Thanks! Shorter Sentences, No Earthquakes, Generous Democrats

Some dressing for your turkey:

• Thankful cons: Governor M. Michael Rounds has brought 270 state prison inmates a few months closer to saying goodbye to creamed turkey on toast. The governor issued a batch of sentence reductions yesterday. Lake County's only winner: our own Stephanie Schumacher, who gets 90 days off her sentence. These commutations weren't free passes; inmates had to do 320 hours of community service, earn GEDs or firefighter certifications, or assist with special projects.
• Thankful for solid ground: We don't have much in the way of earthquakes in South Dakota. With the Keystone pipeline running underneath us and Keystone XL maybe joining it, Plains Justice reminds us we'd better hope it stays that way. Let's not go fault-finding....
• Thankful for Democrats: the new Congressional Republicans eager to activate their government health insurance face some calls to reject their own federal health coverage before they repeal Obamacare. A Public Policy Polling survey finds 53% of Americans think incoming freshpeople like Rep.-Elect Kristi Noem who campaigned against health care reform ought to reject their Congressional health coverage. 33% think they should take the Congressional benefit. Republicans and Independents are much harder on their freshpeople; Dems make the Reject! call by only a 40–46 margin. (I'm not so generous, Kristi: as insurance agents, you and Bryon can surely come up with a better policy on your own, right?)