Latest news with #Venhuizen
Miami Herald
31-07-2025
- Business
- Miami Herald
Home Depot rival reveals drastic plan to take on big competitors
Over the past year, Ace Hardware has been struggling to combat the widening gap between it and its larger competitors. In March, at Ace Hardware's Spring 2025 Convention, CEO John Venhuizen explained that the hardware store is focusing on rapid expansion. Related: Home Depot has a genius new moneymaker to compete with Lowe's He said that narrowing the gap between Ace and its larger peers is paramount to a successful business strategy. "We face the biggest, best-funded competitors in retail, yet year after year, we continue to grow because of the strength of our independent store owners," Venhuizen said. "At Ace, we combine global scale with local ownership, and that's what keeps us strong." For the year 2024, Ace saw an all-time record revenue of $9.5 billion and over $23 billion in retail sales. Venhuizen has been quick to mention the steady decline of some brick-and-mortar stores, like CVS and Walgreens. He said that the drugstores failed to anticipate or adapt to new customer needs, like betting less on photo services thanks to smartphones or betting more on online prescription delivery. So now, Ace is betting that focusing on what drives customers to its stores - either in-person or online, will be a winning formula. Image source:One of the ways Ace Hardware will attract business is by opening a brand new distribution center to help get inventory to customers faster. The new hub, which functions like a logistics and retail support center, is located in Kansas City, Missouri. At approximately 1.5 million square feet, the center spans one half-mile from end to end. More Retail: Walmart makes drastic change to fight theft amid worrying trendTarget has new plan to win back customers with big savingsHome Depot makes clear statement amid boycott threatsFamous retail chain makes two more alarming store closures That's over double the size of Ace's typical distribution centers. But Ace is betting that this hub will get deliveries to stores faster than ever before. It's located right next to Interstate 29 and Kansas City International Airport, which means getting goods on trucks and planes can happen quickly. Logistics are paramount to Ace's business. Thousands of stores across the U.S. are locally owned. Unlike Home Depot and Lowe's, which are public corporations, Ace is focused on smaller, local operations. It sells DIY materials, basic tools, and other convenience items for neighborhood projects. With 5,800 locations across the U.S., fulfilling orders quickly and managing its logistics effectively must run like a well-oiled machine to keep customers happy. "Today, convenience has been redefined to largely be about inventory availability and speed," Venhuizen explained to Hardware Connection. "75% of the United States is within 15 minutes of an Ace store. This means that we have nearly $4 billion of inventory within moments of most of America. So the combination of our physical assets - stores, inventory, trucks and 100,000 red-vested heroes - and our ever-improving litany of digital assets affords Ace a strategic advantage we do not intend to squander. " That means Ace isn't necessarily competing with Lowe's or Home Depot on a size scale. It doesn't offer the kind of contractor services its big-box competitors do. Rather, it intends to keep its trust and access strong among neighborhoods and DIYers. Relatedly, Ace announced in 2024 that it would invest $1 billion toward store improvements and opening new stores over the next five years. "We tried to create a unique shopping experience that can't easily be replicated online or in-store anywhere," Ace VP of merchandising Dale Fennel said. "We have a small number of our best, most-exclusive brands that really have been fueling most of our growth, and so we set out to elevate those brands." The Arena Media Brands, LLC THESTREET is a registered trademark of TheStreet, Inc.
Yahoo
12-06-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Legislative decision on prison construction will come later than planned
South Dakota Republican Gov. Larry Rhoden speaks during a press conference Feb. 6, 2025, at the Capitol in Pierre with Lt. Gov. Tony Venhuizen. (Seth Tupper/South Dakota Searchlight) South Dakota lawmakers will not convene to make the call on a new prison site on July 22, according to Gov. Larry Rhoden's office. Lt. Gov. Tony Venhuizen wrote a letter to Rhoden this week asking that the special session the governor had hoped to call on that date be pushed back. Lawmakers would be asked to back plans for a new prison at that session. Venhuizen leads the Project Prison Reset group, called into being in February via a Rhoden executive order and charged with deciding if the state needs new prison facilities, how large and where those facilities should be. Members voted during a Springfield meeting in late April to build a replacement for the South Dakota State Penitentiary, which is located in Sioux Falls. Pierre played host to the group's most recent meeting last week, where the group narrowed down locations to Mitchell or Worthing and existing prison campuses in Springfield and Sioux Falls, and voted to cap the cost of such a prison at $600 million. Elected officials in Mitchell including the mayor and sheriff have since come out against locating the prison near their community. Prison task force rejects original Lincoln County site, tightens budget for new facility This week, Venhuizen wrote that the group had made 'excellent progress,' but that the two weeks between the next Project Prison Reset meeting and the intended special session aren't enough. 'Even if the task force is able to adopt a specific proposal on July 8, we do not feel that two weeks provides adequate time for a final proposal to be completed with adequate detail, and for state legislators to learn about that proposal prior to the special session,' Venhuizen wrote. Rhoden, through spokeswoman Josie Harms, said the governor will 'accept the task force's request' and 'consult with leadership on a rescheduled date.' 'I'm eager to see what the task force can accomplish in their next meeting,' Rhoden wrote. The cost of the Rhoden administration's preferred solution to correctional overcrowding – a 1,500-bed, $825 million facility south of Harrisburg in Lincoln County – was among the primary concerns for the lawmakers who rejected the idea in February. A consultant hired on behalf of the task force to reevaluate the state's needs concluded that the state needs more beds than that, 1,700, immediately, to ease current crowding. A 1,700-bed prison wouldn't solve the state's problems long-term, however, according to the consultants. By the mid-2030s, the state would need yet another 1,500-bed prison. The task force ultimately rejected those conclusions, betting that $600 million would be enough to bulk up the system and replace the oldest parts of the Sioux Falls penitentiary complex. Lawmakers had put back more than $600 million for prison construction before the 2025 legislative session, and the fund had swelled larger than that with interest by winter. Ongoing construction bills at the site of a new women's prison in Rapid City – an $87 million project that earned legislative approval – have since come out of that fund, DOC spokesman Michael Winder told Searchlight on Thursday. The state's also paid some of the bills associated with site prep at the now-rejected Lincoln County site out of that fund. Lawmakers had approved the spending of up to $60 million in prison design and site prep for a men's prison in 2024, and the state spent or obligated $52 million of that money for the Lincoln County plan before it came to a halt. Subtracting the money spent since the last legislative session's end and adding the $23 million earned in interest this year that will be deposited in August, Winder said, the fund's available balance will sit at approximately $538 million by the end of summer.
Yahoo
12-06-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Venhuizen asks Rhoden to delay prison special session date
SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (KELO) – A decision on what will replace the South Dakota State Penitentiary may not happen in July during a special session as Gov. Larry Rhoden requested earlier this year. 'Jane Doe' shares her name, story of sexual trauma Lt. Governor Tony Venhuizen and the chair of Project Prison Reset task force sent a letter to Rhoden asking him to consider delaying the target date of July 22 for a legislative special session on the task force's recommendations. 'Even if the task force is able to adopt a specific proposal on July 8, we do not feel that two weeks provides adequate time for a final proposal to be completed with adequate detail, and for state legislators to learn about that proposal prior to the special session,' Venhuizen wrote. You can view the full letter attached below. 6-9-25-Project-Prison-Reset-Task-Force-Ltr-to-GovDownload At a June meeting, the task force asked for specific building recommendations for possible State Pen replacements. The task force wants options to build 1,500 to 1,700 beds at a maximum cost of $600 million located at existing Department of Corrections facilities or at proposed locations in Worthing or Mitchell. The state has previously spent more than $50 million in land purchase and design costs for a new men's prison in rural Lincoln County at a site that has now been officially rejected by the task force. The current State Penitentiary is more than 140 years old and predates South Dakota statehood. The task force has unanimously supported a motion finding the State Penitentiary should be replaced. 'The task force understands the urgency in making a final decision, so we do not make thisrequest lightly, and we would hope that a special session would be held as soon as isreasonably possible,' Venhuizen wrote. This is a developing story. Stay with KELOLAND News for more reaction and updates online and on-air. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Yahoo
17-05-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Report: Tough-on-crime policies could push prison construction costs as high as $2.1 billion
The Project Prison Reset group meets on April 3, 2025, at the Military Heritage Alliance in Sioux Falls. (John Hult/South Dakota Searchlight) South Dakota will need a third more prison space than it has now by 2036, and lawmakers' choice to pass a so-called truth in sentencing bill in 2023 is a major reason why. That's among the takeaways from a new report on the state's prison infrastructure that says the state would need to spend between $1.9 billion and $2.1 billion on new prisons to deal with an inmate population that's projected to swell in spite of the state's decreasing crime rate. The state needs a 1,700-bed men's prison immediately, the report from Arrington Watkins says. Even then, it says, another 1,500 beds for men will be necessary in a little more than 10 years, when it projects a prison population of more than 5,000 people. South Dakota corrections work group formally backs need for new prison The state signed a $729,000 contract with the Phoenix-based firm as part of 'Project Prison Reset,' a work group formed by gubernatorial fiat in the face of state lawmakers' refusal to back an $850 million, 1,500-bed men's prison in Lincoln County in February. Lt. Gov. Tony Venhuizen, chairman of the work group, said the report supports the group's first official vote last month, which was to conclude that the state does need at least one new prison. Venhuizen was quick to point out that the $2 billion price tag would only apply if the state followed the consultant's guidance to the letter and built two large prisons, but said the population projections lay bare the stakes of South Dakota's current approach to criminal justice. The work group's job is not to address the drivers of prison population growth, he said. But he also said he's glad the report took note of those driving forces. The truth in sentencing bill, SB 146, requires people convicted of violent offenses to serve between 85% and 100% of their sentences, depending on the category of their crime. As a legislator in 2023, Venhuizen voted against SB 146, and its potential to impact prison populations 'was part of the reason why.' 'Those decisions are not free. You have to strike a balance there,' Venhuizen said. 'If you're sending people to prison for longer, there is a cost to that.' The bill's author and prime sponsor, Republican former Sen. Brent Hoffman, has a different take on the legislation's impact on South Dakota's correctional needs. 'The real issue isn't SB 146, which protects the public by requiring violent criminals to serve their sentences,' said Hoffman, a supporter of term limits who served one term and opted against running for a second in 2024. 'The underlying, systemic problems are recidivism rates, wasteful spending, misguided priorities and incompetence, and those problems won't be solved by any consultant's report or politician's rhetoric.' Every correctional facility in South Dakota is beyond its capacity now. The South Dakota State Penitentiary was built in 1881 to house one inmate per cell, but holds twice as many. The proposed 1,500-bed facility in Lincoln County, mired in controversy over cost and necessity and still tied up in litigation over its location, was meant to replace the penitentiary. There are two other housing units on the penitentiary campus in Sioux Falls, however, and each of those faces its own issues with overcrowding. The maximum-security Jameson Annex, for example, is overbooked because it houses not only maximum security inmates, but those in disciplinary segregation and those with serious mental health needs. It's also the sorting zone for every new male inmate in the state system, where inmates stay as they're assessed for longer-term placement. With $50 million spent already, state hires new consultant to restart prison planning The Sioux Falls Minimum Center, meanwhile, holds 245 men in a building designed for 96. Even with a large but temporary drop during the COVID-19 pandemic, new admissions to Department of Corrections custody grew an average of 3.2% a year between 2015 and 2024, the report says. That's in spite of a crime rate in South Dakota that's lower than the national average and on the decline. The state's total population has gone the other direction, increasing by 0.9% a year since 2010. Much of the long-term factors built into the new report were present for its predecessor, a report from Omaha's DLR group that pointed to a 1,500-bed men's facility as one of several necessary projects for the DOC. Senate Bill 146 is a wrinkle that didn't exist for the DLR group, some portions of which were used by Arrington Watkins in its expedited, two-month repeat assessment. SB 146 ropes in fewer than 10% of the state's inmates, the report notes – drug offenses are the most common charge for which South Dakotans are imprisoned – but the inability of those convicted of violent offenses to be released before serving at least 85% of their sentence will have a long-term impact on prison population growth. 'Roughly half' of the 1,246 more inmates the report anticipates South Dakota will have by 2036 is attributable to SB 146. Parole violations are another driver of population growth, the report notes. About 45% of new admissions to the DOC came by way of parole violations in 2024, the report says, and 84% of those violations 'were technical in nature rather than new criminal charges.' Minnehaha County State's Attorney Daniel Haggar cautioned that technical parole violations often involve serious misbehavior, however. Technical violations include drug use, he said, as well as absconding – losing touch with a parole officer altogether. 'When those offenders are violent offenders or sex offenders this is a threat to public safety,' he said in an email to South Dakota Searchlight on Friday. The state has already spent more than $50 million on the Lincoln County site, although a share of that money could be clawed back by selling land or reusing aspects of the now-stalled prison's design. Governor relents, appoints task force to reset prison talks after legislative loss The new report's top recommendation is a 1,700-bed, Level V facility, built within 30 miles of the existing penitentiary to relieve crowding across the entirety of the men's prison system. It also recommends demolishing the 1881 penitentiary. 'Level V' is correctional nomenclature for maximum security. Former penitentiary warden Doug Weber wrote seven letters to lawmakers during the 2025 session urging them to say no to the 1,500-bed facility in Lincoln County, essentially a smaller version of what the new report says is necessary. The focus on the factors driving the state's prison population growth raises important questions, Weber told South Dakota Searchlight on Friday, but he disagrees strongly with its conclusions on how to remedy the situation. 'There's nobody in South Dakota, in my opinion, except a handful of people, maybe in Pierre, that would be comfortable spending $2.1 billion on buildings for the Department of Corrections,' said Weber. 'There are much better ways to spend money.' Weber called a Level V facility unnecessary and too expensive in a state where the number of maximum security inmates hovers around 200. He also bristles at the idea of knocking down the pen. Millions have been spent to maintain it in recent years, including for air conditioning less than five years ago, and Weber said it could easily serve as a minimum security facility by removing the cell doors and putting a single person in each cell. Republican Speaker of the House Jon Hansen, a work group member and candidate for governor in 2026, said 'there's absolutely no way that I will support spending that much money on prisons.' 'If we needed to be building new facilities, we should be looking at the current location in Sioux Falls for a lot less money,' Hansen said. Prison work group peppered with public testimony in first Sioux Falls meeting Madeline Voegeli, one of the neighbors to the Lincoln County site who sued the state over the issue, said in an email to Searchlight that the group has serious doubts about the veracity of the report's population projections. The DLR report, completed in 2022, suggested a 1,300-bed men's prison at a cost of around $608 million. Now, she wrote, 'we're being told to swallow a nearly quadrupled cost of up to $2.1 billion, largely driven by SB 146 and questionable population projections.' Voegeli accused the state of engaging in a 'pattern of inflating proposals to make a billion-dollar plan' – the original Lincoln County proposal – 'appear reasonable.' Venhuizen said arguments suggesting that the Lincoln County plan's supporters tried to tip the scale in the consultant's report are misplaced. 'It's not a strong position to assume that everyone who disagrees with you is being dishonest,' Venhuizen said. 'If you're doing that, you should probably examine the strength of your own arguments.' Rep. Karla Lems, a Canton Republican who's both a work group member and an avowed opponent of the Lincoln County proposal, said Friday that she's skeptical of the conclusions, as well. The work group is meant to deliver its recommendations to a special legislative session in July. The state, she said, needs to spend more time thinking about reducing repeat offenses before it decides what to build. Rep. Brian Mulder, R-Sioux Falls, is also a work group member. He said the state needs to think 'innovatively' on how to reduce prison populations, and that the report is a clear sign of how necessary that is. Mulder was one of the prime sponsors of a bill to change the penalty for first- and second-offense drug ingestion from a felony to a misdemeanor during the 2025 session. Too few prisoners are getting drug treatment, Mulder said, and he feels the state ought to consider partnering with nonprofits to extend treatment's reach both inside the prison and outside, for parolees. He also has questions about parole supervision practices. 'I would ask 'what's going on now with things like remote monitoring,'' Mulder said. 'It's a lot more effective for the state for someone so they can continue to be held accountable, but be held at home.' Mulder supported truth in sentencing and continues to, though. He said parole reforms make more sense. Reforms to truth in sentencing laws ought to be up for consideration, though, according to Zoë Towns, executive director of a bipartisan think tank called Her group pushes for changes to criminal justice and immigration policy. The knock-on effects of incarceration for families and communities are heavy, Towns said, and the returns for public safety diminish significantly when inmates don't have a chance to earn credit for good behavior – even when the people earning them committed violent offenses. 'What we should be asking is 'how long is incapacitation actually helpful?'' Towns said. 'What are the policies that are most likely to help people, when they come home, to contribute to their communities and local economies?' Addressing behavioral health needs and addiction early on are more effective ways to deal with crime than incarceration, she said, but other strategies are even further removed from criminal justice. Towns pointed to research from places like the Brookings Institute that suggest investments in youth education and public health offer long-term returns for public safety. 'It's literally after school and public school programs,' Towns said. 'That has a stronger homicide reduction rate than policing does. I'm not saying there's not a role for policing. I'm saying that actually, factually, in evidence, has a stronger return than sleeping in prison.' The next Project Prison Reset meeting is June 3 in Pierre. SUBSCRIBE: GET THE MORNING HEADLINES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX
Yahoo
11-04-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
A historic all-legislators' reunion set for Saturday
PIERRE, S.D. (KELO) — Hundreds of past and present lawmakers from across South Dakota are expected at the state Capitol on Saturday to take part in a once in a lifetime event. They're coming together to celebrate the 100th regular session of the South Dakota Legislature. A special committee spent time during the past year on organizing the gathering. There promises to be plenty of reminiscing throughout the big day. A 2 p.m. CT ceremony in the Capitol's spacious rotunda will be followed by music from the South Dakota National Guard Band and food later that afternoon at the Ramkota Convention Centre. LIST: $9.1M in federal spending cuts in SD Gov. Larry Rhoden, who served Meade County for 16 years as a state lawmaker, will be one of the Capitol program's speakers. The emcee is former Lt. Gov. Matt Michels of Yankton, who holds a rare distinction of serving as a two-term speaker of the House. Others on the program are former Sen. Bernie Hunhoff of Yankton, who will read a commemorative poem titled 'The One Hundred and Five' which he wrote for the occasion, and Spearfish artist Dick Termes, who was commissioned to portray the Legislature's history so far with a Termesphere that will be unveiled and hang in the Capitol. Former lawmaker Larry Tidemann of Brookings will speak about the history of the Legislative Research Council, the non-partisan professionals who work year-round providing support to lawmakers, and Lt. Gov. Tony Venhuizen of Sioux Falls, who served on the planning committee while still a legislator, will recap that group's work. The Capitol's first floor has temporary displays from the South Dakota State Historical Society collection, highlighting items used during the 100 sessions and featuring biographies of some of the lawmakers who accomplished 'firsts' during their service in the Legislature. Venhuizen told KELOLAND News that about 400 men and women have purchased tickets for the big day. 'This is the culmination of a lot of great work by our committee. I think legislators enjoyed celebrating history during the 100th session and it will be fun to commemorate this milestone with many current and former legislators,' Venhuizen said. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
