Q&A

Dave Fendrich (walking) helps Bryant Hofer (in combine) harvest a field of corn on Oct. 2, 2013, near Salem. (Scott Olson/Getty Images)

Q&A: Carbon pipeline execs say ethanol’s future hangs in the balance

BY: - November 29, 2023

MARION — If South Dakota’s ethanol industry does not reduce the amount of heat-trapping carbon dioxide it emits into the atmosphere, the industry’s future is grim. That’s according to two top executives of the remaining carbon-capture pipeline company hoping to capture, liquefy and bury carbon dioxide from South Dakota ethanol plants. They said markets around […]

Sen. Mike Rounds, R-South Dakota, right, shakes hands with Elon Musk, CEO of Tesla, X and SpaceX, on Sept. 13, 2023, in Washington, D.C., during a discussion about artificial intelligence. (Official U.S. Senate photo by Dan Rios)

Q&A: Rounds on regulating AI, which will impact ‘every single aspect of our lives’

BY: - October 15, 2023

Talk of artificial intelligence is all but unavoidable in 2023.  The emergence of tools like ChatGPT for text generation and Midjourney for art have pushed the technology into the public consciousness in a way voice recognition like the iPhone’s Siri or autocomplete features on a word processor never did. AI is an umbrella term that […]

Brendan Johnson, head of the business litigation group for Robins Kaplan and former U.S. attorney for South Dakota. (Courtesy of Robins Kaplan)

Q&A: Why Brendan Johnson chose courtrooms over politics

BY: - September 24, 2023

Sioux Falls lawyer Brendan Johnson has a last name that carries a lot of weight in South Dakota political circles. His father, Tim Johnson, was the last Democrat to serve in any statewide elected office from the now-solidly red state. The elder Johnson, who served in the U.S. House of Representatives from 1987 to 1997 […]

Mark Vargo (Courtesy of SD Attorney General's Office)

Q&A: Consider primaries for attorney general nominees, Vargo says

BY: - October 25, 2022

Attorney General Mark Vargo said the state should consider a new method of choosing political nominees for the office he holds. “I will say that I do think it would be smart to consider whether or not that nomination process should be through a convention or through a primary,” Vargo said. Currently, delegates at political […]