News/Investigations

The nursing industry is under pressure in South Dakota as an aging population, fewer nursing students and an older workforce are combining to create staffing shortages. But the state has an added challenge in filling open nursing positions – pay. National nursing studies show RNs in South Dakota earn less than

PHILIP, S.D. – In the next six months, two cities will arise on the South Dakota prairie with populations larger than most of the existing towns west of the Missouri River. Two similar cities will be built in 2020. The temporary towns will exist for up to two years, include

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-

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

VERMILLION, S.D. – One of South Dakota’s most venerable institutions, the law school at the University of South Dakota, is facing academic and financial challenges unprecedented in the school’s 117-year history. Applications are historically down. The balance sheet is barely in the black. More marginally qualified students

To discover the truth about the new, more advanced meatless burgers by Beyond Meat, South Dakota News Watch arranged a side-by-side comparison with traditional American ground beef. We grilled up one pre-formed beef patty bought at Walmart and one pre-formed patty of The Beyond Burger by

HIGHMORE, S.D. – After years of lagging behind neighboring states, South Dakota is suddenly poised for dramatic growth in wind energy production. That means hundreds more wind towers are headed to South Dakota in a frantic pace that could triple the size of the wind industry in the state over