A very bad day | Nosey neighbors | Rescued by a former legislator | Data center defeat | The GOP's consigliere | Nibbling on property taxes | Mayoral run lessons

Did you miss last week’s episode of The Scouting Lounge? Downloaded hundreds of times since both free and paid subscribers of The Dakota Scout received it in their inboxes seven days ago, there’s still time to catch up, hit the link below to listen to “Guess who’s back? | Recharged with a second chance | Civic engagement: ER edition | Foreigners, ‘canucks’ & headline wars | In the shadow of ‘the seating incident’” and check out all past shows by visiting the podcast archive.

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Anti–data center petitions will not force a referendum election in Sioux Falls.

PIERRE — Tax breaks for data centers that power artificial intelligence capabilities are at the center of what could be this year’s most contentious battle among lawmakers at the state Capitol.

A planned patriotic-themed amusement park in the Black Hills won’t get the benefit of what would have been the largest tax increment financing (TIF) package in South Dakota history.

Greg Jamison, a longtime presence in Sioux Falls and South Dakota politics, launched his bid for mayor Wednesday night in a speech that emphasized his business background and long ties to the community.

Tax freezes for seniors and veterans, simplifying tax relief application processes, and limiting how much governments can spend were among the flurry of recommendations for delivering property tax relief to South Dakotans that came out of the state Legislature’s Comprehensive Property Tax Task Force. On Wednesday, the panel pared down more than two dozen proposals to a list of 19 that it will ask lawmakers to consider when they convene at the state Capitol in January.