NORFOLK, NE – Two adults and a child were sent to the hospital Monday afternoon after a vehicle crash in northeast Nebraska.

The Stanton County Sheriff’s Office says the two-vehicle crash was northeast of Norfolk around 3:50 p.m. According to the sheriff’s office, it happened when a southbound SUV struck an eastbound jeep.

Authorities say the SUV failed to yield at the intersection and when it struck the jeep, the two vehicles left the roadway.

An unidentified 6-year-old passenger in the jeep was ejected from the vehicle and landed in a ditch. Authorities say the child was transported to a Norfolk hospital in critical condition with possible internal injuries. Authorities believe an improper-sized booster seat in the jeep did not function properly during the collision.

The driver of the SUV, 68-year-old Christine Bobo of Norfolk, and the driver of the jeep, 39-year-old Tatiana Figueroa of Woodland Park, were also taken to the hospital.

Authorities confirmed seat belts were in use in both vehicles and airbags were deployed. Both vehicles were destroyed in the crash.

 

SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (John Hult, South Dakota Searchlight) – Artificial intelligence (AI) could mean more efficient legal offices and lower bills for clients – provided human beings use the technology ethically.

South Dakota Supreme Court Chief Justice Steven Jensen and University of South Dakota Knudson School of Law Dean Neil Fulton offered that tentative conclusion on AI in the legal profession to members of the Sioux Falls Downtown Rotary Club on Monday.

The law school is teaching AI to students and offering its law librarian as a trainer for practicing lawyers, Fulton said. The judicial system is considering ways the technology might improve efficiency, Jensen said, and not yet pondering regulations on its use by attorneys.

But both leaders agreed that human decision-making and judgment ought to be top of mind in the use of AI for legal work.

“I gave a speech to the class of 2024 on Friday, and the centrality of the human person to the law was the thrust of it,” Fulton said. “One of the things I tell them is that a lot of disciplines will just say, ‘Can we?’ The law has to step back and say, ‘Should we?’”

Some forms of AI have been a modern part of life for years. It undergirds consumer-facing tools like voice dictation on smartphones, spell checkers on word processors or chatbots that screen customer service queries and hold your place in line.

Public awareness of generative AI exploded mostly because of ChatGPT, a text creation tool released in November 2022. Generative AI involves asking a tool like ChatGPT (for text) or Midjourney (for art) to produce something. That could be a term paper, an image, a screenplay or a legal brief in a matter of seconds, though concerns about “hallucinations” – wherein an AI tool makes up facts to include in the final product – quickly emerged as a danger of relying too heavily on AI-only material.

In the legal field, AI tools have returned legal briefs citing cases that don’t exist. A federal judge in New York sanctioned a lawyer in that state last June for submitting briefs with phony citations.

“The running joke is now, ‘Did you write this brief, or did AI write it?’” said Barry Sackett, a Rotarian and lawyer who led the Monday discussion with Jensen and Fulton.

Sackett wanted to know how the chief justice and law school dean are thinking about the technology, given its prominence across multiple areas of work and play.

The initial stumbles with hallucination and worries of students using AI to cheat factored into some of Fulton’s first conversations about it with law school faculty in Vermillion.

That was a year ago. Now, Fulton said, the school works with – and teaches students about – the AI tools embedded in LexisNexis, one of two major legal research companies in the U.S.

Right now, he said, it can generate a brief that’s “about 50% accurate.”

“The human element is working out that other 50%,” Fulton said. “But that is a savings to your client. It’s a savings of time.”

Jensen agreed, saying it’s possible that AI could make offices efficient enough to shave dollars off legal bills. Lawyers often charge billable hours in 15-minute increments.

“We’ve not developed the rules, because frankly, if you start developing rules, sometimes you preclude innovation and the ability to improve what you’re doing,” Jensen said.

The state already has strict ethical standards on the truthfulness of evidence, he said. Those standards apply to any brief signed by any lawyer, regardless of whether someone on their staff or an AI tool helped write it.

“Are we getting briefs from AI right now? Maybe, and I don’t have a problem with it, as long as the lawyers are doing the homework to make sure that the briefs are accurate,” Jensen said.

He said the state has begun looking at ways to streamline certain processes for the sake of efficiency.

But there are lines to be drawn on AI and its use in the justice system, he said.

“We can’t depend mostly on a machine to decide cases,” Jensen said. “We can’t depend upon a machine to argue our cases. There’s so much of a human aspect in what lawyers do and what judges do that we have to make sure that that human aspect isn’t lost.”

Both leaders also told the Rotary Club that the law will need to keep up with the technology, wherever it winds up.

“We’re just like everyone else, in that we’re trying to figure this out as we go because it is moving so quickly,” Fulton said. “I think anybody who tells you they have this figured out is fibbing.”

 

ELLSWORTH AIR FORCE BASE, S.D. – Western South Dakota and the Ellsworth are undergoing big changes as part of the B-21 expansion.

There are currently 38 different projects happening to support more people in the area and changes to the base itself.

Monday was the fourth of seven weapon generation facility groundbreaking events at the base.

Air Force officials say the new  generation facility is meant to act as an all in one storage and maintenance facility for Ellsworth’s current and future munitions.

They say the new facility will directly support the B-21’s role as a strategic deterrent for adversaries.

Several thousand new airmen are now going to be calling Ellsworth home through the expansion.

 

DES MOINES, IA – Iowa State Auditor Rob Sand has commissioned a report showing that 28 job descriptions with the state say they need a Bachelor’s degree, but one isn’t actually needed to do the job.  He is now calling on the state to remove four-year college degree requirements from dozens of public sector jobs.

“Workforce is one of the biggest problems for the state of Iowa, right. It is hard for us to grow as a state or even to sustain our population if we don’t have more working aged people in the state,” Sand said.

Some of the job titles listed in the report include IT Administrator, Human Resources Professional, and Nurse Specialist.

Sand says these roles can be filled by people who have military service, community college, or on the job training. The report says people with that are Skilled Through Alternative Routes, or STARS.

Sand says even a job description saying a four year degree is preferred can discourage people from applying. He calls that the “paper ceiling” and he says it  stops a lot of really well qualified from applying for or getting those jobs.

In a statement, Governor Kim Reynolds’ office says the state has and will continue to work toward making employment with the state more accessible.

 

PIERRE, S.D. (John Hult, South Dakota Searchlight) – South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem’s fame has powered a national workforce recruitment campaign, but some think her newfound infamy might doom it.

However, the state office managing the campaign says it will not change course.

The future of Noem’s starring role in South Dakota’s $9 million Freedom Works Here ad campaign is triggering debate after she disclosed in a forthcoming book that she shot and killed her young dog named Cricket years ago. She wrote that the dog disrupted a hunting trip and displayed aggressive behavior, including killing chickens.

The incident has attracted a torrent of negative attention from both sides of the political spectrum, leading some to question the suitability of Noem’s role as the face of a state effort to attract new workers.

“This has blown up in her face,” said Mike Card, a political science professor at the University of South Dakota. “I think it ends the campaign as it is.”

Card said making the governor the face of the workforce recruitment campaign was a “dumb idea all along” that would only appeal to certain people.

The national campaign features Noem in a series of video advertisements, working in various high-demand jobs. It was launched to bolster the state’s workforce by showcasing the benefits of living and working in South Dakota, aimed at potential residents from other states.

The campaign was intended to capitalize on the nationwide name and image recognition Noem built during the COVID-19 pandemic, when she attracted praise and scorn for keeping the state largely open and for recruiting then-President Donald Trump to a fireworks show at Mount Rushmore. Prior to last week, Trump had acknowledged he was considering Noem as a running mate in this year’s presidential election.

But the governor’s dog-killing disclosure, which she shared in her upcoming book, “No Going Back,” has affected her brand. Google Trends suggests the incident has resulted in more people Googling the governor than ever before.

Noem administration responds

Yet the Governor’s Office of Economic Development, which manages the Freedom Works Here campaign, is holding firm.

“Governor Noem and her commitment to our state have propelled this campaign forward at an unprecedented level,” said office spokesperson Sarah Ebeling. “We currently have no plans to make any changes to Freedom Works Here.”

Noem’s spokesman, Ian Fury, did not immediately respond to messages Tuesday.

Sunday, while reaction to the dog story exploded across the internet, Noem tried to defend herself on X (formerly Twitter).

“What I learned from my years of public service, especially leading South Dakota through COVID, is people are looking for leaders who are authentic, willing to learn from the past, and don’t shy away from tough challenges,” Noem wrote. “My hope is anyone reading this book will have an understanding that I always work to make the best decisions I can for the people in my life.”

She added, “South Dakota law states that dogs who attack and kill livestock can be put down.”

Republican lawmakers split on ad campaign

Critics argue the incident does not align with the welcoming image the state wants to project. One of those critics is Noem’s fellow Republican state Rep. Scott Odenbach, of Spearfish, who previously criticized Noem’s use of the Future Fund to pay for most of the Freedom Works Here campaign. The Future Fund is derived from a tax on employers.

“You really can’t make this stuff up,” Odenbach said. “This PR crisis provides the governor the perfect opportunity to pause and reflect — now that the VP slot appears to mercifully be off the table — on whether continued self-promotion with taxpayer Future Fund money benefits anybody. An immediate course correction would be advisable.”

State Freedom Caucus Chairman Rep. Aaron Aylward, R-Harrisburg, agrees. He thinks people interested in moving to a tax-friendly state – a main highlight in the ad campaign – could find that information without ads starring the governor.

“People are going to move here no matter what,” Aylward said. “We don’t need any more of these economic development programs that are pushed using taxpayer dollars. People are going to move here based off of the great things that South Dakota already offers.”

Not all Republican lawmakers are ready to give up on Freedom Works Here.

“I, like thousands of South Dakotans, consider my fur-kids to be permanent, irreplaceable members of my family,” said Sen. Michael Rohl, R-Aberdeen. “I certainly hope the next phase isn’t highlighting a need for veterinarians, but the Freedom Works Here campaign is designed to let skilled laborers across the country know of the endless opportunities available to them, and their families, in South Dakota. That message is true and resonates with Americans no matter the message bearer.”

‘As dead as Cricket’

Meanwhile, South Dakota Democrats are having a field day.

Drey Samuelson, who worked as Democratic former U.S. Sen. Tim Johnson’s chief of staff for many years, said these are the types of public relations crises that ruin a political brand for life.

“I think it will stick,” he said, explaining that people don’t have to know anything about politics to have a strong opinion on a governor killing her dog. “She’s become a laughingstock. Even Fox News is laughing at her.”

He said having “Cruella Kristi” — a reference to the fictional dog-hater Cruella de Vil — continue selling South Dakota to American workers is not wise.

As for the future of the Freedom Works Here campaign, said Samuelson, “I think it’s as dead as Cricket.”