Justice
Nine months and counting: Slain transgender woman’s family frustrated by wait for justice
Prosecutors in Rapid City know who shot and killed Acey Morrison. They’ve known since Aug. 21, 2022. That was the day the transgender member of the Oglala Sioux Tribe was shot in the mobile home of a man she’d met for an ill-fated hookup attempt that began on a dating app. What they don’t know […]
Fentanyl-related drugs permanently made criminal under bill passed by U.S. House
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 […]
U.S. Supreme Court rejects Biden wetlands regulation, ruling for Idaho couple
UPDATED 5 p.m. Central, 5/25/23 The U.S. Supreme Court in a major environmental decision on Thursday overturned the Environmental Protection Agency’s definition of wetlands that fall under the agency’s jurisdiction, siding with an Idaho couple who’d said they should not be required to obtain federal permits to build on their property that lacked any navigable […]
Death penalty dispute could go to state Supreme Court
Prosecutors in Lincoln County want the state Supreme Court to decide if it’s constitutional to seek the death penalty for a man defense attorneys say is intellectually disabled. Second Circuit Presiding Judge Robin Houwman ruled in late April that the state’s standards for intellectual disability do not comport closely enough with medical standards to pass […]
Three-judge panel in U.S. appeals court hears arguments in abortion pill case
NEW ORLEANS — A federal appeals court panel quizzed lawyers during oral arguments Wednesday over a Texas judge’s decision that could end access to the abortion pill nationwide. Observers see the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals as a legal way station for the case, in which anti-abortion groups sued the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, […]
Officials seek help for counties at first listening session on public defense costs
ABERDEEN — The caseload of defendants who can’t afford a lawyer has increased exponentially in Brown County in recent years, and public defense costs for criminal cases have more than doubled in the last decade in the county and across the state. That’s putting increased pressure on the county to cover the costs for the […]
Transgender rights group’s lawsuit against state unlikely to be resolved until 2024
More than a year could pass before a lawsuit alleging gender discrimination by the state of South Dakota is resolved. The Transformation Project, a nonprofit advocacy group working on behalf of transgender South Dakotans, filed a federal lawsuit against Gov. Kristi Noem and the South Dakota Department of Health late last year after the department […]
Arguments on landmark abortion pill case to be heard Wednesday in appeals court
WASHINGTON — The lawsuit over access to the abortion pill goes before the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals in New Orleans on Wednesday, the next step on a path that will likely end at the U.S. Supreme Court. The three-judge panel will decide whether to keep, overturn, or alter a ruling from U.S. District Court […]
Physicians feel ‘trapped’ by SD’s abortion trigger law. They’re hoping to change it.
EDITOR’S NOTE: This is the second story in a three-part series about the impacts of South Dakota’s abortion ban. The first story examined the number of South Dakotans leaving the state for abortions. The third story looks at the effects of the abortion ban on the recruitment and retention of OB-GYNs. A wave of dread […]
Minnehaha County’s new petition rules already blocked by judge
The free speech zones designated for political petitioning on Minnehaha County property survived nine days before being halted by a federal judge. A temporary restraining order inked late Thursday afternoon by U.S. District Judge Roberto Lang blocked the county’s rules for petitioners the day after a nonprofit group filed a lawsuit challenging their constitutionality. Dakotans […]
U.S. Supreme Court rejects pork producers’ challenge of California law
The U.S. Supreme Court on Thursday rejected an Iowa organization’s challenge to a law imposing restrictions on the sale of pork in California. The decision marks a significant defeat for Iowa pork producers who have long argued that California’s law, backed by animal-welfare advocates, would disrupt the agricultural industry by allowing states to dictate the […]
Prison-based training program bolsters South Dakota workforce
There are nearly 3,500 people in the custody of South Dakota’s prisons. Most of them will walk free. In the space of a year and a half, the state has trained and certified 57 of them in precision machining, welding and construction technology – three high-demand fields in South Dakota. The latest group of graduates, […]