Latest news with #Reisch
Yahoo
21-03-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Manufacturer: Electric powered superyachts drawing significant interest across US
WEST PALM BEACH — The irony was impossible to overlook as Alex Reisch gleefully showed off his solar-powered superyacht moored just a few nautical miles from the home of the U.S. president who just a year ago ridiculed electric boats in one campaign rally after another. Reisch, a retired Philip Morris International executive, this week is displaying his 60-foot Sunreef Power Eco ultra-luxe catamaran at the 2025 Palm Beach International Boat Show. It's a promotional appearance hosted by Sunreef Yachts, a company with shipyards in Poland and the Arab Emirates. Because Sunreef's yachts are custom-made, the company showboats the vessels it has built for owners at events from Cannes to Monaco to South Florida. The manufacturer has moved into the superyacht class in recent years, and marketing spokesman Artur Połoczański said the migration to Palm Beach County of one-percenters was exposure too good to pass up. "That's why Palm Beach is important to us as we're slowly shifting toward the super yacht end of the industry," he said. Reisch was only too happy to guide visitors, prospective buyers and the just curious through the various decks of the tailored catamaran, called "Double Happiness," on a sun-splashed morning just after the boat show's gates opened to patrons on Thursday, March 20. The boat show opened Wednesday and continues through Sunday. Reisch beamed at the two, 120-kilowatt electric engines and the 330-kilowatt main battery pack he said is equal to those of six Teslas. He singled out the array of solar panels that are built into the yacht's sides so they are indistinguishable unless pointed out. Reisch, an Austrian, and his wife, who is from Switzerland, spent three days with a team from Sunreef explaining they wanted a sleek, alpine chalet-type look to the interior design. Previous story: While promoting luxury yachts, Lech Walesa talks global politics, capitalism, Trump "Everything was chosen," he said. The couple selected two different types of teak wood flooring and ordered different AC units in the vessel. They also got all the comforts of a luxury getaway in the Alps — a washer and dryer, a kitchen with a range plus a freezer and refrigerator, dishwasher, a grill on the top deck, a 45-bottle wine cellar and a cocktail bar. The sound system is segmented, too, allowing for TV watching in the living room, playing rap on the lounge deck and classical music in the staterooms, Reisch said. The yacht was built in Gdansk, Poland, in shipyards made famous by the 1980s anti-communist Solidarity labor movement led by Lech Walesa. Walesa has done promotional appearances for Sunreef, saying in a 2020 interview with The Palm Beach Post that in a post-Cold War world, he learned the value of helping private enterprises succeed. 'We had to start from scratch. We had to look for job opportunities and look for markets,' Walesa said recalling the scramble for markets and sales to sustain employment after the Berlin Wall fell and the Soviet Union imploded. And he added this prescient observation. "I've said this a million times," Walesa offered. "Either the U.S. wants to lead, or they don't.' 2025 Palm Beach International Boat Show: Mega-yachts descend on West Palm Beach waterfront Not-so-subtle reminders of Palm Beach County's changing political hue were spotted here and there at the show along Flagler Street and the waterfront marinas in the West Palm Beach downtown. One yacht moored not far from Reisch's was named "Second Amendment" with two machine guns crossed. A merch stand in a market area stocked "Gulf of America: No Woke Zone" caps. Reisch recalled cruising by President Donald Trump's Mar-a-Lago club and residence and said it looked grand. Trump, however, made clear on the campaign trail that he was no fan of the kind of transportation Reisch has invested seven figures in. Trump mocked people who bought electric cars saying they would have to recharge every few miles. He heaped scorn on what he said were plans to use electric engines in everything from long-haul trucks to military tanks on the battlefield. In one particular stump soliloquy, he mused about having to choose between being electrocuted or eaten by a shark if he were on a sinking electric boat. Reisch suggested skeptics just go for a ride. "Once you charter an electric, you will never go back," he said. In addition to saving thousands of dollars on fuel per trip, the big-ticket maintenance costs, so often rued by boat owners, are practically nil. The only major mechanical overhaul — at 50,000 hours — involves changing out the engines' eight bearings. The components, which are critical to power transmission and shaft alignment, run $100 apiece. "I said to myself, 'That sounds really reasonable,'" Reisch said. "It's not just good for the environment. It's good for your wallet." As for distance, Reisch's captain, Josh Hillary, said since the family took possession of the catamaran last June, they have sailed across the western Mediterranean with stops in Sardinia, Spain, France and Portugal. They also toured the Caribbean. "We've gone pretty far," he said. "And with a lot of ease." Połoczański shrugged off the president's critique, noting that 50% of the demand for Sunreef boats is now for either pure electric or some form of hybrid. "Yeah, well, OK, but he is teaming up with a producer of electric cars, so ...," he said of Trump, who has assigned Tesla chief Elon Musk to slash the federal budget. Trump and his administration seem to have had a change of heart, for that matter. On March 11, Trump held a photo-op with Musk and several Tesla electric vehicles outside the White House to bolster the automaker amid a stock collapse and reports of plummeting sales. On Wednesday, March 19 Trump's commerce secretary, Howard Lutnick, encouraged Americas to buy Tesla shares. Połoczański pointed out another favorable feature, the silence on the high seas from quiet engines. He related how one Sunreef customer, Formula I race car driver, Fernando Alonso, said he enjoyed the sound and smells of a gas-powered, high-performance motor while on the track when racing, but not while vacationing. "This is something that completely changes your point of view," Połoczański said. "Because when you want to relax the last thing you want to hear is the noise of the engine, the generators, the fumes, the vibrations that come from the engine. You don't want all that." More telling, Połoczański said, is the burgeoning market for Sunreef's electric catamarans, especially in the United States. The manufacturer's director of U.S. sales, Liza Kharoubi-Echenique, said she is seeing a surge in buyers from the 35-to-50 age group. She said the growing attention is not just owing to concern about the environment but also the family-friendly roominess of the catamaran, which is steadier on the high seas. And that interest includes people in locales in red Florida. "I am seeing more and more demand across the United States," she said. "And in Miami." Antonio Fins is a politics and business editor at The Palm Beach Post, part of the USA TODAY Florida Network. You can reach him at afins@ Help support our journalism. Subscribe today. This article originally appeared on Palm Beach Post: Trump mocked electric boats, makers cruise in to Palm Beach boat show
Yahoo
12-03-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Uncompromising sponsor sees parent-rights bill die
PIERRE, S.D. (KELO) — Republican Sen. Tamara Grove wouldn't give in. Instead, the first-year lawmaker could only watch on Wednesday as the South Dakota House of Representatives debated whether to kill her Senate Bill 113 that would protect parents' rights to raise their children as they see fit. Grove stook in the back of the House chamber and later paced the legislators-only hallway as one after another representative stood to speak. County officials differ on new property tax bill She had refused to accept a House version that added a sentence saying state laws on child abuse and juvenile courts would still apply, regardless of the rest of her bill's content. The House sentence specifically said, 'No person may use this section to challenge a proceeding under chapters 26-7A or 26-8A.' Grove found that sentence unacceptable. The stand-off led to the appointment of a conference committee. Its members on Wednesday morning recommended 5-1 removing the sentence added by the House and returning the bill to the Senate version. When the House considered whether to accept the conference report on Wednesday afternoon, Republican Rep. Tim Reisch called for the bill's rejection. 'It's very troubling that the bill's sponsor doesn't want to include a simple sentence of clarification that our laws against child abuse and neglect are not to be impacted by this,' Reisch said. A former Miner County sheriff and a former state secretary of corrections, Reisch had called for the addition of the sentence when SB 113 came through the House the first time. The vote on the amendment that day was 37-32. On Wednesday, Reisch cast the nay during the conference vote. The hour-long debate among House members that followed saw several opponents of the bill deliver emotional speeches about their experiences in law enforcement and the Department of Social Services, interspersed by comments from supporters such as Republican Rep. Travis Ismay, who was a foster parent for seven years. 'The system is broke. Parents need to have parental rights and have it in law like this,' Ismay said. In the end, the House followed Reisch's lead and voted 39-31 for a double-barreled motion to not accept the conference committee's report and to not appoint a new committee. And with that, SB 113 was dead. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Yahoo
04-03-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Lawmakers target government supervisors who stay silent on misconduct, but not with a felony
South Dakota Attorney General Marty Jackley talks about charges filed against 11 prison inmates on April 23, 2024, at the Law Enforcement Center in Sioux Falls. (John Hult/South Dakota Searchlight) The South Dakota House of Representatives handed one loss and one victory to Attorney General Marty Jackley in his quest for an ethics reform package on Monday at the state Capitol in Pierre. The House voted 38-31 to strip the possibility of felony penalties from a bill that would punish state employee supervisors who fail to report misbehavior. Gov. Larry Rhoden's team has argued against felony penalties originally embedded in Senate Bill 62, even while working with Jackley and State Auditor Rich Sattgast to craft the attorney general's legislative response to a host of investigations into state employee misconduct over the past year. The defendant at the center of one of those cases, Lonna Carroll, was in court Monday for a motions hearing. The former Department of Social Services employee faces felony theft charges for allegedly engaging in a yearslong pattern of writing and approving fake financial assistance requests. She'd pocketed the $1.8 million over the years to support an overactive retail shopping habit, court documents allege. Her lawyer tried unsuccessfully to convince a judge to dismiss the case Monday. Her trial is set to begin April 1. Some of the conduct a supervisor would be tasked with reporting to the attorney general under the bill, including engaging in low-dollar conflicts of interest, amount to misdemeanor crimes. Former state employee accused of stealing $1.8 million from Child Protection Services A supervisor should not have a felony charge levied for not turning in misdemeanor behavior, the Rhoden administration has said. On the House floor, Rep. Tim Reisch, R-Howard, moved to amend the bill so that a failure to turn in misbehaving employees would be a Class 1 misdemeanor. Crimes in that category are punishable by up to a year in jail and a $2,000 fine. 'A Class 1 misdemeanor is not a slap on the wrist,' Reisch said. Fort Pierre Republican Rep. Will Mortenson said he likely wouldn't support the bill without the amendment. He pointed out that as written, the bill threatened penalties for failure to turn in unethical behavior. 'We could be talking about something that's not even a crime, and a supervisor doesn't report it to the attorney general. Now that supervisor is a felon,' Mortenson said. 'I think this amendment really saves this bill.' Opponents to Reisch's idea characterized it as unfriendly to the attorney general's vision of deterrence through the threat of stiff penalties. Majority Leader Scott Odenbach, R-Spearfish, said there are already some crimes on the books that could net misdemeanors for supervisors who stay silent about the criminal behavior in their agency. 'I'm not a guy that wants to add a bunch of felonies, but I think in this case it's necessary,' Odenbach said. As amended, the bill passed 66-3. Because it passed the Senate in a different form, a conference committee with members from both chambers will be formed to reconcile the differences if the Senate doesn't approve the amended version. That committee's compromise would then need sign-off from the full House and Senate. 'We look forward to continuing the conversation and need for government accountability in the Senate/House conference committee,' Jackley said in a statement about SB 62. Senate Bill 61 is meant to strengthen the role of the state's Internal Control Board, so it can better monitor the activities of state agencies, accept and review annual performance measures and write rules on codes of professional conduct for state employees. Felonies for silent supervisors a sticking point as anti-corruption bills clear SD Senate The House State Affairs Committee changed SB 61 from the version approved by the Senate. The committee voted to put the state treasurer on the board, moving the state auditor from a group member to its chair, and nest the entire operation under the Auditor's Office. It's currently a part of the Bureau of Finance and Management. Rep. Les Heinemann, R-Flandreau, offered a successful amendment to the bill on the House floor to undo the committee changes. He told House members the committee's version of the bill put too much authority in the hands of an elected official, the auditor. He also opposed having the treasurer, who approves payments from the state coffers, on the board, and of putting the board under the auditor, a move he said would require the hiring of additional staff at the auditor's office. The Internal Control Board, he argued, should have balance between elected officials and career public servants. Under the amendment passed by the House, the head of the Bureau of Finance and Management would serve as chair. Jackley had wanted the changes in the Heinemann amendment and issued a statement praising its 60-9 passage with them added. Jackley's office had backed the Senate version. Two other Jackley anti-corruption bills have already passed the House and Senate. Senate Bill 60 would give the state auditor greater authority to access state agency financial records, and Senate Bill 63 would implement new protections for government whistleblowers. SUBSCRIBE: GET THE MORNING HEADLINES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX
Yahoo
25-02-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Only ‘political magic' can save $825 million prison plan, lawmaker says
The South Dakota House of Representatives meets on Feb. 6, 2025, at the Capitol in Pierre. (Seth Tupper/South Dakota Searchlight) Full-throated support from South Dakota Gov. Larry Rhoden may not be enough to change the minds of skeptical lawmakers on a controversial plan to build an $825 million, 1,500-bed men's prison south of Sioux Falls. Less than two weeks after Rhoden declared that 'failure is not an option' for the project, the state House of Representatives first knocked down an effort to launch its construction, then twice said no to an alternative plan that would've pumped $142 million more into a savings account they set up three years ago to pay for it. The second rejection came Monday, when an attempt to reconsider the legislation failed due to a lawmaker's mistake. Rep. Roger DeGroot, R-Brookings, said he voted against the reconsideration motion in error. The motion failed on a tie vote of 35-35. 'I'm for the prison,' DeGroot said later via text. House shoots down prison money, but new vote looms Had DeGroot voted his intentions, House floor talk could have resumed Monday on the legislation, House Bill 1025. Rep. Brian Mulder, R-Sioux Falls, voted against adding money to the prison fund on Friday, but voted for reopening debate on the idea Monday. Yet Mulder told Searchlight he hadn't changed his mind on the bill. Instead, he wrote in a text, he'd wanted Howard Republican Rep. Tim Reisch, a former Department of Corrections secretary and vocal backer of the new prison, to have an opportunity to cast a vote. Reisch missed Friday's vote for a funeral. 'If any representative would miss something that is in their area of expertise, I would offer that same opportunity to them that I was offering to Rep. Reisch,' Mulder wrote. 'But I was still a no on the bill as written, as I have several concerns about the plan that is being brought forward.' HB 1025 was originally written to provide the last $182 million needed to build the prison. It also would've let the DOC tap into the more than $600 million now held in an incarceration construction fund, built up over the past few years by previous votes to fill it and interest earned. Lawmakers can move money into the fund with a simple majority, but can't appropriate money to spend unless two-thirds of them agree to do so. On Friday, the House accepted an amendment from Sioux Falls Republican Jack Kolbeck that stripped the bill down to do one thing: Put $142 million into the prison fund, without approving construction, to keep saving money and keep the conversation going. The amended bill failed 34-35 Friday afternoon, while Reisch was missing. Monday's move to reconsider that vote with Reisch in attendance came after a weekend during which supporters sought to sway their fellow lawmakers on the merits of saving money for prisons – regardless of where they're located or how big they might be. Rep. Will Mortenson, R-Fort Pierre, told South Dakota Searchlight after the vote on Friday that he felt like his fellow lawmakers may have been voting against the $825 million prison plan, not necessarily the idea of saving money to deal with demonstrable overcrowding across the system. The hope, Mortenson said, was to work on changing minds. Showdown over $825 million prison looms for state House of Representatives Sioux Falls Republican Rep. Taylor Rehfeldt moved for reconsideration on the House floor Monday. 'The weekend should've given some people time to get some accurate information on what we are voting on,' Rehfeldt said. Reisch voted as expected, but DeGroot's erroneous no vote meant the reconsideration move still came up short. Rhoden's office sent a statement similar to the one offered after the Friday vote. 'We look forward to continuing the conversation and will address next steps at the appropriate time,' wrote Josie Harms, Rhoden's spokeswoman. There are legislative maneuvers that could revive HB 1025 again. Lawmakers could use an empty 'vehicle bill,' meaning a bill with a generic title and text frequently used for last-minute proposals, to bring it back. Assuming DeGroot's continued support and Mulder's commitment to his colleague's right to be heard, that would give the bill to bank more prison cash another shot. Even if that happens – and enough lawmakers change their minds to endorse the idea in both the House and Senate – the odds aren't great that the governor's preferred prison plan will earn the supermajority it needs, lawmakers said Monday. 'Unless they perform political magic to bring this back and get two-thirds support in both houses, this thing is dead,' said Sen. Kevin Jensen, R-Canton, who represents landowners near the farmland selected as a prison site, located about 15 miles south of Sioux Falls in Lincoln County. Jensen's comments came Monday morning, as a Senate panel advanced his bill to create an incarceration task force. The envisioned group's charge: to study overcrowding across South Dakota's aging prison properties, what the state should build to address it, and how a new prison or prisons might serve to reduce the state's rate of repeat offenses. The executive branch came out against Jensen's task force bill, Senate Bill 124, on Monday morning in the Senate State Affairs Committee. Brittni Skipper, finance director for the DOC, told the panel that the state had already done its homework. Skipper pointed to a commissioned facility report from Nebraska's DLR Group, which listed a 1,372-bed men's prison as a top recommendation. The 1881-built state penitentiary it would replace is overcrowded and inefficient, the consultants concluded. The Legislature already convened a task force in 2022, she said, and endorsed a new women's prison and the men's prison project. Construction of the women's prison is underway in Rapid City; preparatory legwork is done for the men's prison. 'The provisions outlined in Senate Bill 124 have already been thoroughly examined by the Legislature,' Skipper said. 'The design for the new facility is complete. All utilities are contracted, and site preparation has already begun. These efforts were all authorized by the Legislature.' She also reminded the committee that the $825 million price is only guaranteed until March 31. Jensen disputed the claim on the prior task force's certainty. The task force was 'mostly lawmakers,' Jensen said, not the more expansive stakeholder group his bill would create. SB 124 would have four lawmakers, two Governor's Office representatives, two current or former wardens and representatives from the state court system. 'The incarceration pipeline starts at the arrest, and then goes all the way through adjudication and incarceration,' Jensen said. 'There's so many more players that really need to be at the table.' He also rejected the idea that the 2022 task force endorsed an $825 million prison. The DLR report recommends 17 projects, including new facilities and upgrades to existing ones, he said. The same report also noted that, while not ideal, a smaller tract of land near Sioux Falls known as West Farm, which the DOC already owns and uses for juveniles, could serve as a site for a men's prison. Resistance to final budget request for new prison 'a real possibility' in Pierre The report put the price tag for a new men's prison at less than $400 million. The task force, Jensen said, endorsed the two prisons because lawmakers 'didn't want to spend' what it would take to do everything. Sen. Jim Mehlhaff, R-Pierre, pointed out that the lower price tag for the men's prison wasn't solid, but an 'engineer's estimate,' calling Skipper back up to confirm as much. Sen. Chris Karr, R-Sioux Falls, had a different question for her: What's the state's position on its options now that it's clear the project doesn't have two-thirds support? 'We would keep pushing for the prison as it's designed,' Skipper replied. Karr said he appreciated the honesty, but he has doubts about that approach. 'So we're just going to wait, then come back to this same group of people, have this same discussion, and expect a different outcome?' Karr said. He moved to pass the task force bill. It passed 5-4. Jensen didn't succeed on a companion bill, Senate Bill 204, which was also up for debate in the committee Monday morning. It sought to stop the DOC from using any more of the $62 million lawmakers gave the agency during previous sessions to spend on prep work for the prison. Ryan Brunner, a policy adviser with Rhoden's office, said there are bills to pay for contracts signed on the assumption the prison would be built as planned. The money used to sign them did earn a two-thirds vote. A blanket stop work order from the Legislature would keep the state from writing checks for its part in a substation and water main to serve the facility, Brunner said. The state invested in those projects with a utility provider and rural water system, which Brunner said had each planned the upgrades to serve both the area's residents and the new prison. Jensen said he was willing to amend the bill to make sure the state doesn't 'stiff anybody,' but argued that lawmakers need reassurance that the DOC isn't moving farther than it should on a project they didn't agree to. The funding shutoff bill failed 4-5. The decisive vote came from Sen. Liz Larson, D-Sioux Falls, who voted against it after voting for the task force bill. SUBSCRIBE: GET THE MORNING HEADLINES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX
Yahoo
24-02-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Legislature's investigation panel could get more power
PIERRE, S.D. (KELO) — The South Dakota Legislature's committee that looks into problems within state government would no longer need permission to issue subpoenas under a proposal that is moving forward at the state Capitol. The House State Affairs Committee on Monday recommended passage of House Bill 1204. The full House of Representatives will consider it Tuesday afternoon. A new task force on prisons clears a Senate committee Its prime sponsor, Republican Rep. Julie Auch, wants to reverse a 2018 law that requires the Legislature's Government Operations and Audit Committee to receive clearance beforehand from the Legislature's Executive Board. That's an unnecessary step, according to Auch. 'It needs to be taken care of, managed, and move on,' she told the House panel. The 2018 law was in response to then-Sen. Stace Nelson requesting that GOAC use its subpoena authority as part of investigating the GEAR Up scandal. The legislation to add the Executive Board's approval came from then-Rep. Jean Hunhoff and then-Sen. Deb Peters, who were GOAC's chair and vice-chair at the time. The state Department of Revenue last year resisted subpoenas that GOAC members issued for Revenue Secretary Mike Houdyshell and another official to testify. The subpoenas have since been reissued for a GOAC meeting that will be held after the 2025 legislative session ends March 31. Houdyshell didn't testify against the bill but responded to a question about why he wouldn't testify. He said there was an ongoing investigation that prevented him as a lawyer from disclosing details to the legislators. GOAC has been looking into various state-government scandals that surfaced last year, including in the state Department of Revenue's motor-vehicle division. Republican Rep. Jon Hansen called Monday for the House committee to endorse Auch's legislation. He is the House speaker and co-chair of the current Executive Board. Requiring the Executive Board's approval adds time, provides an opportunity for state officials to lobby Executive Board members, handcuffs GOAC and brings an additional level of politics to the process. 'That all takes time – too much time under the circumstances,' Hansen said. A former House speaker, Republican Rep. Spencer Gosch, said it is 'appalling' that a legislative committee would ever have to subpoena someone. 'I hate that we even have to do this,' he said. Republican Rep. Karla Lems, the House speaker pro tem, described Auch's bill as 'the final tool' needed. 'It's giving us that extra piece to do the job,' Lems said. The one 'no' vote came from Republican Rep. Tim Reisch, who served on GOAC the past two years. 'The executive branch was very forthright,' Reisch said, defending Revenue for not openly discussing the case because the people accused were presumed innocent until found guilty. Reisch argued that the Executive Board acts on behalf of the Legislature during the nine months that lawmakers aren't in session and said he doesn't want the Legislature to surrender that authority by allowing GOAC to issue subpoenas on its own. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
