Economy

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 […]

Sen. Pete Ricketts, R-Nebraska, speaks March 7, 2023, during a hearing of the Senate Subcommittee on Clean Air, Climate and Nuclear Safety. (Screenshot/subcommittee video)

U.S. Senate panel probes how crypto mining increases energy consumption

BY: - March 7, 2023

WASHINGTON — The so-called mining for digital assets, or cryptocurrency, consumes as much electricity as some entire nations, and U.S. senators explored the issue Tuesday in what they said was their first-ever hearing focused on the energy implications of digital currency.   Crypto mining in both Nebraska and Pennsylvania was discussed in particular by the members […]

Fireplaces inside the U.S. Capitol send smoke into the sky on Jan. 6, 2023. (Photo by Jennifer Shutt/States Newsroom)

Economist warns that ‘heightened dysfunction’ in Congress raises risk of debt default

BY: - March 7, 2023

WASHINGTON — Economists on Tuesday urged Congress to address the debt limit quickly, cautioning that simply because U.S. lawmakers have successfully brokered deals before doesn’t mean they will be able to this year. “There is a temptation to brush off the developing debt limit drama, thinking it will end the same way as the others […]

From left, Rep. Kirk Chaffee, Rep. Taylor Rehfeldt, two legislative staffers, and Rep. Will Mortenson take part in a conference committee March 7, 2023, on a property tax rebate bill alongside Sens. Casey Crabtree, Reynold Nesiba and Lee Schoenbeck (not pictured). (Makenzie Huber/South Dakota Searchlight)

Lawmakers focus on general sales tax reduction, defeating other tax cuts

BY: - March 7, 2023

PIERRE — Gov. Kristi Noem’s grocery tax repeal bill lived for only 17 hours after it was revived Monday. The House rejected the bill Tuesday morning. An hour later, legislative leaders from the House and Senate killed the property tax rebate program the Senate revived last week, with a suggestion to take a closer look […]

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, […]

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)

Senate revives Noem’s grocery tax repeal in session’s final week

BY: - March 6, 2023

PIERRE – The House and Senate are playing tug-of-war on tax cuts, with three days left before legislators leave the Capitol. After the House of Representatives whittled numerous tax cut proposals down to just one earlier this session, the Senate has revived two major competing proposals – including the Gov. Kristi Noem-backed elimination of the […]

U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack speaks March 6, 2023, at the National Farmers Union conference in San Francisco. (Courtesy of National Farmers Union)

U.S. agriculture secretary unveils initiatives aimed at small and midsized operations

BY: - March 6, 2023

U.S. Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack on Monday announced new steps the Department of Agriculture is taking to recenter U.S. agriculture and benefit small and midsized operations, including a proposed new “Product of USA” labeling rule and an $89 million expansion of the USDA intermediary lending program.  At the National Farmers Union conference in San Francisco, […]

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

Senate passes property tax credits, setting up final-week scramble over tax relief

BY: - March 2, 2023

The state Senate complicated the Legislature’s tax-relief debate Thursday by approving legislation that would provide homeowners with an annual tax credit payment. The Senate passed a bill 31-2 that would send $425 to South Dakota homeowners each year as a way to relieve their property tax burden. The annual cost to the state’s general fund […]

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 […]

COMMENTARY
Chestnut mushrooms ready for harvest in 2022 at Mother Fungi in Missoula, Montana. (USDA/FPAC photo by Preston Keres)

A doctor’s perspective: Here’s how Sen. Thune can support South Dakota farmers

BY: - March 2, 2023

South Dakota’s Sen. John Thune recently told the PBS News Hour, “This is a farm bill year. And it’s an issue that historically has been bipartisan. There are things that we can do there to support those who feed not only our country, but the world.” I’m a doctor, not a farmer, but the farm bill is important to […]

Supporters of extending the child tax credit attend a press briefing in December 2022 in Washington, D.C. (Photo by Tasos Katopodis/Getty Images for Economic Security Project)

Child poverty dropped to a record low last year. A new report shows how to keep it that way.

BY: - March 2, 2023

The expanded child tax credit that families received in 2021 helped reduce child poverty across the country, but particularly in the South where families lack a sufficient safety net, according to a paper released on Wednesday. The report by the Hamilton Project, the Brookings Institution’s economic policy initiative, comes as some Democrats appear ready to […]

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

Noem threatens to pull budget support if lawmakers don’t pass her food-tax repeal

BY: - March 1, 2023

SIOUX FALLS — A final showdown is looming between Gov. Kristi Noem and the Legislature over tax cuts.  During an unrelated bill-signing ceremony Wednesday in Sioux Falls, Noem responded to questions from the media and suggested she would not approve a state budget that does not include her proposed repeal of the states sales tax […]