South Dakota youth had a strong showing at the 4-H Shooting Sports National Championships, including third place for the team sweepstakes award. The 2023 4-H Shooting Sports National Championships were held June 25-30 in Grand Island, ND, and had 718 youth representing 42 states.

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The Union County Board of County Commissioners discussed a resolution to establish a criteria to award rural access infrastructure funds at their meeting Aug. 8. Resolution 2023-004 was approved. The resolution, along with South Dakota Codified Law 31-34 created a Rural Access Infrastructure Fund (RAIF) in which Union County’s share of the $3 million will be deposited. The resolution also creates a process for townships to apply for RAIF grants to help fund construction, rehabilitation and maintenance of small structures. A letter will be sent to all the townships on how to apply for the RAIF.

The old high school building continues to be a topic of discussion at the Jefferson City Council meetings and Aug. 7 was no exception. The council opened their meeting and approved the agenda and last meeting minutes and moved into executive session for legal matters. After 19 minutes, the council reconvened with the following statements:

Every school year there are new faces that appear in the hallways of every school, whether they’re new administrators, teachers, students or students switching buildings. The Elk Point-Jefferson School District welcomes nine new teachers for the 202324 school year.

Top NAIA women’s volleyball programs from across the country will be flooding the CNOS Fieldhouse Labor Day weekend for the 3rd Annual United Sports Academy/College of Saint Mary Labor Day Classic Tournament. MVP United Volleyball Club will be serving as the tournament organizer, College of Saint Mary is the host team, and CNOS and Wall of Fame are tournament sponsors.

As of 2021, more than 65,000 veterans live in South Dakota, more than 20,000 of those are Vietnam veterans who served from 1961 to 1975. Many of these veterans did not receive a proper welcome home after the war and came back to a debate of the rightness or wrongness of the war. Regardless, these Vietnam veterans should be able to have their stories heard and sacrifices honored. To give them the honor they deser ve, I partner with Vietnam War Commemoration to thank Vietnam veterans for their service.

Workforce development begins with education. And a lot of that education begins at our local universities, according to CNOS CEO Nolan Lubarski.

A vendor fair and car show were held in North Sioux City on Aug. 5. People were able to spend the day from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. in Centennial Park, browsing various vendor tables, cars and motorcycles. Next year’s vendor fair and car show is being planned for June 22.

Every school year there are new faces that appear in the hallways of every school, whether they’re new administrators, teachers, students or students switching buildings. The Dakota Valley School District welcomes 15 new teachers/ paraprofessionals for the 2023-24 school year.