Latest News

(Makenzie Huber, South Dakota Searchlight) – Vote centers and electronic poll books were touted as the future of voting in South Dakota more than a decade ago. The state was one of the first to [Read More…]

Students from South Dakota Mines, Spearfish High School, Lakota Tech, and Newcastle, Wyoming, are gearing up to travel to New Mexico to participate in a NASA project during an upcoming solar eclipse in one month. [Read More…]

AAA is set to launch a new roadside assistance feature that will be accessible via satellite for iPhone 14 and newer models, regardless of cell or WiFi service availability. This technology aims to provide help [Read More…]

An investigation is in progress in Turner County following a reported threat to the Parker School’s homecoming parade. The Turner County Sheriff’s Office has detained one individual in connection with the alleged threat and currently [Read More…]

Cassandra Jelsma, a former prison employee in Springfield, S.D., has been charged with engaging in sexual acts with an inmate serving time for drug and DUI charges in Minnehaha County. The alleged incidents occurred between [Read More…]

A 5th-grade teacher in Slayton, Minnesota, Nathan Wieneke, is facing six charges of sexual misconduct with a child under 14, along with two counts of witness tampering, following an investigation prompted by reports of inappropriate [Read More…]

A 44-year-old man from rural Sinai, South Dakota, lost his life in a tragic accident when a firearm accidentally discharged during a practice session. The incident occurred between 12 and 5 p.m. on Tuesday at [Read More…]

Kyle Lou Ricke, a 43-year-old man from Northern Iowa, was arrested in Minnesota, Wednesday night after allegedly shooting an Algona police officer. The incident occurred on the 1100 block of South Minnesota Street, leading to [Read More…]

A fatal crash occurred west of Kimball on I-90, involving a motorcycle pulling a trailer, just before 5:30 p.m. on a Saturday evening. The accident was caused by a flat tire, which caused the motorcycle [Read More…]

Joshua Catron, a 34-year-old convicted sex offender, has signed federal documents admitting to attempting to entice a person he believed to be a 15-year-old girl for sexual purposes over the internet. However, it was an [Read More…]

Lisa Merrigan, a registered nurse in Yankton, has been sentenced to two years of probation for tampering with a vial of fentanyl citrate while working at a Chamberlain hospital between June 19, 2021, and September [Read More…]

Enrollment numbers at South Dakota Board of Regent schools have generally increased in 2023, with total enrollment up 2% compared to the previous year. First-time freshmen enrollment also saw a system-wide increase of 2.6%, marking [Read More…]

Jackson Phillips has been sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole after pleading guilty to manslaughter in connection with the death of his girlfriend, Randi Gerlach, in Lincoln County. Originally facing murder, [Read More…]

South Dakota has implemented ‘truth in sentencing’ legislation, advocated by Pennington County State’s Attorney Lara Roetzel, which aims to ensure that offenders serve their full sentences without early release for good behavior or community service. [Read More…]

The South Dakota State Veterinarian has reported the first confirmed case of anthrax in the state for 2023. The outbreak occurred in an unvaccinated beef herd in Ziebach County, resulting in the deaths of several [Read More…]

(Stu Whitney, South Dakota News Watch) – South Dakota’s Hispanic population more than doubled over the past 12 years and now helps keep many small towns vibrant, a trend seen in other rural areas of [Read More…]

(Madison McVan, South Dakota Searchlight) – As food prices rose around the country, so did farmers’ take-home pay. Net farm profits rose by 30% from 2021 to 2022, according to recent data from the U.S. Department [Read More…]

South Dakota businessman Richard Kamolvathin is facing allegations of illegally securing hundreds of thousands of dollars in COVID relief funds. Court documents reveal that Kamolvathin submitted two applications for his business, Zolvent Pro, LLC, located [Read More…]

A report by Zutobi, an online driver education platform, reveals that South Dakota is among the states with a high prevalence of drunk driving incidents. South Dakota received a ‘DUI Severity Score’ of 81.2 out [Read More…]