Atheist and agnostic groups in South Dakota have launched a billboard campaign across the state. The billboards note: “Don’t believe in God? Join the club.”. The words are superimposed over an Earthrise image. The signs’ appearances mark the formal launch of the South Dakota Coalition of Reason (South Dakota CoR), an alliance of seven nontheistic (atheist and agnostic) groups in the state.

South Dakota adults rank in the middle of the obesity pack in the United States, according to a recent study. According to "F as in Fat: How Obesity Threatens America's Future 2013," a report from the Trust for America's Health and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, South Dakota's adults tied with Illinois for the 24th fattest.

You and me as typical South Dakotans can't really understand the Middle East. It's not that you or I are stupid or prejudiced or uneducated. We're not. But we come from a society and ways of thinking that are unlike those in Turkey, Iraq, Syria, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, etc. At first impression, not understanding how the Middle East works doesn't have much direct impact on our daily lives.

A pair of North Central Region wings – Nebraska and South Dakota – recently conducted their first Legislative Days, making sure their respective states’ lawmakers are aware of the services Civil Air Patrol members carry out for their communities and the nation. In Lincoln, the Nebraska Wing’s day at the Capitol began with a breakfast meeting and briefing for lawmakers and their staffs. Col. David Plum, wing commander, briefed senators and legislative staffers on the wing’s capabilities. Later, members spread through the building to meet and leave information on CAP with senators who hadn’t been able to attend the breakfast. Officers and cadets alike were on hand to speak to their representative about the wing. In Pierre, “the idea is to tell policymakers the South Dakota Civil Air Patrol story of the many volunteer hours spent on photo reconnaissance and other missions for state, federal, tribal and local governments,” said Col. John Seten, wing commander.

SOUTH DAKTOA – Unprecedented attendance and media interest highlighted the split search and rescue exercise Jan. 12-13 held in Sioux Falls and Rapid City. In Sioux Falls, a record 53 members from the Big Sioux and Sioux Falls composite squadrons participated in the exercise, which also attracted coverage from all three local commercial TV news stations – KDLT, the NBC affiliate; CBS affiliate KELO; and KSFY, the ABC statation – and the state’s largest daily newspaper, the Argus Leader. The exercise’ Rapid City phase was initially cancelled the morning of Jan. 12 because of snow, but it began in the afternoon after the weather cleared. Thirteen members from squadrons in the Black Hills area participated in a search and rescue exercise and also conducted cadet orientation flights. Taskings for the exercise included locating practice beacons and ground team and mission base training. Typical South Dakota winter weather helped make the exercises more realistic.

SOUTH DAKOTA — World War II subchaser and South Dakota aviation legend Luverne “Vern” Kraemer has passed away. He was 95. Kraemer, who died June 20 in Rapid City, was the last known subchaser in South Dakota. Trained as a blacksmith by his father as a young man in Nemo in the Black Hills of South Dakota, aviation proved to be Kraemer’s lifelong passion. While he was working at as a mechanic on B-29s in Wichita, Kan., Civil Air Patrol asked Kraemer to serve as a subchaser and search for German U-boats stalking East Coast shipping. Flying out of Patrol Base No. 1 in Atlantic City, N.J., he was a pilot, observer and mechanic. “Vern served his country unselfishly to help protect the oil tankers that were so often being torpedoed by German subs,” said Col. John Seten, South Dakota Wing commander. “Vern and the other sub chasers displayed true heroic spirit during a time when the country needed them the most.

While uncovering ways to build interest in science, technology, and math, STEM subject often challenges teachers' limited budgets, a Civil Air Patrol program is giving them the chance to spread their wings. Literally.

Uncle Sam Wants You—to take advantage of business tax breaks. But what is a tax break? In partisan fights over the federal budget this year, it sometimes sounds like a dirty word. It is not. “The phrase ‘tax break’ is a political term used to describe deductions and/or credits and/or exemptions from tax,” said Tim Ness, owner of Ness Tax and Bookkeeping Service in Sioux Falls and a former tax auditor with the Internal Revenue Service.

Pictured is a sunrise seen from the new Naz City development of Erbil, Iraq. ERBIL, IRAQ — While South Dakota service men and women along with their colleagues from across the United States stream out of Iraq this month, at least in northern Iraq’s semi-independent Kurdistan Autonomous Region, the rest of the world — and their goods — are streaming in.

In less than two months, South Dakota’s National Guardsmen and women, along with nearly all other American forces, will be gone from Iraq. This Veterans Day weekend, for the thousands of South Dakotans who have served — or are serving — in Iraq or the Iraq Theater of Operations, it is a time to reflect.

SIOUX FALLS--Solving the the main cause of this summer's Missouri River flooding might be relatively easy, says an expert on the waterway.

As families, businesses, farmers and local governments from Bismarck to Kansas City recover from Missouri River flooding, critical issues remain submerged below the surface of the aftermath. One issue is obvious: who is to blame for this spring and summer’s mess in South Dakota from Pierre to North Sioux City?

After two springs of serious James River and glacial lake flooding, as well as historic flooding on the Missouri River this past spring and summer, area meteorologists and climatologists think eastern South Dakota could be a bit drier this winter and spring. The consensus is that the state can expect less precipitation than last fall and winter but could still face flooding issues, because the region is generally wetter and warmer than usual.

A new white paper predicts a "looming water crisis" in the American Southwest, fueled in large part by immigration population growth. Other articles in this issue that I wrote that are included in the clipping include: *"CA:Federal Court Invalidates Delta Water Supply Restrictions" *"NM: Court Rulings Cast Uncertainty over State Engineer Authority"

Reprint of "Alfred Hitchcock's "Expedient Exaggerations" and the Filming of North by Northwest at Mount Rushmore" from South Dakota History along with nine other essays and histories about the Black Hills.

NORTH DAKOTA – Cadets and senior members from six wings as far away at the Atlantic Coast are participating in a joint North and South Dakota encampment featuring the theme of leadership and honor guard. The encampment head count at Camp Graft in Devils Lake stands at 84 – 68 cadets and 16 senior members from the North and South Dakota, Colorado Minnesota, Nebraska and Virginia wings. A Civil Air Patrol encampment is similar to basic training for the military. Cadet leaders who have progressed through the ranks by testing in leadership, aerospace education, physical conditioning and review boards actually run the encampment. Supervision comes from senior members, including clerical duties, leadership input and medical support. “This encampment allows for our country’s youth to learn and excel in leadership for both their future and our future as our country’s upcoming leaders,” said Cadet 2nd Lt. Michael Mees of the North Dakota Wing’s Bismarck Composite Squadron, cadet deputy commander for the activity.