District 25 Candidate Profile: Dan Ahlers

District 25 candidate for the State Senate, Dan Ahlers, sat down with Big Sioux Media to discuss what he felt were the three biggest issues facing the South Dakota Legislature in the future.   Infrastructure, Medicaid, and education topped the list in our discussion.  With bridges in need of repairs and some bridges across the state are closed completely, Ahlers says with a budget surplus of more than $48-million dollars, the state should be assisting local communities to help fix the problems citing Baltic as a local town that is suffering from the bridge closure leading into the western edge from the Interstate area.  With that bridge alone closed, people travel extensively to reach their destinations while travelers in need of gas are unable to get into town.  The challenges facing Medicaid is the aging population as reimbursements drop lower even though South Dakota may not be in as tough of shape as other states.  The 3rd issue discussed was education, and Ahlers has stated before that some, not all, of the state reserves should have been used to reinvest back into education.  The election is November 6th.