Government

An inmate at the Women's Prison in Pierre works on a block of metal during a precision machining class in 2022. The program is a partnership between the state Department of Corrections, state Department of Labor and Regulations and state technical colleges.

Prison workshops bleeding money despite requirement to break even

BY: - May 30, 2023

The South Dakota Department of Corrections is required to operate its prison workshops without losing money, but the DOC has long failed to live up to that expectation. Not only do some shops lose as much as $400,000 a year, but inmates aren’t spending enough of their work time filling customer orders. Inmates regularly tag […]

The Palmer Gulch Fire burns in October 2022 in the Black Hills. (Courtesy of Black Hills National Forest)

How climate change threatens South Dakota’s protected landscapes

BY: - May 30, 2023

Swaths of South Dakota water, grasslands and forests are under federal protection, but climate change recognizes no boundaries.  Scientists say South Dakota’s protected lands are vulnerable to pest infestation, wildfire, drought, flooding and more extreme weather in the decades to come. That ranges from a wild stretch of the Missouri River to grasslands in central […]

A portion of the Big Hole River area in Montana managed by the Bureau of Land Management. (Bob Wick/Bureau of Land Management, https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/)

Western lands fight erupts over Bureau of Land Management’s conservation proposal

BY: - May 29, 2023

One thing opponents and proponents of a recently proposed U.S. Bureau of Land Management rule agree on: It would be a major shift in how the agency manages nearly 250 million acres of federal lands. The rule would allow for conservation leases, similar to how the agency auctions off parcels of land for mining, livestock […]

COMMENTARY
Sen. John Thune, R-South Dakota, joined by Sen. Tim Scott, R-South Carolina, left, and Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, speaks at the Capitol on Sept. 29, 2021, in Washington, D.C. (Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images)

Rounds, Thune show courage with Scott endorsement

BY: - May 28, 2023

At this point in the presidential election cycle, all we have is speculation. With eight months before the first caucus in Iowa and nine months until the first primary in New Hampshire, all any of us can do is read tea leaves if we’re trying to predict the political future. Fortunately, tea leaves abound. Plenty […]

U.S. House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, front, with GOP Rep. Garret Graves of Louisiana at left, speaks briefly to reporters about a deal to avoid a default on the nation's debt he said has been reached with the White House, on May 27, 2023. (Screenshot from speaker's office webcast)

Biden, McCarthy say they have brokered a debt limit deal to avert U.S. default

BY: and - May 27, 2023

WASHINGTON — House Speaker Kevin McCarthy announced a deal in principle Saturday night that would stave off a first-ever default on the nation’s debt as long as it can clear both chambers of Congress before June 5. The agreement would address the nation’s debt limit and include a “historic” reduction in spending, McCarthy said, though […]

Jeff Griffin of the Greater Sioux Falls Chamber of Commerce, left, talks with U.S. Rep. Dusty Johnson, R-South Dakota, at a roundtable discussion May 1, 2023, in Sioux Falls. (Joshua Haiar/South Dakota Searchlight)

Congressional Roundup: Johnson seeks a fix for tribal mortgages

BY: - May 27, 2023

Rep. Dusty Johnson, R-South Dakota, introduced legislation this week to streamline the approval process for mortgages on tribal land. Some tribal land is held in trust by the federal government, and mortgages involving property on trust land must be reviewed and approved by the Bureau of Indian Affairs. The BIA Mortgage Handbook establishes timelines for […]

Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen gives a speech on the economy at Ford Rouge Electric Vehicle Center on Sept. 8, 2022, in Dearborn, Michigan. (Sarah Rice/Getty Images)

Treasury secretary pinpoints June 5 as earliest date for U.S. debt default

BY: - May 26, 2023

WASHINGTON — Republicans in Congress and the Biden administration have until at least June 5 to broker and enact a debt limit bill under new estimates from the Treasury Department, giving negotiators a few more days before the country would default. “Based on the most recent available data, we now estimate that Treasury will have […]

Prairie potholes in the Upper Midwest. (Courtesy of U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service)

Feds propose drainage rules to protect wetlands in SD and nearby states

BY: - May 26, 2023

A government agency wants to keep water-draining equipment used by farmers away from federally protected wetlands in several states. Drain tiles are underground perforated pipes buried in farmers’ fields. They are used to drain unwanted water – including some wetlands – allowing for more room to plant crops. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is […]

A carbon dioxide pipeline break in 2020 in Mississippi sickened dozens. (Photo courtesy of the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration)

Environmental groups seek Biden moratorium on carbon dioxide pipelines

BY: - May 25, 2023

President Joe Biden should prevent the construction of new carbon dioxide pipelines until changes to federal rules are adopted to increase their safety, opponents of the projects said Thursday. The call for an executive order to stall the projects comes as federal regulators consider changes to pipeline requirements and are set to hold a two-day […]

Gov. Kristi Noem speaks at the Calvin Coolidge Foundation conference at the Library of Congress on Feb. 17, 2023, in Washington, D.C. (Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images)

Noem criticizes universities, issues series of ‘challenges’

BY: - May 25, 2023

Gov. Kristi Noem challenged the South Dakota Board of Regents in a letter Thursday to “improve higher education” in the state through a range of suggestions. Noem said she wants to bolster free speech, ban drag shows and the use of preferred pronouns on campuses, root out Chinese influence, require U.S. history and government classes, […]

COMMENTARY
A view of the Black Hills from Black Elk Peak. (Makenzie Huber/South Dakota Searchlight)

Eight supervisors, seven years: The ‘challenging’ Black Hills National Forest

BY: - May 25, 2023

The Black Hills National Forest has its eighth supervisor in the past seven years, and if recent history is any indication, he probably doesn’t fully recognize what he’s up against. Carl Petrick, most recently the supervisor of the Idaho Panhandle National Forests, won’t stay long in his new Black Hills post. He’s an acting supervisor, […]

Deb and Ray Cullen, of Shippensburg, Pa., center and right, show a photo of their son, Zachary, in the office of their congressman, GOP Rep. John Joyce, left. Zachary died nine months ago at 23 of a drug overdose involving cocaine laced with illicit fentanyl. The Cullens traveled to the U.S. Capitol on May 25, 2023, to watch the House vote on the HALT Fentanyl Act. (Ashley Murray/States Newsroom)

Fentanyl-related drugs permanently made criminal under bill passed by U.S. House

BY: - May 25, 2023

WASHINGTON — Lawmakers in the U.S. House passed bipartisan legislation Thursday in an effort to curb staggering overdose deaths from illegal fentanyl substances that are illicitly produced and up to 50 times stronger than heroin. The HALT Fentanyl Act, passed on a 289-133 vote with 74 Democratic votes and support from the Biden administration, would […]