Back in February, South Dakota lawmakers recognized emergency medical services as an “essential service.”
Sort of.
“Essential service” typically means the government has to guarantee access to said service by providing or funding it.
The majority of states don’t affix that designation to ambulance services. Continue reading “Lawmakers look for ways to deliver on support for ‘essential’ ambulance service”
A Friday decision by the U.S. Supreme Court set the stage for a law restricting access to online pornography to take effect Tuesday in South Dakota, but the ruling doesn’t shield the state from lawsuits.
In Free Speech Coalition v. Paxton, the nation’s high court ruled that a Texas law requiring adults to prove their age to access adult-oriented websites is constitutional.
Attorney General Marty Jackley announced on Thursday that the Division of Criminal Investigation has received a $100,000 grant from the Attorney General Alliance to help combat internet crimes against children.
“These resources will be used to detect, interrupt, and prosecute child predators and human traffickers,” said Attorney General Jackley.
Continue reading “AG Jackley announces $100,000 grant for ICAC Task Force”
On July 1, 197 new laws will take effect in South Dakota, following Gov. Larry Rhoden’s signing of 210 bills, with 13 enacted immediately under emergency clauses. He vetoed two bills—one establishing child care assistance and another introducing geographic petition requirements.
The man suspected of killing a Minnesota lawmaker and wounding another crawled to officers in surrender Sunday after they located him in the woods near his home, bringing an end to a massive, nearly two-day search that put the entire state on edge.
Vance Boelter was arrested and charged with two counts of murder and two of attempted murder. He is accused of posing as a police officer and fatally shooting former Democratic House Speaker Melissa Hortman and her husband, Mark, in their home early Saturday in the northern Minneapolis suburbs.
Federal authorities have launched a new Homeland Security Task Force (HSTF) designed at dismantling criminal cartels, foreign gangs and transnational criminal organizations operating in Kansas, Missouri and the greater Midwest.
Announced Thursday, June 12, 2025 by the FBI and Homeland Security Investigations, the new Kansas City-based regional HSTF will bring together federal agents, intelligence analysts and law enforcement partners under one umbrella to fight organized crime in America’s heartland.
Continue reading “Federal task force formed to combat criminal organizations in Midwest”
Two years after approving a tough-on-crime sentencing law, South Dakota is scrambling to deal with the price tag for that legislation: Housing thousands of additional inmates could require up to $2 billion to build new prisons in the next decade.
That’s a lot of money for a state with one of the lowest populations in the U.S., but a consultant said it’s needed to keep pace with an anticipated 34% surge of new inmates in the next decade as a result of South Dakota’s tough criminal justice laws. And while officials are grumbling about the cost, they don’t seem concerned with the laws that are driving the need even as national crime rates are dropping.
Continue reading “South Dakota is on track to spend $2 billion on prisons in the next decade”
The South Dakota Highway Patrol is reminding motorists of a new “Move Over” law, which will go into effect statewide on July 1. The updated legislation expands the requirements for drivers approaching vehicles stopped on or near the shoulder of a highway, particularly those displaying warning lights.
The new law mandates specific actions for drivers to enhance safety for emergency personnel, road crews, and disabled motorists.
Continue reading “New “Move Over” Law Takes Effect July 1 in South Dakota”
A flurry of fighting broke out again Tuesday in the maximum security building on the campus of the South Dakota State Penitentiary, according to the Department of Corrections.
The violence comes less than a week after a protest over prison security and the treatment of inmates, and less than a month after the last publicly acknowledged sparring between inmates on the prison grounds in Sioux Falls.
The South Dakota Highway Patrol has announced its plans to conduct sobriety checkpoints in 14 counties throughout the state during June. The initiative aims to deter impaired driving and promote road safety as the summer season begins.
According to a release from the Highway Patrol, the checkpoints will be set up in the following counties: Beadle, Brookings, Brule, Butte, Codington, Day, Hanson, Hughes, Jackson, Jerauld, Lawrence, Lincoln, Pennington, and Union.
Continue reading “Sobriety Checkpoints Scheduled in June Across 14 SD Counties, Including Codington”