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Groton Daily Independent
Thursday, Feb. 22, 2018 ~ Vol. 25 - No. 223 ~ 19 of 52
opt into many rights and explicitly allowing authorities to share information with the public to help solve crimes.
House Speaker Mark Mickelson, the sponsor of the proposed changes, has said Marsy’s Law has caused unintended consequences. Critics say it’s causing problems for law enforcement and prosecutors and spiking costs for counties.
Mickelson’s measure is advancing with the support of the group that campaigned to pass Marsy’s Law.
Sioux Falls teacher ghts for special cancer treatment
SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (AP) — A Sioux Falls teacher has been denied insurance coverage for special radia- tion to treat her brain cancer.
Katie Blunck, 32, learned of her rare cancer diagnosis after having a tumor removed from her brain last month. She told the Argus Leader that the disease attacking her brain cells, Anaplastic Pleomorphic Xanthro Astrocytoma Grade 3, is “very aggressive, hard to kill and considered incurable.”
Blunck’s insurance company has twice denied her coverage request for a special targeted form of cancer treatment called “proton radiation beam treatment.” Blunck’s doctor recommended proton therapy as a way to minimize radiation exposure to the rest of her brain, but her insurer has said it’s “not medically necessary.”
If the insurer denies her third request, Blunck will have to resort to “photon radiation,” which she worries will damage brain cells that aren’t cancerous. She’s set to begin radiation Monday.
“I’m just hoping somebody can change it and say, ‘yes,’ so I can get the treatment that I need to save my life,” Blunck said.
Wellmark Blue Cross and Blue Shield said in one of its rejection letters that “further research is needed to prove the advantages of proton beam therapy over the other types of treatments.”
After her second rejection, Blunck started reaching out to South Dakota’s congressional delegation, state lawmakers and the Sioux Falls Education Association for help.
Blunck has also received nancial support from her colleagues, who have raised more than $7,400 through a GoFundMe page. The Sioux Falls School District and her coworkers also donated sick days so that she can still get paid through the remainder of the school year.
“The insurance company will be as they will be, and things will go as they will go,” Blunck said. “But to know that I have so many people rooting for me ... this outpouring is so amazing.”
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Information from: Argus Leader, http://www.argusleader.com
South Dakota House passes pay hike for state legislators
PIERRE, S.D. (AP) — The South Dakota House has passed a bill that would give legislators a signi cant pay raise and tie their salaries to the state’s median household income.
House members voted 50-16 Wednesday to send the bill to the Senate.
House Democratic leader Spencer Hawley, a supporter, says of cials need to expand the base of people who can come out to the Legislature.
It would set legislators’ salaries at one- fth of South Dakota’s median household income. U.S. Census numbers for 2015 show that would mean a raise of 70 percent for the state’s 105 lawmakers to nearly $10,200.
State lawmakers are currently paid $6,000 per session plus a per diem allowance.
House legislators have also advanced a proposed constitutional amendment that would ask voters to approve similar provisions.