Latest news with #Kettler
Yahoo
22-05-2025
- General
- Yahoo
Pope Leo a focus of Sioux Falls mass
SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (KELO) –The faithful regularly gather at the Cathedral of St. Joseph on Wednesdays for noon mass. But there was something special about Wednesday's service at the Sioux Falls landmark. It was a mass of celebration and prayer for Pope Leo XIV. It's been about two weeks since a new leader of the Catholic church was named. 'I was excited and hopeful when Pope Leo got elected. I wanted to kind of be able to celebrate that a little bit and just get the people together to pray for him because it's a big job,' Bishop Donald Kettler said. Jackley, Rhoden announce partnerships with ICE 'I think we should all pray for him because he's a world leader and people of all faiths should pray for him and bring us to better things in our world,' said Pete Schmidt who was attending mass. Bishop Kettler is currently the apostolic administrator of the Catholic Diocese of Sioux Falls. Kettler spoke about the pope during his homily Wednesday. The bishop hopes people listen to the new pontiff and follow his guidance. 'How we are supposed to be people that work together, we're supposed to care for those on the margins, the poor especially, but we're supposed to care for everybody, not just regionally, but worldwide,' Kettler said. Bishop Kettler is filling in for Bishop Donald DeGrood as he receives medical care. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Yahoo
13-05-2025
- Yahoo
FOG sues Los Lunas School District
New Mexico Foundation for Open Government filed suit against the Los Lunas Schools Board of Ed for not releasing records related to its investigation of former Schools Superintendent Ryan Kettler (photo courtesy Los Lunas Schools) The New Mexico Foundation for Open Government announced on Tuesday a lawsuit against the Los Lunas Schools Board of Education, along with its public records custodian, Brian Baca, for their refusal to release public records related to an investigation of former Superintendent Ryan Kettler. According to a news release from FOG, after Kettler was placed on administrative leave in July 2024, one year after he was fired, School Board President Michelle Osowski told Valencia County News-Bulletin reporters the district's lawyers would be investigating him. Subsequently, the newspaper filed Inspection of Public Records Act requests to learn more about that investigation. According to the suit, those records included: • Any contract for services with DDSK Group LLC. • Any scope of work services from DDSK Group LLC. • Any and all invoices from and payments to DDSK Group LLC. • Any and all correspondence between DDSK Group LLC and Los Lunas Schools employees to include electronic correspondence and messages on district issued and personal devices. • Any and all correspondence between DDSK Group LLC and LLS Board of Education members to include electronic correspondence and messages on district issued and personal devices. In response, the district's lawyers said they were 'unaware of any documents responsive [to the public records requests]' and, moreover, were there an investigation 'company hired to conduct an investigation was done through [their] law firm and is protected by attorney-client privilege and not subject to the Inspection of Public Records Act.' Nonetheless, FOG notes an Oct. 31, 2024 invoice shows Los Lunas Schools' attorneys billed the district $21,685 to pay DDKS Group LLC, a firm that conducts school personnel investigations. The school board terminated Kettler on Nov. 14, 2024 and never explained its reasons for doing so. 'NMFOG is suing the School District for unlawfully shielding its public records from view,' the news release states. 'A public body cannot hide public records behind the attorney-client privilege merely because the school went through its attorney to hire an investigator. The attorney-client privilege covers only confidential communications between an attorney and their client and does not apply to the requested records concerning Kettler.' The lawsuit requests a judge to compel the district to release the records.
Yahoo
09-05-2025
- General
- Yahoo
Bishop Kettler pleased with Pope Leo XIV's first message
SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (KELO) – For the first time in the history of the Catholic Church, an American has been elected as the new Pope. Born in Chicago, Robert Prevost spent his career ministering in Peru and later led the Vatican's Office of Bishops. He has chosen the name Pope Leo XIV. Following the announcement of the new Pope, Bishop Donald Kettler, the temporary administrator of the Diocese of Sioux Falls, sat down with reporters in Saint Joseph's Cathedral. Dell Rapids St. Mary's students react to Pope Leo XIV Kettler says he was pleased with the first message Pope Leo XIV gave to the world. 'Loving people, caring for the people, being aware of and thinking about and working for everybody,' Kettler said. 'A sense of unity. Those are the kinds of things that I hoped he would talk about.' Pope Leo XIV is the first in papal history to be born in the United States, but Kettler hopes that fact and his new role can be seen as separate things. 'Being American, people are going to be thinking about that and is that going to change how the country acts with the Church or with the people,' Kettler said. 'I'm trying to really think that his appointment should be really seen separate from that and that he is the Pope for the whole world and not particularly for the United States. That's what I would hope for.' As for how Pope Leo XIV chose his name, Bishop Kettler says we won't know that reason until he chooses to tell us. However, Kettler wonders if it's in homage to Pope Leo XIII. 'He taught us about social justice — maybe he was the best Holy Father we had to talk about some of those things,' Kettler said. 'And so I'm wondering if because of that, that was one of the reasonings why he picked Leo XIV.' Catholics number more than 140,000 in SD Of course, time will tell the direction this new pontiff will take the Catholic Church. 'But always keeping in mind, one of the tasks of the Holy Father is to bring unity — not only to the people of the Church, Christians, Catholics, but also to bring some better unity to everybody else in the world in a world that's polarized a lot,' Kettler said. 'And so this is an opportunity, I think, to see that some of that might happen and I'm so pleased about that.' Kettler is currently leading the Catholic Diocese of Sioux Falls while Bishop Donald DeGrood undergoes treatment for health concerns. Kettler is a retired Bishop of the Diocese of Saint Cloud. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Yahoo
27-04-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
The beauty and challenge of elections in Canada's frigid north
Nunavut is Canada's largest federal district. The entire territory - all 1.8 million sq km (695,000 sq miles) and its 40,000 people - will be represented by one person in parliament. "Nunavut is at least three times the size of France. If it was its own country, it would be the 13th largest behind Greenland," Kathy Kettler, the campaign manager for local Liberal candidate Kilikvak Kabloona, told the BBC. Located in the Arctic, where average temperatures in the capital city Iqaluit are below freezing for eight months of the year, it is so vast and inaccessible that the only way to travel between its 25 communities is by air. "Yesterday, in 24 hours, we travelled 1,700 km (1,050 miles) by air and campaigned in Pangnirtung, Iqaluit, Rankin Inlet, and Arviat," said Ms Kettler. "There are not very many people who understand the reality of the north," Ms Kettler said, describing the challenges of running a campaign where so much is different from southern Canada. She recalled knocking on doors earlier this month as she campaigned for her candidate in -24C (-11F) temperatures. She said it's rare in northern communities for people to knock before entering someone's home. Instead, the tight-knit culture permits visitors to simply "walk in and say hello" - almost unthinkable in other parts of the country. As an Inuk from northern Quebec, she said it "feels weird" even for her to knock and wait for a response. In Nunavut, one of Canada's three northern territories, the majority-Inuit population speak Inuktitut. Ms Kettler said one of the biggest expenses was translating campaign signs and hiring an interpreter for Kabloona, the candidate. Election issues for northerners too are unique. "The national campaign is really focused on Arctic security and sovereignty, whereas our campaign here is focused on food security and people being able to survive," Ms Kettler said. Food can be prohibitively expensive and there are infrastructure challenges to accessing clean water for a number of Indigenous and northern communities. She was boiling water to drink while campaigning in Arviat, she said, and described being unable to rely on calling voters as she canvasses because a phone plan is the first thing they sacrifice to afford food. The seat is currently held by the New Democratic Party (NDP), with incumbent Lori Idlout running for re-election. James Arreak is the Conservative candidate. Jean-Claude Nguyen, the returning officer in Nunavut, is responsible for conducting the election in the district. He described how difficult it is to ensure ballots and voter lists get to every community - including to workers at remote gold mines. "[Elections Canada] sent a team from our Ottawa headquarters via Edmonton and Yellowknife to the mine where they work, gave them sufficient time to vote, and then they brought the ballots back," he said. Mr Nguyen also spoke about security considerations. Once polls close, the ballots are counted at the polling station and then stored safely either with the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP), or a local hamlet - a small community that provides municipal services to its residents. The ballot boxes are then flown to Iqaluit, and then to Ottawa. Mr Nguyen recalled how in the 2019 election, a ballot box arrived with a big hole. "When we asked the charter flight company what happened, they said it was eaten by a raven," he said laughing. "That's part of the reality here in the territories, you have wild animals eating the ballot boxes." No ballots were damaged by the bird. Beyond all the challenges, Kathy Kettler said she is most drawn to the spirit of the people. "The generosity, love, and care that people have for each other in every community shines through," she said. "That's what keeps me going, and it's what makes campaigning across Nunavut so meaningful." 'We have more in common with America than the rest of Canada' Patriotism surges in Quebec as Trump rattles Canada A month without clean water in Canada's north
Yahoo
27-04-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
The beauty and challenge of elections in Canada's frigid north
Nunavut is Canada's largest federal district. The entire territory - all 1.8 million sq km (695,000 sq miles) and its 40,000 people - will be represented by one person in parliament. "Nunavut is at least three times the size of France. If it was its own country, it would be the 13th largest behind Greenland," Kathy Kettler, the campaign manager for local Liberal candidate Kilikvak Kabloona, told the BBC. Located in the Arctic, where average temperatures in the capital city Iqaluit are below freezing for eight months of the year, it is so vast and inaccessible that the only way to travel between its 25 communities is by air. "Yesterday, in 24 hours, we travelled 1,700 km (1,050 miles) by air and campaigned in Pangnirtung, Iqaluit, Rankin Inlet, and Arviat," said Ms Kettler. "There are not very many people who understand the reality of the north," Ms Kettler said, describing the challenges of running a campaign where so much is different from southern Canada. She recalled knocking on doors earlier this month as she campaigned for her candidate in -24C (-11F) temperatures. She said it's rare in northern communities for people to knock before entering someone's home. Instead, the tight-knit culture permits visitors to simply "walk in and say hello" - almost unthinkable in other parts of the country. As an Inuk from northern Quebec, she said it "feels weird" even for her to knock and wait for a response. In Nunavut, one of Canada's three northern territories, the majority-Inuit population speak Inuktitut. Ms Kettler said one of the biggest expenses was translating campaign signs and hiring an interpreter for Kabloona, the candidate. Election issues for northerners too are unique. "The national campaign is really focused on Arctic security and sovereignty, whereas our campaign here is focused on food security and people being able to survive," Ms Kettler said. Food can be prohibitively expensive and there are infrastructure challenges to accessing clean water for a number of Indigenous and northern communities. She was boiling water to drink while campaigning in Arviat, she said, and described being unable to rely on calling voters as she canvasses because a phone plan is the first thing they sacrifice to afford food. The seat is currently held by the New Democratic Party (NDP), with incumbent Lori Idlout running for re-election. James Arreak is the Conservative candidate. Jean-Claude Nguyen, the returning officer in Nunavut, is responsible for conducting the election in the district. He described how difficult it is to ensure ballots and voter lists get to every community - including to workers at remote gold mines. "[Elections Canada] sent a team from our Ottawa headquarters via Edmonton and Yellowknife to the mine where they work, gave them sufficient time to vote, and then they brought the ballots back," he said. Mr Nguyen also spoke about security considerations. Once polls close, the ballots are counted at the polling station and then stored safely either with the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP), or a local hamlet - a small community that provides municipal services to its residents. The ballot boxes are then flown to Iqaluit, and then to Ottawa. Mr Nguyen recalled how in the 2019 election, a ballot box arrived with a big hole. "When we asked the charter flight company what happened, they said it was eaten by a raven," he said laughing. "That's part of the reality here in the territories, you have wild animals eating the ballot boxes." No ballots were damaged by the bird. Beyond all the challenges, Kathy Kettler said she is most drawn to the spirit of the people. "The generosity, love, and care that people have for each other in every community shines through," she said. "That's what keeps me going, and it's what makes campaigning across Nunavut so meaningful." 'We have more in common with America than the rest of Canada' Patriotism surges in Quebec as Trump rattles Canada A month without clean water in Canada's north
