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Most out-of-state worker recruitment cash goes unspent
A few years ago, an economic development office in Yankton asked for and received access to $100,000 from the state to train local employees and recruit out-of-state workers. The funding helped pull in a manufacturing quality manager, two professors, a vice president of enrollment, an accountant and a fire chief from states including Illinois, Nebraska, […]
Plans for $55 million justice center in Lincoln County revealed
Lincoln County commissioners in Canton got their first look Tuesday at plans for a $55 million courthouse and justice center meant to meet the county’s needs for decades. Commissioners approved the spending in December in the interest of dealing with the swelling criminal justice needs of the state’s fastest-growing county, which includes the expanding southern […]
Court documents outline cause of shuttered child porn investigation of T. Denny Sanford
Nearly four years ago, detectives in South Dakota launched an investigation to determine if the state’s richest man had shared or received child pornography through email. One year ago, then-Attorney General Jason Ravnsborg issued a statement declaring that T. Denny Sanford had committed “no prosecutable offenses within the district of South Dakota.” On Thursday, after […]
Brookings company looks to build bird flu vaccine
A Brookings company hopes a flu vaccine for turkeys might eventually help protect multiple species from Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza strains like H5N1, which has wreaked havoc on the poultry industry for the past two years. The cost of vaccination and concerns about trade implications with foreign customers have thus far held off the use […]
Noem touts $7.9 million investment in apprenticeships as part of workforce shortage solution
SIOUX FALLS — Employers willing to build or expand apprenticeship programs in South Dakota will soon have a shot at a larger pool of state funding. During a stop Tuesday at Howe Inc., Gov. Kristi Noem announced the addition of $7.9 million in apprenticeship grants to be distributed over three years through the Start Today […]
New records release puts pardons from Gov. Noem at 228
The South Dakota Secretary of State’s Office has released 28 additional pardons signed by Gov. Kristi Noem since 2019. Earlier this year, the office released 200 of Noem’s pardons in response to a records request from South Dakota Searchlight. It’s unknown why the additional pardons were not in the first batch. Deputy Secretary of State […]
$200 million in housing infrastructure funding likely to lie dormant for a second year
A $200 million pool of housing infrastructure funding will likely go unspent for another construction season, despite efforts by lawmakers to push the money out in 2023. The interim director of the South Dakota Housing Development Authority broke that news to the Legislature’s Executive Board Thursday during its first meeting since the end of the […]
Open primary push to see opposition from state Republican Party
SIOUX FALLS — A bipartisan group of activists kicked off a petition drive Wednesday that aims to put open primaries on the South Dakota general election ballot in 2024. The proposal would enshrine the right to vote for every primary candidate of every political persuasion for all voters in the South Dakota Constitution, regardless of […]
Teen murderer, now 41, denied parole in fourth appearance before board
SIOUX FALLS – A 41-year-old inmate who put two bullets in the head of a man who was pleading for his life in 1996 will spend at least eight more months in prison. Paul Jensen was 14 years old at the time. He was given a mandatory sentence of life without parole for first-degree murder […]
Paid family leave expansion for state employees clears first administrative hurdle
A Thursday vote from South Dakota’s Civil Service Commission sent the question of expanded paid family leave for state employees to lawmakers. The commission voted unanimously to move from eight weeks of paid leave at 60% pay for new parents to 12 weeks of leave at 100% pay. The leave can be used for “bonding […]
Family left with questions after man dies in custody of rural sheriff’s office
State investigators are reviewing the death of a man shortly after his arrest on April 3 by Charles Mix County sheriff’s deputies. Friends of 35-year-old Robert Dennis “Berta” Enoch have a host of questions about how someone who’d expressed a desire to get well and had secured a place at a treatment center just days […]
Power of mercy: Noem decisions highlight outsized importance of pardons in South Dakota
EDITOR’S NOTE: This story about pardons is part of a special report on executive clemency. An additional story explores commutations, and a commentary outlines difficulties encountered in obtaining pardon records. — A father from Fort Pierre with five drunken driving convictions and more than a decade of sobriety wants to take his son hunting. A […]