Editor’s note: This is the second in a series of South Dakota News Watch stories providing analysis of potential South Dakota ballot initiatives for the 2024 election. A citizen-led campaign to eliminate South Dakota’s state grocery tax through a measure on the 2024 ballot won’t have the

Editor’s note: This is the first in a series of South Dakota News Watch stories providing analysis of potential South Dakota ballot initiatives for the 2024 election. It’s a well-worn adage that politics are about timing, and that’s especially true when it comes to citizen-led ballot measures

STURGIS, S.D. – When he left the U.S. Marine Corps in 1983, after spending six years at Camp Lejeune in North Carolina, Ronald Lawson was a strong, healthy man with a barrel chest, strong arms and a solid frame that carried his 220 pounds with ease. He was a

RAPID CITY, S.D. – An effort to build a huge gun range and shooting complex north of Rapid City has created divisiveness and hard feelings between two of South Dakota’s most iconic populations. The values run deep and histories stretch long among people in the two groups – those devoted

South Dakota News Watch Content Director Bart Pfankuch has won a top national agricultural reporting award for a record third time. The North American Agricultural Journalists association selected Pfankuch for the 2023 Glenn Cunningham Award, which is given to the writer of the best agricultural story of the year. Pfankuch

Maestro with New York City cred redefines the role: ‘When I first picked up the stick, it was like the heavens opened and said, ‘You will now do this.’