South Dakota Searchlight

02/09/2025

South Dakota Democratic lawmakers say they’re not proposing abortion-ban exceptions during this year’s legislative session due to a lack of necessary support from Republicans, but a Democratic former lawmaker hopes to put an abortion measure on the ballot again next year.

Democratic lawmakers say they’re not proposing abortion-ban exceptions due to a lack of support from Republicans, but a former lawmaker hopes to put abortion on the ballot next year.

02/09/2025

"I want to keep South Dakota 'Open for Business.' But more than that, I want our state to be 'Open for Opportunity.'"

South Dakota Gov. Larry Rhoden's inaugural address:

South Dakota Republican Gov. Larry Rhoden delivered his inaugural address Saturday at the Capitol in Pierre.

02/08/2025

Under South Dakota's unique-in-the-nation drug ingestion law, the presence of a controlled substance in someone’s urine carries the same criminal weight as one pulled from their pocket by a police officer. Recently, though, a bill to change that law got through the state Senate for the first time.

State senators did something no previous Senate had been willing to do: Endorse a bill to change South Dakota’s unique-in-the-nation felony drug ingestion law.

02/08/2025

Democratic attorneys general from throughout the country asked a federal judge to enforce a temporary restraining order he issued late last month, alleging the Trump administration is not complying with the court’s ruling.

02/07/2025

A state senator brought attention to a disparity in educator compensation in South Dakota but lost her attempt to cap administrator salaries at three times the average pay of teachers.

02/07/2025

Supporters of SDPB made their pitch at the Capitol to avoid a $3.6 million budget cut that they said would undermine public safety, government transparency, education, high school activities and local storytelling.

Supporters of South Dakota Public Broadcasting made their pitch to avoid a $3.6 million budget cut that they said would undermine public safety, government transparency, education, high school activities and local storytelling.

02/07/2025

Bills requiring public schools in South Dakota to display and teach the Ten Commandments and to post the words “Under God, the People Rule” in every classroom were endorsed by a legislative committee in Pierre.

A bill requiring public schools teach and display the Ten Commandments was endorsed by a legislative committee Friday.

02/07/2025

A bill that could allow South Dakota cities to stop flouridating their drinking water cleared a state Senate committee Friday morning. Unlike most bills that leave such a committee, however, it didn't earn an endorsement, just a shot at debate on the Senate floor.

A bill that would make fluoridation of drinking water optional for cities in South Dakota is headed to the Senate chamber.

02/07/2025

Natural disasters are worsening the U.S. housing crisis, upending the home insurance market, and reducing housing options — particularly for lower-income residents.

Details from Stateline ⬇️

Natural disasters are worsening the U.S. housing crisis, upending the home insurance market, and reducing housing options — particularly for lower-income residents.

02/07/2025

On a party-line vote, the U.S. Senate confirmed Russ Vought as director of the Office of Management and Budget, giving support to one of the architects of Project 2025 and someone who hopes to erode Congress’ control over government spending.

The U.S. Senate voted to confirm Russ Vought as director of the Office of Management and Budget, giving support to one of the architects of Project 2025.

02/06/2025

U.S. senators from both political parties wrote to the acting Social Security commissioner, expressing concern it might take the agency more than a year to implement an expansion to benefits that Congress approved last year.

02/06/2025

South Dakota Gov. Larry Rhoden is "pretty confident" he and lawmakers will find a way to "tamp down the increase" in property taxes for homeowners, he said. He did not reveal his plan but suggested it will focus on those suffering from the biggest increases.

More from the press conference:

Lawmakers will find a way this winter to “tamp down the increase” in property taxes for South Dakota homeowners, Gov. Larry Rhoden predicted.

02/06/2025

Administrator salaries in South Dakota schools would be capped at three times a district's average teacher pay under a proposal that advanced out of the state senate's education committee Thursday morning.

If lawmakers approve, South Dakota public school administrative salaries could soon be capped based on teacher pay.

02/06/2025

The South Dakota Senate's majority leader sounded a death knell for "school choice" proposals on Thursday. The decision came after discussions with Gov. Larry Rhoden, he said.
A supporter in the House, meanwhile, vowed to keep fighting.

Despite some Republican leaders' campaigning on “school choice” this year, the votes are not in the Senate.

02/06/2025

"South Dakota’s public schools need help from legislators, but not in the form of more mandated mottos on the walls."

Commentary on a bill to require the display of the state motto, "under God, the people rule," in every classroom:

South Dakota’s public schools need help from legislators, but not in the form of more mandated mottos on the walls.

02/06/2025

Governor Larry Rhoden appointed Jack Kolbeck, a former state senator from Sioux Falls, to the open South Dakota House seat for District 13, which includes portions of Lincoln and Minnehaha counties.

02/06/2025

Thousands gathered on Capitol Hill Wednesday to decry Trump administration plans to dismantle the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID). The agency coordinates U.S. disaster aid and medical care in war-torn and poverty-stricken regions around the globe.

WASHINGTON — Thousands gathered to protest the Trump administration’s bulldozing of U.S. disaster aid on Wednesday at the U.S. Capitol.

02/06/2025

Debate on the future of the U.S. Department of Education simmered in a U.S. House panel hearing on Wednesday on Capitol Hill.

WASHINGTON — The largely partisan clash over abolishing the U.S. Department of Education came to the forefront Wednesday in Washington D.C.