Briefs

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State regulators approve partial rollback of natural gas price increase

BY: - March 28, 2023

MidAmerican Energy’s 6% natural gas rate increase in South Dakota will be rolled back to 5.4%. The over 100,000 South Dakotans who get natural gas from the company can expect the change to take effect in May. The rate change will affect commercial customers as well as residential. MidAmerican proposed the 6% increase last May. […]

An equal justice statue sits outside the doors of the Minnehaha County Courthouse in Sioux Falls. (John Hult/South Dakota Searchlight)

Minnehaha County votes to bolster prosecutors, public defense

BY: - March 21, 2023

SIOUX FALLS – Federal grant funding from the Violence Against Women Act could soon bring a domestic violence specialist to the Minnehaha County State’s Attorney’s Office to help shepherd victims through the criminal justice system. The Minnehaha County Commission voted unanimously on Tuesday to allow State’s Attorney Daniel Haggar to apply for a Services, Training, […]

Gov. Kristi Noem attends an event Oct. 12, 2022, at a Sioux Falls grocery store. (John Hult/SD Searchlight)

Noem signs temporary tax reduction into law, vows to fight for permanent tax cut

BY: - March 21, 2023

After weeks of veto threats, Gov. Kristi Noem signed what some have called the “largest tax cut in state history” into law Tuesday. The move reduces the state sales tax from 4.5% to 4.2%, cutting an estimated $104 million from state revenues in the first year of implementation. But the tax cut has a sunset […]

President Joe Biden delivers remarks in the East Room of the White House on Feb. 24, 2022, in Washington, D.C. (Photo by Drew Angerer/Getty Images)

Biden signs bill declassifying information on the origin of COVID-19

BY: - March 20, 2023

WASHINGTON — The U.S. director of national intelligence has three months to declassify information on potential links between China’s Wuhan Institute of Virology and the origin of COVID-19, after President Joe Biden signed legislation Monday. The bill was one of the first Biden has signed since a 118th Congress split between the two parties began […]

Cold Springs Creek in the Black Hills of South Dakota, where parcels of private land are being added to the Black Hills National Forest. (Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation)

Black Hills National Forest adds 239 acres through deal with elk group and landowners

BY: - March 16, 2023

The Black Hills National Forest is growing by about one-third of a square mile. The Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation acquired 239 acres of land from two landowners for a total of $1.1 million and conveyed it to the national forest. The land is high in the remote western area of the forest in South Dakota, […]

A voter fills out a ballot on Nov. 8, 2022, at a polling place in Sioux Falls. (Joshua Haiar/SD Searchlight)

Board of Elections changes voter registration form to comply with tribal lawsuit settlement

BY: - March 15, 2023

The South Dakota Board of Elections voted Wednesday to change the state voter registration form to fit the requirements of a 2022 lawsuit agreement between Native American tribes and the state. The lawsuit alleged numerous violations of the National Voter Registration Act, which requires states to allow people to register to vote while applying for […]

Gov. Kristi Noem speaks to reporters March 6, 2023, at the Capitol in Pierre about her revived grocery tax repeal bill. (Makenzie Huber/South Dakota Searchlight)

Noem calls Russian invasion of Ukraine ‘Europe’s fight, not ours’

BY: - March 14, 2023

Governor Kristi Noem, who’s viewed as a potential Republican presidential or vice presidential candidate, described America’s military aid to Ukraine as a costly strategic mistake. “It’s pushing Russia into an alliance with China — meaning Russia may soon draw from China’s large weapon arsenal,” Noem told Tucker Carlson of Fox News. Carlson posted Noem’s written […]

Photo of the Daktronics building in Brookings

Daktronics reports improving conditions since December stock plunge

BY: - March 8, 2023

A homegrown, publicly traded scoreboard manufacturing company in South Dakota reported improving business conditions Wednesday, three months after public disclosures from the company caused its stock price to plummet. Brookings-based Daktronics released a quarterly earnings report showing sales of $185 million, which was described as a company record for the third quarter. Daktronics Chairman, President […]

Rep. Becky Drury, R-Rapid City, speaks on the House floor during the 2023 legislative session at the Capitol in Pierre. (Makenzie Huber/South Dakota Searchlight)

House fails to override Noem’s veto of optional hotel tax increase

BY: - March 7, 2023

The state House of Representatives failed on Tuesday to override Gov. Kristi Noem’s veto of a bill that would allow hotels and motels in “business improvement districts,” or BIDs, to raise a per-room tax. Supporters of the bill fell six votes short of the two-thirds majority needed to override the veto. The vote was 41-29, […]

Legislators in the Senate Chamber during the 2023 legislative session at the Capitol in Pierre. (Joshua Haiar/South Dakota Searchlight)

Senate scraps bill to switch nominations from conventions to primaries

BY: - March 7, 2023

An effort to change the way many statewide candidates are nominated has failed, after it pitted factions of the Republican Party against each other for much of the current legislative session. Tuesday at the Capitol in Pierre, the Senate decided not to support House amendments to the bill or appoint a conference committee to work […]

Sens. Julie Frye-Mueller, R-Rapid City, and Tom Pischke, R-Dell Rapids, converse before the Senate session begins on Monday, March 6, 2023, at the Capitol in Pierre. (Makenzie Huber, South Dakota Searchlight)

House kills spousal lobbyist ban after legislator calls it ‘dirty laundry’

BY: - March 6, 2023

PIERRE — A bill that would prohibit a spouse of a legislator from being employed as a lobbyist died on the House floor Monday morning. Senate Bill 197 would apply to active members of the Senate and House of Representatives, and it would apply to any lobbyist who received benefits from a lobbying firm.  Rep. […]

Governor Kristi Noem uses a custom branding iron dipped in ink to issue her first veto of the 2023 legislative session. (Courtesy of the Office of the Governor)

Noem issues first veto of legislative session against optional hotel tax increase

BY: - March 2, 2023

Stamping the bill with a custom V-E-T-O livestock brand dipped in red ink, Gov. Kristi Noem has issued her first veto of this year’s legislative session. The bill would allow hotels and motels in “business improvement districts,” or BIDs, to raise the per-room tax they charge.  Today, I VETOED a tax increase. We are cutting […]