Prairie Dog Assistance Sought Omaha Hospital
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Monday, 1.30.12 ON THE WEB: www.yankton.net the midwest PRESS DAKOTAN NEWS DEPARTMENT: [email protected] 7 Police Say Man Shot In Omaha Has Died South Dakota OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — Omaha police say a man shot at a home in Omaha has died, and an arrest warrant has been issued for a suspect in the shooting. Police say 26-year-old Philip Burden died Sunday afternoon at an Prairie Dog Assistance Sought Omaha hospital. Police say officers responded to a call of a shooting just before 8:30 BY CHET BROKAW immunity, which says the state is immune from Rep. Lance Russell, R-Hot Springs, said he in- a.m. Saturday. When they arrived at the home, they found a Burden suf- Associated Press such lawsuits unless it agrees to be sued. The troduced the bills for the ranchers after they fering from a gunshot wound. state’s highest court said the state was pro- lost the Supreme Court case. The bill seeks to Police say an arrest warrant has been issued for a 27-year-old man PIERRE — After losing a court battle, some tected against the lawsuit because South make the state agencies comply with their re- suspected in the shooting. ranchers in southwestern South Dakota are ask- Dakota law does not expressly grant anyone the sponsibility to control prairie dogs, he said. ing the Legislature for help in dealing with right to sue the state for failing to control or Russell said prairie dogs are now found on prairie dogs that leave public land and invade manage prairie dogs. about a half million acres in the area he repre- Sioux Falls Year-Round Population Up 1% their private ranches. The area’s prairie dog population expanded sents, which is Fall River, Custer and Penning- SIOUX FALLS (AP) — The city of Sioux Falls is continuing to in- Charles Kruse of Interior said the damage after controls were relaxed with the reintroduc- ton counties. Ranchers have lost a lot of money crease in population. from prairie dogs has decreased in recent years tion of black-footed ferrets, a prairie-dog eating because prairie dogs have eaten the grass on In a news release, Zoning Official Jeff Schmitt says the city’s 2011 because many of them died from plague, but species once thought extinct. The ferrets were which their livestock depend, he said. year-end count shows the Sioux Falls population increased by 1,600 ranchers want to change state law to make sure released in the area because it had a substantial “The unfortunate thing is these people just people to 156,300. This is a 1 percent increase. the state is required to help control prairie dogs population of prairie dogs. feel like they’ve been abandoned by everyone,” The city of Sioux Falls has grown by more than 25,000 people during or give financial help to ranchers hurt by invad- One bill introduced in the House this legisla- Russell said. the past 10 years. On an annual basis, the city has grown by about ing critters. tive session would waive the state’s immunity Kruse said he was disappointed by the 2,500 people, or 1.8 percent, each year. “We’re going to keep after it,” Kruse said. from lawsuits resulting from a failure to control Supreme Court’s decision because state law Ranchers in an area near Badlands National prairie dogs. mandates that state agencies control prairie Park have been trying to get state compensa- A second measure would require that the dogs that leave public land and invade private Proposed Bill Would Open Governor’s Records tion for damages caused by prairie dogs. state Agriculture Department provide at least land. The constitution also bars the govern- PIERRE (AP) — A bill introduced in the South Dakota Legislature Dozens of ranchers filed a lawsuit in 2005 seek- $150,000 a year to control prairie dogs or make ment from taking land or damaging it without would provide for better access to the records of former governors ing state money. They argued that they lost incentive payments to ranchers. The Game, providing just compensation to owners, he said. and lieutenant governors. money when prairie dogs spread from public Fish and Parks Department would have to pro- The problem for ranchers in the area south KCCR reports that House Bill 1233 states that the record the land, particularly the Buffalo Gap National vide at least $130,000 a year. of Badlands National Park was worse about five records of any governor and lieutenant governor are the property of Grasslands, and destroyed private pastures that If the two agencies failed to spend that years ago after a prolonged drought had caused the state and should be transferred to the state archivist upon leaving were needed to support cattle herds. money by Oct. 15 in any year, they would have the prairie dogs to spread, but the population office. The lawsuit contended that South Dakota to provide money or help to ranchers who dropped after they got hit by plague, Kruse The bill also allows the state archivist to transfer the records to a law required state officials to control prairie apply for it. Ranchers who apply but don’t get said. museum, university or other institution after holding a public hearing. dogs that moved onto private land and to set help within a year could then go to court seek- Kruse said prairie dogs that came from pub- Gov. Dennis Daugaard requested the bill. The bill has been up a way to compensate landowners for dam- ing to force the state agencies to provide that lic land now occupy about 20 acres of his pri- prompted after discussions about what to do with the records of for- age if the animals spread beyond specific assistance. vate land, but they were spread over about 950 mer Gov. Bill Janklow, who died Jan. 12. Janklow had been working to acreage limits. The ranchers said the state No hearing date has been set for the two acres of his ranch a few years ago. He said he get his gubernatorial papers sent to the University of South Dakota. failed to control the prairie dogs and did not measures. had to sell many of his cattle in the drought pay them for their losses. Gov. Dennis Daugaard said he hasn’t read years when prairie dogs overran much of his The South Dakota Supreme Court recently the bills, but he believes a way can be found to land, but he had now built back up to about 100 Two Hell Angels Bikers Convicted Of Assault upheld a circuit judge’s decision to throw out deal with damage caused by prairie dogs with- cows that produce calves each year. out the state giving up its immunity to lawsuit. STURGIS (AP) — Two members of the Hells Angels Motorcycle Club the lawsuit based on the doctrine of sovereign have been convicted of assault in connection with a stabbing at last summer’s Sturgis motorcycle rally. The Rapid City Journal reports that 48-year-old Mark Allen Duclos, of Fairbanks, Alaska, has been convicted of aggravated assault, which Neb. Bill Would is a felony. Fifty-seven-year-old George James Caruso, of Shirley, Mass., has been convicted of simple assault, a misdemeanor. Start Agriculture Nebraska Exploring ACT As Duclos is scheduled to be sentenced on Feb. 21 and Caruso on March 5. Police say two people were treated for knife wounds after the con- Literacy Panel frontation between the Hells Angels and the Mongols Motorcycle Club LINCOLN, Neb (AP) — A Ne- A Possible Assessment Tool during the annual Sturgis Motorcycle Rally that draws hundreds of braska lawmaker wants to study thousands of bikers to South Dakota’s Black Hills. whether schools in the state are LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — The Lincoln school dis- “When we give the ACT to everybody, we will effectively teaching children about trict’s 2,500 high school juniors who are expected be capturing the 25 to 28 percent not taking it,” agriculture and how food gets to to take the ACT college entrance exam this spring said state Board of Education member Bob Evnen, Neb. Bills Would Boost Burial Pay For Workers their plates. will be part of a statewide experiment to find out who championed the pilot program. “What we LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — Families of workers killed on the job in Ne- Sen. Kate Sullivan of Cedar whether the ACT should replace statewide tests hope for is identifying more students who might braska could receive more for burial expenses under two bills in the Rapids introduced a measure that now given to all juniors. otherwise have been overlooked, who can go on Legislature. would create an Agriculture Liter- The Lincoln students in the experiment will be to college.” Sens. Mike Gloor of Grand Island and Norm Wallman of Cortland acy Task Force to study whether joined by about 1,300 more students from seven The 3,800 11th graders in the study will take have introduced bills that would increase the benefit from its current agriculture plays an adequate role other school districts: Alliance, Columbus, Gering, the current state tests as well, so state officials $6,000. Both measures are set for a hearing Monday before the Legisla- in school curriculums across the Hastings, Scottsbluff, Sidney and South Sioux City. can compare results. ture’s Business and Labor Committee. state. Although agriculture is Ne- They were chosen with an eye toward getting a Nebraska gives tests in math, reading, writing The benefit was last raised in 2007, and is paid to dependents of the braska’s largest industry, Sullivan good geographic and demographic cross-section and science to third- through eighth-graders and person killed.