Articles by Travis Kriens

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…]

Zachary Roth/States Newsroom Aiming to send a message, the Biden administration recently spotlighted its indictments and convictions in cases involving threats to election officials or workers. But with no letup in reports of attacks, some [Read More…]

Minnehaha County, S.D.- A 35-year-old Jasper, MN woman died from injuries sustained in a two-vehicle crash Thursday morning near Dell Rapids, SD. Preliminary crash information indicates Jamie R. Monroe, the driver of a 2009 Mazda CX-7 [Read More…]

South Dakota Searchlight South Dakota political leaders are condemning Nazi demonstrations that happened Saturday in Deadwood and on the Capitol grounds in Pierre. The state Department of Public Safety said in a news release that [Read More…]

Ashley Murray/States Newsroom WASHINGTON — Emboldened by the mainstreaming of hard-right politics ahead of a presidential election cycle, white nationalist and anti-LGBTQ+ groups increased to record levels in the United States last year, according to [Read More…]

A small group of neo-Nazis rallied in Pierre, South Dakota, on Saturday afternoon, catching residents and state officials off guard. Photos and videos sent to The Dakota Scout depict a group of men in matching [Read More…]

South Dakota Searchlight Challenges mounted by a faction of the state Republican Party largely fizzled Saturday in Pierre as delegates to the state convention picked a nominee for the Public Utilities Commission and several party officers. Kristie [Read More…]

Clay County, S.D.- A 22-year-old woman died Wednesday morning in a single-vehicle crash near Vermillion, SD. Preliminary crash information indicates Maizie L. Ihnen, the driver of a 2018 Chevrolet Impala was northbound on SD Highway 19 near mile marker [Read More…]

Early Saturday morning, Sioux Falls Police responded to a disturbance near S. Drexel Drive and W. 59th Street around 2:45 a.m. Upon arrival, officers discovered three adults deceased from gunshot wounds. Two additional victims, who [Read More…]

Stu Whitney/South Dakota News Watch Fewer than 2 out of 10 South Dakota voters went to the polls Tuesday in a primary election dominated by fallout from a legislative debate over landowner rights, which caused [Read More…]

South Dakota Searchlight A federal program to compensate Americans sickened by radiation from government activities during the Cold War — including at uranium mining and milling sites in South Dakota — expired Friday as advocates [Read More…]

Makenzie Huber/South Dakota Searchlight Organizers of the campaign to enshrine abortion rights in the South Dakota state constitution announced Friday that Democratic former lawmaker, former magistrate judge and Watertown lawyer Nancy Turbak Berry will lead [Read More…]

Joshua Haiar/South Dakota Searchlight The Republican Party divide that was evident in Tuesday’s primary election continued to play out Thursday and Friday as rival factions clashed during the state party convention, with more turmoil expected [Read More…]

Anna Claire Vollers/Stateline On many days, some small hospitals in rural Mississippi admit just one patient — or none at all. The hospitals are drowning in debt. The small, tight-knit communities they’ve anchored for decades [Read More…]

Minnehaha County, S.D.- A 35-year-old Jasper, MN woman died from injuries sustained in a two-vehicle crash Thursday morning near Dell Rapids, SD. The names of the people involved have not been released pending notification of [Read More…]