August 2015

PIERRE, S.D. (AP) — Gov. Dennis Daugaard has appointed a new circuit court judge to fill a new judgeship created by the state Legislature this year. Daugaard says Magistrate Judge Matthew Brown, of Custer, will preside as a circuit court judge in South Dakota’s Seventh Circuit Court. The seventh circuit includes Custer, Fall River, Oglala […]

STURGIS, S.D. (AP) — The South Dakota Highway Patrol says authorities have seized over $10,000 more in cash this year compared to last year’s Sturgis Motorcycle Rally. The Department of Public said Wednesday that authorities in western South Dakota have seized over $17,600 in cash since July 28, the majority of which was in Sturgis. […]

BISMARCK, N.D. (AP) — A plea agreement has been reached in the killing of a woman on the Standing Rock Indian Reservation. Thirty-year-old Lance Summers pleaded guilty Wednesday to second-degree murder in the death last year of 38-year-old Natalie White Lightening of Cannon Ball. The charge carries a maximum penalty of life in prison but […]

SPEARFISH, S.D. (AP) — A weekend traffic stop on Interstate 90 in western South Dakota yielded 6 pounds of heroin. Lawrence County State’s Attorney John Fitzgerald tells the Black Hills Pioneer ( ) that a Highway Patrol officer stopped the vehicle from Washington state on Saturday near Spearfish. Authorities are pursuing drug charges against two […]

SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (AP) — The second-longest serving police chief in Sioux Falls history has announced he is retiring from his position. Chief Doug Barthel announced Wednesday at a press conference that he will step down in October to take a position with Sanford Health. Barthel began with the department in 1986 and was named […]

SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (AP) — Minnehaha County commissioners have decided to use more than $109,000 in federal election money to buy a third digital vote tabulator. The Argus Leader reports ( ) that the additional machine meets a recommendation from an election review committee. The group formed after it took county election officials 14 hours […]

RAPID CITY, S.D. (AP) — A Rapid City man accused of killing a 6-month-old girl has pleaded not guilty. Twenty-six-year-old Kristopher Houchin faces a second-degree murder charge in the June 26 death of L’Naya White. Preliminary autopsy results indicated she died from brain bleeding as a result of blunt force trauma. Police say Houchin was […]

RAPID CITY, S.D. (AP) — A memorial service and funeral have been scheduled in South Dakota for a Rapid City firefighter who died on the job in California. Thirty-eight-year-old David Ruhl was on temporary assignment with the Big Valley Ranger District of the Modoc National Forest. He went missing Thursday in hazardous fire conditions and […]

YANKTON, S.D. (AP) — Investigators believe a fire at an aluminum products business in Yankton started when static electricity ignited a solvent being used to clean a paint gun. The Monday afternoon fire prompted the evacuation of Sapa Extrusions. No one was hurt. Plant Manager Kevin Perakslis tells the Daily Press & Dakotan ( ) […]

MOBRIDGE, S.D. (AP) — Authorities are investigating the cause of a fire at a gas station in Mobridge. Fire Chief Mitchel Voller tells the American News ( ) that the blaze at the Holiday gas station occurred about 12:30 a.m. Monday. He says it is not considered suspicious. No one was hurt in the fire, […]