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Our nation has a large and growing public health problem called suicide. It is the tenth leading cause of death in the United States and it is preventable. The Centers for Disease Control indicates suicide was responsible for more than 47,000 deaths in 2017, resulting in about one death every 11 minutes and it affects all ages. Suicide is the second leading cause of death for people 10 to 34 years of age, the fourth leading cause among people 35 to 54 years of age, and the eighth leading cause among people 55 to 64 years of age.
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Everyone is waiting and working on the budget with the appropriations committee’s in the Senate and House. The waiting comes because we won’t know until all the legislation is done. March 9, legislative day bills have to be finalized. The working revolves around getting the absolutely best required funding for the agencies, then allocating the amount we have after that. The negotiations begin about where to direct those funds. Examples would be on going funding which locks us in our future spending such as giving 2% or more to schools, 2% or more to state workers and 2% or more to community care providers. Let me be very direct here. There is not enough money to do that without borrowing from reserve funds and jeopardizing our bond rating or raising taxes, which we are not considering. There is also one time money needs, items such as buildings, repairs, for suppression that we pay for one time this year.
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The second to last week of session has now come and gone and we are in the home stretch of the 2020 Legislative Session. I only have one update this week as it relates to bills that I am carrying this session. HB 1257 did pass the Senate last week and is now on the Governor’s Desk awaiting a signature. This week I want to take a bit of time to highlight a few bills that I think are important but maybe have not gotten a lot of attention.
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The Hot Springs VA and the entire community have been providing care to America’s veterans for more than 110 years, earning it the nickname “The Veterans Town.” This facility was the first - and only - original National Home for Disabled Volunteer Soldiers that was built for short-term medical needs and not a long-term veterans’ home. It is renowned for its successful post-traumatic stress disorder and substance abuse treatment facility nestled in the tranquility of our Black Hills. There is no community so dedicated to making certain The Veterans Town delivers the services our heroes have earned.
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Xavier Hare goes up to attempt the shot in the fourth quarter.
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Mamie Shields Pyle was walking by a polling place on Election Day in Huron — a place where women were not welcome in the early 1900s — when she overheard a conversation that changed not only her life, but the course of South Dakota history. A man was holding up a ballot and showing a group of workers (some of whom were illiterate) how to vote. “He was threatening their jobs if they didn’t vote the right way,” says Rachel Farrell, executive director of Huron’s Dakotaland Museum. “Mamie got upset and that’s really what got her started in the suffrage movement.”
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Because we are an aging population, I’ll assume that many column readers are getting on in years. If this assumption is correct, today’s column should be relevant to a fair number of readers.
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