South Dakota News

Update: Supreme Court overturns Roe v. Wade

WASHINGTON (AP) – The Supreme Court has ended constitutional protections for abortion that had been in place nearly 50 years – a decision by its conservative majority to overturn the court’s landmark abortion cases. Friday’s outcome overturning Roe v. Wade is expected to lead to abortion bans in roughly half the states. The decision was the culmination of decades of efforts…

South Dakota AG convicted on 2 impeachment charges

Jason Ravnsborg interviewed by police following fatal crash UPDATE (AP) – PIERRE, S.D. (AP) – The South Dakota Senate convicted Attorney General Jason Ravnsborg of two impeachment charges stemming from a 2020 fatal accident, removing and barring him from future office. The votes Tuesday were a stinging rebuke that showed most senators didn’t believe his account of the crash. Ravnsborg…

Judge: Sanford search warrants should be public, but will remain sealed until appeal

T. Denny SanfordSIOUX FALLS, S.D. – A Minnehaha County judge has ruled that there is no basis to keep documents related to the child pornography investigation of banker and philanthropist T. Denny Sanford sealed. Judge James Power said in his opinion filed Thursday that the affidavits which supported the search warrants in the investigation should be made public under South…

Winnipeg Bicyclist Raising Money For His Granddaughter Hit & Killed on I-29

Jean-Pierre Petit / FacebookSIOUX FALLS, S.D. (KVRR/AP) — A bicyclist from Winnipeg who was raising money for his granddaughter’s kidney transplant has died in a Sioux Falls hospital. Jean-Pierre Petit was on a long-distance ride and hit from behind by a cargo truck last Thursday while riding on the shoulder of Interstate 29. He had passed through Fargo earlier in the…

Rapid City hotel owners sued by relative over media post

  In addition to blaming the mayor, police chief, sheriff, candidate for sheriff and the court system, a local hotel bans all Native Americans for a shooting a few days ago on hotel property. Neither the shooting or Grand Gateway’s response to it reflect our community values. pic.twitter.com/vA9oXND0qi — Steve Allender (@Mayor_Allender) March 21, 2022 RAPID CITY, S.D. – The…

U.S. inflation reaches new 40-year high

WASHINGTON – The prices of gas, food and most other goods and services jumped in May, raising inflation to a new four-decade high and giving American households no respite from rising costs. Consumer prices surged 8.6% last month from 12 months earlier, faster than April’s year-over-year increase of 8.3%. The new inflation figure, the biggest yearly increase since December 1981,…

IRS says tax preparer filed fraudulent returns in North Dakota, several states

FARGO (KVRR) – The Internal Revenue Service is investigating a tax preparer from Houston, Texas in connection with allegedly filing fraudulent tax returns for clients in at least 15 states, most of them in North Dakota. A newly unsealed search warrant affidavit in U.S. District Court in Fargo identifies the man as Casper Akoto. The affidavit says Akoto is under…

Biden to sign police order on Floyd anniversary

WASHINGTON – With Congress deadlocked over how to address racism and excessive use of force, President Joe Biden plans to sign an executive order on policing Wednesday, the second anniversary of George Floyd’s death, according to three people familiar with the matter. The decision reflects Biden’s struggle to use the limited powers of his office to advance his campaign promises,…

Report: Trump officials, meat companies knew workers at risk

OMAHA, Neb. – During the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic, the meat processing industry worked closely with political appointees in the Trump administration to stave off health restrictions and keep slaughterhouses open even as the virus spread rapidly among workers, according to a congressional report released Thursday. The report by the House’s Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Crisis said…

Abortion rights activists to rally in Fargo, Bismarck, Grand Forks, Minot

FARGO (KVRR) – Abortion rights activists are planning demonstrations across North Dakota on Saturday. The “Bans Off Our Bodies” rallies will be held in Fargo, Grand Forks, Bismarck and Minot. Similar events are scheduled across the country. Organizers say the rallies are part of what they call a “national day of action to demonstrate deep support for access to safe,…