S. Dakota GOP leader: Senator accused of harassment

By AMANCAI BIRABEN
Associated Press

PIERRE, S.D. (AP) — South Dakota’s Senate Republican leader says that a committee will investigate a suspended senator for allegedly harassing a legislative aide during an exchange over childhood vaccines and breastfeeding. Sen. Casey Crabtree, the Senate GOP leader, had declined to provide details of the allegations against fellow Republican Sen. Julie Frye-Mueller on Thursday. The Senate voted to suspend her legislative powers. Crabtree says in a statement that Senate Republicans this week had received a “detailed report” from a staff member of the Legislative Research Council accusing Frye-Mueller of “inappropriate behavior and harassment related to private maternal matters, including childhood vaccines and breastfeeding.”