One of many big political ironies was highlighted during last night’s presidential debates. Although neither candidate would address very specifically how they would cut spending given the recent financial crisis what they did do was throw out a few catch-alls they thought might stick for one or two voters. For John McCain that was “we need to cut ethanol subsidies.”

Now this probably wasn’t that big of a deal for most folks, but here in South Dakota, it is huge! More than 4 million acres of corn are planted in South Dakota in an average year. As a result, ethanol plants are prevalent throughout our state. Former Senate Minority Leader Tom Dascle spent years pushing ethanol production bills through Read the rest of this entry »

Only a few days since the end of both political party’s conventions, and yet it seems there has yet to be discussion about the real issues that face the country. For all the discussions about “woman power” and breaking glass ceilings, lost in the fray are significant issues happening at home for thousands of South Dakotan’s this election year.

Don’t think South Dakota has anything significant to offer the national political scene? Well think again. This November South Dakotans will be voting on a measure that is suppose to determine, once and for all, on the legality of abortions in this state. Although this may not directly impact anyone outside of our small state, Read the rest of this entry »

The age of the traditional newspaper is rapidly approaching a very real end, though by the looks of mainstream newspaper organizations one would think it were still the 1950s and the height of the paper news industry. With newspaper readership dwindling at alarming rates it would seem prudent for traditional information mediums to heed the warnings of an ever changing global internet world.

New social networking medias leave newspapers on the run

In Sioux Falls, local newspaper response to these changes seems slow to develop. Although the local newspaper website has undergone numerous layout redesigns in the past few years (ad nauseum, in fact), it’s reach appears to focus on young readers who are not traditional “local readership” material. The idea may be to try and capture this never-before reached demographic, but simply providing new technological options on a website without a clearly defined direction for long-term growth and development is not enough to build the type of online loyalty these newspapers will require in the decades to come.  Clearly an “outside the hemisphere” thought process is required to ensure stable readership numbers if local newspapers ever hope to maintain their local community base.

One regional newspaper, however, does seem to be taking on the challenge of thinking outside the box. The Minneapolis Star Tribune has decided recently that it will no longer subscribe to the AP wire service. An Read the rest of this entry »