Minnesota's vaccination rates
A look at Minnesota's vaccination rate by school, including those schools with the highest opt-out rates. (Pioneer Press 02/05/2015.)
Budget bullies: K-12, health care have steadily grown
An analysis of the long-term trends driving Minnesota’s budget — the consistent growth of K-12 and health care spending. (Pioneer Press, 01/18/2015.)
Slate's The Gist podcast
I appear on Slate’s “The Gist” podcast with Mike Pesca to talk about South Dakota’s U.S. Senate race. My segment starts at 3:53.
EB-5 secrets lie with silent man
A profile of a man who is little known despite being at the center of South Dakota’s EB-5 scandal. Documents and interviews paint the picture of the reclusive Joop Bollen as a charismatic and ambitious man with a love of business deals and Egyptian antiquities.
Interactive map visualizes geography of bill sponsors
Some bills in the South Dakota Legislature divide legislators along ideological lines. Others are more a matter of loyalty to a lawmaker’s respective caucus. And some are geographic, pitting one region of the state against another.
Analysis of S.D. legislature shows low partisanship, GOP divides
I conducted an extensive quantitative analysis of voting patterns in the South Dakota Legislature, using a dataset of every single vote placed there for a three-year period. The first quantitative analysis of voting there, it showed Democrats and Republicans voting together at high rates despite differences on a few key issues. It also revealed that a more significant divide was between mainstream and conservative Republicans. I also produced visualizations of the data:
Untangling the Northern Beef scandal
Starting in late 2013, South Dakota was convulsed by a scandal incorporating high politics, business and criminal investigations related to the “EB-5” program that had financed a bankrupt beef plant with foreign money. I covered the issue thoroughly, and in 2014 compiled all my reporting from the past year into a single primer to explain everything readers needed to know about the extremely complex issue. That primer contained links back to original articles for readers who wanted to learn more about a particular sub-issue.
Target: Payday loan reform
Change pitched for retirement system
'Leaning against' enlarging Medicaid
South Dakota presses railroad for fixes
Study: S.D. insurance costs high
South Dakota has step up on Wyoming
A light-hearted article in which I answer the vital question of how many escalators there are in the state of South Dakota.
Cowboy's dreams, standing tall
A young man from rural South Dakota thrives despite being paralyzed in a rodeo accident. (Argus Leader, 07/14/2013)
Rounds aims for $9M campaign
SD Senate: Herseth Sandlin faces internal skeptics
Dodged fame, but never a fight
BBC interview, March 8, 2013
Bill to allow armed school employees passes committee
A proposal to let schools arm volunteer “sentinels” to protect against threats is on its way to the South Dakota Senate.
Governor, ‘angry’ legislators clash over fight commission
Article: Top legislators from both parties clashed with Gov. Dennis Daugaard Friday, the first public sign of strife in a legislative session marked so far by an unusual degree of cooperation and bipartisanship.
Video interview with state Rep. Steve Hickey
Minnehaha County Republicans pull from legislative coffees
Sioux Falls area citizens might face competing question-and-answer sessions with local legislators this year.
Budget cuts, revisited
Daugaard's inner circle
Thune considered VP contender, possible Senate leader
Interactive graphic: 911 calls
An interactive map showing all the locations from which police received 911 calls around the South Dakota School of Mines & Technology in 2011. By David Montgomery, Rapid City Journal, 02/26/2012.
Dakota Midday, Feb. 22, 2012
I appear as a commentator on South Dakota Public Broadcasting’s “Political Junkies” segment of their “Dakota Midday” show, discussing bills before the state Legislature.
Lawmakers call each other liars in committee
Harsh words and accusations of lying preceded a committee walkout Friday morning when a Republican lawmaker again clashed with Rep. David Lust.
'Fetal pain' abortion ban won’t go before legislators
South Dakota lawmakers won’t see a controversial anti-abortion bill some activists wanted to bring this session, but that doesn’t mean abortion won’t be on the agenda next month in Pierre. (Rapid City Journal, 02/01/2012)
South Dakota could wave farewell to its current flag
Dozens of legislators want to replace South Dakota’s venerable state flag with a design by a Spearfish artist.