The Scouting Report: A weekly digest

Capital warship, Lion gone cruising, benefits of e-cigarettes, earning accolades

A new painting depicting the future U.S.S. Pierre on Capitol Lake has been unveiled in South Dakota’s capital city. The U.S.S. Pierre, currently under construction in Mobile, Alabama, is a U.S. Navy Independence-variant Littoral Combat Ship. Its keel laying was in June, sponsored by Larissa Thune Hargens. Mayor Steve Harding and Sens. John Thune and Mike Rounds also attended the keel laying ceremony.

The painting depicts the ship with the South Dakota Capitol in the background. But the actual ship will be stationed far from its namesake city, joining the Navy’s Pacific Fleet in San Diego when it gets delivered later this year.

The ship will be 419 feet long and capable of speeds at 46 mph. Littoral Combat Ships are designed to be speedy, and – with steerable water jets – highly maneuverable. They can engage in mining countermeasures, anti-submarine warfare and surface missions, operating close to shore or in open sea. The Independence variant has a shallow draft allowing it to operate in shallow waters and opening areas in the Pacific where the Navy has not operated for years, according to Austal USA, the ship’s manufacturer.

It is the second ship to be named after South Dakota’s capital. A World War II-era submarine chaser that served in the Navy from 1943 to 1958 was the first U.S.S. Pierre. The ship will join the fleet with the U.S.S. South Dakota, a nuclear-powered attack submarine that entered service in 2017. 

The Sioux Falls Water Reclamation team earned the acknowledgement of its peers this month by being named the Water/Wastewater System of the Year by the South Dakota Association of Rural Water Systems. The group held its Annual Technical Conference in Pierre.

Running a wastewater plant, while essential for basic civil society as we know it, is a 365-day a year job. Although not a lot of people give it much thought. 

The city congratulated the group on its Facebook page.

“Many of us can flush the toilet or drain the sink and not think twice about it – and that’s because of this team (and the many more individuals not pictured). Our Water Reclamation crew works around the clock to deliver critical wastewater services to the community. Please join us in congratulating and thanking our team members at the Water Reclamation Plant! #OneSiouxFalls.”

Police in Thailand are charging a woman with possessing a controlled wild animal after video surfaced of a lion cub cruising the streets of Pattaya in the back of a Bentley convertible.

While it is not illegal to own a lion in Thailand, Sawangjit Kosoongnern did not have the requisite permission to have the beast, according to the BBC. The woman allegedly purchased the animal from a dealer in the Nakhon Pathom province. But authorities had not inspected the dealer, making the transfer and ownership illegal.

Police are also looking for a Sri Lankan man who is a friend of Ms. Sawangjit and who was driving the Bentley. He has reportedly left the country but would face the charge of bringing a controlled wild animal into a public place.

Ms. Sawangjit faces a year in prison and a fine of up to $2,800. The BBC reports that 224 lions are legally registered in Thailand.

Photo by Clear Cannabis on Unsplash

In health news, a researcher at the University of Massachusetts Amherst has co-led a review of studies published on the Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews and concluded that e-cigarettes are more effective than nicotine replacement devices at helping people to quit smoking. 

Health officials in the United States have taken a dim view of e-cigarettes, which allow people to vape nicotine rather than smoke it. While not risk free, vaping is “substantially less harmful than smoking,” concludes Jamie Hartmann-Boyce, an assistant professor of health policy and promotion at the university.