We hope you have a wonderful holiday season, and we look forward to working with you in the new year.
Back the Blue laws gain popularity, expand qualified immunity and other rights for police
ALTOONA, Iowa — Whitney Smith McIntosh adjusts her Blue Lives Matter hat and Blue Lives Matter shirt, places her Blue Lives Matter flag in the holder next to her door, and shoos her dog away from her “Kim Reynolds for Governor” yard sign.
The community activist and mother of three speaks of her family’s history. Her mother immigrated from Sicily at age 4. Her father’s side can be traced to people who were enslaved on a South Carolina plantation.
Female officers leading the way
This year, three women in South Dakota were elected or promoted to leadership positions within law enforcement agencies — a somewhat rare occurrence for the mostly male-driven career.
According to data collected by the FBI, of the reporting agencies in 2019, 87.2% percent of all law enforcement officers nationwide were male. Only 12.8% were female.
Physical Attacks on Power Substations in Multiple States
There have been physical attacks on power substations in multiple states in recent months, according to a new report.
About 35,000 people in North Carolina’s Moore County remain without power on Wednesday after the substations were damaged in what authorities described as a “targeted” attack at the weekend.
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Roads in the tri-state receive low marks in latest federal highway safety report
Recently, the tri-state region scored low in the national highway safety report. The Report says South Dakota and Nebraska need much improvement in adopting more roadway safety laws on distracted driving and child passenger safety.
The 2023 Highway Safety Report says South Dakota and Nebraska have less than five out of the recommended 16 laws needed for safety. The report marked Nebraska and South Dakota in red.
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Did You Know Squatters Can Claim Rights To Your Property In Iowa?
I was a little bit surprised when I first found out about this interesting “possession law” here in Iowa. After a certain amount of time, a squatter can put in a claim for ownership of a property you own. It could be land, a building, or a house. It does take a bit of time and there are things you can do if you run into a squatting problem but the fact that this is even possible is nuts.
Continue reading “Did You Know Squatters Can Claim Rights To Your Property In Iowa?”
South Dakota governor bans TikTok for state agencies, warning of security threat
South Dakota Republican Gov. Kristi Noem spoke out following her enactment of an executive order prohibiting state agencies or those who contract with them from accessing the China-owned social media app TikTok – warning the Chinese Communist Party is ripping information from users.
“It’s off our networks. It’s blocked off of our servers. Any state employee, anybody who contracts with the state of South Dakota, anybody who uses any of our systems no longer will be able to download or utilize this app because of the national security threat that it is,” Noem told Fox News on Wednesday.
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Fraud Takes the Stage at Supreme Court
The Supreme Court will hear arguments today on two criminal fraud cases that explore whether people who work privately for government officials owe a duty of honest services to the public under what the Wall Street Journal calls “the ill-defined honest-services fraud statute.”
In the first case, former state official Joseph Percoco was serving as campaign manager for former New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo at the time he accepted a $35,000 payment from a real-estate developer to help obtain government approval for a project. The government declared him to be “functionally a public official” because he had clout with state agencies. Thus, the US Attorney said, Joe committed honest-services fraud.
Happy Thanksgiving!
Thanksgiving is one of our favorite days of the year because it reminds us to give thanks and to count our blessings. So many things become little when we realize how blessed we are.
From Angel Law Prof. L.L.C. to yours, Happy Thanksgiving!
Legally bought guns turning up at crime scenes faster than ever in Minnesota, nationally
A South St. Paul teen shot dead outside his home in a botched drug deal. Bullets peppered throughout a crowded St. Paul bar. A gun stolen from a Ham Lake home fired at motorcyclists less than a half hour later.
Legally bought firearms are showing up at crime scenes in Minnesota — and nationally — faster than ever, in part a reflection of a more concerted effort by law enforcement to trace guns used in crimes back to those who, in some cases, helped deliver them to the shooters.