News

Military veteran Ray Decker, left, speaks with former Lt. Gov. Matt Michels, right, as Howard Grinager looks on during a USS South Dakota memorial event in Sioux Falls on Aug. 10, 2024. (Joshua Haiar/South Dakota)

Former lieutenant governor launches ‘Vote in Honor of a Veteran’ initiative

BY: - August 11, 2024

SIOUX FALLS — South Dakota’s voter turnout has disappointed some military veterans. Former Lt. Gov. Matt Michels, a veteran of the U.S. Navy, has launched an initiative urging citizens to “Vote in Honor of a Veteran,” emphasizing the sacrifices made by military personnel to secure the democratic rights Americans enjoy.  “We always think that government […]

Gov. Kristi Noem presents her fiscal year 2025 budget address to the South Dakota Legislature on the House floor on Dec. 5, 2023. (Makenzie Huber/South Dakota Searchlight)

Sales tax ballot measure sparks debate about potential impact on state’s bond rating

BY: - August 9, 2024

Opponents of a Nov. 5 ballot measure that would reduce state sales tax collections worry it could be the final straw that breaks South Dakota’s AAA bond rating — a criticism that the measure’s proponents dispute. The measure is intended to repeal state sales taxes on groceries, but opponents say its imprecise language could broaden […]

A U.S. Border Patrol agent walks along the U.S.-Canada border in upstate New York. (Photo by James Tourtellotte/Department of Homeland Security)

Congress aims to boost enforcement at the border – with Canada

BY: - August 9, 2024

WASHINGTON – While much of U.S. border security talk focuses on the southwest corner of the country, the U.S. Senate passed a bipartisan bill in June aimed at a different target — growing migration along the U.S.-Canada border. The legislation, titled the Northern Border Coordination Act, was co-authored by Sens. Susan Collins, a Maine Republican, […]

Roundup weed killer. (Photo Illustration by Scott Olson/Getty Images)

Pesticide labeling becomes issue in South Dakota’s U.S. House race

BY: and - August 9, 2024

Legislation affecting the regulation of pesticide labels has become an issue in South Dakota’s U.S. House race after a Democratic challenger leveled criticism at incumbent Republican Rep. Dusty Johnson. The Washington Post reported in June that Rep. Johnson worked with biotech giant Bayer to insert a provision into a draft of the federal farm bill. […]

Family members hold up images of deceased loved ones during the ceremony where U.S. President Joe Biden signed the PACT Act in the East Room of the White House on Aug. 10, 2022, in Washington, D.C. (Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)

More than 1 million veterans receiving benefits via PACT Act ahead of anniversary

BY: - August 9, 2024

WASHINGTON — President Joe Biden on Friday celebrated the number of veterans enrolled in VA health care and benefits as part of a law he signed nearly two years ago, though he said more work must be done for troops who were stationed at a base in Uzbekistan in the early 2000s. “Two years ago, […]

A sign displays the names of the state's three elected public utilities commissioners outside of their Pierre office in January 2023. (South Dakota Searchlight/Joshua Haiar)

Black Hills Energy proposes Rapid City power plant costing up to $270 million

BY: - August 9, 2024

Black Hills Energy plans to build a new power generation plant in Rapid City for a cost between $250 million and $270 million, according to a notice sent Aug. 2 to state regulators on the Public Utilities Commission. The plant would have three engines fueled by natural gas and three turbines using natural gas and […]

Kansas Attorney General Kris Kobach, in concert with 14 other state attorneys general, filed a federal lawsuit challenging the President Joe Biden's plan to expand health insurance access to DACA recipients. The lawsuit seeks to block implementation of the rule on Nov. 1. (Sherman Smith/Kansas Reflector)

South Dakota joins 14 other states challenging health insurance for DACA recipients

BY: - August 9, 2024

TOPEKA, Kansas — Kansas Attorney General Kris Kobach filed a lawsuit Thursday on behalf of 15 states, including South Dakota, in an attempt to stop President Joe Biden from expanding health care access to DACA recipients by making them eligible for participation in the Affordable Care Act’s insurance marketplace. Kobach, a Republican who built a […]

Morgan Speichinger works to clean up her home near McCook Lake on July 3, 2024, after a June 23 flood. (Joshua Haiar/South Dakota Searchlight)

McCook Lake victims still ‘in the dark,’ waiting for FEMA help nearly seven weeks after flood

BY: - August 8, 2024

Nearly seven weeks after the devastating June 23 flood at McCook Lake, victims are still in limbo about the possibility of federal aid, and some feel abandoned by government officials. Renae Hansen is a flood victim and works with the McCook Lake Izaak Walton League, which has tried to fill some of the leadership and […]

Republican presidential candidate and former U.S. President Donald Trump speaks at the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) at the Gaylord National Resort Hotel And Convention Center on Feb. 24, 2024, in National Harbor, Maryland. (Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images)

Trump agrees to Sept. 10 debate with Harris, claims two more upcoming

BY: - August 8, 2024

WASHINGTON — Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump said Thursday he has agreed to debate Democratic presidential nominee Kamala Harris on Sept. 10, a reversal from his position last week that he would not participate in the ABC News event. During a press conference at Trump’s Mar-A-Lago estate in Palm Beach, Florida, the former president said […]

A Sioux Falls resident votes in the city and school board election at Southern Hills United Methodist Church on April 9, 2024. (Makenzie Huber/South Dakota Searchlight)

South Dakota Democratic leaders vote to oppose open primaries ballot measure

BY: - August 8, 2024

The executive board of the South Dakota Democratic Party voted on Thursday to oppose Constitutional Amendment H, a ballot measure that would open up primary elections to all voters regardless of party affiliation. Currently, Democrats and Republicans conduct their own party primaries to choose their nominees for the general election. Democrats allow independents to cast […]

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration tested its new AI fire monitoring technology, the Next Generation Fire System, at its fire weather testbed in Colorado in June. (Photo courtesy NOAA)

As wildfire season becomes more threatening, experts are turning to AI

BY: - August 8, 2024

With climate change driving hotter, drier summers across the West, the intensity of recent fire seasons is outpacing workers’ ability to track and analyze fires with the traditional methods. “There simply aren’t enough boots on the ground, or eyes in pairs of binoculars to cover the base and the extent of what we’ve been dealing […]

U.S. Rep. Dusty Johnson, R-South Dakota, greets attendees at the Sioux Empire Fair in Sioux Falls on Aug. 7, 2024. (Joshua Haiar/South Dakota Searchlight)

Johnson denies trying to help company shield itself from existing Roundup cancer lawsuits

BY: - August 7, 2024

U.S. Rep. Dusty Johnson, R-South Dakota, denies allegations that a provision he helped insert into a draft of the federal farm bill would protect the maker of Roundup from pending lawsuits claiming that frequent use of the herbicide causes cancer. “Our legislation doesn’t do anything in the courts,” Johnson said Wednesday in an interview with […]