Books

"Surviving the '72 Flood"

Portraits and firsthand accounts from 27 survivors of the 1972 Black Hills Flood, published for the 50th commemoration.

SOLD OUT

"Calvin Coolidge in the Black Hills"

The adventures, misadventures and legacy of a sitting president's three-month sojourn in the Black Hills.

"The Black Hills of South Dakota"

A guidebook packed with maps, carefully curated recommendations, and everything else you need to simplify your trip-planning process.

Documentary

Podcast

Journalism

Lawmakers approve $10 million for airport grants as session winds down • South Dakota Searchlight

Airports across the state may soon be able to apply for a share of $10 million in state-funded grants to improve, expand and support the future capacity demands of their terminals, thanks to a bill headed to the governor’s desk.

The grants would be issued by the state Aeronautics Commission. Lawmakers said the grants would allow airports access to federal matching funds, thereby extending the value of the state’s investment.

“Some of those could see up to a 90% match for 10% of state investmen

Noem signs ban on foreign-owned ag land; lawmakers busy as final week begins •

PIERRE — Governor Kristi Noem signed a bill Monday that bans ownership of agricultural land in South Dakota by people, companies and governments from six countries, while legislators sent her a flurry of other bills as the annual legislative session’s final week began.

“Their goal is to dominate the world, and the way they do that is by taking out America,” Noem said during a bill-signing ceremony at the Capitol.

Under an existing state law dating to 1979, foreign people and governments were a

Legislative Roundup: Tuition freeze expected in budget as session enters final week •

Lawmakers on a budget committee have agreed to another tuition freeze for state universities as South Dakota’s legislative session enters its final week and attention turns to the budget.

If the agreement holds, it will be the third consecutive year that tuition has gone unchanged.

The goal is retaining young South Dakotans and supporting workforce development by attracting students from other states, said Sen. Ryan Maher, R-Isabel.

“We can’t grow our workforce organically by producing more p

Election officials say verbal abuse is common as lawmakers reject bill to protect them • South Dakota Searchlight

The assertion that election officials are not being threatened or intimidated in South Dakota helped derail legislation this week at the Capitol in Pierre that would have criminalized those acts.

Yet a South Dakota county election official published an article last month detailing verbal abuse suffered by her staff. And another county election official said this week that her office faces “intimidating” tactics from members of the public.

The article is from Susan Kiepke, the auditor of Daviso

Medicaid work requirement question will appear on South Dakota ballots in November

South Dakotans will vote on Medicaid work requirements in the Nov. 5 general election.

The measure would not immediately impose work requirements on Medicaid recipients who qualify under recently expanded income guidelines, but would authorize state officials to impose work requirements if they so choose and if the federal government allows it.

On Tuesday at the Capitol in Pierre, the state House of Representatives voted 63-7 to send the measure to the ballot. The seven no votes came from the

Legislative Roundup: Direct democracy, abortion, pipelines and property rights take center stage

Bills addressing pipelines, property rights, abortion and direct democracy are provoking strong opinions from legislators as they begin the final two weeks of their annual lawmaking session at the Capitol in Pierre.

Democrats are calling House Bill 1244 an assault on citizens’ rights to gather the thousands of petition signatures necessary to place questions on statewide ballots. The legislation would establish a process for people who regret signing petitions to remove their signatures.

Repub

Lawmakers advance bill allowing adult permit holders to carry concealed guns in schools

Legislation that would allow adults to carry concealed pistols in schools after getting a permit and permission from a principal is two steps from becoming law in South Dakota.

The House Judiciary Committee voted 11-1 on Monday at the Capitol in Pierre to send the bill to the House floor. If it passes there without amendment, it will go to the governor’s desk.

Rep. Mike Stevens, R-Yankton, cast the lone no vote in the committee.

“The inference,” Stevens said of the bill, “is that the school b

Phonics training is among the winners as budget panel plows through spending requests

PIERRE – The Legislature’s budget committee endorsed a bill Friday to spend $3 million on phonics-based reading instruction for elementary teachers, and the committee also dealt with a raft of other proposals ahead of a deadline to advance spending bills to the House and Senate.

Earlier in the week, state Education Secretary Joe Graves told the Joint Appropriations Committee that state universities are already training the next generation of teachers in the phonics-based approach to instruction

Q&A: The long road to 'Short Walk,' a new podcast on the Ravnsborg accident and impeachment

Jason Ravnsborg’s commitment to crisscrossing the state in his car led to his success and his downfall, according to the producer of a new podcast about the former South Dakota attorney general.

Before Ravnsborg’s involvement in a crash that killed a pedestrian, he defined himself in part by the long drives he made to political and official functions.

“One thing I’m good at is driving,” Ravnsborg said at a public meeting just months before the crash.

Details like that are woven throughout Lee

South Dakota was tardy with a gold tax. Can it afford to sleep on lithium?

When lawmakers convened in Pierre during the depths of the Great Depression in 1935, they faced a vote on “possibly the most widely advertised and discussed piece of legislation that has ever been brought before the South Dakota Legislature.”

That’s how proponents of a tax on gold mining described their bill.

Gold was famously discovered nearly six decades earlier in the Black Hills, so you might wonder why the state lacked a gold tax as late as 1935.

The answer is simple: Until that year, le