South Dakota CapitolPIERRE, S.D. – South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem has signed a bill she has promoted as a rejection of critical race theory, even though the legislation is limited in scope. The law bans the state’s public universities from using training and orientation material that compels people to feel “discomfort” based on their race. The bill passed the Senate…
LAMOURE CO., N.D. (KVRR/AP) — An Ogema, Minnesota man remains behind bars in LaMoure County, North Dakota for a suspected kidnapping. Charges pending against Ryan Degroat include kidnapping, felonious restraint and terrorizing. Degroat is accused of abducting a 41-year-old woman from her mother’s home in Brown County, South Dakota Friday night. Law enforcement was able to use cell phone triangulation…
TYNDALL, S.D. – A South Dakota man has been ordered to spend 60 days in jail for providing the marijuana in the brownies his mother unknowingly served to seniors at a card game. Forty-six-year-old Michael Koranda had earlier pleaded guilty to a felony drug charge. A judge in Bon Homme County also sentenced the Tabor man to two years of…
PIERRE, S.D. – More than a year after President Biden revoked the federal permit for the Keystone XL oil pipeline, lawyers for the project are asking South Dakota regulators to consider nearly all activities in the state officially ended. Parent company TC Energy has filed a motion with the state’s Public Utilities Commission asking the three-member panel to release a…
CHARLES MIX CO., S.D. (AP) — Federal inspectors confirm the presence of bird flu in a commercial mixed species flock in southeastern South Dakota. Samples from the flock in Charles Mix County, which borders Nebraska, were tested at a national laboratory at South Dakota State University. The property was quarantined and the birds will be killed to prevent spread of…
PIERRE, S.D. (AP) – A South Dakota lawmaker who is running for governor is facing backlash after he used a derogatory term for a woman during a speech on the House floor. Republican Rep. Steve Haugaard described a woman whom he did not name but said was addicted to methamphetamine as a “wrung-out whore.” Haugaard, a former House speaker, is…
RAPID CITY, S.D. – A Rapid City man indicted in an undercover sex trafficking sting during the 2020 Sturgis Motorcycle Rally has been sentenced to 14 years in prison. Christopher Truax was found guilty last November of attempted enticement of a minor using the internet, a federal charge that carries a mandatory minimum sentence of 10 years. According to prosecutors,…
South Dakota CapitolPIERRE, S.D. – South Dakota Republican senators advanced a proposal from Gov. Kristi Noem that would make the state one of the most difficult to get abortion pills. A vote on the Senate floor has not been scheduled. But its actual enactment depends on a federal court ruling. Every Republican on the Senate Health and Human Services committee…
PIERRE, S.D. – South Dakota House Republicans have dismissed a proposal to legalize recreational pot for adults. The bill that was tossed Monday narrowly passed the Republican-controlled Senate last week. Lawmakers reasoned they should try to stay ahead of a campaign to get recreational marijuana back on the ballot this November. But lawmakers on the House State Affairs committee dismissed…
PIERRE, S.D. – A bipartisan proposal to legalize recreational marijuana in South Dakota survived its first test in the Legislature. A Senate committee on Thursday recommended the proposal for a vote in the full Senate next week. Voters approved recreational marijuana legalization through a ballot measure in 2020. However, Republican Gov. Kristi Noem challenged its constitutionality and the state Supreme…
