Residents suffer physical, mental and sexual abuse at South Dakota youth home
PLANKINTON, S.D. – Youths and young adults housed at the Aurora Plains Academy in Plankinton have endured physical, mental and sexual abuse by employees amid an internal culture of secrecy and limited state government oversight, according to public documents and testimony from former residents and employees of the facility.
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Aurora Plains Academy: Unsafe place to live, difficult place to work
PLANKINTON, S.D. – The stories of abuse and anguish told by former employees, former residents and parents of residents paint a frightening picture of what has taken place over the past decade at the Aurora Plains Academy intensive youth treatment facility in Plankinton.
Parents remain outraged at how their vulnerable
South Dakota medical community battling dangerous antibiotic-resistant illnesses
South Dakota health and medical officials are fighting an uphill battle to prevent the spread of potentially deadly infections that are increasingly resistant to antibiotics.
The state in recent years saw a pair of outbreaks of CRE, an intestinal bacteria that is almost completely resistant to antibiotics and that has
Further spread of Chronic Wasting Disease alarms hunters, wildlife officials
The discovery in March that a rocky mountain elk tested positive for Chronic Wasting Disease in Clark County — the easternmost case ever found in South Dakota — has provided scientists further evidence that the deadly disease is continuing to spread across the state.
The diagnosis comes as new research shows that
Flooding damage and repair costs could linger in S.D. for years
The recent blizzards and rainstorms that have flooded farm fields and decimated roads across South Dakota have exposed major weaknesses in the state’s rural transportation network and created repair bills that may strain budgets of small-town and county governments for years to come.
Some local officials say the heavy
Nearly a quarter of SD school districts adopt four-day calendar
Nearly a quarter of the school districts in South Dakota have opted for a four-day school week over the past decade, joining an increasing trend toward the altered schedule nationwide.
According to the South Dakota Department of Education, 34 school districts, or nearly 23 percent of the 149 statewide are
Sen. Rounds: Guest workers not part of illegal immigration problem
U.S. Sen. Mike Rounds of South Dakota says guest worker programs that bring foreigners to America to fill seasonable employment positions are a critical part of the state economy. Yet Rounds says the intense debate over illegal immigration in America has wrongly influenced, and in some cases stymied, efforts