February 2015

PIERRE, S.D. (AP) — A Mission man has been sentenced to nearly four years in federal prison for a shooting that wounded another person. Authorities say 29-year-old Vernon Schmidt Jr. pointed a handgun at a person and waved it around during an argument in May 2014. The gun went off, hitting the other person in […]

ABERDEEN, S.D. (AP) — A judge has set bond at half a million dollars for a Groton man accused of threatening a witness in a drug bust. Judge Richard Sommers said he believes 45-year-old Timothy Thurston is a flight risk and a threat to a key witness in the drug case. Thurston was arrested in […]

MITCHELL, S.D. (AP) — The Mitchell City Council is weighing whether to allow its residents to raise chickens in the city. The Daily Republic reports ( ) Peggy Miiller asked council members this week to consider the idea, and they agreed to discuss it further at their next meeting on Feb. 16. A current city […]

PIERRE, S.D. (AP) — A legislative panel is set to consider a measure to require South Dakota businesses to offer employees paid sick leave. The Senate Commerce and Energy Committee on Thursday is expected to review the proposal. It would allow employees to accrue an hour of paid sick leave for every 30 hours they […]

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

PIERRE, S.D. (AP) — The winning numbers in Wednesday evening’s drawing of the South Dakota Lottery’s “Dakota Cash” game were: 03-21-22-27-28 (three, twenty-one, twenty-two, twenty-seven, twenty-eight)

SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (AP) — South Dakota officials could better understand the scope of elder abuse in the state by creating a new task force, lawmakers said Wednesday. The Senate Retirement Laws committee unanimously passed a bill that would create an interim committee dedicated to studying the prevalence of financial, physical and emotional abuse. The […]

SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (AP) — A bill that would create a state task force dedicated to studying elder abuse has passed its first committee. The proposal brought by Sen. David Novstrup would establish an interim committee to study the issue and prevalence of financial, emotional and abuse of elders in the state. The bill was […]

SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (AP) — The Sioux Falls police department has investigated and solved all but one homicide over the last decade. The department released its crime statistics for 2014 on Wednesday. Sioux Falls Police solved all six of the homicides committed last year. Nationally, only 64 percent of murder cases are solved. There have […]

PIERRE, S.D. (AP) — Supporters of allowing three new voter-approved games in Deadwood were successful in convincing a Senate panel that authorizing keno, craps and roulette in the historic mountain town is the will of South Dakota voters. The Senate State Affairs Committee on Wednesday approved 7-1 a proposal to allow the games in Deadwood. […]