South Dakota no longer has the lowest-paid teachers in the nation, but education officials caution that lawmakers must maintain an aggressive approach to funding if that status is to continue. According to 2018 rankings and estimates by the National Education Association, South Dakota had the highest percentage increase in average

Despite growing national pressure to end their use, small devices that issue a deadly dose of cyanide into the mouths of animals such as coyotes and foxes remain in use in South Dakota. The devices, known officially as M-44s but referred to as “cyanide bombs” by opponents, are part of

LEAD, S.D. – A Canadian gold mining company has agreed to help clean up South Dakota’s most contaminated industrial site. The agreement is part of a trend of public-private partnerships that could expedite remediation of America’s polluted lands and waterways. Agnico Eagle Mines of Toronto has entered into

RAPID CITY, S.D. – Like thousands of South Dakotans, Jade War Bonnett of Rapid City lives in constant fear of not having stable housing for her and her two children. In a state where rents are rising far faster than incomes, the only way War Bonnett and many other low-wage

SPEARFISH, S.D. – Drug dealer Eric Reeder of Spearfish got word in January 2017 that one of his customers was in trouble after smoking the fentanyl that Reeder had sold him. “I told you only to take one hit every 20 minutes,” Reeder texted to the 31-year-old man. But the

Once believed to be mostly under control, sexually transmitted diseases such as chlamydia, gonorrhea, syphilis and HIV/AIDS are all on the rise in South Dakota and across the nation, reaching near-historic infection rates. Prevention efforts by South Dakota public health officials have not reversed a trend of increasing STD

YANKTON, S.D. – Backers of Port Yankton, a proposed gambling and entertainment complex along the Missouri River at Yankton, are betting they can gather the necessary signatures from South Dakota voters to place the issue on the 2020 ballot. Representatives of the Yankton Area Progressive Growth group had hoped the