Latest News
Mitchell Girls Basketball Coach Dave Brooks Announces Retirement After 2025–2026 Season
Mitchell High School announces the retirement of Head Girls Basketball Coach Dave Brooks following the conclusion of the 2025–2026 basketball season. Coach Brooks concludes an outstanding tenure leading the Mitchell High School girls basketball program, [Read More…]
Three Defendants Convicted in 2022 Double Homicide
A Pennington County jury has convicted three Rapid City individuals have in connection with the Aug. 20, 2022 double homicide of 29 year old Joseph Standing Bear of Norris and 37 year old Petan Milk [Read More…]
Tension in the State Senate
By Alexander Rifaat South Dakota News Watch PIERRE, S.D. – The fate of a bill tied to one of the most contentious subjects in the South Dakota Legislature this year – data centers – ended [Read More…]
DWU announces new food service provider
Dakota Wesleyan University has signed an agreement for County Fair Food Stores of Mitchell to provide the university’s food service effective June 1. According to County Fair Food Stores president Justin Luther, “We are excited [Read More…]
State Senator Paul Miskimins supports HB 1056
The Senate Appropriations advanced bill designed to prohibit the purchase of soft drinks using SNAP benefits. Senator Paul Miskimins from Mitchell said it was highly contested. “The governor’s office, the South Dakota retailers, South Dakota [Read More…]
South Dakota near the bottom in rate of kids prepared for kindergarten
Bart Pfankuch/South Dakota News Watch Nearly half of South Dakota children under the age of 5 are not on the right track to start school and find early success in the classroom, a rate that [Read More…]
Ban on advertising and dispensing abortion pills advances in South Dakota Legislature
Joshua Haiar/South Dakota Searchlight South Dakota lawmakers advanced a bill on Friday at the Capitol in Pierre aimed at stopping abortion pills and other abortion-related items from being advertised and distributed in the state. The House State [Read More…]
Failed bill to repeal South Dakota’s death penalty came from Republican former head of prison system
Meghan O’Brien/South Dakota Searchlight PIERRE — The latest push to repeal the death penalty in South Dakota came from a Republican lawmaker who formerly led the state prison system and served as a county sheriff. [Read More…]
Mitchell Police Department Investigates $80,000 ‘Jackpotting’ Theft at BankWest ATMs in Mitchell
MITCHELL, S.D. — Authorities are investigating a sophisticated ATM theft that targeted two BankWest locations in Mitchell, resulting in an estimated $80,000 in cash being stolen. According to the Mitchell Police Department, officers were dispatched [Read More…]
2025 South Dakota crime statistics released by the Attorney General’s Office
Attorney General Marty Jackley says the overall number of reported criminal offenses statewide in 2025 decreased by 6.03 percent compared to 2024. The Crime in South Dakota 2025 Report includes 64,261 criminal offenses in 2025 [Read More…]
Lawmakers support ‘alternative setting’ plan for aggressive or violent students
Meghan O’Brien/South Dakota Searchlight PIERRE — Legislation to address aggressive and violent student behavior passed with full support from the South Dakota House Education Committee on Wednesday, and legislation providing money to build a non-residential treatment center [Read More…]
App-based age verification bill clears South Dakota House of Representatives panel
John Hult/South Dakota Searchlight PIERRE — A South Dakota House of Representatives panel endorsed a bill that would require mobile app stores to use age verification to control access by minors. House Bill 1275 passed the [Read More…]
County sales tax idea moves ahead as effort to prolong statewide sales tax reduction fails
Joshua Haiar and Seth Tupper/South Dakota Searchlight A proposal to let counties reduce homeowner property taxes by charging a sales tax advanced Wednesday at the South Dakota Capitol in Pierre, while an effort to maintain [Read More…]
Data center restrictions earn lawmaker endorsement as fight continues over tax incentives
Makenzie Huber/South Dakota Searchlight South Dakota legislative committees vetted nine data center bills on Wednesday at the Capitol, leaving three of the bills standing at the end of the day. The legislation that passed muster [Read More…]
Lieutenant governor can break tie in Senate, state Supreme Court says
John Hult/South Dakota Searchlight The lieutenant governor in South Dakota has the authority to break a tie vote in the state Senate, the South Dakota Supreme Court said Wednesday. The ruling comes one day after [Read More…]
Tie vote stalls permanent sales tax reduction effort as proposed sales tax increase advances
Makenzie Huber/South Dakota Searchlight Two contradictory bills met different fates on Tuesday at the Capitol in Pierre as South Dakota lawmakers continued to wrestle with the best way to provide tax relief. A bill that would keep [Read More…]
South Dakota plans shift to digital medical marijuana cards
John Hult/South Dakota Searchlight PIERRE — South Dakota medical marijuana cards will soon be primarily digital. The cannabis card news came Tuesday at the Capitol during a meeting of the House of Representatives’ Health and [Read More…]
Governor signs bill allowing more direct-to-consumer meat sales if federal government acts
South Dakota Searchlight South Dakota Gov. Larry Rhoden signed a bill into law Tuesday that will make it easier for South Dakotans to buy meat directly from cattle producers, if Congress changes a related federal [Read More…]
Grassroots effort in Redfield turning old bank into day care
Bart Pfankuch/South Dakota News Watch REDFIELD, S.D. – Gianna Schieffer doesn’t need data or stories from other parents to prove the point that this central South Dakota city has a worrisome shortage of day care [Read More…]
Economy Deal to move pork plant from downtown to northern Sioux Falls includes $50 million Sanford gift
South Dakota Searchlight Staff Smithfield Foods will move its pork processing facility from downtown Sioux Falls to a new plant that will be built on the northern edge of the city by the end of [Read More…]