Opinion

I shouldn’t be surprised by the brazen efforts to keep the operation of South Dakota government in the dark. But it’s still stunning to see it expressed with such disregard for the greater good.

City Hall must be getting a lot of flack over the controversy that's blown up over the recent noise complaint that led to Icon Lounge suspending live music at its downtown location. They must also have heard that a bunch of live music and entertainment aficionados and supporters plan to show up at City Council meeting on Tuesday evening.

State Sen. Neal Tapio's latest attempt to demonize Islam was defeated in the South Dakota Senate last week. The Senate voted 19 to 16 against a resolution asking the federal government to identify the root causes of terrorism.

House Speaker Mark Mickelson is leading a campaign to undermine education in the state of south Dakota.

There are few federal policies that affect life on the ground in South Dakota more than trade agreements. Our fortunes here are tied directly to agriculture.

It's Rich Show Week on The Patrick Lalley Show. If you're not familiar with Rich, you should tune in. If you are, you know him to be perhaps the most-prolific songwriter and rock-n-roll frontman in Sioux Falls history.

I don’t know how it’s possible that our legislators keep trying to do things that are so clearly unconstitutional. The latest example is a proposal by Rep. Sue Peterson, R-Sioux Falls, to make it illegal to alter the South Dakota state seal in any way.

Here's another phrase you're going to hear a lot for the next 10 months: Initiated Measure 24. That's the issue that is going to be on your ballot in November that -- if approved -- would ban out-of-state contributions to citizen-initiated campaigns.

A decision by the Sioux Falls City Council to change the percentage of votes needed to win a seat on the council is a fundamental and disturbing conflict with the principals of democracy.

We’ve been talking on the Patrick Lalley Show about the downtown hotel and parking ramp proposal. I've been reflecting on the transformation of downtown.