leaving no day on turned. plplus, this week's nine things to know, and it all starts right now. >> from the abc 9 news studios in sioux cit iowa, join us as we discuss the hot topics happening in siouxland. it's this week in siouxland with abc 9 news anchor. >> and good morning, we're glad that your with us today. we have come to learn the political calendar is jam packed with activity. most of it, at least until now, presidential politics. but that's about to change. page turns on the new year, law makers from all three siouxland states will be headed back to session, nebraska on january 6, iowa on the 11th, and south dakota legislatures beginning their 38 day session beginning january the 12.2. law makers will spend almost 200 days at the respective state capitols in 20 disean 16. there's no guarantee theork won't drag on unt the dog days of summer. with that in mind, lawmakers

me i her studios beginning with william. he represents in both union and lincoln counties in south dakotas 16th district and he hand pickedy the governor. he'sere in studio. senator, thanks for being with us this morning. let's talk about the process, it's your first, uh, time to headff to the state capitol, to join other lawmakers for a legislative session appointed to take the seat of dan learman who stepped down following last year's ssion. are the bags packed, so to speak? they are. i have been kind of preparing the difference in being appointed is that i have mor time to actually prepare for issues that are ing to be discussed instead of campaigning. so i've utilized that time to

things. >> opportunity to get up to speed a little bit, hear how thin may or may not work, issues he was perhaps bird dogging before heeft. >> right, i had conversations with senator lederman and other senators have been willing to help on different issues that are going to be coming across the desk during legislative session. i moved the business to south dakota in 1992 and lived in yankton until aut 2011. >> let's talk about some of it different issues gng in there will be some hot topics in all three of our states and medicaid right near the top of the list. what can you tell us as youet ready to head off to the session here? a focal point, lots of changes going on shin. >> tre's been discussions in

the dollars that the state of south dakota invest in medicaid to real provide medical services to those at the poverty level or, uh, slightly above the poverty level really the working poor. and, um, budget have been strained. the gernor of south dakota along with, um, other states had beenorking with the federal government to, um, to fully afund native american healthcare services um, according to an 1800s treaty that required that or that said we would provide native americans health care as a portion of that treaty agreement. um, and, uh, there's been a deficit of howw many dollars deral government has funded to do that and t states have had toto makup the difference. um, if those dollars, um, would be taken care of more by the federal government it will free

more of the working poor, those up to perhaps the 35 percent poverty level or so to, uh, give them - - provide them healthcarethrough medicaid. >> havave some additional funding to help those folks. >> right. >> another topic that got a lot of discussion is teacher pay. in south dakota, the state doesn't necessaly rank near the top or near the middle depending upon which poll you look at. i know ththat will be a focus agagfor you. tellll us about whehe you come i i on that. tell us again about south dakota, 50 or 51st on the teacher pay. >> governor dugard create ad blue ribbon task force made up of some of the legislatures, some administrators from schools, some citizens from across the state, and they worked very diligently in visititi in myy different communities and school districts

of folks out there. they also did a lot of research and pulled data together to talk abt how south dakota stacks up against the neighboring states and without a doubt there is a deficit in compensation compared to surrounding states. there's a lot of myths kind f in that whole belieief where south dakota stack up with respect to students in the classroom or, um, capitatal out lay, or, um,cost of l living coared to surrounding states, things like that. ere's ve good data. they pull ad lot of information together the recommendation, um, identified that it will takeapproximately 75 million-dollars of on going money to bring south dakota from 50 or 51st in the nation to 36th to 38th in the nation,ompensation-wise. i've been an advocate for increasing teacher pay, not been in a position to have much influence over that until i've beenn the legislature.

we'll see where the fund canning come from. > how might that actualllly total up to somebody's wallet at the end of the year? if that does go through life ththat blue ribbon panel has proposed, what additional funding might a teacher see i their back pocket? >> that's a good point. it equates tpproximately 75 million-dollars is funded, approximately on average 8,000-dollars per teacher. so it's realoney. >> that would be a significant increase for all of those folks in the state of south dakota. let's talk abouthe taxes situation. law makers in siouxland shake their hands when south dakota comes into the discussion because some of the benefits the state is able to take ad advantage of. anything on theorizon you see that would be a big issue this year? >> well, the teacher payay funding blue ribbo task force is recoended, potentially raisi some sales tax tax to fund that, a t least a portion of it.

dollars within the school budgets from capital out lay to acher compensation, things like that, some reserves and things like that are being suggggested. we'll kind of see how all that sorts out. south dakota doesn't have an income taxax um,he, u the voters have been pretty vocal abt not supporting the income tax. um, and so we're proud of the fa that we have a very low per capita, actual tax in the state of south dakota when you include all taxes whether it's property taxes, uh, sales tax, and so on. >> still ranking in the top three in most lisisngs, sometimes even higher than that. >> nationwide, exactly. >> the federal government t has pass ad new transportation act and for the fist time we'll have something on the books for five years. i think i saw south dakota could get up to 8 or 10 million-dollars in funds. i know bridges and railroads in your state are focused just like in iowa and nebraska.

roads are our serious focus. we had a substantial increase in the gas tax and other taxes in the state lastear to make surure we had the dollars - - i wasn't involved in that, but to makere we had the dollars for the federal manages matches and so on to take advantage of that. it would be great to have a long-term plan that wewe can develoloour plans in the state of south dakota to put the bee dollars toward the best projects thatat need be funded in order to keep our infrastructure strong. >> one of the topics getting this time of the year, all of the college football games come to alose. i know you haven't been in session to t talk about it but the attotoey yen general said he's not interested in pursuing any types of charges in fantasy sportsetting. >> i support the attorney general. >> i thought you were going to say i support it.

along. trrn is something a lot of people are tking about it. a lot of feks are involved on a friendly casual basis. >> right. >> we'll see what happens as that goes forward, i guess. another issue is the eb-5 situation and folks may not know a lot about it,ut the eb's 5 program is a way that foreign individuals can gain citizenship in thenited states, it requires financial, uh, disbursements from them d it was a pretty serious scandal inside the state of south dakota concerning the program with several chinese individuals, which helped fund a beef pork - - beef processing plant that has since collapsed. there's been a lot of look at where did all the money go that was provided to the eb-5 program. your thoughts on that?it was a big topic. >> well, the due diligencece is still in process and i don'thave any new insights other than what you read in it the papers

whatever, um, is there will be discered. so - - . >> continuto follow that. >> yes > all the. well, we'r going to say thanks for being with us is morning, auick0 minutes already here today. we look forward to following long a the legislative session inside south dakota, and congtulations as you make your first. and get started in a few short weeks. >> beemy pleasure. >> thanks for being with us thismorning. comiming up afr the break, we'll turn our attention to the nraska unicameral, state senator dave bloomeld joins me after the break. and late ar lk back at the presidential politicking in the state of iowa.

siouxland. >> we're back with more this week in siououxland, wh tim seaman. >> and welcome back. unlike their colleagues in iowa, and south dakota, when nebraska lawmakers open the 2016 session next month, they'll do it in one chamber, the state capitols in des moines include a house and a senate, but nebraska has only one parliament ary chamber. ong those serving in lincoln is senator dave bloomfield from hoskins. 2016 marks the end of the blookfield man's time the

he represents district 17 which is dakota, thurston, and waynecounties and like senator shorma is good enough to join us. we're gl you're with us. time to get back at it. >> it's tting close. >> letter talk about it. this will be your last year becacae ofhose termm limits. how do you view things overall? >> i think we've got some work to do. it's a short session, uh, we have a 60-day session one year and a 90 day session another year. the budget years we run a 90-day session so we have a little more time to spend getting the budget done and durin election years we eenly run it 60 days so people have a chanceo go home and get acquainted with the people they're serving. >> bacin their home district. >> yeah. >> let's talk about you talk about the budget, the budget year, and the budget numbers going in. have attracted some head lines, uh, before the segue gets started as there's a difference

the projections that were made a couplef years ago versus where you're at at this particular point. how concern are you about that number?? >> i'm personally not greatly concerned about it. the first year i was down there we face ad bger deficit. it's not a comfortable thing to be in. there will be some changes that will have to be made, but the constitution requires that we have a balanced budget when we g get done and we wl have a balanced budget when we get done. >> it's all abobout whihi piles theoney gets sebt t >> whose odds gets - - . >> let's talk about how that actually hapappens, too. it seems like in a rural ste like nebraska or south daka earlier, where you have those senators of pulation with so many folks and then youave the rural areas similar to what siouxland has, how difficult is it to keep that teeter-totter balance when you're looking at that broad bas off representation w wn it comes to dollars and cents?

well-b-balanced, but with the groa growth we've seen with omaha and lincoln, the rural part of the state loses a senator or two, and they end up with, like in omaha, gaining a senator or two. we are to the point now where lincoln and omahahif they get together they can pass anything they want. whether the rule part of the state likes it not. and fortunately for us thus far there have been enough peoe in those bigger communities understand what's going on in the farm areas that it hasn't been n an issu but i see problems. >> that's something that could definitely change as the agricultural, rural parts of the state not getting the attention they crently do. >> ihink you see part of that already happening with the property tax thi. you know, we, our own prorty tax my wife and i own a farm and our property tax has tripled in thee last 10 years.

of stutuff in th cities, but t the ag value has gone up and ththerefore property tax has. >> the governor's made property tax ass real focal p point in any of his discussions since being elected. he'salked about trying to roll back property tax. that's not done as easily as everybody would thriek sayhat it happens. >> no, two yearsgo we set up a special committe to study that and we traveled the state to find out what everybody's concerns were. the main concern was the unfairness of the property tax sysystem. and d we as of yet have not found an answer to it. i agree with governor entirely that we have to do more than we've done. we've nibbled around the edge as little bit last year, but as far as getting in and doing anything that would really make a b difference, we wereren't able to do it. >> so much o olocal funding mes from property taxes when yoyo splititff and look at thehe

ucion in the funding of the state is so directly tie to the property tax. >> agagain, i kn people get tire hearing we've form ad committee to do this - - we've combined education and revenue are working together over the interim this year to try to comom up with a solution where mamae we could get a little more state funding to go to the schools and get some property tax relief. it has to happen some how, some way. we cannot continuee to pay the kinds of property taxes we're paying in ag land with the prices of grain and commodities all commoties coming down theway they have. >> it's headed toward as dead end hasn't it? >> it's pretty wellhere. >> let's talk about something folks may have not heard, and that's motorcycle helmets. folks haveve t and don't have to helmets. it's been a passion of yours, i know, in past ssions, and i'm pecting you'll havee that debate again thiss year. >> ibsolutelely intend to have

it has been my priority bill for the last two years, it will be again isear. much to thth c chagrin osome of the people in my own district. but to me we areealing with the fundamental right of people to decide what is best for them, rather than to have the government tell them you must do this. we don't outlawed smoking, we knowow that's not good for you. we don't l a guy decide whether or not he wants to wear a helmet wn he's riding a motorcycle, it doesn't make sense. >> your bill would do what then? >> my bill wouldlday until you reach the age of 21, you haveo wear the helmet. that's child protection, if you want to call it that. after 21, you make that decision for yourself. i think that's the way it should be. a lot of the guys that want a to ride bikes have served in military and they fought for their rights to do this. come back to nebraska and we say no, you have to wear that helmet, you can't make that decision, you're not smart

you. iowa has no helme law. south dakota cuts it to age 18 and below. the only state that borders nebraska that has aull-cover helmet law like nebraska has is missouri, and both housesf their legislature have passed removal of it. but they haven't got there yet either. >> so we'll keep our eyes on that as the session gs started. >> you will hear about it again. >> see if something happens there. anothetopic know we'll be hearing about from lincoln is the death penalty this year. it really was on the forefront of last year's session, uh, that discussion continues. there seems to be at least ann inkling that maybe it won't be quite as t this session. >> well, as you're all wl aware, the ledge legislature did away with the death penalty last year. the people of the ste rose up

it on the ballot and people have the final say on it. i don't thk we'll have to dedeal with it a lot thisear. i'm sure it will be brought up from time to time but there's nothing ally to be done until after the november elections when. >> when people are back to the polls and you'll have the defininitive ansr on that subject. >> that's where it needed go in the first place. >> t the feral government recently signed its transportation bill giving the nation a 5-year transportation bill, someththg that hasn't been done before.e. of course there will be implicationsn that inside of neaska. a lot of talk about highway 275 and work needing t to be ne there. would you like to see that work continue? >> toe that is the most important stretch of road to be worked on in the state of nebraska. there are other priorities around, i know lincoln wants to get ththe bypass done around them. but to me that us 275 fro norfolk tooma haw is the most important one in the state. i don't say tat because it's in

but it, uh, anybody that travels that road knows that it's dangerouwhere it's not - - . >> a lot of discussion about juvenile justice system inside the state of south dakota. some changes are being proposed there whetr they are made or not duriring the session time will tell. does that t ooko you to be something that will garner some attention this session? whether the supreme court gets involved or stays with the juvenile justice system? >> they're going to - - there are going to be hours and hours spent in the justice system. nebraska has a lot of over crowding issues, and there's work to o done. we will try to wk through that as we go along, but yeah. that will be a big issue. >> plenty of focus on. >> yeah. >> young kids. >> yup. >> senator, thanks for taking time to be with us this morning. i know the session's still a few days away, but it will be here and done before we know it for sure. we appreciate you giving us a little bit of guidance this

will be in the head lines and we look f fward to continuing the discussion during the session. >> thank you, tim, for sharing your time with me. >> glad to have you in this morning. when we continue, presidential round up of some of this week's noteworthy events on

stay with us. >> now, we're back with more this week in siouxland. >> no fewer that eight presidential candidates hit the highway in iowa this week. marco rubio with a town hahall meeting in wesdes moines on thursday, he spoke about critical issues facing iowa's terans and military families, voicing his support of more flexible and convenient veteran health care in iow mean while, one of those toppingrubio in the polls picked up an enrsement of the prez dent of the family leadeder. bob vand rks - - . the former hinton resident said this time i really believe i'm seeing leaders i've been visiting with that are ready to coalesce and unite around sen pter ted cruz. i also see the infrastructure cruz hasthe resources tt he has, to beble to go the distance. really believe and expect senator ted cruz to be the

most political on lookers had ex expected thehe family leader to support ben course carson or ted cruz. carley fiori had cruz on her mind this week as well while talking about donald trump's plan to ban mu muslims from entering the united states. getting it back on himself because ted cruz was having a good week. fiorina also predicted tmp would los t secretary of sta hillary clintonf he is selected, rather, as the nominee. clinton toured paparts of iowa this week as well, stopping at five sullivans brothers convention center. that's in waterloo. stopped there for a town hall eting. the democratic front running called trump's comments dangerous. by the way, nearly 400 supportersilled the convention center for that eveve. let's tata a look at what's up on this week's nine things to go, we begin with a christmas event, maybe unique, h harley davidson with an event

church of christ has a breakfa coming up saturday the 19, 9:30 a.m., mark that down. if you've got youngsters, check out the plic library on tuesday, the lego build is set to take center stage. a different kind of christmas with mark schultz comes up tonight at 6:30 p.m. another type of holiday event, ru hour connect the sunny brook community church december 17 beginning at 4:30 p.m. stop by the church to learn more there. if you're looking for some activity out doors, how about snow shong, you do that with the blue zone project mondayhe 14 from 3 to 4. music, knows all about christmas music performing at t orpheum sunday the 20th. civic dance oag association presents holiday spectacular saturday the 19th. always a fan favorite. and tomorrow, iowa governor

trrn will be his 7,6,6th day in office and that tops our nine things to know. you can expec to see more coverage of events planned for tomorr in his home town right here on abc 9 news. rirn the mean time, have a goo rest of your weekend. and we hope you'll join us next sunday. (music) >> amanda: outrage builds over donald trump's mlim policy as the rest of the candidates react. will it help or hurt his campaign? >> sabrina: plus ted cruz goes from sleeper candidate to star. what the latest polls show and jeb bush talks isis and iowa in our one on one interview. (music) >> sabrina: thanks for joining us for this week in iowa. i'm sabrina ahmed. >> amanda: and i'm amanda krenz. but no name matters more this week than donald j. trump. that's the name plastered at the top the presidential candidate's press release that came out early this week with his new