South Dakota

The South Dakota House of Representatives on Wednesday overwhelmingly passed a resolution that calls for academic instruction on the Bible in public schools.

The House voted 55-13, with two excused, to pass the resolution sponsored by Republican Rep. Steve Hickey from Sioux Falls.

The non-binding resolution, HCR 1004, urges schools to support elective classes to teach the Bible, saying awareness on the role of the Bible in literature, art, culture and public discourse will benefit students. more >>

If you don’t mind an old saloon and two empty jails then this historic ghost town in South Dakota is for you.

For sale: The majority of the land within the Township of Scenic, South Dakota, totaling about 46 acres. Over the years, since 1906, it has been a thriving town mostly of visitors for the convenience of fuel, groceries, hunting, fossil hunting and the world famous Longhorn Saloon.

And the price? $799,000. more >>

South Dakota’s governor signed into law the nation's longest abortion waiting period, 72 hours, on Tuesday.

Gov. Dennis Daugaard signed House Bill 1217 that requires women seeking an abortion to be assessed by a physician and receive counseling at a pregnancy help center to ensure their decision to have an abortion is “voluntary, uncoerced, and informed.” The law extends the state’s previously 24-hour wait period.

“I think everyone agrees with the goal of reducing abortion by encouraging consideration of other alternatives," Daugaard said in a statement. "I hope that women who are considering an abortion will use this three-day period to make good choices.” more >>

The Christian legal group behind the Pulpit Initiative announced Tuesday that it will defend a South Dakota church that was reported to the Internal Revenue Service.

Alliance Defend Fund, which launched the Pulpit Initiative in 2008 to defend the right of pastors to speak freely from the pulpit, agreed to represent Liberty Baptist Tabernacle. The Americans United for Separation of Church and State had reported the church to the IRS on June 10 in an attempt to remove the church’s tax-exempt status after its pastor voiced support for a gubernatorial candidate.

“Pastors and churches shouldn’t live in fear of being punished or penalized by the government, yet that’s precisely what Americans United wants,” said ADF senior legal counsel Erik Stanley, in a statement. “Under the First Amendment, a pastor, not the IRS, determines what his sermon will say.” more >>

A Lutheran pastor and four congregations in South Dakota were recently censured by their bishop for affiliating with another Lutheran body.

The Rev. Frezil Westerlund of Philip, S.D., received a letter last week from the South Dakota Synod of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America informing her that she was in violation of church law.

The four churches she serves had voted to join the more "centrist" Lutheran Congregations in Mission for Christ and redirect funds away from the synod. At the same time, they did not vote to leave the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America. more >>

Women seeking an abortion must be told that the procedure ends a human life, a federal judge ruled Thursday, upholding part of a South Dakota law.

U.S. District Judge Karen Schreier said doctors must disclose to pregnant women that "the abortion will terminate the life of a whole, separate, unique, living human being."

But she rejected other portions of the state's 2005 informed consent law that required doctors to tell women that abortion increases the risk of suicide and that they have "an existing relationship with that unborn human being." more >>