PIERRE, S.D. – Public viewing will be provided from 7 am to 11 am CST on Tuesday, Jan. 17, when former Gov. Bill Janklow lies in repose at the South Dakota Capitol. Those wishing to pay their respects may enter the Capitol via the north doors (parking lot side), where they will be directed to the second-floor Rotunda for viewing of the flag-draped casket. Entrance at the north doors is expected to close about 10:30 am Tuesday to ensure that people in the Capitol by that time have a sufficient period to move through the Rotunda and then exit by 11 am, when it’s necessary to begin preparations for a 1 pm memorial ceremony.

Access for the ceremony will begin at 12:30 pm, again via the north doors. The memorial ceremony is expected to last about 45 minutes, concluding with an honor guard carrying the casket down the front steps of the Capitol for the trip to Sioux Falls with Highway Patrol escorts.*

As the procession exits the Capitol, there will be a flyover by F-16 jets, a 21-gun salute and taps. Gov. Dennis Daugaard has requested that flags be lowered to half-staff through Friday, Jan. 20. The flag is customarily displayed from sunrise to sunset, but may be displayed for 24 hours a day if properly illuminated during the hours of darkness.

The Capitol will be closed to the public at 5 p.m. on Monday and not reopen until 7 am Tuesday. Circle Drive in front of the Capitol will close at 5 p.m. Monday and remain closed to the public until after 3 p.m. on Tuesday. South Dakota legislative leaders have announced that there will be no legislative session on Tuesday, Jan. 17 or Wednesday, Jan. 18. Former Gov. Janklow’s funeral service has been set for Wednesday, Jan. 18, at 10:30 am CST at Our Savior’s Lutheran Church, 909 W. 33rd Street, Sioux Falls.

*Here are the approximate (likely to be the earliest) times that former Gov. Bill Janklow’s procession from Pierre to Sioux Falls on U.S. Highway 83 and Interstate 90 will pass certain points on Tuesday. Those wishing to view the procession along the way are advised that they cannot park on the shoulder of I-90 or on I-90 overpasses. They are advised to park off the interstate on the shoulder of entrance and exit ramps or on side roads. 

-Arrive Reliance on I-90 at 2:53 pm

- Arrive Oacoma on I-90 at 3:01 pm

- Arrive Chamberlain on I-90 at 3:07 pm

- Arrive Pukwana on I-90 at 3:14 pm

- Arrive Kimball on I-90 at 3:22 pm

 PIERRE, S.D. – Plans are pending for former Gov. Bill Janklow to lie in state at the Rotunda of the South Dakota Capitol on Tuesday morning, Jan. 17, with a memorial service to follow.

More details will be available tomorrow.

South Dakota legislative leaders have announced that there will be no legislative session on Tuesday, Jan. 17 or Wednesday, Jan. 18.

Former Gov. Janklow’s funeral has been set for Wednesday, Jan. 18, 2012, at 10:30 a.m. CST at Our Savior’s Lutheran Church, 909 W. 33^rd Street, Sioux Falls.

Chamberlain's United Church of Christ will hold a prayer vigil tonight (Thursday, Jan. 12) at 6 pm for the family of the late Rev. Gregory King.

Rev. Duane Neugebauer of Trinity Lutheran Church of Chamberlain will lead the vigil.

Rev. King died in an two-vehicle accident west of Kimball on Interstate 90 on Wednesday, Jan. 11. His wife Patty-Ann King and daughter Kristen King were also injured in the accident and transported to a Chamberlain hospital.

Rev. King was pastor at the United Church of Christ in Chamberlain. He joined the congregation in October 2011 after serving in a church in the Dayton, Ohio, area for 14 years.

PIERRE, S.D. – Gov. Dennis Daugaard asks that all flags in South Dakota be flown at half-staff, immediately, in honor of former Gov. Bill Janklow, who died today.

 The Governor requests that flags be lowered to half-staff until the day of former Gov. Janklow’s interment, which is pending.

 The flag is customarily displayed from sunrise to sunset, but may be displayed for 24 hours a day if properly illuminated during the hours of darkness.

UPDATE Jan. 12 at 10 am

Names Released in Brule County Fatal Crash

KIMBALL, S.D. – A Chamberlain, S.D., man died and three other people were injured in a two-vehicle crash Wednesday, Jan. 11, on Interstate 90 about 1.5 miles west of Kimball.

Gregory D. King, 57, of Chamberlain, was the driver of an eastbound 2002 Ford Explorer that lost control, crossed the median and entered the westbound lanes of I-90. The vehicle and a westbound 2003 Ford Explorer collided. King died at the scene. His passengers – Patty-Ann King, 56, and Kristen Nicole King, 21, both of Chamberlain – suffered serious, non-life threatening injuries. They were taken to a Chamberlain hospital.

Gary L. Rathke, 60, of Rapid City, S.D., the driver of the westbound vehicle, was also taken to a Chamberlain hospital with serious non-life threatening injuries.

All occupants were wearing seatbelts.

The South Dakota Highway Patrol is investigating. Kimball Police Department, Brule County Sheriff’s Office, Kimball Fire Department and South Dakota Game, Fish and Parks assisted.

Governor delivers state of the state address to begin 2012 Legislature

New initiatives proposed in economic development and education

By Elizabeth “Sam” Grosz - Community News Service

Education and economic development will get a financial shot in the arm, if proposals by South Dakota Governor Dennis Daugaard in his 2012 state of the state address are adopted.

Daugaard called for a new emphasis on creating jobs and growing the state’s economy Jan. 10, while encouraging the education of the people needed to fill those jobs. It involves a program called “South Dakota WINS,” short for “South Dakota Workforce Initiatives.” A 20-point plan, South Dakota WINS has four categories to “get more South Dakotans trained and ready to work in a rapidly growing and changing South Dakota economy,” said Daugaard.

Those four points include preparing the state’s children; training for skilled jobs; promoting rural health occupations; and recruiting “new South Dakotans” to help fill the gap between current skilled workers living in the state and the needs of businesses to fill skilled jobs.

“There are 1,466 unfilled jobs in this state,” said Daugaard, “in the engineering, information technology, accounting, and skilled worker fields alone.” He said there are fewer than 100 South Dakota workers in those careers receiving unemployment benefits.

To build the state’s skilled workforce, Daugaard said, he is proposing the “South Dakota Investing in Teachers” initiative.

Over the past four decades, he said, there now are 50,000 fewer students, but the state’s school districts have added more than 800 teachers and 3,500 more “other” staff.

“We are employing nearly twice as many staff per student and we are spending well over twice as much per student in inflation-adjusted dollars,” the governor said, but there have not been significant increases in performance over time.

National testing scores, Daugaard said, are good, but there have not been significantly better results. Those sizeable increases in investment in education, he said, are “not getting us better achievement.”

The key to obtaining high achievement in the classroom, he said, is not more spending, but effective teachers.

If the goal is to increase student achievement, Daugaard said, “our focus must be on attracting and retaining great teachers. We need clear standards, rigorous measurement, and rewards for excellence.”

The state is seeking a waiver from No Child Left Behind, the federal program the past 10 years that sought to increase student accountability and achievement. Instead, Daugaard said, the state will test students at the beginning of the year, to set a baseline, in the middle of the year, to allow for a mid-course correction, and at the end.

“We will measure schools and teachers by their students’ growth,” said the governor, “that is, how far they move students from the beginning of the year to the end of the year.” He said there also will be implemented a stronger teacher evaluation system. All of this will be implemented, he said, over the next three years.

Beginning in the 2014-15 school year, he said, schools will be asked to identify their very best teachers, the top 20 percent. Each will receive a $5,000 bonus—not to be included in their base salaries.

Math and science teachers, where the state is seeing the greatest needs for teachers, will receive a bonus of $3,500, also not in the base salary. That bonus would be given every year.

These bonuses, Daugaard said, will be paid entirely with state dollars, and they will be in addition to the annual funding formula increases.

“This is by far the largest investment in the teaching profession in the history of our state,” said Daugaard.