China

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
U.S. Rep. Dusty Johnson, R-South Dakota, attends a February 2023 congressional committee hearing in Washington, D.C. (Rep. Dusty Johnson/Twitter)

Johnson shouldn’t let conservative credentials get in the way of statesmanship

BY: - May 11, 2023

In South Dakota, there’s a reasonably easy process for changing your name. You fill out a form, pay a fee, publish a public notice and get the OK from a judge. Do that, and you can call yourself anything you want. Or, if you’re a congressman running in a primary, just buy a bunch of […]

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)

Local panel tells Rep. Johnson to protect business ties with China

BY: - May 1, 2023

SIOUX FALLS — At a roundtable that Rep. Dusty Johnson organized Monday to discuss “the impact of the Chinese Communist Party,” some South Dakota business and agricultural leaders told him to protect business ties with Chinese partners. Johnson, R-South Dakota, is a member of the House Select Committee on the Chinese Communist Party. He organized […]

In this photo illustration, the TikTok app is displayed on an Apple iPhone on Aug. 7, 2020, in Washington, D.C. (Photo Illustration by Drew Angerer/Getty Images)

One state already has voted to ban TikTok. For Congress, it’s going to be much tougher.

BY: - April 18, 2023

As TikTok has mushroomed to more than 150 million monthly U.S. users, so have warnings among both state legislators and members of Congress about its potential danger as a tool of the Chinese government. Dozens of states and the federal government this year banned public employees from downloading the popular app on their government devices. […]

A Chinese balloon flies above Billings, Montana, on Feb. 1, 2023. (Photo by Chase Doak, Special to States Newsroom)

U.S. House approves bill seeking more information on Chinese airborne surveillance

BY: - April 17, 2023

WASHINGTON — The U.S. House passed a bill Monday that would require U.S. diplomats and intelligence officials to report to Congress their work with allies deterring Chinese surveillance aircraft and to provide a classified briefing on any airborne spying over the U.S. by the rival nation since 2017. The Upholding Sovereignty of Airspace Act, or […]

U.S. Rep. Dusty Johnson, R-South Dakota, questions witnesses in a hearing of the House Select Committee on Strategic Competition between the United States and the Chinese Communist Party, in the Cannon House Office Building on Feb. 28, 2023, in Washington, D.C. (Photo by Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images)

Johnson mixes policy and politics in efforts to counter China

BY: - April 11, 2023

As tensions between the United States and China escalate, a congressman from South Dakota has edged into the national spotlight.  House leaders chose Republican Rep. Dusty Johnson in January to serve on the select committee on China – a panel of 24 members tasked with investigating China’s influence on the American economy, national security and […]

Smithfield Foods in Sioux Falls, as seen on Nov. 21, 2022.

China owns little US farmland, but many lawmakers are worried

BY: - March 14, 2023

WASHINGTON — Nearly a third of states have laws prohibiting certain foreign businesses and governments from buying agricultural lands within their borders, and more states are looking to join them. The efforts in at least 11 states are pitched primarily by Republicans as another security front in the nation’s ongoing propaganda battles, primarily with China and Russia. Many lawmakers […]

Sen. Lee Schoenbeck, R-Watertown, on the Senate floor during the 2023 legislative session at the Capitol in Pierre. (Makenzie Huber/South Dakota Searchlight)

Senate rejects Noem’s bill to vet ag-land purchases by foreigners

BY: - February 21, 2023

PIERRE – The state Senate rejected a bill Tuesday that Gov. Kristi Noem had proposed as a way to protect South Dakota’s agricultural land from purchases by hostile foreigners. The vote was 23-11, and it wasn’t the only legislative rebuke of the day for Noem. Earlier Tuesday, a House committee rejected her bill to repeal […]

Army Gen. Mark A. Milley, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, testifies on the Department of Defense’s 2021 budget request during a hearing on Capitol Hill, March 4, 2020. (Lisa Ferdinando, DOD)

One missile fired at mystery flying object wound up in Lake Huron, officials say

BY: - February 14, 2023

WASHINGTON — The American public may know by week’s end the administration’s strategy on unidentified flying objects going forward, but some questions about three recent ones shot down by the U.S. military may not be answered for a long time, if ever. Debris from the three low-altitude objects downed by U.S. Air Force air-to-air missiles […]

Sailors assigned to Explosive Ordnance Disposal Group 2 recover a high-altitude surveillance balloon on Feb. 5, 2023, off the coast of Myrtle Beach, South Carolina. U.S. fighter aircraft operating under U.S. Northern Command authority engaged and destroyed a high-altitude surveillance balloon over U.S. territorial waters at the order of President Joe Biden and with the full support of the Canadian government. (Photo by Petty Officer 1st Class Tyler Thompson/U.S. Navy via Getty Images)

Midwestern, Western states in spotlight after mystery flying objects shot down by military

BY: and - February 13, 2023

WASHINGTON — Military posts in Midwestern and Western states played key roles in the unprecedented downings of multiple unmanned aerial objects over the North American continent this weekend. Members of Congress and governors from the states involved and from both parties have shared information about the downings on Twitter and in statements, in some cases […]

A Chinese balloon flies above Billings, Montana, on Feb. 1, 2023. (Photo by Chase Doak, Special to States Newsroom)

After China balloon scare, Air Force shoots down object flying above Alaska’s North Slope

BY: - February 10, 2023

Updated 4 p.m. Central, 2/10/2023 An F-22 fighter jet from Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson shot down an unidentified object flying above Alaska’s North Slope on Friday, officials at the White House said. The shootdown, at 9:45 a.m. Alaska time, took place less than a week after an Air Force fighter jet shot down a Chinese surveillance balloon off the […]

Sailors assigned to Explosive Ordnance Disposal Group 2 recover a high-altitude surveillance balloon on Feb. 5, 2023, off the coast of Myrtle Beach, South Carolina. U.S. fighter aircraft operating under U.S. Northern Command authority engaged and destroyed a high-altitude surveillance balloon over U.S. territorial waters at the order of President Joe Biden and with the full support of the Canadian government. (Photo by Petty Officer 1st Class Tyler Thompson/U.S. Navy via Getty Images)

China balloon’s voyage across Alaska, Montana and U.S. enrages members of U.S. Senate panel

BY: - February 9, 2023

WASHINGTON — A bipartisan group of U.S. senators grilled Pentagon officials Thursday on why a suspected Chinese surveillance balloon was permitted to fly over Alaska and across the lower 48 states before being shot down off the coast of South Carolina. The Senate Committee on Appropriations Defense Subcommittee, led by Montana Democrat Jon Tester, featured […]