Tag: Community
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Rapid’s New Rides: Delivering Comfort and Dignity to the Daily Commute
Arriving early for the ribbon cutting ceremony I took a seat in the sun, expecting a crowd. After all, Rapid City is a booming town, and infrastructure news usually draws a few people. Instead, the sidewalk was mostly quiet. A haggard mother walked by, pushing a stroller and wrangling four other children—two little girls dancing…
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The Summer Nights Political Sandbox: Don’t Cry Over Closed Streets, Cry Over Broken Ethics
Let’s get one thing straight about the Summer Nights relocation to 6th and Kansas City Street: a temporary road closure is not the end of the world. In Rapid City, we shut down roads for car shows, kids’ carnivals, and parades all the time. It is a fundamental part of small-town living. If a business…
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What South Dakota’s New Crypto ATM Law Means: Breaking Down SB 98
What is the Bill? On July 1st, the “Wild West” era of cryptocurrency in South Dakota officially comes to an end. Under Senate Bill 98, any business operating a cryptocurrency ATM in the state must play by a strict new set of rules. New Crypto ATM Mandates Why is the Bill Needed Cryptocurrency might be…
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In the Shadow of The Presidents: The Rogue Economy Exploiting Seasonal Labor in the Black Hills
So it Begins As the weather warms and the Black Hills prepare for the massive influx of summer tourism, the shadow economy is already operating at peak capacity. Right now – months before the first major wave of tourists arrives- “shadow recruiters” are actively hunting for this season’s vulnerable workforce. The lure is often set…
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A Moratorium On The Menu: Inside South Dakota’s Five Year Freeze On Lab Grown Meat
The Traditional Standard Walk into any grocery store in Rapid City today, and you are surrounded by food science. The ground beef in the cooler may legally contain ammonia-treated scraps once known as “pink slime,” and the cheap banquet steaks at the local buffet are likely held together by transglutaminase—a commercial “meat glue” fermented from…
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From the TSA to the Checkout Counter: The Fight for Tribal ID Equality
Imagine a tourist from Europe walks into a sporting goods store in Rapid City. They hand the clerk a foreign passport, fill out the federal paperwork, and wait for the background check to clear. Under current federal law, that foreign passport is a perfectly valid, primary form of identification to purchase a firearm. Now, imagine…
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Data Over Drama: The Cold Hard Math of the OneHeart Lease
If you happened to read the headlines this week , you’d think that the sky was falling over Kansas City Street. Following a unanimous City Council vote to issue a “Notice of Non-Renewal” for the OneHeart campus lease, the local rumor mill immediately went into overdrive. The narrative being sold is one of impending disaster—a…
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A Box in the Wall – A Blind Spot in the Law
The Dilemma of The Safe Haven Baby Box in South Dakota The Safe Haven Baby Box model is built entirely on the premise of absolute unrecorded anonymity. However, the Indian Child Welfare Act explicitly requires jurisdictional notification to keep indigenous children within their communities. Due to the fact that the dropbox is designed to collect…