Articles by Travis Kriens

As South Dakota communities face flooding and begin rebuilding, Governor Kristi Noem announced she is not activating the National Guard. Emergency management teams, the American Red Cross, and local fire rescues are responding. Noem stated [Read More…]

Stu Whitney/South Dakota News Watch South Dakota’s most populous county, Minnehaha, was in the spotlight this week after its top election official ordered the county’s post-election audit to consist of all 2024 primary ballots being [Read More…]

John Hult/South Dakota Searchlight Authorities have released the name of the person killed in the only known fatality from the flooding that’s ravaged southeastern South Dakota over the past week. Merlyn D. Rennich, 87, was killed Saturday [Read More…]

On Tuesday morning, Rapid City Police responded to a call on the 5000 block of Dane Lane, where they discovered a Native American woman deceased. Assistant Police Chief Scott Sitts described the death as suspicious. [Read More…]

Lia Chien/States Newsroom WASHINGTON – Despite policies the Biden administration has championed to target climate change, recent findings show carbon dioxide in the atmosphere is at an all-time high, raising the stakes for November’s presidential [Read More…]

Seth Tupper/South Dakota Searchlight State and local authorities knew they were placing McCook Lake in the path of record high floodwaters but failed to adequately warn residents of the danger, according to some people who [Read More…]

Makenzie Huber/South Dakota Searchlight South Dakota voters might decide on Nov. 5 whether to reject a new state law regulating carbon dioxide pipelines. The ballot measure committee known as the South Dakota Property Rights and [Read More…]

Jennifer Shutt/States Newsroom WASHINGTON — Exactly two years after the U.S. Supreme Court overturned the constitutional right to an abortion, the battles rage among both advocates and lawmakers over the future of reproductive rights at [Read More…]

Jennifer Shutt/States Newsroom WASHINGTON — The U.S. Department of Agriculture announced Tuesday that four states will launch voluntary pilot programs in the days ahead to test bulk milk tanks on dairy farms for bird flu [Read More…]

Clark Kauffman/Iowa Capital Dispatch The Iowa Utilities Board gave its approval Tuesday for the controversial Summit Carbon Solutions pipeline and for the company to use eminent domain to acquire landowners’ property. The company hopes to [Read More…]

Police responded to a robbery in southwest Sioux Falls on Saturday night. The incident occurred near 45th Street and Cathy Avenue, where a woman was threatened with a gun while she was in her car. [Read More…]

Greta Goede/South Dakota News Watch WAKONDA, S.D. – South Dakota recently became the No. 1 producer of hemp fibers in the nation after being the third-to-last state to make it legal just three years ago. [Read More…]

Makenzie Huber, Seth Tupper/South Dakota Searchlight Homes were destroyed, roads were washed out, sinkholes opened up, a railroad bridge was swept away, and rescuers worked through Sunday night into Monday morning to save people from [Read More…]

Bail has been denied for Michael Flores, a 32-year-old Rapid City man charged with first-degree murder for killing a man near the Cornerstone Rescue Mission on Thursday morning. Flores made his initial court appearance Friday [Read More…]

South Dakota Governor Kristi Noem stated on NBC’s “Meet the Press” that Donald Trump should choose a running mate who will aid in his victory, and she confirmed she has not been formally vetted for [Read More…]

Seht Tupper/South Dakota Searchlight Federal, state and local officials are focusing their efforts on a voluntary evacuation of Dakota Dunes and a levee construction project across Interstate 29 near McCook Lake as they continue responding [Read More…]

John Hult and Makenzie Huber/South Dakota Searchlight Officials from five of South Dakota’s nine Native American tribes said they will not attend Gov. Kristi Noem’s Tribal Public Safety Crisis Summit on Monday in Pierre, but [Read More…]

Bart Pfankuch / South Dakota News Watch HURON, S.D. – The patchwork nature of the rural and reservation health care system in South Dakota sometimes requires compassion, innovation and a healthy dose of teamwork to [Read More…]