SOUTH DAKOTA

Auto races go forward without fans due to virus

SIOUX FALLS – Two South Dakota speedways reversed course April 23 and said they would hold their weekend races without spectators, after Gov. Kristi Noem warned fans against attending the sold-out events because of the coronavirus.

New Raceway Park said on Facebook that it came under “pressure” from the governor’s office, county and health officials, and the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Park Jefferson International said it made its decision after discussions with state and local officials.

Noem, a Republican, said that she thought the events were a bad idea because they could lead to the spread of the coronavirus, but that she wouldn’t force the speedways to cancel. She cautioned that the crowds would violate her guidance not to gather in groups of more than 10.

Race promoters said they had taken steps to reduce the chances that the event would become a hotbed of virus transmission, including keeping the crowds well below capacity, screening people’s temperatures and making concessions cashless. The Saturday race at Park Jefferson International Speedway sold just 700 tickets, for a track that usually holds 4,000. The Sunday event at New Raceway Park in Jefferson sold out 500 tickets, less than one-third of its capacity of 1,800.

Both speedways encouraged fans to watch the races from home on pay-per-view channels.

KANSAS

Court rules state can’t require voters to show citizenship proof

BELLE PLAINE – A federal appeals court panel ruled April 29 that Kansas can’t require voters to show proof of citizenship when they register, dealing a blow to efforts by Republicans in several states who have pursued restrictive voting laws as a way of combating voter fraud.

The 10th Circuit Court of Appeals panel in Salt Lake City upheld a federal judge’s injunction nearly two years ago that prohibited Kansas from enforcing the requirement, which took effect in 2013. The appeals court, in a ruling that consolidated two appeals, found the statute former Gov. Sam Brownback signed into law violates the U.S. Constitution’s Equal Protection Clause and the National Voter Registration Act, commonly known as the “motor-voter law.”

Many experts say voter fraud is extremely rare, and critics contend the Republican-led efforts are actually meant to suppress turnout from groups who tend to back Democrats, including racial minorities and college students.

The law was championed by former Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach, who led President Donald Trump’s now-defunct voter fraud commission.

The decision is binding in states covered by the 10th Circuit, which also covers Oklahoma, New Mexico, Colorado, Wyoming, and Utah.

Kansas argued in court filings that it has a compelling interest in preventing voter fraud. It contended its proof-of-citizenship requirement is not a significant burden and protects the integrity of elections and the accuracy of voter rolls.

The judges noted that the district court had found essentially no evidence that the integrity of the state’s electoral process had been threatened, that the registration of ineligible voters had caused voter rolls to be inaccurate, or that voter fraud had occurred.

It found that at most 67 noncitizens registered or attempted to register in Kansas in the last 19 years.

WYOMING

Bones from burial site discovered in Cheyenne backyard

CHEYENNE – A group of sewer workers came across some human bones buried in a Cheyenne resident’s backyard, but the discovery probably won’t be leading to any new true crime podcasts or TV shows.

Workers with a private company found the bones – including a human skull and a couple of ribs – nearly 10 feet underground while repairing a sewer line in the backyard of a house on West 29th Street at around 6:30 p.m. April 21.

By the next morning, the backyard looked somewhat like a crime scene, with yellow tape sectioning off the area where the bones were found. But the setup was for archeological purposes, not criminal ones.

The Cheyenne Police Department does not suspect any sort of foul play, and the case has been turned over to the Laramie County Coroner’s Office and the state’s archeological experts for further examination.

Though an exact age of the bones has yet to be determined, the area where the bones were found previously served as a burial site dating back as far as 1871. Burial sites were fairly common on the west side of Cheyenne in the years immediately following the city’s founding in 1867, according to local historian Bill Dubois.

Homeowner Libby Bushell was unaware of the burial sites near her home until the discovery of the bones. “That’s not something your Realtor tells you,” she added with a laugh..

Modified COVID-19 grading policies aim to avoid punishing students

CHEYENNE – With no clear timeline for when schools will reopen, Laramie County’s educators are erring on the side of compassion as they decide how to grade students’ remote work.

Deciding the most judicious way to assess student performance is the charge of each individual district. It’s been one of the many kinks Laramie County School Districts 1 and 2 are untangling as they use a mix of online, teleconference and paper-based instruction to educate students outside of the classroom.

The two Laramie County school districts are considering various plans to allow students the option of taking a standard letter grade or either a nonspecific passing grade or an incomplete, which can be made up at a later time.

While Superintendent Jon Abrams said the final grading plan for LCSD2 is “still in the works,” officials said that unless something changes, LCSD1 is carrying forward with the pass/incomplete option.

The modified grading policies of the COVID-19 era do not change any state or district-level graduation requirements. Final grades for students enrolled in dual-enrollment classes through Laramie County Community College will be calculated using the college’s grading policy, which similarly allows students to choose between a letter grade or a pass/fail option.

UTAH

School buses provide wi-fi internet for students at home

DELTA – Two school buses parked near a mobile home park sit empty.

While they are not transporting students to and from school or to extracurricular activities during school closures necessitated by the COVID-19 pandemic, the Wi-Fi-equipped buses are delivering internet access to students who don’t have connections at home so they are able to use school-issued Chromebooks.

It’s one means Millard School District is using to keep instruction going since the statewide school dismissal announced on March 13, according to the Deseret News.

The district has also boosted internet signals at several of its schools so cars can pull into parking lots and students can do their schoolwork or download the educational materials they need. Some churches in the area have also offered families use of their Wi-Fi connections.

More than half of the students in Millard School District are considered economically disadvantaged. The school district spans some 6,800 square miles and 60% of students are bused. Some spend nearly two hours a day traveling to and from school.

When the school closures started, the district parked some of its Wi-Fi-equipped buses in remote areas of the district that officials believed would best serve their students. The district estimates that about 14% of its 3,000 students do not have internet access at home.