Three years ago, barely half of Norris Elementary's students came to school regularly. Now attendance is above 90%. Staff at the predominately Native American school credit one-on-one engagement with students and families, and Lakota language and cultural programming. buff.ly/f3VJtAB

As childhood #vaccination rates fall, diseases once considered eradicated are back and spreading. In an episode of "Stories from the States," a podcast from @statesnewsroom.com, a doctor shares how her state is reacting to confusing and polarizing information from the #CDC.

The South Dakota Highway Patrol didn’t visit Brookings for a saturation patrol that had been announced in advance by the city’s leadership. Troopers went to Winner and Sturgis for the ninth set of patrols undertaken as part of Gov. Larry Rhoden’s #OperationPrairieThunder.

The Iowa Utilities Commission will have to decide whether #SummitCarbonSolutions can change the ending destination for its carbon sequestration pipeline before a case against the company’s permit can proceed, an Iowa court ruled. Via @iowacapitaldispatch.com buff.ly/7JKA0yp

President Donald Trump’s administration will start garnishing the wages of student loan borrowers in default beginning early next year, the U.S. Education Department said. Via @statesnewsroom.com

The U.S. Department of Justice released thousands more files related to the late sex offender #JeffreyEpstein, with several referencing President Donald Trump. Via @statesnewsroom.com

South Dakota’s Republican attorney general asked a judge for a court order to stop an abortion-rights ad campaign by a New York-based nonprofit, Mayday Health. The ads direct people to information about #abortion pills.

A South Dakota law that prevents drug companies from restricting federal drug discounts for hospitals and other providers will remain in effect while a lawsuit against it proceeds, a judge has decided.

Inmates in Montana are suing a food service company based in South Dakota, alleging that blood dripped into a pasta dish and infected some inmates with hepatitis C. Via @dailymontanan.com

The number of preventable prison deaths in South Dakota should spark serious responses, candidates for the state’s top elected post say. buff.ly/wGgovE0

No state that borders South Dakota has publicly confirmed a lethal overdose in a state prison in 2025. South Dakota has reported eight. buff.ly/HP0CA1I

Since Inauguration Day, more than 1.5 million #immigrants have either lost or will lose their temporary legal status, including their work authorizations and deportation protections, due to President Donald Trump’s aggressive revocation of legal immigration. Via @statesnewsroom.com

A program that helps farmers pass their operations along to their children got a $200,000 boost from a South Dakota government fund under the exclusive control of the governor.

Jordan Ward isn’t one of the eight men killed by an overdose in a South Dakota prison in 2025, but a lawsuit filed this year over his 2022 death in custody offers insight into how drugs sometimes make their way into the hands of inmates. buff.ly/6eVFol1

Willingness to meet inmates where they’re at and respond to their needs as individuals are pillars of what one former incarcerated South Dakotan calls "moral leadership." He said that's needed to stop a spate of overdose deaths in the state's prisons. buff.ly/JMnW82J

The chairman of a South Dakota economic development board not only sits on the corporate board for a company benefiting from millions in state aid but also has connections to the company’s landlord. buff.ly/Khzb85j

International student enrollment across South Dakota’s six public universities dropped this fall by 76 students. The drop, which comes amid a Trump administration immigration crackdown, follows a 10-year high last fall that capped four straight years of increases.

The U.S. Department of Justice has sent a confidential draft agreement to more than a dozen states, including South Dakota, that would require election officials to remove any alleged ineligible voters identified during a federal review of their voter rolls. Via @stateline.org buff.ly/jfKJZ3C

Dana Hess considers pledges by South Dakota gubernatorial candidates to use Department of Government Efficiency-style tactics: "If we learned anything from watching the slash and burn techniques employed by #DOGE, it’s that chainsaws are best left to lumberjacks." Commentary:

The Department of Justice began releasing thousands of records related to #JeffreyEpstein. The trove reviewed by @statesnewsroom.com contains images of Epstein with celebrities including Michael Jackson, Mick Jagger, David Copperfield and former President Bill Clinton. buff.ly/93rp7Te

A company benefiting from $69 million in state grant and loan approvals has South Dakota's former economic development chief as an employee and the chairman of the state's economic development board as a corporate board member. That's caused lawmakers to raise ethical questions.

The November overdose death of a state prison inmate in Sioux Falls has drawn charges from the attorney general against a former Department of Corrections medical staffer and a man who’s already serving a 65-year sentence. southdakotasearchlight.com/2025/12/19/i...

Homeland Security Secretary #KristiNoem said she was suspending applications for a diversity visa program because the man suspected of killing two Brown University students and a Massachusetts Institute of Technology professor obtained a green card through the program in 2017.

The South Dakota Department of Public Safety says the Highway Patrol has logged $43,000 of overtime for troopers during a saturation patrol initiative known as Operation Prairie Thunder.

A panel of appellate judges seemed skeptical during Thursday oral arguments that the Trump administration erred in relying on a decades-old statute to require millions of noncitizens to register with the federal government and carry documentation. Via @statesnewsroom.com

South Dakota’s State Economist Derek Johnson told the state Banking Commission that a sluggish farm economy, driven by lower soybean, corn and wheat prices, has been a major factor holding down recent state sales tax collections. buff.ly/PEbDMRC

September #unemployment rates rose in 25 states and fell in 21 compared with last year, the government reported recently in a shutdown-delayed analysis. South Dakota had the nation's lowest rate. Via @stateline.org southdakotasearchlight.com/2025/12/18/r...

Fights and serious injuries spiked higher in South Dakota’s state #prisons last year than at any point since at least 2018, according to a report released by the state Department of Corrections. buff.ly/zVQ2T8r

The South Dakota Department of Health is warning the public about a potential #measles exposure at the Rapid City Regional Airport. The notification came as the agency’s website lists three new measles cases in the state since November. buff.ly/S9CLXDs

For the fourth year in a row, Native American children made up more than 70% of children in the South Dakota #FosterCare system at the end of the state’s fiscal year. buff.ly/5sF1MG4

A $300 million gift from South Dakota philanthropist #DennySanford to Sanford Health to support the construction of a new medical center in Rapid City was the fifth largest charitable donation in the country this year, according to @chronphilanthropy.bsky.social.

A South Dakota school accountability board rejected a legislative committee’s earlier decision to waive penalties for schools that had too much cash saved up, prolonging a standoff that board members don’t yet know how to resolve.

Fifteen more people have graduated from a South Dakota program that helps #paraprofessionals become #teachers, pushing the total number of graduates past 70. More about the program: buff.ly/CeW7WOn

There are 273 unidentified deceased Indigenous peoples across the country. In an effort to return them to their families, the Bureau of Indian Affairs and South Dakota are offering a free DNA drive this week. Via @ict-news.bsky.social buff.ly/69xU5Tg

South Dakota’s success rate for keeping truancy cases out of court is the lowest it’s been in a decade, according to an annual report presented to a state committee. buff.ly/04dUHsf

In an exceprt from her new memoir, Virginia Driving Hawk Sneve examines the people and locations that shaped her in South Dakota.

South Dakota Gov. Larry Rhoden's 'Operation Prairie Thunder' campaign quietly targeted Yankton, Huron and Belle Fource in November, and again this month. On Friday, the highway patrol confirmed its presence in those cities, saying 75 were jailed during the saturation patrols.

The U.S. Senate sent President Donald Trump a bill, supported by South Dakota's congressional delegation, that would protect a portion of the #WoundedKneeMassacre site on the Pine Ridge Reservation.

The South Dakota Board of Regents introduced proposed changes to the public university system’s housing and meal plan policy, in response to failed legislation to remove on-campus living requirements. buff.ly/Umc9hzE

Farmers across the country may soon receive a share of a $12 billion farm aid package, as promised by President Donald Trump. But some South Dakota #farmers say it’s not the change they want to see: “I would rather have trade deals than bailouts."

A new presidential proclamation aimed at the tech industry’s use of H-1B visas is making it harder for rural health providers to hire staff, reports @kffhealthnews.org.

SD's Rep. Dusty Johnson voted against advancing the bill, but the U.S. House agreed to consider legislation that would void an executive order from President Donald Trump. The order stripped collective bargaining rights for roughly 1 million federal workers.

South Dakota Gov. Larry Rhoden awarded $1 million from a fund he controls to help pay for two business parks in Aberdeen. That's the home of one of his opponents in next year's race for the Republican nomination for governor.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture will spend $700 million to support regenerative agriculture as part of the Make America Healthy Again agenda, Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins and Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. announced. Via @statesnewsroom.com

South Dakota’s Republican attorney general is threatening a lawsuit and ordering a national nonprofit to cease and desist “the deceptive advertising of the sale of #abortion pills in South Dakota,” but the organization is not signaling that it will stop its advertising campaign. buff.ly/QxD9Ygb

U.S. Sen. Mike Rounds, R-South Dakota, has requested an investigation into U.S. #PostalService delivery delays in South Dakota, saying "I believe these issues are caused by the flawed design of the USPS network."

A bill that U.S. Rep. Dusty Johnson, R-South Dakota, says would modernize federal permitting passed the House unanimously. According to Johnson, the federal permitting process “has failed to ensure project permitting is on-time and on-task.”

A new U.S. Senate Republican bill would not address expiring #ACA marketplace tax credits but would send payments to certain Americans through Health Savings Accounts to cover some of the cost of health care. Via @statesnewsroom.com

There’s a new ad campaign promoting #abortion pills at dozens of gas station pumps across South Dakota, and state officials said they’ll investigate it for potentially deceptive trade practices and possible violations of the state’s anti-abortion laws. buff.ly/G2k21V5

The U.S. Department of Education announced a proposed agreement that would permanently axe an income-driven #StudentLoans repayment plan in which more than 7 million student loan borrowers are enrolled. Via @statesnewsroom.com