new members and encourages random, "lone wolf" acts of terrorism. Last week's call for attacks against shopping malls - with the Mall of America in Minneapolis specifically mentioned - was one of the latest attempts to sow the seeds of panic and perhaps inspire those lone actors to indeed act.

And in THIS atmosphere, D.C. politicians are doing this.

They are using domestic security in an atmosphere of war as tool for political extortion.

We've seen too much of this for far too long, as both political parties use legislative tactics and party-line gospels to attack and undercut one another, hurting the rest of us in the process.

In this particular case, those House Republicans pursuing this reckless and dangerous course of actions are being stymied by Democrats and some fellow Republicans. This is creating a political chaos that is, in effect, doing more than placing our own security in danger.

It also makes us look weak and vulnerable.

Republican Sen. Mark Kirk of Illinois sees this issue. "I think this is a battle that Republicans should have never fought - junking up a DHS bill, especially when we get a threat against the Mall of America," he said. He also told his fellow Republican senators, "We really, as a governing party, we've got to fund DHS and say to the House, 'Here's a straw so you can suck it up.'"

He added, "Hopefully we're gonna end the attaching of (expletive) to essential items of the government."

But not just now, apparently. One day after Kirk made that remark, D.C. lawmakers were only able to come up with a one-week extension, so the battle remains and the tension is still intact.

As a grim sidebar, this battle promises only more confrontations in the future new spending measures will be needed this fall to keep the government from partially shutting down or defaulting. The ghosts of 2013 may be looming, and that will only generate more uncertainty about this nation's ability to even conduct business.

This current situation is a disgrace. It puts our own security in a blatantly political perspective and generates needless uncertainty at a precarious moment.

As Republican Rep. Charlie Dent of Pennsylvania put it, "I think a lot of people better get serious about governing and it's time for all of these, you know, D.C. games to end. I mean, all these palace coups or whatever the hell is going on around here has to end, and we have to get down to the business of governing."

The lawmakers may be serving their parties or their bases quite well, but their grandstanding is failing America.

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Rapid City Journal, March 1, 2015

Delegation puts VA secretary on the spot

More than three years after the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs announced that it was considering closing its medical center in Hot Springs, South Dakota's congressional delegation finally got its meeting with the department's top dog.

On Wednesday, Sens. John Thune and Mike Rounds and U.S. Rep. Kristi Noem met with VA Secretary Robert McDonald looking for promises and answers about the fate of the medical center that is so central to the economy of the Southern Hills community of 3,700.

At the meeting, McDonald assured the Republican lawmakers that a final decision has not yet been made on the medical center's fate and would not be until an Environmental Impact Statement was completed, which is expected in June. A public comment period will follow the report's completion, according to the VA secretary.

Beyond that, however, no new information appeared to come out of the meeting. In fact, Sen. Thune said the meeting just affirmed feelings he's had all along about the process that has put Hot Springs' future up in the air.

"Today's meeting made clear what we've known for some time," the state's senior senator said in a press release that included a photo of Thune giving a stern look at McDonald. "The VA hasn't been straightforward with South Dakota veterans."

Sen. Rounds, meanwhile, thanked McDonald for meeting with the delegation and to hear that no final decision has been made.

"I appreciate his willingness to sit down with the delegation to make sure we are all working with the same data," Rounds said in the same press release. "I am also happy to have his assurance that no decision has been made on the reconfiguration of the Black Hills Health Care System."

Rep. Noem said in the news release that she wants McDonald to promise to visit Hot Springs and that she remains concerned about the future of the medical center and the veterans it serves.

"Our veterans deserve answers as well as a fair an unbiased EIS process," she said.

It was in December 2011 when the VA first announced its plans to consider closing the medical center. Since then, local groups and the congressional delegation have worked hard to persuade VA officials to keep the medical center open.

While Wednesday's meeting was a positive development in this long-running saga, it is apparent that we are no closer to knowing the fate of the facility than we were when all this started.

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American News, Aberdeen, Feb. 25, 2015

SD can encourage home births, simply

Choice is an essential ingredient in some of life's most important milestones.

But as far as South Dakota is concerned, there is only one way to give birth.

Sure, the birds and bees have not changed too much in several millennia, but throughout the world, the options for where women can give birth can be as plentiful as the individual children being born.

For some women, a home birth is preferred. That is where a midwife helps to deliver the baby in a comfortable, familiar environment. For some mothers, it causes less stress during birth, and allows plenty of time to recuperate and bond with the new baby in familiar surroundings.

It also creates a personal relationship between the mother and midwife, a friendship that is vital when it is time to give birth.

Home births in South Dakota account for less than 1 percent of all births in the state, but that number is going up, according to data provided by the South Dakota Department of Health.

Laws have not necessarily kept pace with interest in alternative birthing scenarios.

In this state, only a certified nurse midwife can help to deliver a baby in a private home.

This allowance came up in 2008, when state law was changed for certified nurse midwives to assist in home births without an agreement with a doctor.

According to Debbie Pease, lobbyist for advocacy group South Dakota Birth Matters, the number of home births in the state almost doubled between 2007 and 2008 after the change.

Clearly, that points to some interest - interest that cannot truly be satisfied in South Dakota.

"There are a lot of places in our state, and Aberdeen is one of them, where women have no access to midwives," Pease said. "Whether it's in the hospital or out of the hospital, there are not nurse midwives that are doing births in Aberdeen."

Traditional hospitals warn that any birthing situation - even after perfectly normal and healthy pregnancies - can become an emergency, and that access to immediate emergency care is critical.

Home births can be safe options, if properly administered.

So how can a family plan for a home birth?

Brittany Olsen of Aberdeen, featured in a Sunday American News story about home births, had to make plans to give birth at Morning Star Birth Center in Menomonie, Wis. The travel and unfamiliarity would seem to negate the benefits of giving birth at home.

A small step for the state would be to recognize certified professional midwives, those who are trained as outside-the-hospital midwives without being required to have a nursing component, as certified nurse midwives are. According to the Midwives Alliance of North America, certified professional midwives are legally allowed to practice in 28 states.

That simple change would allow a growing number of South Dakotans the freedom to plan home births if they so choose.