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Coyote men throttle Peru State PAGE B1
WILLSON FLORIST PREPARES FOR VALENTINE’S DAY
The Coyote men’s basketball team rolls past Peru State in the SCSC on Tuesday in a blow out win. Continue to page B1 for game coverage and photos.
VERVE (B3 & B4)
Latte Art Throwdown brews money for mural project PAGE B3
Miles Amende | The Volante
Emily Sudbeck, co-owner of Willson Florist estimates a 600% increase in orders during Valentine’s week compared to a regular week. Miles Amende
Miles.Amende@coyotes.usd.edu
When Valentine’s Day comes around, Vermillion residents may think of ordering flowers from Willson Florist for a loved one. But what they may not realize is the amount of time and effort this local flower shop puts into preparing for the holiday. Willson Florist, co-owned by Emily Sudbeck and her husband Aaron, begin planning for Valentine’s Day in November. After they get organized and prepare for recurring orders, they estimate how many orders they will get. These estimations are based on previous numbers and the specific day of the week the holiday falls. Sudbeck said this year is different in terms of preparation because Valentine’s Day is on a Friday, instead of during the week. “Typically, the number of call-in orders decreases, but the walk-in orders increase,” Sudbeck said. “Until it’s over, though, we never
know how many orders we’ve gotten.” Willson Florist typically prepares flower arrangements, candy bouquets, custom vases, food baskets and more, but assortment trends differ each year Sudbeck said. She said because of trend changes, she adapts her supply orders based on customer requests. “Right now, the pretty-but-simple look with lots of greens is really popular. Five years ago, orders for a dozen roses were popular, but we’re not seeing as many of those anymore,” Sudbeck said. “It really does change year to year. It’s a guessing game when we order.” Valentine’s Day is Willson Florist’s busiest holiday—Sudbeck estimates a 600% increase in orders compared to regular weeks. The business, however, has limited time to complete all its orders during the holiday. “For Christmas, we have a month. This is a two-week mad dash. It’s the most we have to do in the shortest time,” Sudbeck said. “Normally, we might have fifty orders in a week. For
Valentine’s Day, we have hundreds.” To assist in the workload, Willson Florist enlists the help of past workers. These former employees return to work exclusively on Valentine’s Day orders. Sudbeck calls them her “flower shop family.” The work gets especially hectic the week of the holiday, Sudbeck said. “If you come in on Valentine’s Day, you will see all of those tables filled with people, filled with orders, filled with vases; the entire space is consumed by people running around,” Sudbeck said. “We have three sets of computers and four sets of phones, and they’re all being used the majority of the time.” Despite the amount of work Willson Florist puts into Valentine’s Day orders, Sudbeck said she finds the experience heartwarming. “Everyone has somebody to love, and everybody is happy on Valentine’s Day when we bring them flowers,” Sudbeck said. “It’s a happy day in general.”
The Bean hosted a latte art competition on Jan. 31 to raise money for the Vermillion Mural Project. Learn more about the competition and hear from the competitors on B3.
South Dakota Legislature discusses bill regarding gay marriage Miles Amende & Nik Wilson Miles.Amende@coyotes.usd.edu Nikolas.Wilson@coyotes.usd.edu
The South Dakota Legislature is discussing a bill prohibiting the state from endorsing any form of marriage that doesn’t involve a man and a woman. House Bill 1215 was introduced to South Dakota’s House of Representatives on Jan. 30 by the bill sponsor, Rep. Representative Tony Randolph, from Rapid City. The bill would prohibit South Dakota from endorsing various policies related to marriage, gender and sexual orientation. In addition to forbidding the state from recognizing any marriage not of a man and woman, the bill also bans the state from appropriating benefits to anyone who enters such a marriage. See BILL, Page A3
Photo illustration by Peyton Beyers | The Volante
Nicotine knockout: New South Dakota legislation looks to limit minor consumption of nicotine products Jacob Forster
Jacob.Forster@coyotes.usd.edu
USD students might see a change in their vape pens and other nicotine products. Legislation proposed in the South Dakota Legislature aims to crack down on youth nicotine consumption by eliminating flavored Juul pods, which proponents of the legislation said target underage consumers. Two bills regarding nicotine, House Bill 1063 and House Bill 1064, are before the state legislature. HB 1063 would bring South Dakota state law in line with federal legislation passed last December, raising the minimum age to purchase nicotine or tobacco products to 21. HB 1064, meanwhile, would make the sale and possession of flavored vapor products illegal. Thomas Horton, professor of law at USD, said he sees some issues with the bills. “It seems like it’s going to be a very inefficient and ineffective use of law enforcement activities,” Horton said. In 1988, the South Dakota Legislature raised
the drinking age to 21 in response to federal pressure. This legislation exempted current 18-year-olds, something HB 1063 doesn’t include. Horton said he thinks there is pressure on the legislature to do something about tobacco. “I think they want to do something aggressive and hard-hitting,” Horton said. Brian McDonald, the Vermillion store manager for Flamez, a Minnesota-based tobacco and vapor shop, said he also sees problems with the bill. Flavored vape pens are alleged to be appealing to minors, but alcoholic products frequently have fruit flavoring as well, he said. . “The intent behind it, I think, is to keep (nicotine) out of the hands of underage people, but the argument, at least that I’ve heard is that it’s only appealing to underage people and I just don’t think that’s true,” McDonald said. According to HB 1064 classifies flavored vapor products as contraband, authorizing law enforcement to confiscate them to be “forfeited to the state and destroyed.”
McDonald said an alternative solution would be education. “That’s the ticket,” McDonald said. “Not taking something away and saying, ‘You can’t have it,’ then you’re just going to get people manufacturing eLiquid on the street and dying from that just like they were dying from THC cartridges.” Horton said he agrees educating young people is the way to deal with the tobacco issues across the state. Horton compared the situation to the Prohibition era, in which alcohol being made illegal shifted revenue to organized crime. “Where you have an economic desire, and you have an economic demand, we know over and over again there’s gonna be people that come together to meet that demand,” Horton said. HB 1063 was passed by the State House Jan. 30. It has not been introduced in the State Senate. HB 1064 has not been voted on by the State House or Senate.
New wave of coronavirus, 11 positive cases in U.S. Lexi Kerzman
Lexi.Kerzman@coyotes.usd.edu
Over 20,000 people worldwide have been positively diagnosed with the 2019 novel coronavirus, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Only 11 cases have positive results in the United States, but the number continues to grow. With the first case of novel coronavirus occurring in Wuhan, China in December 2019, there is still not a total understanding of this version of the coronavirus. Victor Huber, an associate professor of basic biomedical sciences, specializes in the influenza viruses. He said he’s not an expert in the coronavirus, but not many people are yet. “It’s something that is brand new, so nobody’s an expert on this,” Huber said. “I’ve done a lot of looking at things and trying to identify what the current status See VIRUS, Page A3