Free Republic

In 1942, Seaman Calvin Graham was decorated for valor in battle. Then his mother learned where he'd been and revealed his secret to the Navy. With powerful engines, extensive firepower and heavy armor, the newly christened battleship USS South Dakota steamed out of Philadelphia in August of 1942 spoiling for a fight. The crew was made up of “green boys”—new recruits who enlisted after the Japanese bombing of Pearl Harbor—who had no qualms about either their destination or the action they were likely to see. Brash and confident, the crew couldn’t get through the Panama Canal fast enough, and their...

South Dakota may not be able to use more than half of the federal aid it's due to get from a jobs bill passed Tuesday by Congress because of state rules on spending for schools, Gov. Mike Rounds said. South Dakota can accept an extra $21 million in federal money for the Medicaid program that provides health care for poor people, Rounds said. But it might not take an extra $26 million in education aid because acceptance of the money could trigger an increase in local school districts' property taxes under the language of South Dakota's school funding law, the...