February 2015

PIERRE, S.D. (AP) — A legislative panel has defeated a measure to require South Dakota businesses to offer workers paid sick leave. The state Senate Commerce and Energy Committee on Thursday voted to kill the proposal after significant pushback from business groups. It would have allowed employees to accrue an hour of paid sick leave […]

PIERRE, S.D. (AP) — The federal Transportation Department has granted city officials in Pierre more time to study air service options. Pierre officials in November recommended Aerodynamics Inc. to provide flights through the Essential Air Service federal subsidy program. Federal officials in January said they planned to deny the company’s application because of legal and […]

PIERRE, S.D. (AP) — South Dakota’s newest U.S. Senator is setting up his main field office in Pierre. KCCR-AM ( ) reports that Sen. Mike Rounds and his staff are moving into the Hyde Building in South Dakota’s capital city. Among other tenants in the Hyde Building is the federal public defender’s office. Since being […]

SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (AP) — A carbon monoxide leak has prompted the evacuation of a Sioux Falls apartment building. Firefighters found dangerously high levels of the potentially deadly gas Thursday morning after an alarm went off at Meadowbrook apartments. KELO-TV reports that firefighters traced the lake to a furnace, and shut it down. Residents will […]

A man accused of driving drunk and killing two federal wildlife researchers while they talked in a South Dakota motel parking lot was convicted Thursday of vehicular homicide, but not the more serious charge of manslaughter. Ronald Fischer Jr., 30, of Lake Andes, could face more than 30 years in prison when sentenced March 23. […]

CLEAR LAKE, S.D. (AP) — A Powerball ticket sold in Clear Lake is worth $10,000 in the latest drawing. South Dakota lottery officials say the ticket matched four of five white ball numbers and the Powerball in Wednesday’s drawing to win the game’s third prize. The odds of winning it are 1 in about 649,000. […]

PIERRE, S.D. (AP) — The warning cries go up before the sun even peers above the Plains. The warriors, up to 1,500 of them, are overrunning the deep ditch and fortifications intended to protect the village. Despite hard times the community has grown, and the attackers are taking advantage of a break that had been […]

PIERRE, S.D. (AP) — A state House committee has approved a proposal that would ban female genital mutilation in South Dakota. The House Health and Human Services Committee on Thursday unanimously passed the measure to make it a felony to perform such procedures in the state. Republican Rep. Lynne DiSanto says she’s offering the proposal […]

LAKE ANDES, S.D. (AP) — A Lake Andes man accused of driving drunk and killing two federal wildlife researchers has been convicted of vehicular homicide but not the more serious charge of manslaughter. Thirty-year-old Ronald Fischer Jr. could face more than 30 years in prison, but he could have faced life in prison had he […]

EUREKA, S.D. (AP) — They say records are meant to be broken, but records were the furthest thing from Mike Mettler’s mind on Nov. 17 when he cut loose an arrow at a whitetail buck he’d been hunting for two years. Instead, the 39-year-old bowhunter from Eureka was more concerned about steadying his nerves to […]