Latest News

South Dakota Legislature passes eminent domain ban for carbon pipelines
South Dakota Searchlight A four-year controversy that has shaken South Dakota’s Republican political establishment culminated Tuesday in the Legislature’s passage of a ban on eminent domain for carbon dioxide pipelines. The state Senate voted 23-12 [Read More…]

Dual Credit reduction bill gets schooled by a Senate committee
The South Dakota Senate Education Committee rejected a bill Tuesday that would have reduced state funding for the high school dual credit program, while advancing another education measure to appropriations. House Bill 1040, which proposed [Read More…]

LSS willing to comply with refugee report request
A Sioux Falls non-profit organization that is the target of legislation compelling it to make data about its refugee resettlement operation public says that it is willing to comply. More than that, Lutheran Social Services [Read More…]

Noem’s actions motivate state senator’s attempt to limit executive power
Joshua Haiar, South Dakota Searchlight PIERRE — State Sen. Chris Karr didn’t like the way former Gov. Kristi Noem’s administration spent money without legislative approval or oversight. Neither did his colleagues, judging by the support [Read More…]

68-turbine, $621 million wind project approved in northeast South Dakota
South Dakota Searchlight South Dakota regulators awarded a permit Friday for a 68-turbine wind energy project in northeastern South Dakota. Chicago-based Invenergy applied to build the project through its South Dakota subsidiary, Deuel Harvest Wind Energy South. [Read More…]

Lake Andes man sentenced for first-degree manslaughter
An eighteen year old man from Lake Andes has been sentenced to 85 years in prison after earlier pleading guilty to one count of first-degree manslaughter in the stabbing death of another man in May [Read More…]

Federal money to prevent Black Hills forest fires left ‘in limbo’
Bart Pfankuch, South Dakota News Watch PIEDMONT, S.D. – A $5 million program to help private landowners in the Black Hills manage their forest lands and prevent wildfires is on hold as part of President [Read More…]

Mitchell honored as South Dakota Community of the Year
The Mitchell Area Chamber and Development is proud to announce that Mitchell has been named Community of the Year at the South Dakota Governor’s Conference on Economic Development. This prestigious honor recognizes Mitchell’s ongoing commitment [Read More…]

Governor Rhoden hits the reset button on men’s prison project
PIERRE — Lincoln County might not be the site of a new prison after all. But that won’t be decided until this summer. Gov. Larry Rhoden has signed an executive order to form a working [Read More…]

Dakota Wesleyan University to host the South Dakota State Spelling Bee
Thirty-one elementary and middle school students will compete March 29 in the South Dakota State Spelling Bee, with the winner advancing to the 2025 Scripps National Spelling Bee in Washington where they will vie for [Read More…]

SD House unanimously rejects repeal of veterans burial program
South Dakota Searchlight-Makenzie Huber In a moment of solidarity Tuesday at the Capitol in Pierre, South Dakota’s House of Representatives unanimously voted against former Gov. Kristi Noem’s proposal to eliminate funding for veteran burials in [Read More…]

Single vehicle, double-fatality crash near Oelrichs in Fall River County
Two men died and a third was injured when they fled the scene during a traffic stop and crashed on US Highway 18, eight miles east of Oelrichs Monday night. The South Dakota Department of [Read More…]

High risk offender set for release
The South Dakota Department of Corrections is providing notification to law enforcement and the public about the pending release of state prison offender Dillon Harrington. The 30 year old Harrington will be released from prison [Read More…]

DWU to Launch New Associate Degree Nursing Program in Sioux Falls
Dakota Wesleyan University announced today that it will launch a new Nursing program in Sioux Falls beginning in August 2025. The expansion was recently approved by the South Dakota Board of Nursing and by the [Read More…]

Mitchell Police respond to two crashes on Sunday
Mitchell Police are investigating two separate vehicle crashes that occurred Sunday 1st and Burr accident At approximately 9:13 Sunday morning, Mitchell Police officers responded to a two-vehicle accident at the intersection of 1st and Burr. [Read More…]

International educators help alleviate South Dakota teacher shortage
Bart Pfankuch, South Dakota News Watch STEPHAN, S.D. – “Three, two, one. OK, in your seats.” Just as she did as a teacher in her native Philippines, Madgelie Camba uses a countdown method to gain [Read More…]

Republican SD lawmakers pursue a multifaceted crackdown on citizen-backed ballot measures
Joshua Haiar, South Dakota Searchlight Some Republicans, many of them aligned with anti-abortion groups, are tired of South Dakotans petitioning their ideas onto the ballot. “There are things being put on the ballot that they [Read More…]

House shoots down prison money, but new vote looms
John Hult, South Dakota Searchlight PIERRE — A legislative maneuver meant to secure funding and continue discussion on an $825 million men’s prison failed by two votes Friday in the South Dakota House of Representatives. [Read More…]

‘Cruelty was the point’: South Dakota federal workers, programs feel the pain of Trump firings and freezes
Joshua Haiar/South Dakota Searchlight Darwin Hertzel reported to his job with the Natural Resources Conservation Service on Feb. 14 and opened an email. “Some very generic, no-name email. It was a template,” he said. “It [Read More…]

Do South Dakotans have the highest rate of medical debt in the nation?
Yes. Megan Luther/South Dakota News Watch Nearly 18% of South Dakota adults have medical debt, the highest percentage in the nation, according to the health nonprofit organization KFF, which analyzed Census data between 2019 to [Read More…]
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