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This story, the first in an occasional series about water challenges facing the American heartland, is a partnership between Stateline and the Kansas Reflector. MOSCOW, Kan. — Brownie Wilson pulls off a remote dirt road right through a steep [Read More…]

Rapid City Police are probing the suspicious death of an unidentified man discovered at Memorial Park on Sunday morning. Responding to a call about an unresponsive male, authorities found the deceased individual and have labeled [Read More…]

Preliminary crash information indicates the 66-year-old driver of a 2013 Ford F-150 was traveling northbound on 479th Avenue just south of the 191st Street intersection. For an unknown reason the vehicle left the roadway entering the east [Read More…]

John Hult, Makenzie Huber, Joshua Haiar, South Dakota Searchlight – Lawmakers arrived in Pierre for the 99th session of the South Dakota Legislature earlier this month with an apparent will to challenge assumptions about the [Read More…]

The Watertown School District is confronted with an unforeseen teaching vacancy following the arrest of an English teacher, Jordan Bakken. The charges against Bakken, including Solicitation of a Minor, Fourth Degree Rape, and Sexual Contact [Read More…]

Joshua Haiar/South Dakota Searchlight – Governor Kristi Noem said during her recent budget address that she wants the state to return more unclaimed property to its rightful owners. She could start by claiming her own. She’s one [Read More…]

Makenzie Huber, South Dakota Searchlight – The state Department of Social Services plans to extend Medicaid reimbursement to doula services for prenatal, delivery and postpartum care for pregnant South Dakotans this year. Efforts are underway nationwide to [Read More…]

John Hult/South Dakota Searchlight – A bill that would force prison lifers to wait longer between clemency requests was returned to its original, more stringent form by the South Dakota Senate. As amended Thursday afternoon [Read More…]

If you or someone you know may be experiencing a mental health crisis, contact the 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline by dialing or texting “988.” To reach the Native and Strong Lifeline, call “988” and [Read More…]

Bart Pfankuch, South Dakota News Watch – Four public South Dakota universities would start offering research and training in an emerging field of technology that promises to solve complex problems in minutes instead of years, [Read More…]

Makenzie Huber, South Dakota Searchlight – The families of roughly 27,000 infants and toddlers qualify for income-based child care assistance in South Dakota, but only 7% actually receive the subsidy, according to a study from [Read More…]

PIERRE (Joshua Haiar, South Dakota Searchlight) — A legislator lacked evidence Wednesday for his claim that private school scholarships funded by tax credits save millions of dollars for state government. The scholarship program is South Dakota [Read More…]

The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) is allocating millions of dollars for renewable energy and domestic fertilizer projects, with the majority of the funding coming from the Federal Inflation Reduction Act. South Dakota is [Read More…]

The Sisseton-Wahpeton Oyate tribe has confirmed the arrest of a daycare manager from Little Steps Daycare in connection with illicit drug-related activities. While the manager’s name has not been disclosed, concerns have been raised about [Read More…]

PIERRE, S.D. – South Dakota Attorney General Marty Jackley has announced that a Yankton man has pleaded guilty to First Degree Manslaughter in connection to a stabbing death that occurred May 22, 2023 in Yankton. [Read More…]

John Hult, South Dakota Searchlight – A bill that would adjust South Dakota law on child pornography includes provisions barring the possession of sexually explicit deep fakes of real children or artificial intelligence-generated children. Senate [Read More…]

John Hult, South Dakota Searchlight – In 1984, an intruder broke through the back door of a Winner home and fatally shot Karol Kniffen’s brother in his bed. Kniffen’s Korean War-veteran father disarmed the intruder. [Read More…]

John Hult, South Dakota Searchlight – The South Dakota Senate voted Tuesday to repeal a 30-day residency requirement for voter registration that became law last year. Sen. David Wheeler, R-Huron, carried the secretary of state-supported Senate [Read More…]

SALT LAKE CITY — U.S. Department of Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack was in Utah on Monday where he announced millions in funding for renewable energy and domestic fertilizer projects, with about $3.2 million headed to South [Read More…]

CANTON (John Hult/South Dakota Searchlight) — The notion that the state of South Dakota needs county permission to build a state penitentiary is absurd, a lawyer representing the state Department of Corrections said Monday. That [Read More…]