Stories

National and state data show higher levels of fatalities and alcohol-related fatalities on roadways during holiday period while law enforcement agencies step up patrols to reduce risks.

Fixing old dams before or after they break is expensive and time-consuming but necessary to protect human life, property and the state’s annual $350 million fishing and boating industries.

South Dakota ranks second in the nation for the rate of deaths due to liver ailments, which doctors now say are caused not only by heavy alcohol use but also due to poor lifestyle and eating habits as well as the viral illness Hepatitis C.

Two mothers whose children suffered physical abuse at Aurora Plains Academy question Aurora County State's Attorney John R. Steele's longtime legal relationship with the facility. Steele is the registered South Dakota agent for the intensive youth treatment facility.

In response to a South Dakota News Watch investigation into abuse of youths at the Aurora Plains Academy in Plankinton, S.D., Gov. Kristi Noem has ordered state agencies to reform the processes of licensing and inspection of all private youth treatment facilities across the state.

A South Dakota News Watch investigation based on first-hand accounts, public records and independent reviews of injuries has uncovered a decade-long pattern of physical, mental and sexual abuse of residents at the privately run Aurora Plains Academy in Plankinton, S.D.

Past experiences still haunt those who spent time behind the fences of Aurora Plains Academy in Plankinton, S.D., a privately run youth treatment facility that has a history of abusing residents.

Efforts to prevent the proliferation and spread of potentially deadly antibiotic-resistant diseases increased after two outbreaks of resistant diseases sickened several people in South Dakota.

With the recent discovery of the easternmost case of Chronic Wasting Disease in South Dakota, state officials are embarking on a new plan to control the contagious brain illness that kills deer and elk and is threatening the state's multi-million dollar hunting industry.

Recent extreme weather -- and possibly more to come -- has caused flooding that decimated eastern South Dakota farms and its rural transportation network. As a result, significant costs await townships and counties that already face fiscal challenges, possibly leaving some roads never fully repaired.