South Dakota Governor Kristi Noem used her budget address Tuesday afternoon to defend her coronavirus response to state lawmakers in Pierre. While South Dakota has one of the nation’s highest virus outbreaks and death toll per capita, the state’s economy has been solid.
Noem says a combination of using federal aid to offset state expenses tied to the pandemic and a $19 milliion budget surplus allows her to propose over $230 million in state-funded projects, including an increase in state aid to education.
