Lawmaker was missing during one of Legislature’s busiest days and during two crucial votes on data center bills

PIERRE – Republican state Sen. John Carley of Piedmont said his unexplained absence from the entire Senate floor session during one of the busiest days of South Dakota’s annual legislative session – which led his colleagues to launch a search for him – was because of a medical appointment.

“I had an eye doctor visit,” Carley told South Dakota Searchlight in a text message Feb. 25, after his Feb. 24…