Articles by Travis Kriens

Kevin Woster – Words matter. And for Gov. Kristi Noem and her relationship with Native American tribes, two words could matter most of all: “I’m sorry.” I’ve been thinking about the importance of apologies and [Read More…]

John Hult/South Dakota Searchlight The state’s police commission has ordered a Bennett County sheriff’s deputy to take part in remedial training because of his mishandling of domestic violence cases. The Law Enforcement Officers Standards and [Read More…]

Christopher Ingraham/Minnesota Reformer A report out this week finds that biofuel refineries, which are overwhelmingly concentrated in the Midwest’s corn-producing states, emit significant amounts of compounds that foul the air and threaten public health. The study was [Read More…]

Joshua Haiar/South Dakota Searchlight Six thousand five hundred new housing units worth $1.4 billion were built in South Dakota last year, a state economic development official said Wednesday, helping alleviate rising home costs. “Our building [Read More…]

A 15-year-old girl has been charged with first-degree murder in the fatal shooting of 41-year-old Nichole Klich in Huron, South Dakota. This marks the second juvenile charged in the case; a 15-year-old boy was previously [Read More…]

Jennifer Shutt/States Newsroom WASHINGTON — When Lauren Miller flew from her home state of Texas to Colorado two years ago she felt a moment of relief when the plane took off — not because she [Read More…]

Watertown Police have arrested a juvenile in connection with a vandalism incident at the waterfront in City Park. According to a Facebook post by the police, the individual caused approximately $3,000 in damage by shaking [Read More…]

John Hult/South Dakota Searchlight For months, Gov. Kristi Noem has stoked controversy by calling on tribal leaders to “banish the cartels.” But Noem has never mentioned 18-pound methamphetamine shipments from Arizona to Trent, population 218, by [Read More…]

John Hult/South Dakota Searchlight A Native American man said Gov. Kristi Noem hindered his ability to receive a fair trial when she displayed a photo of him recently as alleged proof of cartel activity on [Read More…]

Makenzie Huber/South Dakota Searchlight The state Department of Corrections will award over $800,000 in funds to 17 juvenile service programs across the state this year. The money will be used to support expanded diversion programs [Read More…]

MITCHELL, S.D. (AP) — One of the several former players on an American Legion baseball team in South Dakota charged last year with rape has pleaded guilty to a lesser felony. Lincoln Bates, the 19-year-old [Read More…]

John Hult/South Dakota Searchlight Years ago, domestic methamphetamine users would make their own drugs, sometimes shaking up cold medicine and camp fuel cocktails in plastic pop bottles. The days of domestic drug production by way [Read More…]

Joshua Haiar/South Dakota Searchlight South Dakota will collect $3.6 million from Johnson & Johnson to settle allegations that the company marketed unsafe talc-based baby powder products to consumers. The settlement is part of a $700 [Read More…]

Joshua Haiar/South Dakota Searchlight Abortion-rights activists are capitalizing on the backlash against South Dakota Governor Kristi Noem’s dog-killing revelation in her new book. In “No Going Back,” Noem disclosed that she shot and killed her 14-month-old dog [Read More…]

A 30-year-old Sioux Falls man, Justin Cody Rackley, is in the Minnehaha County Jail facing three counts of first-degree murder in connection with an early morning shooting on Saturday in southwest Sioux Falls. The incident, [Read More…]

Stu Whiney, South Dakota News Watch Two-thirds of South Dakotans support an initiated measure that would prohibit the state from collecting sales tax on “anything sold for human consumption, except alcoholic beverages and prepared food,” [Read More…]

Jacob Fischler/States Newsroom Nearly three weeks after the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration proposed loosening a federal prohibition on marijuana, the next phases of policy fights over the drug’s status are starting to take shape. Public [Read More…]