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South Dakota Public Broadcasting

SDPB •

'Ridiculous' bingo tax was once a serious topic for lawmakers

This segment is from SDPB's monthly news program, South Dakota Focus.

Gov. Kristi Noem took aim at several targets during her recent State of the State address, and she reserved some of her sharpest criticism for a surprising topic.

“Although we don’t have many taxes in South Dakota – we’ve been looking for them – I am going to propose that we eliminate one that is incredibly ridiculous," she said. "Did you know that we have a bingo tax? So this is largely a tax on elderly populations and our
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A medal from Truman, a pardon from Trump: The remarkable life of a South Dakota scientist

It was 1926. He was at a research lab in Cleveland. A colleague sliced through a piece of metal with a new material called “cemented carbide.”

Jeffries was amazed. No other tool cut hard metal alloys so well.

He knew cemented carbide could revolutionize metalworking. So he fired off a letter to General Electric.

The new cutting tool, Jeffries wrote, “is at least twelve times as good as the best tool we have tried before, and probably is more on the order of one hundred times as good.”
SDPB •

In Their Own Words: An old-fashioned meeting, courting, and marriage

This audio is from SDPB's daily public-affairs show, In the Moment, hosted by Lori Walsh.

Don Konechne is an 88-year-old farmer and rancher who told us the story of meeting, courting and marrying his wife, Marjory.

It all started when Don was in the Army, stationed in Germany during the 1950s. He and other male soldiers traded mailing addresses of their sisters and other female acquaintances so they could correspond with young women back home.

We gathered this audio story from Don while he st
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'In Sacred Motion': Five Years Ago, A Lakota Elder Beat The Establishment And Renamed Harney Peak

Basil Brave Heart showed up at the Rapid City Journal one day in 2014 and asked to see a reporter.

The message got relayed to me, and that’s how I lucked into one of the most fascinating series of stories in my career.

Brave Heart said he wanted to change the name of South Dakota’s tallest mountain, Harney Peak. He had been reading about the peak’s namesake, the late Gen. William S. Harney.

In 1855 in Nebraska, troops under Harney’s command carried out the Harney Massacre, also known as the B
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Modern South Dakota Earthquakes Could Be A Hangover From The Ice Age

There are almost 100 documented earthquakes in South Dakota history, including a recent one that shook the Bowdle area.

That 3.2-magnitude quake may have been caused by massive plates shifting along faults underground. Or, said State Geologist Tim Cowman, there could be another cause.

“The thing that probably more likely caused this earthquake,” he said, “is something that we call ‘glacial rebound’ or ‘isostatic rebound.’”

“During the last Ice Age,” Cowman said, “the ice sheets that covered t
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World’s Largest Pheasant Could Get A Bigger Neighbor

When Mike Jones bought the World’s Largest Pheasant about 10 years ago, he had no idea what he was getting into.

“And if I would’ve known,” he said, “I wouldn’t have gotten involved in it.”

Jones thought holding the deed to the big bird meant he owned it. Officially, he was right. But the statue has been there so long, and it’s become such a symbol of the community, that some people in Huron think it belongs to the public.

“Everybody in town kind of thought it was owned by the city, or that n
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Two States, Different Paths: Vermont Keeps Virus Low While Rivaling SD's Economy

South Dakota’s approach to the coronavirus pandemic has produced contrasting results: one of the nation’s best economic recoveries, and one of the nation’s worst COVID-19 outbreaks.

Governor Kristi Noem’s rejection of statewide shelter-in-place orders, business shutdowns and mask mandates has made her a celebrity in the Republican Party. She campaigned for President Trump in 17 states and touted her own record last month in Maine and New Hampshire.

“What I did in South Dakota is what we say Re
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He Saw 'Noir' In Beetles: Research Forester Leaves Legacy In Black Hills And Beyond

Four years ago, Russell Graham was the lead author on an exhaustive, 200-page report. It was a history of mountain pine beetle damage and control efforts in the Black Hills.

For him, the research was personal. He grew up in Sundance, on the Wyoming side of the Black Hills. He knew the importance of the national forest to the culture and economy of the region. He wanted people to use his research, to make better decisions about the tree-killing bugs.

But how do you get ordinary people to read a
SDPB •

Tax Repeal Saves Consumers A Few Bucks, Costs Governments $1 Billion

A tax on internet service ended this summer, resulting in modest savings for South Dakota consumers and big holes in government budgets.

Meanwhile, governments are spending billions to expand high-speed internet access across the country, even as politicians grow increasingly resistant to imposing any internet taxes or fees that could pay for the expansion.

“It will provide permanent tax relief for South Dakota families and businesses who currently pay the government for simply accessing the i
SDPB •

Black Hills Hideaways: Private Cabins On Public Land

Scattered around the Black Hills, tucked away in the forests and meadows, there’s a curiosity: privately owned vacation cabins on public land.

One of the oldest is the Durst cabin. A logging family built the cabin in a meadow along Flynn Creek around 1911.

Eight years later, Custer State Park was born. Its boundaries soon wrapped around the vintage cabin, with its dark wood walls, screened-in porch and outhouse. Today, the cabin still stands within the park.

And the cabin still belongs to Dur
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$2 Billion Still Unspent On Stimulus Debit Cards Issued By SD Bank

The South Dakota bank that issued stimulus debit cards on behalf of the federal government says about one-third of the money remains unspent.

MetaBank, headquartered in Sioux Falls, issued 3.6 million cards loaded with a total of $6.42 billion beginning in mid-May.

Last week, in a third-quarter earnings call, MetaBank said the cards still had balances totaling $2.08 billion.

“The amount of funds that are still on there surprised us a little bit,” said MetaBank executive Glen Herrick.

MetaBan
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Governor Paying $350,000 Rushmore Fireworks Bill With State Economic Development Dollars

The Noem administration said it would raise private money for a Mount Rushmore fireworks display attended by President Trump.

Instead, taxpayers are footing the bill. And the money’s coming from a fund for research and economic development.

Back in January, state Tourism Secretary Jim Hagen was optimistic about private funding.

“In my opinion, I think a lot of the costs can be borne by sponsorship," Hagen said at the time. "So those are areas that we’re pursuing.”

But the Governor’s Office n
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Immigrant Hotel Ownership Abounds In South Dakota, Relief Fund Shows

When state Sen. Jeff Partridge urged his fellow legislators to approve the creation of a small-business relief fund at the end of March, he made a prediction.

He said the money would be needed by the kinds of businesses “that we might not even be thinking of yet.”

Partridge was right. There was a group of business owners that South Dakota’s overwhelmingly white Legislature probably was not thinking of: Indian-American hotel owners.

They ended up getting about 30 of the 200 loans from the fund
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Cave-In Raises Alarm About Abandoned Mines And Sinkholes Lurking In Black Hills

When Shaun and Courtney Erk bought their house in Black Hawk four years ago, they went through the usual steps, like a home inspection.

“You know, there was nothing as far as a foundation issue.” Courtney said. “We had the radon test done. We had everything done you’re supposed to do.”

But none of that turned up the one thing the Erks really needed to know.

They finally learned that information one evening last month when Courtney came home from work. She found the neighborhood filled with fi
SDPB •

Business Restrictions Beginning To Thaw In Cities Statewide

From hair salons in Yankton to casinos in Deadwood, city leaders across the state are talking about easing pandemic-related regulations.One of those cities is Deadwood, which is dependent on gambling and tourism. Those industries, like so many others, are closed for business.But there are only a handful of positive COVID-19 cases in Lawrence County. So Deadwood’s city commission wants to let casinos reopen. There will be restrictions, like a mandatory 6 feet between gamblers.Mayor David Ruth sai...
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Small Businesses Struggle As Restrictive Virus Laws Spread

Hope was running high for the Jaimes family five months ago when they opened their La Luna Café in Sioux Falls.The winter months were tough, but as the weather improved, so did business.“To then be blindsided by a pandemic, that’s pretty disheartening,” said Salvador Jaimes, manager of the café.Many small business owners across South Dakota are in similarly disheartening situations, not only because of a natural decline in business due to the coronavirus pandemic, but also because their local go...
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Emotions Run High As Rapid City Mulls Business Closures

An emotional debate about the appropriate balance between economic and public health responses to the coronavirus pandemic went public Sunday in Rapid City.The Rapid City Council approved the first reading of an ordinance that would order many non-essential businesses to shut down as a means of slowing COVID-19, the disease caused by the coronavirus.Dozens of people attended Sunday's meeting. Many tried to keep the recommended social distance between each other, while others stood outside the me...
SDPB •

From Never Again To Again: Politics Trump Environmental Concerns About Mount Rushmore Fireworks

Environmental concerns kept Fourth of July fireworks away from Mount Rushmore for the past 11 years, but now they’re coming back, because a governor talked to a president.

President Donald Trump made that clear Jan. 15 while signing a trade deal with China. A crowd of dignitaries was on hand, and Trump took time to recognize some of them.

When he introduced South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem, Trump launched into a story about teaming up with her – not on trade, but on bringing fireworks back to Mou