South Dakota Searchlight • 5th February 2026

South Dakota Republican leaders argue about economic development in front of reporters • South Dakota Searchlight

PIERRE — The divide in South Dakota’s Republican Party over the government’s role in economic development spilled into public view Thursday at the state Capitol as two of the party’s top leaders argued in front of reporters.
The back-and-forth happened during the Republican legislative leadership team’s weekly press conference. Senate Majority Leader Jim Mehlhaff, R-Pierre, was answering a question about proposals for a moratorium on construction or expansion of large data centers.
Backers of a...

South Dakota Searchlight • 3rd February 2026

Controversial SD House member Phil Jensen suspended for two weeks from Republican caucus • South Dakota Searchlight

PIERRE — South Dakota House Republicans have suspended Rep. Phil Jensen from their caucus meetings for two weeks because of his remarks about Democratic votes on legislation dealing with religion.
Jensen, of Rapid City, is no stranger to controversy. 
Last month, leaders changed his committee assignments and publicly scolded him after he protested the seating arrangement in the House Education Committee. Last year, leaders stripped his vice chairmanship of that committee after he filed legislati...

South Dakota Searchlight • 2nd February 2026

Bills to loosen gun restrictions fail in SD committee after on-target questions from lawmaker • South Dakota Searchlight

PIERRE — A pair of questions that struck the bullseye contributed to a South Dakota legislative committee’s uncharacteristic rejection of two bills to roll back concealed gun laws Monday at the state Capitol.
The first bill would have relieved college students of the requirement to obtain a permit before carrying a concealed pistol on campus.
The questions came from House Education Committee member Jim Halverson, R-Winner, who opposed the bill. He directed the questions to Nathan Lukkes, who tes...

South Dakota Searchlight • 29th January 2026

The clearest critique of Noem’s conjecture about a shooting is, unwittingly, from her successor • South Dakota Searchlight

For yet another reminder of what a poor job Kristi Noem is doing, just ask her handpicked replacement as governor of South Dakota.
Not directly, mind you. Larry Rhoden will defend her to the hilt if asked about her by name.
But ask him indirectly, or just let him talk awhile, and he’ll criticize her actions without even realizing he’s doing it.
That happened often during the beginning of his tenure as governor, when he spoke repeatedly about the need for a “reset” on nearly every important issue...

South Dakota Searchlight • 16th January 2026

For Don Barnett, the 1972 flood was 'tattooed on my brain and on my soul' • South Dakota Searchlight

Don Barnett, who died Monday at age 83, was the 29-year-old mayor of Rapid City when it was struck by a flood that killed 238 people on June 9, 1972. He received widespread praise for leading the recovery and helping to ensure that the city never again overbuilt in the Rapid Creek floodplain.
Barnett was photographed by Johnny Sundby and interviewed by Seth Tupper — now the editor of South Dakota Searchlight — for a 2022 book, “Surviving the ’72 Flood,” and a South Dakota Public Broadcasting doc...

South Dakota Searchlight • 3rd January 2026

A New Year’s resolution for South Dakota: Stop flushing dollars, then pinching pennies • South Dakota Searchlight

There was nothing under the tree this Christmas for South Dakota’s schools, state employees and health care providers.
Republican Gov. Larry Rhoden proposed no funding increase for them in the next state budget.
“Because our revenues haven’t grown much, we have to keep them flat this year,” Rhoden said during his annual December budget address.
Hearing that news so close to the holidays, I was reminded of the climactic movie scene in “National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation,” when a wife takes her...

South Dakota Searchlight • 17th December 2025

Health Department warns of measles exposure in Rapid City • South Dakota Searchlight

The South Dakota Department of Health is warning the public about a potential measles exposure at the Rapid City Regional Airport. 
The notification came as the agency’s website lists three new measles cases in the state since November.
The new cases are the state’s first since June, and they raise the number of confirmed measles infections this year in South Dakota to 15.
At the Rapid City airport, the potential exposure was caused by a Butte County resident with a confirmed measles infection,...

South Dakota Searchlight • 12th December 2025

Wounded Knee Massacre site protection bill passes Congress • South Dakota Searchlight

The U.S. Senate sent President Donald Trump a bill Thursday that would protect a portion of the Wounded Knee Massacre site on the Pine Ridge Reservation.
U.S. Rep. Dusty Johnson, R-South Dakota, sponsored the legislation in the House, where it passed in January. Sen. Mike Rounds sponsored the legislation in the Senate, where it passed Thursday, with Majority Leader John Thune as a cosponsor. Both are Republicans from South Dakota.
Johnson released a statement saying “the time is now here to prop...

South Dakota Searchlight • 9th December 2025

Governor: 'Not much I’ve seen that I could support’ in legislative property tax proposals • South Dakota Searchlight

South Dakota Gov. Larry Rhoden, who has his own idea to reduce property taxes, does not sound impressed with 19 recommendations from a legislative task force.
“I’ve realized that there’s not much I’ve seen that I could support,” Rhoden told South Dakota Searchlight during a visit to Rapid City last week.
The governor’s own proposal, which he announced in March, would authorize an optional sales tax for counties. The revenue would be used to reduce property taxes for homeowners. 
“And I’ll say th...

South Dakota Searchlight • 5th December 2025

New prison’s programs will reduce state's world-leading rate of incarcerated women, official says  • South Dakota Searchlight

RAPID CITY — No other place in the world incarcerates women at a higher rate than South Dakota, according to research by a prison-focused nonprofit, and the construction of a second women’s prison in the state could be viewed as a continuation of that trend.
The new leader of the state’s prison system said Thursday it’s the start of a turnaround.
“It’s not going to show overnight,” said Nick Lamb, “but it will show in a few years. You’ll see a substantial decrease.”
The staff and space devot...