Items by caheidelberger

• I-29 Economic Corridor Study Sends $118K Down the Road; Next Time Hire Locally!

  —Madville Times

  Number of comments: 1
  As the I-29 Economic Corridor study gets going, I can already predict one conclusion: South Dakota communities are far too eager to send their money right down I-29 and out of the state to pay for research they could do themselves. We're paying Rural Technology Strategies Inc. of North' [...]
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  Posted: December 21, 2009, 8:48am EST
  by caheidelberger

• Madison Coffee House Seeks Alcohol License

  —Madville Times

  Number of comments: 0
  We have a buyer! Well, a leaser, at least. Madison's lone and currently dormant coffee house, Common Grounds, appears to now be in the hands of Shaun and Jenny Bader of Burnsville, Minnesota. According to an application in tonight's Madison City Commission agenda packet (see page 21 of the [...]
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  Posted: December 21, 2009, 7:47am EST
  by caheidelberger

• Dems Protect America; Thune Votes Against U.S. Military

  —Madville Times

  Number of comments: 7
  Support the troops? Not if it doesn't fit the GOP's agenda.
  
  In a glittering example of putting partisan politics above America's security, Senator John Thune voted against giving our brave men and women in uniform the resources they need to defeat the enemies of freedom. 29 Senators,' [...]
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  Posted: December 20, 2009, 11:37am EST
  by caheidelberger

• SD 10th in Anti-Tobacco Programs; More Investment Good for Budget

  —Madville Times

  Number of comments: 2
  South Dakota, like many other states, faces increased Medicaid costs as the recession kicks more people out of their jobs and their health insurance. One way to cut those Medicaid costs may be to spend more on programs to fight smoking.
  
  Marci Greenstein at Understanding Government reminds us that [...]
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  Posted: December 20, 2009, 10:04am EST
  by caheidelberger

• First SD Legislature Bills Include Nickel Gas Tax Hike

  —Madville Times

  Number of comments: 4
  Start your engines! The first bills of the 2010 South Dakota Legislature are online! Among the highlights, Senate Bill 1, "An Act to increase certain registration fees and taxes for the use of motor vehicles on the public highways and to declare an emergency." The most widely shared [...]
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  Posted: December 20, 2009, 9:11am EST
  by caheidelberger

• Keystone XL Pipeline Unnecessary -- So Says Competition

  —Madville Times

  Number of comments: 2
  Meet South Dakota's new friend in Big Oil Canada: Enbridge Inc. South Dakota Tar Sands Pipelines points to news that Enbridge argues competitor TransCanada's proposed Keystone XL pipeline across western South Dakota is unnecessary:
  
  But TransCanada Corp.'s application for its 500,000 barrel-per-day Keystone XL line connecting' [...]
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  Posted: December 19, 2009, 6:35am EST
  by caheidelberger

• SDN Gets $20M Broadband Grant; More to Come?

  —Madville Times

  Number of comments: 2
  Here's more federal handouts for the Republicans to send back to Washington... oh, wait: South Dakota Governor Mike Rounds and his administration are pleased to announce that South Dakota is one of 17 states to receive stimulus money in the first round of rural broadband grants announced yesterday by [...]
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  Posted: December 18, 2009, 8:11am EST
  by caheidelberger

• MDL Publisher Sends Mixed Messages on Eminent Domain

  —Madville Times

  Number of comments: 1
  Madison Daily Leader publisher Jon Hunter still "lives with his contradictions intact." In his Tuesday editorial, Hunter lauds Representative Stephanie Herseth Sandlin for her sponsorship of H.R. 4288, legislation intended to negate the ills of the 2005 Kelo v. New London decision on eminent domain. Hunter apparently [...]
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  Posted: December 18, 2009, 7:44am EST
  by caheidelberger

• Rounds Budget: Living in the Now

  —Madville Times

  Number of comments: 17
  Let's take a spin at the latest Madville Times poll. The question: "Do you approve of Gov. Rounds's proposed state budget?" Your answers:
  Yes: 5 (8%)No, spend more: 30 (54%)No, spend less: 21 (38%)Choose your interpretation:
  The anti-Rounds line: More than 90% of South Dakotans think Governor Rounds has failed [...]
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  Posted: December 18, 2009, 6:15am EST
  by caheidelberger

• Madison Sunshine Expands Booze Sales... to Minors?

  —Madville Times

  Number of comments: 12
  Sometimes irony is elusive. Sometimes fate dumps it in your lap.
  
  On Tuesday, Madison grocer Dan Roemen told KJAM that he plans to use the old Mr. Movies store to expand his liquor selection. Tonight, MDL reports Roemen's Sunshine Foods failed its alcohol compliance check last Friday. [...]
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  Posted: December 17, 2009, 8:03pm EST
  by caheidelberger

• Warning to Friends at DSU East Hall: Look Up!

  —Madville Times

  Number of comments: 3
  ...and other notes from a quiet winter day...
  
  You write your final final exam at DSU, you step out into a glorious, non-life-threatening December day... or so you think (cue Jaws theme)...
  
  
  
  Meanwhile, several blocks away, the folks at West [...]
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  Posted: December 17, 2009, 2:46pm EST
  by caheidelberger

• Madison Chamber Video Declares New Season of Hope

  —Madville Times

  Number of comments: 0
  But don't let crime and booze and Gehl still on skeleton crews get you down. Your Chamber/tax dollars are hard at work proclaiming "There's a new season of hope in Madison":
  
  ' [...]
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  Posted: December 17, 2009, 9:02am EST
  by caheidelberger

• What Mugger? Madison VFW Worker Charged with Theft and False Report

  —Madville Times

  Number of comments: 38
  Remember the story about the knife-point robbery at the Madison VFW in the wee hours Sunday? Evidently, the Madison PD has decided the claim was bogus. They have charged Jean McCarty, 55, of Madison with grand theft and false reporting. Says MPD, "It was learned through the course" [...]
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  Posted: December 17, 2009, 8:39am EST
  by caheidelberger

• Big Stone II Transmission Still Humming... But Wind Kills China?

  —Madville Times

  Number of comments: 4
  As always, things are complicated....
  
  An eager reader sends this story from the People's Republic of Minnesota Public Radio saying that we greenies may have our cake and eat it too. The Big Stone II coal-fired power plant is dead (yes, I'm still gloating), but the utilities behind' [...]
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  Posted: December 17, 2009, 8:04am EST
  by caheidelberger

• Advent Conspiracy: Fight "War on Christmas" by Shopping Less

  —Madville Times

  Number of comments: 0
  The folks at the Advent Conspiracy (which I've been promoting here in the sidebar!) would have made a better choice for Time's Person(s) of the Year than Ben Bernanke. But hey, at least Time gives some well-deserved coverage to the Advent Conspiracy's efforts to fight the' [...]
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  Posted: December 17, 2009, 6:56am EST
  by caheidelberger

• Madison Loves Booze: Mr. Movies Closing Makes Way for Liquor Expansion

  —Madville Times

  Number of comments: 14
  You read it here first: Sunshine Foods owner Dan Roemen will replace Mr. Movies with bigger booze sales. We're not bringing new products into Madison. We're not restoring or expanding entertainment options for families and young people. We're selling more booze... across the street from the biggest liquor' [...]
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  Posted: December 16, 2009, 8:43am EST
  by caheidelberger

• Howard Dean: Scrap Senate Health Care Bill

  —Madville Times

  Number of comments: 4
  DNC chair Dr. Howard Dean was right on about the House health care bill last summer. He's also right on about the Senate bill:
  
  “The Senate version is not worth passing,” former Democratic National Committee Chairman Howard Dean told POLITICO, referring to plans to strip the latest [...]
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  Posted: December 16, 2009, 8:15am EST
  by caheidelberger

• SD Teacher Certification Goes Paperless; Check Your Teacher's Quals Online!

  —Madville Times

  Number of comments: 3
  Sure, wait 'til I've renewed mine....
  
  The South Dakota Department of Education just eliminated one piece of paperwork (99,999,999 to go!): starting January 1, 2010, teachers will no longer receive paper teaching certificates. My permission to corrupt the youth will soon be no more substantive than spam, a [...]
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  Posted: December 16, 2009, 8:01am EST
  by caheidelberger

• No Boo-Hoo Over Big Stone II: Iberdrola Announces 170 More Megawatts of Wind

  —Madville Times

  Number of comments: 1
  [Lest I incur any Glenn Beck comparisons, let me disclose that my mutual fund managers like to carry Iberdrola stocks. So theoretically, this news could make me a millionaire!]
  
  Oh woe unto us! When we treehuggers and looney lefties killed Big Stone II, we shot ourselves in [...]
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  Posted: December 15, 2009, 10:09am EST
  by caheidelberger

• Governor Rounds Pardons Pot Possessor; Newland Next?

  —Madville Times

  Number of comments: 0
  I notice Governor Rounds issued another batch of pardons last week. Among the latest convictions erased from the record is Philip Schmitt's 2001 conviction for possession of marijuana in a motor vehicle.
  
  Hmmm... do you figure there's any chance the governor might extend a similar courtesy to Schmitt's' [...]
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  Posted: December 15, 2009, 8:49am EST
  by caheidelberger

• Republican Ag Proposes Government Takeover of Health Care

  —Madville Times

  Number of comments: 1
  U.S. House GOP candidate Thad Wasson frets over a health care bill that would give the feds "control over the entire health care system." In the next breath, he says we must maintain Medicare.
  
  I have yet to see any bill in Congress that creates complete government-run health [...]
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  Posted: December 15, 2009, 8:12am EST
  by caheidelberger

• Madison Superintendent Schaefer Bails on Contract Mid-Year

  —Madville Times

  Number of comments: 3
  It feels like the Madison Central School Board gave us a bit of a misdirection play with their agenda for last night's meeting. The agenda specified that the board would discuss football coach Tom Milne's resignation (remember, fans, as Milne would say, "Winning isn't frickin' everything!"). The local press [...]
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  Posted: December 15, 2009, 7:23am EST
  by caheidelberger

• USD Student Project: Hyperion Refinery Not Sustainable

  —Madville Times

  Number of comments: 8
  ...but USD Math Dept. Cringes at Bad Pollution Math
  
  Old Cranky brings to our attention a Vermillion Plain Talk report about a new assessment of the proposed Hyperion oil refinery in Union County. The assessors: a team of undergrads from the University of South Dakota. The assessment: [...]
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  Posted: December 14, 2009, 7:30pm EST
  by caheidelberger

• Ted Klaudt Claims Copyright on "Ted Klaudt"

  —Madville Times

  Number of comments: 4
  First Ted Klaudt made headlines by pretending to be a medical examiner. Now Ted Klaudt seems to be trying to stop headlines by pretending to be an intellectual property rights lawyer. Mr. Mercer at Pure Pierre Politics posts what has to be either a joke or a sign of [...]
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  Posted: December 14, 2009, 3:59pm EST
  by caheidelberger

• Keystone Jobs: How Many South Dakotans?

  —Madville Times

  Number of comments: 3
  As I hustle out the door to the library, I notice my friends at South Dakota Tar Sands Pipeline have noted a black man has filed suit against a Keystone pipeline contractor for alleged discrimination he experienced while doing prep work for TrasnCanada's pipeline in North Dakota last [...]
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  Posted: December 14, 2009, 8:50am EST
  by caheidelberger

• Copenhagen Enjoys Progressive Energy Policies and Economic Growth

  —Madville Times

  Number of comments: 1
  As leaders in Copenhagen work on fixing the planet, they may hear my conservative friends argue that government restrictions on carbon emissions and requirements to replace fossil fuels with renewable energy would hurt economic growth. That's at least more reasonable than contending that a few hacked e-mails disprove decades of [...]
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  Posted: December 14, 2009, 7:48am EST
  by caheidelberger

• Hadrick Boosts Monolithic Ag Industry, Ignores Animal Rights Allies

  —Madville Times

  Number of comments: 0
  I read Troy Hadrick's blog, Advocates for Agriculture, to keep my finger on the pulse of propaganda from the ag-industrial complex. His latest post is another sad example of his failure to effectively advocate for the family farms and ranches he claims to represent.
  
  Hadrick describes the [...]
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  Posted: December 13, 2009, 6:13pm EST
  by caheidelberger

• Poll! Vote Now on Rounds Budget Proposal

  —Madville Times

  Number of comments: 0
  Hey, subscribers! If you're reading in Google Reader or other convenient windows, take a moment to drop by the Madville Times home site and vote in the latest poll (see left sidebar). Tell us what you think about the South Dakota state budget proposed by Governor M. Michael' [...]
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  Posted: December 13, 2009, 8:17am EST
  by caheidelberger

• Pronouns in the Press... and PSA Death Pig!

  —Madville Times

  Number of comments: 2
  I judged Central Forensic Conference debate at Lennox HS yesterday. Between rounds, I found more interesting posters:
  In the Kealey Bultena Memorial Visual News Laboratory,* I found this eye-catching admonition about pronouns. It struck me as metaphorically significant that we instruct our young journalists to associate [...]
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  Posted: December 13, 2009, 8:13am EST
  by caheidelberger

• Gun Laws Getting Looser Under Obama

  —Madville Times

  Number of comments: 17
  Seems like I heard somewhere that that durned Obama was coming to take our guns.
  
  Reality check:
  
  A nationwide review by The Associated Press found that over the last two years, 24 states, mostly in the South and West, have passed 47 new laws loosening gun [...]
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  Posted: December 12, 2009, 6:19am EST
  by caheidelberger

• GAO Report: Ethanol Has High Water Cost, Especially in South Dakota

  —Madville Times

  Number of comments: 5
  I've written previously that, among other things, increasing corn ethanol production may drain water supplies and be harm water quality. The General Accounting Office has issued a new report that supports the idea that, even if ethanol is a good domestic alternative to foreign fossil fuel, we' [...]
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  Posted: December 12, 2009, 5:18am EST
  by caheidelberger

• 80 Bicycles Power One House

  —Madville Times

  Number of comments: 5
  The BBC puts 80 cyclists to the test huffing-and-puffing to generate enough electricity to keep up with an electric water heater. Watch this video (dang! no embed!)... and watch out for the naked guy!
  
  1 house, 80 cyclists... o.k., so maybe bicycle power isn't a viable option for' [...]
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  Posted: December 11, 2009, 8:23am EST
  by caheidelberger

• Utah Gov. Orders Across-the-Board Cuts

  —Madville Times

  Number of comments: 1
  While South Dakota Apparently skates by with spending freezes and stimulus money, rookie Utah Governor Gary Herbert is biting the budget bullet and ordering his state agencies to make immediate 3% cuts in their spending. Potentially on the chopping block:
  942 state jobs, on top of nearly 2000 already [...]
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  Posted: December 11, 2009, 8:17am EST
  by caheidelberger

• Habitat for Humanity Completes Another Madison Home, Thanks Volunteers

  —Madville Times

  Number of comments: 0
  The East Central South Dakota chapter of Habitat for Humanity just finished its 2009 house in Madison. Happy owners Nicole and Jacob Williams officially closed on the house yesterday. They and their daughter McKenna are moving their stuff into their new home on the north side of town just [...]
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  Posted: December 10, 2009, 10:19pm EST
  by caheidelberger

• US News Ratings: Small Schools Rate Best in South Dakota

  —Madville Times

  Number of comments: 3
  Mr. Powers draws our attention to U.S. News and World Report's latest ratings of the best high schools in America. Mr. Powers notes with duly raised eyebrow that none of South Dakota's larger schools make the list. The highest rated South Dakota high school was mighty Miler [...]
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  Posted: December 10, 2009, 10:02am EST
  by caheidelberger

• China: Car Sales Up, Gas Sales Flat

  —Madville Times

  Number of comments: 2
  Folks who disagree with me on the need for strong energy security legislation. This year China has indeed seen its people buy lots more automobiles, but gasoline sales in China have remained flat. Some folks have floated a conspiracy theory, that the Chinese government is buying cars and stockpiling [...]
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  Posted: December 10, 2009, 7:47am EST
  by caheidelberger

• So Cold My Banana Is Hot

  —Madville Times

  Number of comments: 5
  ...as are DVD deals...
  
  How cold is it?
  
  Yesterday I started the Jeep (wruh... wruh... wruh... wruh... prum-biddi-pum-pum-pum!). As I sat in the subzero driver's seat, letting the Jeep run to warm up, I pulled out a banana for lunch.
  
  Look closely at [...]
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  Posted: December 10, 2009, 7:33am EST
  by caheidelberger

• Ann Arbor Online Media: Future of Journalism in South Dakota?

  —Madville Times

  Number of comments: 0
  Doug Wiken wrote a really good post yesterday about Jim Lehrer's guidelines for good journalism. Bloggers, take heed!
  
  Doug's post sent me looking through the new website for the PBS NewsHour, which is revamping as the 75-year-old Lehrer promotes a new integration of TV and Web [...]
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  Posted: December 09, 2009, 4:15pm EST
  by caheidelberger

• Mr. Movies Closing; LAIC Goals Turning to "Backward Madison"

  —Madville Times

  Number of comments: 15
  So a local businessman makes a financial decision that puts a perfectly good company out of business and six employees out of work at Christmastime. Do we call that teamwork?
  
  The Madison Daily Leader reports that video/game-rental store Mr. Movies is going out of business. I had to [...]
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  Posted: December 09, 2009, 9:46am EST
  by caheidelberger

• Rounds Budget: Boost Physical Plant Pay by Cutting Chicoine's and Knowlton's?

  —Madville Times

  Number of comments: 9
  Governor M. Michael Rounds pitched his state budget proposal yesterday for fiscal year 2011, the last such proposal of his administration (well, last, assuming he doesn't need a do-over budget as he did last time around). The new Madville Times poll (see the left sidebar!) asks what you think' [...]
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  Posted: December 09, 2009, 8:22am EST
  by caheidelberger

• "The Age of Stupid" Plays Saturday at Brookings Public Library

  —Madville Times

  Number of comments: 1
  No, it's not a movie about Finals Week.
  
  Dakota Grassroots Democracy, South Dakota Resources Coalition, and the SDSU Sierra Club are hosting a showing of The Age of Stupid on Saturday, December 12, at 1 p.m. at the Brookings Public Library. Pete [...]
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  Posted: December 08, 2009, 9:15pm EST
  by caheidelberger

• Live-Blogging Governor Rounds FY2010 Budget Address

  —Madville Times

  Number of comments: 5
  Live notes (in case you don't have SDPB handy) on the governor's budget address! Hit Refresh for updates!
  
  [Update 2009.12.13: Go straight to the horse's mouth: see the budget proposal in its full gloryon the state website!)
  
  Governor Mike Rounds calls it a "basic-needs budget" with' [...]
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  Posted: December 08, 2009, 1:05pm EST
  by caheidelberger

• South Dakota Survives on Federal Handouts -- Blame the Indians?

  —Madville Times

  Number of comments: 11
  ...or blame farmers, old folks, and the guy in the passing lane?
  
  Linda McIntyre asked an interesting question a couple weeks ago. In our discussion of fiscal policy, I reminded Linda that South Dakota is a welfare state, and that even if we make the drastic cuts [...]
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  Posted: December 08, 2009, 11:55am EST
  by caheidelberger

• Stop Global Warming: Quit Pitching Virgins into Volcanoes

  —Madville Times

  Number of comments: 4
  Remember the ruckus in October when SuperFreakonomics authors Stephen J. Dubner and Steven Levitt argued that launching a whole lot of sulfur into the stratosphere might be the quickest way to fight global warming?
  
  A South Dakota State University scientist finds more evidence that they may be [...]
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  Posted: December 08, 2009, 9:30am EST
  by caheidelberger

• Crow Creek Fights IRS Infringement of Sovereignty

  —Madville Times

  Number of comments: 2
  Where is the hue and cry from Allen Unruh, Chris Nelson, and the other South Dakota Tea Partiers?
  
  The Crow Creek Reservation just shrank by about 11 square miles, courtesy of Uncle Sam. The IRS auctioned off a portion of the reservation last week to recover $3.1 million [...]
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  Posted: December 08, 2009, 7:59am EST
  by caheidelberger

• Enemy Swim Pre-Schoolers Process Deer

  —Madville Times

  Number of comments: 0
  If the folks at PETA didn't like the name of Spearfish High School, the curriculum at Enemy Swim Day School should send them up a wall. The Sisseton-Wahpeton Oyate weekly Sota Iya Ye Yapi reports that the Enemy Swim pre-schoolers recently learned how to process a deer.' [...]
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  Posted: December 08, 2009, 5:30am EST
  by caheidelberger

• Tree-Sidewalk Update: Trees Pretty Close... Just Like City and Contractors?

  —Madville Times

  Number of comments: 3
  On my way to class, I swung by 721 N. Catherine, site of six mighty firs threatened by the city's proposed round of sidewalk installation for the coming year. I was curious: just how close are the trees to the proposed walkway?
  
  Darn close.
  [...]
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  Posted: December 07, 2009, 5:59pm EST
  by caheidelberger

• Video Postcard: Lake Herman in Winter

  —Madville Times

  Number of comments: 4
  A video postcard from Lake Herman, on perhaps the most perfect winter day conceivable.
  
  [...]
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  Posted: December 07, 2009, 5:58pm EST
  by caheidelberger

• Save the Trees! Madison Sidewalk Rule Threatens Catherine Ave. Firs

  —Madville Times

  Number of comments: 6
  Tucked away in tonight's Madison City Commission agenda packet (page 42 of the PDF), after all the alcohol license requests, a letter from Arthur and June Gwynne of 721 North Catherine Avenue, seeking relief from deforestation:
  
  We recently received notification of Resolution of Necessity #2730. Our [...]
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  Posted: December 07, 2009, 9:35am EST
  by caheidelberger

• H1N1 Vaccine Safer than South Dakota Highways

  —Madville Times

  Number of comments: 0
  The state of South Dakota has distributed over 165,000 doses of H1N1 flu vaccine. By next week, we will have had at least one public vaccine clinic in every county of the state. According to the Center for Disease Control's Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System (it's online! it's' [...]
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  Posted: December 07, 2009, 9:01am EST
  by caheidelberger