Stu Whitney

County fairs held in small-town settings across South Dakota each summer come with a caveat. Many counties are struggling to find enough revenue to pay for public safety, sanitation, water systems and other services they’re required to provide.

HURON, S.D. – In her December 2020 budget address, Gov. Kristi Noem laid out a plan for a state-of-the-art events facility at the South Dakota State Fair to replace the old livestock complex, which had been destroyed by fire about a month earlier. The governor’s proposal sought to double

"It takes a special person to want to live here."

Lee Schoenbeck, a power broker in the South Dakota Legislature as President Pro Tempore of the Senate, had a telling response when asked about the record pace of staff turnover in Gov. Kristi Noem’s administration, including a prolonged search for a sixth chief of staff less than five years

A trend of surging domestic migration to South Dakota that began during the COVID-19 pandemic could put the state’s total population above 1 million residents as early as 2030. That growth pattern runs counter to other Midwestern states and highlights the fact that more people are moving to South

For the past 20 months, South Dakota’s U.S. District Court has had a judicial vacancy waiting to be filled by President Joe Biden’s administration, prompting political scrutiny of the process and a shuffling of workloads for other federal judges. Now the situation enters a new realm of

Editor’s note: This is the third in a series of South Dakota News Watch stories providing analysis of potential South Dakota ballot initiatives for the 2024 election. It’s no coincidence that South Dakotans are well-versed in direct democracy. The state was the first in the nation to adopt