Articles by Travis Kriens

The South Dakota Department of Health is distributing $500,000 to nearly 200 cities, tribes, and counties to enhance mosquito control measures and prevent the spread of West Nile Virus. The funding amounts were determined based [Read More…]

Greta Goede/South Dakota News Watch High school journalism courses no longer count toward South Dakota’s general merit-based scholarship, though schools can seek a waiver, and teachers in the state haven’t been told why. “There was [Read More…]

Jared Strong/Iowa Capital Dispatch Federal health officials have commissioned Moderna to develop a vaccine to protect people from an avian influenza that has been circulating in dairy cattle in recent months. U.S. Department of Health [Read More…]

In the early hours of Wednesday, Sioux Falls Police and the Minnehaha County Sheriff’s Office responded to an incident at a Get-n-Go convenience store on the 600 block of S. Minnesota Ave. At approximately 3 [Read More…]

On June 26, 2024, the Lead Police Department began investigating the death of a 37-year-old male resident. Police and EMS responded to his residence and pronounced him dead at the scene. The next day, on [Read More…]

Rapid City Area Schools Superintendent Nicole Swigart has been placed on a 30-day leave, the district announced Monday. This decision follows Swigart’s comments in a letter to the Office of Civil Rights in May regarding [Read More…]

The South Dakota Department of Agriculture and Natural Resources (DANR) has confirmed the presence of the emerald ash borer (EAB) in Brookings. This invasive beetle, which feeds on North American ash species, has prompted the [Read More…]

Joshua Haiar/South Dakota Searchlight State regulators will take six months to study NorthWestern Energy’s proposed 9% natural gas rate increase, which the company says would cost a typical residential customer an additional $8.38 per month, or $100.56 [Read More…]

South Dakota Searchlight – A Native American man convicted of killing two FBI agents 49 years ago in South Dakota has lost what could be his final chance at parole, after widespread activism in support [Read More…]

Matt Vasilogambros/Stateline Nevada voters may decide in November whether they should join three dozen other states in requiring voters to present valid identification before casting a ballot. And Maine may not be far behind, as [Read More…]

Lia Chien/States Newsroom WASHINGTON – Senior Biden administration officials announced a proposed rule Tuesday to prevent heat-related illness in the workplace, as climate change brings hotter temperatures around the nation. In a call to reporters [Read More…]

John Hult/South Dakota Searchlight As of today, several varieties of intoxicating hemp products are illegal to sell or produce in the state of South Dakota. That doesn’t necessarily put them out of reach for South [Read More…]

John Hult/South Dakota Searchlight Alan Welsh wasn’t just a cop. He was a Very Important Cop. The kind of cop who gets a legislative commemoration for an outstanding career upon retirement. Now he grows marijuana for a [Read More…]

Mariia Novoselia/South Dakota News Watch HARRISBURG, S.D. – This bedroom community just south of Sioux Falls transformed over the past couple of decades into the fastest-growing South Dakota city of more than 5,000 people, according [Read More…]

A federal judge denied Hemp Quarters 605’s request to block South Dakota’s new law banning certain hemp-derived products, allowing the law to take effect on Monday. House Bill 1125, signed by Kristi Noem, prohibits the [Read More…]

Marcus Heerdt/South Dakota Searchlight HOT SPRINGS — Wind Cave in South Dakota’s Black Hills is now the sixth longest cave in the world as explorers have discovered new passageways, bringing the total length to 167 [Read More…]

On Monday morning, Sioux Falls police responded to a bank robbery that occurred at 9:15 a.m. on the 1400 block of E 10th Street. A suspect entered the bank, demanded money from a teller, and [Read More…]

Blair Miller/Daily Montanan HEBGEN LAKE, Montana — The birth of a sacred white buffalo calf earlier this month in Yellowstone National Park’s Lamar Valley fulfills a tribal prophecy, according to Native American spiritual leaders. The prophecy means people [Read More…]