study: health overhaul to raise claims cost 32...
TRANSCRIPT
The voice of central South Dakota since 1881
Wednesday, March 27, 2013 www.capjournal.com Volume 132, Issue No. 61 75¢C
CITY COMMISSIONPierre approves using reserve money to fund left over 2012 projects amounting to about $2 million A4
Another double-doubleOstarello closes Purdue career with a strong game
Area News A2 Opinion A3 State A4 Comics A5 Area News A6 Sports B1-B3 Classi� eds B4-B6
To reach us, call 224-7301 or e-mail us at [email protected] Twitter.com/capitaljournalFacebook.com/capitaljournal
BY LANCE [email protected]
It was Shirley Miller Day in
Fort Pierre on Tuesday as com-munity members gathered to officially welcome home the Chicago and NorthWestern railroad depot to the city where it was built in 1906.
Miller – the Mud Butte ranch-er who bought the depot when it was sold as surplus property in 1964 and moved it to his ranch – was on hand to be honored personally for donating the depot back to the people of Fort Pierre. Miller had used it for 49
years as a ranch building at a site about 176 miles from Fort Pierre. But over the years many Fort Pierre citizens formed the mistaken idea that the original city depot had been destroyed.
Miller gave the depot back to the city when he learned that history-minded citizens – hav-ing learned that their depot still exists – wanted to restore it as a museum.
“I’m just glad they came along and said they could use it,” Miller said.
Mayor Sam Tidball read a proclamation naming the day in Miller’s honor to a crowd gath-
ered at the Casey Tibbs South Dakota Rodeo Center.
Miller’s daughter, Reta Fae Kelly, explained that Miller and his two brothers bought five railroad depots in all, three of which ended up on Shirley Miller’s ranch. She said the Fort Pierre depot was his favorite because it had a slate roof and he had thought about restoring the building.
Miller alluded to that in his remarks.
“We got a lot of good use out of that building. It stored wool
New computers will refresh technology in Pierre schoolsBY ALLISON [email protected]
Computers used daily in the Pierre School District will get a facelift as a districtwide Technology Refresh initiative swings into gear.
On Monday, the school board approved the purchase of new Fujitsu computers to replace the ones currently in use. The total cost is about $1.3 million, which will finance the com-puters being phased in over the next four years. The cost includes a four-year warranty and will be paid in four annual payments beginning this summer.
Technology administrator Bryan Linn said the first phase of the refresh involves order-ing 850 Fujitsu tablet PCs that will be divided between Riggs High School students and faculty. This will continue the high school’s one-on-one program, where students check out their own tablets and are able to use them throughout the day.
The new computers will also help when it comes to district testing, such as the Dakota Step test, which is all online.
“Whatever device you buy, you better be able to test on them, because if you can’t, you’ve invested a lot of money into something that’s not compatible,” Linn said.
Linn said that this time next year, more com-puters will be purchased for middle school and elementary students, but not to the extent that each student has his or her own. He added that the district’s faculty is also greatly in need of the updated technology.
“A lot of staff members are using six-year-old Gateways, and those are all hand-me-downs from the high school students,” Linn said. “So we definitely needed to get new devices in the hands of our teachers.”
While the HP computers were slightly cheap-er, Linn said the switch to Fujitsu will pro-vide better training and allow for on-site break repairs, as well as device features such as stylus storage and an optic drive. After surveying high school staff members, the choice was clear.
“They’re the ones using the machines every day in their classrooms, so I definitely wanted to get their input on the devices to see what’s
Study: Health overhaul to raise claims cost 32 pctWASHINGTON (AP) —
Insurance companies will have to pay out an aver-age of 32 percent more for medical claims on individ-ual health policies under President Barack Obama’s overhaul, the nation’s lead-ing group of financial risk analysts has estimated.
That’s likely to increase premiums for at least some Americans buying individ-ual plans.
The report by the Society of Actuaries could turn
into a big headache for the Obama administration at a time when many parts of the country remain skep-tical about the Affordable Care Act.
While some states will see medical claims costs per person decline, the report concluded the over-whelming majority will see double-digit increases in their individual health insurance markets, where people purchase coverage directly from insurers.
The disparities are striking. By 2017, the esti-mated increase would be 62 percent for California, about 80 percent for Ohio,
more than 20 percent for Florida and 67 percent for Maryland. Much of the reason for the higher claims costs is that sicker people are expected to join the pool, the report said.
The report did not make similar estimates for employer plans, the main-stay for workers and their families. That’s because the primary impact of Obama’s law is on people
‘Shirley Miller Day’ in Fort Pierre celebrates return of historic depot
BY THOMAS BEAUMONT
ASSOCIATED PRESS
VERMILLION, S.D. (AP) — Entering the auditorium on a motorized scooter and deliver-ing remarks in halting speech, South Dakota Sen. Tim Johnson announced Tuesday that he would retire next year at the end of his term and acknowledged he remains limited by a 2006 health crisis that nearly killed him.
Smiling and joking at times as he made the announcement at a press conference in his hometown of Vermillion, the 66-year-old said the effects of his life-threatening brain hemorrhage had made speech and mobility increasingly difficult.
“I feel great, but I must be hon-est ... I appreciate my right arm and right leg aren’t what they used to be, and my speech is not entirely there,” Johnson said, his delivery slurred at times.
Johnson, who until recently relied on a cane to get around, has become dependent on the motor-ized scooter he used to enter the auditorium at the University of South Dakota where he made his remarks. He also said he hoped to spend more time with his five grandchildren and that “I think mostly it’s time to go.”
Johnson’s departure helps solid-ify GOP prospects of claiming the state’s first open Senate seat since 1978. Republican former Gov. Mike Rounds had announced plans last year to challenge Johnson, the chairman of the Senate Banking Committee, and has rallied much
of the state and national party establishment behind him.
On the Democratic side, long-rumored possible successors including Johnson’s son, South Dakota’s U.S. Attorney Brendan Johnson, and former U.S. Rep. Stephanie Herseth Sandlin.
“I’ve talked to Brendan now and then, but I’m not leaning on him to run or not run,” Johnson told The Associated Press after the event. “I gather he is undecided.”
Brendan Johnson declined to comment on his political plans Tuesday. He has avoided public
Sen. Johnson to retire, cites health and ageS.D. Senator Tim Johnson is greeted by well wishers after announcing Tuesday his retirement from the U.S. Senate after his term ends in early 2015 at the Al Neuharth Media Center in Vermillion, S.D. (AP Photo/Argus Leader, Jay Pickthorn)
See JOHNSON, A6See SCHOOLS, A6
See HEALTH, A6
Marcelas Owens of Seattle, left, Rep. John Dingell, D-Mich., right, and others, look on as President Barack Obama signs the health care bill in the East Room of the White House in Washing-ton Saturday. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite, File)
See DEPOT, A6
The administration questions the design of the study, saying it focused only on one piece of the puzzle and ignored cost relief strategies in the law such as tax credits to help people af-ford premiums and special pay-ments to insurers who attract an outsize share of the sick.
Linn said the tablets will be ordered within the next few days, and will likely arrive by June 1.
“I feel great, but I must be honest ... I appreciate my right arm and right leg aren’t what they used to be, and my speech is not entirely there,”
Sen. Tim Johnson
Shirley Miller’s ranch in Mud Butte was the home of the Fort Pierre depot building for almost 50 years. The depot arrived in Fort Pierre on March 19. (Lance Nixon/Capital Journal)
Another double-doubleB1