Latest News

John Hult/South Dakota Searchlight – The state will pay the legal bills for a man who won a First Amendment case in federal court that centered on personalized license plates. Earlier this month, the state [Read More…]

25-year-old Ryan Painter was sentenced by a Pennington County judge to a 15-year suspended prison sentence, a six-month suspended jail sentence, and 12 years of probation for statutory rape. Despite not receiving a prison term, [Read More…]

CANTON, S.D. (John Hult, South Dakota Searchlight) — Lincoln County officials want a judge to decide if the state has the right to build a prison in the county without public input or local review. [Read More…]

HILL CITY, S.D. (Bart Pfankuch /South Dakota News Watch) – Hill City School District Superintendent Blake Gardner is trying to plan well in advance for major disruptions to student and staff transportation that will result [Read More…]

Summit Carbon Solutions, a company planning a multibillion-dollar carbon capture pipeline, has requested the South Dakota Supreme Court to dismiss an appealed survey access order made by landowners. The landowners sought to prevent the company [Read More…]

Four public universities in South Dakota—Dakota State University, South Dakota Mines, South Dakota State University, and the University of South Dakota—are collaborating to establish a Center for Quantum Information Science and Technology. This initiative, considered [Read More…]

The steering committee appointed by the South Dakota Supreme Court to examine bar admissions in the state has recommended increased efforts to encourage public interest legal careers. Emphasizing the need for legal professionals in underserved [Read More…]

Long-term care facilities in South Dakota are facing significant challenges due to workforce shortages and funding constraints. The demand for nurses in these facilities is high, and administrators emphasize the need for consistent care 24/7. [Read More…]

A former Rapid City Marshals football player, Dlron Simmons, charged with second-degree rape, has been found not guilty by a 10-man, two-woman Pennington County Jury. The trial centered on an incident where Simmons was accused [Read More…]

Ronald Peters of Rembrandt, Iowa, was involved in a Christmas Eve semi rollover on Highway 71 north of Spencer. The Clay County Sheriff’s Office reports that Peters, the semi driver, lost control while reaching over [Read More…]

PIERRE, S.D. – The combination of accumulating snow, freezing rain, and strong winds is causing snow and ice covered roads along with blizzard-like conditions. With conditions approaching near zero visibility and significant drifting of snow, [Read More…]

Vincent Alberto Barrios, a 42-year-old man from Box Elder, has been found guilty on charges including sexual exploitation of a minor, attempted enticement of a minor, and receipt of child pornography. Barrios engaged in explicit [Read More…]

John Hult/South Dakota Searchlight The South Dakota Supreme Court will hear oral arguments on legislative conflicts of interest one day before the start of the 2024 legislative session. The announcement from the court came Friday. [Read More…]

On Friday night at 10:30 p.m., Rapid City Police responded to an armed robbery at the Exxon Common Cents Store on North Lacrosse Street. Witnesses reported a male entering the store with a firearm, demanding [Read More…]

Sioux Falls Fire Rescue promptly extinguished a small fire at a downtown convenience store’s gas pump after a driver struck it around 4:20 a.m. on Sunday. The impact knocked the pump over, causing a brief [Read More…]

Cory Cummings, a 44-year-old Mitchell businessman, is accused of threatening to hire a hitman to harm the mother of his children, leading to a recorded threat and a subsequent protection order. ATF and DCI agents [Read More…]

Early Friday morning, December 22nd, the Plankinton Volunteer Fire Department swiftly responded to a truck fire on the I-90 ramp at 281. The incident involved a fully engulfed semi-truck hauling cattle. The firefighters quickly initiated [Read More…]

On Tuesday, December 5th, the below pictured individuals attempted to steal approximately $1,800 in merchandise from a local business. An employee of the business was able to stop one of the individuals and recover approximately [Read More…]

Joshua Haiar/South Dakota Searchlight – A carbon pipeline project aimed at reducing heat-trapping greenhouse gas emissions from the Midwest ethanol industry is irritating some within that very industry. Summit Carbon Solutions aims to transport carbon [Read More…]

Makenzie Huber/South Dakota Searchlight – Complaints against South Dakota nursing homes are the highest they’ve been in at least eight years. The state Department of Health oversees 97 long-term care facilities, according to its website, [Read More…]