Business
Total 218 Posts
From independent operators to publicly traded companies, stories on the businesses that fuel South Dakota's economy.
Damaging debt: SD college graduates weighed down by heavy student debt
South Dakotans owe more than $1.5 billion to the federal government on loans they took out to finance their educations and many borrowers are finding themselves crushed under the weight of their college debt, even many years after they graduated.
About 52,000 South Dakotans have some debt from
Damaging debt: Three SD grads share stories of struggling to pay college costs
Thousands of South Dakota residents are living under a cloud of uncertainty and worry created by outstanding loans acquired in order to get a higher education. The high monthly payments and seemingly insurmountable principal amounts carry an emotional toll, but also limit their ability to live out their dreams and
Cheese plant violates pollution limits
LAKE NORDEN, S.D. – The newly expanded Agropur cheese plant in Lake Norden faces a possible fine from state regulators after tests showed the plant’s wastewater that is dumped directly into the Big Sioux River violated state pollution limits in four categories.
Tests of the wastewater released in the
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
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
Immigration debate hampers guest worker programs critical to SD businesses and farms
KEYSTONE, S.D. – The intensely partisan and politicized national debate over immigration policies has cast a cloud of uncertainty over guest worker programs that for years have helped provide employees to seasonal South Dakota businesses that cannot find enough American workers.
The viability of some businesses in the tourism, agricultural
Stressed farmers face continuing economic decline
WALL, S.D. – A five-year slide in the agricultural economy in South Dakota and across the Great Plains has left many producers operating at a loss and is putting some in jeopardy of losing their farms.
A major decline in most commodity prices is the primary cause of the losses,