HARTFORD, S.D. (AP) — A South Dakota jury has awarded $160,000 to a man who alleges that the herbicide used by a co-op killed ponderosa trees on his property. The Argus Leader reports ( ) the jury awarded the money in the lawsuit that Hartford resident Richard Krier filed against Hartford Farmer’s Elevator. Krier sued […]

BROOKINGS, S.D. (AP) — A new presiding judge has been appointed to the Third Judicial Circuit in South Dakota. South Dakota Supreme Court Chief Justice David Gilbertson on Wednesday announced the appointment of Judge Gregory Stoltenburg. A presiding judge is an administrative leader in his or her respective circuit. The Third Judicial Circuit encompasses 14 […]

PIERRE, S.D. (AP) — South Dakota Gov. Dennis Daugaard has ordered that flags be flown at half-staff Sunday to honor a fallen volunteer firefighter. Valley Springs firefighter Steven Ackerman died in a weekend house fire in the southeast South Dakota city of Brandon. Ackerman’s funeral service is scheduled for 2 p.m. Sunday at the Brandon […]

PIERRE, S.D. (AP) — South Dakota U.S. Sen. John Thune has nearly $10.4 million in the bank for his likely bid for a third Senate term in 2016. Thune’s campaign announced Wednesday the Republican lawmaker’s first-quarter haul was roughly $793,000 and that he is sitting on $10.37 million. Campaign manager Joshua Shields says the camp […]

LOWER BRULE, S.D. (AP) — The first tribal council meeting since the death of Lower Brule Sioux Tribe Chairman Michael Jandreau (JAN’-droh) ended in chaos. More than 60 people gathered Wednesday for the meeting on the Lower Brule reservation. Acting Chairman Kevin Wright opened the meeting with a prayer and moment of silence for Jandreau, […]

WATERTOWN, S.D. (AP) — Lake Area Technical Institute President Mike Cartney says he was “overwhelmed and speechless” when told that President Barack Obama will speak at the Watertown school’s commencement ceremony next month. Cartney says the “once-in-a-lifetime phone call” also filled him with pride for the school, its business partners and the community. Obama on […]

RAPID CITY, S.D. (AP) — A wildfire in Wind Cave National Park has grown to nearly 9 ½ square miles but is now 30 percent contained. Authorities say the Cold Brook Fire has scorched 6,000 acres in the southwestern South Dakota park. About 80 people are on scene working to contain it, and they expect […]

SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (AP) — Several communities around South Dakota decided ballot measures on Tuesday. Sioux Falls residents voted to begin the school year after Labor Day. It was a close decision, with 52 percent of voters in favor of changing the school calendar. There also was a close vote in Delmont, where an ordinance […]

STURGIS, S.D. (AP) — Bond has been doubled to $500,000 for a Rapid City man accused of killing his girlfriend’s 21-month-old son in Black Hawk. Twenty-eight-year-old Thomas Pentecost made his initial court appearance Tuesday on alternate charges of murder and manslaughter in the death of Bentley Bahr. Pentecost had been charged last week with aggravated […]

PIERRE, S.D. (AP) — Are they two languages or one, Dakota and Lakota? And what about the more distant cousin tongue, Nakota? And how many people speak these languages? Linguist Armik Mirzayan at the University of South Dakota in Vermillion said a lot depends on who’s doing the count and how. Part of what goes […]