skip to main content
skip to newscasts

Friday, March 29, 2024

Public News Service Logo
facebook instagram linkedin reddit youtube twitter
view newscast page
play newscast audioPlay

The latest on the Key Bridge collapse, New York puts forth legislation to get clean energy projects on the grid and Wisconsin and other states join a federal summer food program to help feed kids across the country.

view newscast page
play newscast audioPlay

Republicans float conspiracy theories on the collapse of Baltimore's Key Bridge, South Carolina's congressional elections will use a map ruled unconstitutional, and the Senate schedules an impeachment trial for Homeland Secretary Mayorkas.

view newscast page
play newscast audioPlay

Historic wildfires could create housing and health issues for rural Texans, a Kentucky program helps prison parolees start a new life, and descendants of Nicodemus, Kansas celebrate the Black settlers who journeyed across the 1870s plains seeking self-governance.

Death Penalty Repeal Returns

play audio
Play

Wednesday, February 10, 2010   

PIERRE, S.D. - Today, a bill that would repeal the death penalty in South Dakota will be heard in the House State Affairs Committee. HB 1245 would mandate life in prison without parole for people convicted of Class A felonies.

The Association of Christian Churches of South Dakota supports the bill, which is sponsored by Rep. Gerald Lange (D-Madison). The association's executive director, Gene Miller, says the issue may have been out of public view until recently, but the group has not changed its views.

"This has gotten kind-of pushed to the side in light of other issues, but we still have the same stance, we still have the same position."

The state has carried out only one execution in the last 50 years, that of Elijah Page in 2007 who had been convicted of murder. Miller says legislators must consider the moral implications of the death penalty.

"We are against the death penalty in all shapes and forms. You know, even setting aside the studies that have been in the paper recently about the fact that it's actually cheaper to keep someone alive, we just think it's moral and it's ethical to keep someone alive."

Miller uses segregation as an example of another controversial issue, in which he sees a distinct difference between what is legal – and what is right.

"We don't have to go that far back in our history to find, for example, segregation laws. That made that legal, but it was never moral. Our position on this would probably be similar to that: You can make it legal, but that doesn't necessarily make it right."

Similar efforts to repeal the death penalty have failed in the past few years. Those who favor the death penalty say it has broad support across the state, and believe it is an effective crime deterrent.




get more stories like this via email

more stories
The U.S. Supreme Court heard arguments this week about the popular abortion pill Mifepristone and will weigh in on whether the U.S. Food and Drug Administration was correct in how it can be dosed and prescribed. (Ascannio/Adobe Stock)

Health and Wellness

play sound

Missouri residents are worried about future access to birth control. The latest survey from The Right Time, an initiative based in Missouri…


Social Issues

play sound

Wisconsin children from low-income families are now on track to get nutritious foods over the summer. Federal officials have approved the Badger …

Social Issues

play sound

Almost 2,900 people are unsheltered on any given night in the Beehive State. Gov. Spencer Cox is celebrating signing nine bills he says are geared …


The U.S. teaching workforce remains primarily white while the percentage of Black teachers has declined. However, the percentage of Asian and Latinx teachers is rising.(WavebreakMediaMicro/Adobestock)

Social Issues

play sound

Education advocates are calling on lawmakers to increase funding for programs to combat the teacher shortage. Around 37% of schools nationwide …

Environment

play sound

New York's Legislature is considering a bill to get clean-energy projects connected to the grid faster. It's called the RAPID Act, for "Renewable …

Social Issues

play sound

Earlier this month, a new Arizona Public Service rate hike went into effect and one senior advocacy group said those on a fixed income may struggle …

Social Issues

play sound

Michigan recently implemented a significant juvenile justice reform package following recommendations from a task force made up of prosecutors…

 

Phone: 303.448.9105 Toll Free: 888.891.9416 Fax: 208.247.1830 Your trusted member- and audience-supported news source since 1996 Copyright © 2021