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The state's Public Utilities Commission voted 3-0 to release the Canadian energy company from a road bond and a public liaison officer position after company attorneys lamented the cancellation of the pipeline that would've crossed western South Dakota. PUC Chair Chris Nelson said the meeting marked the "end of a very, very long saga" in South Dakota. → Read More
As lawmakers in Pierre rush to finish the 2022 session, they're cobbling together a budget by increasingly using a relatively rare tool in the legislative toolbox: Joint Rule 7-7, the smoke out. → Read More
The select committee contemplating an impeachment article against Attorney General Jason Ravnsborg for his role in a fatal crash 18 months ago met in secret again on Thursday. But this time members emerged with a timeline, saying they'd have a report prepared by month's end, with the full House meeting again in April to consider the report. → Read More
After multiple failed attempts, a bill drew enough support in the lower chamber that would add $150 million of state funding to an addition $50 million of federal funds to a housing development fund. Half the dollars will be available as grants, and 70% will go to towns with fewer than 50,000 people. → Read More
An American citizen born in Ukraine told a gathering at a park in downtown Sioux Falls on Friday that her heart has been "ripped open" for her homeland. But she also feels angry that "the Russian elite" profit off of her state's opaque trust laws. → Read More
Rep. Steve Haugaard, formerly a Speaker of the House and a primary challenger to Gov. Kristi Noem, invoked a derogatory phrase about women during House debate of a bill. Many female lawmakers, Noem have challenged for him to be reprimanded. → Read More
Ryan Ryder, a Democrat from the Black Hills, had announced his challenge of U.S. Rep. Dusty Johnson earlier this week. → Read More
The Senate Education committee amended a bill to remove two so-called "divisive topics" related to slavery and "anguish" from the bill. Moments later, a majority on the committee voted down the measure, anyway, amid opposition from schools. → Read More
Chief sponsors urged moving lower-attended school board elections to either the November general or June primary election days to boost turnout. Opponents fought measure, suggesting the bill would create complexities for auditors and voters. → Read More
Nearly 15 months after 54% of state's voters approved adult-use marijuana, a thin majority in the Legislature's upper chamber voted to largely do the same, with no "home-grow" and opt-out provisions of municipalities. → Read More
On so-called "crossover day," the lower chamber tackled a number of noteworthy pieces of legislation, including voting to ban telemedical delivery of Mifepristone or Misoprostol to end a pregnancy → Read More
The annual "crossover" day at the Capitol marks final day for bills to pass out of at least one chamber. The Senate -- spending federal funds -- OK'd historic investment in clean water, as well as a new science laboratory, and workforce housing. → Read More
Supporters say by increasing grain violations to the state's catalog of theft statutes, the perpetrators in the $5 million H&I Grain fiasco would have faced stiffer penalties. → Read More
The measure would have required that expectant parents formally adopt their infant from the gestational carrier following what the prime sponsor called a "six-month bonding" period. The bill, called an "anti-surrogacy" measure by proponents, was downed in a close vote. → Read More
"The offenses alleged to have been committed by these two individuals are an unforgivable betrayal to the oath we all took," the Sioux Falls Fraternal Order of Police Labor Council said in a Thursday, Feb. 17, statement. → Read More
The bill, brought by Sen. Troy Heinert, D-Mission, would've opened up a process for South Dakotans to contribute new names to a state board to replace an individual he called "detestable." → Read More
A new biomedical facility at USD Discovery District, which has already secured $10 million in other funds, would develop new cancer diagnostics, therapies, and build on gains in artificial intelligence. → Read More
The measure, supported by the gun industry, faced opposition from bankers. Some lawmakers, many ardent Second Amendment supporters, said they felt torn by competing interest of free markets. → Read More
While state law already allows ivermectin to be prescribed by doctors to be used off-label, legislators say such a bill is necessary to redouble this right. The medical community has mostly opposed taking ivermectin as a COVID therapeutic. → Read More
While South Dakota ranks next-to-last in the U.S. in teacher pay, defenders of the system say they rank higher in per-pupil expenditure and could pay educators more through combining rural schools. But a closer look at the math -- and the history -- of school consolidation shows a more complicated picture. → Read More