Argus Leader
U.S. Education Secretary visits S.D. schools
U.S. Education Secretary Linda McMahon, South Dakota Gov. Larry Rhoden and South Dakota Department of Education Secretary Joe Graves visited Colman-Egan High School, Flandreau Indian School and McCrossan Boys Ranch on April 8 as part of McMahon’s...
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Mayor proclaims April 9 as Local News Day
It was a revelatory sight to see in the conference room of City Hall on Thursday, April 9. A Proclamation Day was about to happen. Mayor Paul TenHaken had in his hand the same pen Gov. Larry Rhoden used to sign a bill last month that now allows...
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‘It’s gonna be a rough judgement’
Presidential historian and Pulitzer Prize-winning author Jon Meacham spoke about President Donald Trump’s place in U.S. history at South Dakota State University’s Daschle Dialogues event April 7. The talk came at a moment of uncertainty in U.S....
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‘A second opportunity’
Americans embraced the bald eagle as a national symbol, nearly drove it to extinction and narrowly pulled it back from the brink in what has become one of the most remarkable success stories in conservation. Yet Kentucky’s rebounding eagle populations...
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USPS delivery improves, regional hubs pose issues
Although the United States Postal Service (USPS) mail service in Sioux Falls is now delivering packages at more than 90%, according to U.S. Rep. Dusty Johnson, regional “choke points” still pose significant issues overall. In Sioux Falls and South...
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Public defender shortage ripples across legal system
The Oregon Supreme Court on Feb. 5 issued a ruling that will have a wide impact. More than 1,400 criminal cases had to be dismissed, the justices ruled, due to lack of adequate counsel available for defendants. Like other states, Oregon must provide...
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Augustana students brew ale for 20th anniversary of Arboretum
Two Augustana University students have brewed a new beer to celebrate the 20th anniversary of the Mary Jo Wegner Arboretum. Gracen Juffer and Madelyn Sliper, seniors studying brewing & fermentation at AU, worked on the beer as part of their capstone...
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How to enjoy the history and recreation of Falls Park
As Sioux Falls’ namesake, Falls Park is known as “the heart of the city” along the Big Sioux River. Folks stop by for family photos, first dates and picnics by the waterfall. It’s as romantic as it is nostalgic and has brought a huge bump in tourism...
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‘Celebrate our extraordinary cultural democracy’
The Levitt’s annual All My Relatives event, a free music festival that honors the multi-generational Indigenous community every summer, will get national attention this year. h Representatives with the Smithsonian Museum in Washington, D.C., announced...
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What new sculptures are coming downtown?
The Washington Pavilion unveiled to the Sioux Falls City Council the complete list of installations chosen for the 23rd annual SculptureWalk, featuring over 80 pieces that represent nearly 20 states and nearly 60 artists. If there were a theme this...
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DSU officials share progress, plans for applied research lab opening
Dakota State University is getting closer to opening its long-awaited applied research lab in Sioux Falls this summer, with some tenants planning to move in during the warmer months and a public ribbon-cutting possibly be set for fall. The lab has...
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Holiday events coming to area
As spring continues to make its attempt at remaining in the Sioux Falls area, Easter hops up with local egg hunts, basket giveaways, Easter candy and goodies and of course, the long-eared, fluffy holiday icon of the hour, the Easter Bunny. So let’s...
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But it remains to be seen if protests will affect elections
The demonstration outside the Minnesota State Capitol for the marquee No Kings rally, with Bruce Springsteen and Jane Fonda on the bill, wasn’t the most notable development during the day of protests on March 28. More notable was the No Kings march in...
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Protesters gather for 3rd No Kings rally
At least 3,000 Sioux Falls area protesters stood in defiance of President Donald Trump and his agenda March 28, 2026, near downtown for the third planned installment of the national No Kings movement, organizers said. The moment was one of several...
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‘It’s been so tough for them’
The ceremonial ribbon skirts, worn by mourners at the funeral of 14-year-old McKenna Rose Wendel, were a shiny pink and purple, McKenna’s favorite colors. A traditional Lakota star quilt that draped her casket before she was buried on March 26, 2026,...
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‘It’s just spinning our wheels’
Last year, lawmakers coalesced around the need to improve rehabilitation programming and reduce recidivism rates as part of a broader investment in South Dakota’s prison system. Those two issues were sticking points in an ultimately successful effort...
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Changes coming to school lunches
The Sioux Falls School District may have to hire a chef, upgrade equipment and change food supplies as a result of the New Dietary Guidelines for Americans. Those guidelines flip the old food pyramid, emphasize protein, focus on “whole foods” and...
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TenHaken reflects on city’s past and future in address
For Paul TenHaken’s last big talk as mayor, the focus was on the people met and relationships made. Sioux Falls Mayor TenHaken presented his final State of the City address, an annual recap of city priorities and accomplishments, at the Steel...
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Hegseth: Changes in elite fellowships
Secretary of War Pete Hegseth has named a number of universities as potential new partners for elite military fellowships as part of his plan to “restore and maintain the warrior ethos” in higher education. A Department of War memo announced a...
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Trump postpones strikes on Iran
President Donald Trump on March 23 announced he was postponing military strikes on Iranian power plants and energy infrastructure for five days as the two countries negotiate a potential end to the war. On March 21, Trump said the United States would...
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West Central claims state championship
TOP: The team lifts up Connor Mebius (0) as they celebrate their win over Sioux Falls Christian during the SDHSAA Class A championship game on March 21 at the Monument in Rapid City.
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Policies giving pause to pregnancy
Kailah Brewer always wanted to have two children. She and her husband both grew up in large families and felt that resources were stretched thin. Her parents couldn’t help her buy her first car or assist with college funds, she said. But two kids felt...
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Troops deployed to Middle East region
Despite President Donald Trump’s promises of the war with Iran ending soon and broad domestic disapproval of further involvement, the United States is sending more troops to the region, a defense official said. The 11th Marine Expeditionary Unit,...
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Oil sites hit amid Iran war escalations
Pentagon chief Pete Hegseth wants billions more from Congress to fund the war with Iran as gas prices hit $3.90 a gallon nationwide and global oil prices surged amid the continued closure of the Strait of Hormuz. The national average price per gallon...
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Sanford Health donates $2M for zoo renovation
Sioux Falls is getting another glimpse of what bold, new species and spaces will come with the newly combined Sioux Falls Zoo and Aquarium. Sanford Health officials announced a $2 million gift to the zoo Tuesday, March 17, as part of its support for...
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Economic developers emerge mostly unscathed
Economic developers in South Dakota say they’ve been under “attack,” and while they failed in their efforts to incentivize data centers this legislative session, they mounted a counter-campaign that warded off many other efforts to restrain government...
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New poll shows Rhoden behind Johnson
South Dakota’s incumbent governor faced a blow to his gubernatorial campaign after a new poll showed him slipping behind a fringe candidate ahead of an upcoming Republican primary. According to a survey released March 11 and conducted by Emerson...
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Winners and losers in education policy
The South Dakota Legislature wrapped up the main bulk of its work Thursday, March 12, on the 37th legislative day, with some wins and losses for education. One big win: Lawmakers moved forward with a 1.4% increase in state aid to education — a marked...
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6 U.S. service members killed in midair collision
Six more U.S. service members were killed when their refueling aircraft crashed after a midair collision over western Iraq, officials said March 13, as the joint U.S.-Israeli war on Iran reached the two-week mark with few signs of slowing down. The...
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Experts: S.D. lacks energy capacity for data center
South Dakota currently lacks the energy capacity needed to support a hyperscale data center, according to panelists at a recent community forum in Sioux Falls. The issue was discussed on Monday, March 9, during the Downtown Rotary Club meeting as part...
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Critics urge city leaders not to ‘roll over’ for Smithfield TIF
A tax increment finance petition for a longtime economic anchor in Sioux Falls is moving to a second and potentially final vote. Sioux Falls City Council unanimously passed its initial vote to advance a $90 million tax incentive for Smithfield Package...
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Rhoden ‘optimistic’ Trump will attend fireworks show
The Trump administration is formally moving forward with hosting a fireworks show at South Dakota’s most famous monument. The National Park Service, an agency of the Department of the Interior, announced Monday, March 9, in a press release that the...
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Oil prices soar as Iran names leader
As the U.S.-Israel war with Iran entered its 10th day on March 9, oil prices soared over fears of a prolonged conflict, President Donald Trump demanded “unconditional surrender” and the Pentagon made public the name of the seventh U.S. service member...
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DHS veterans worry over agency’s future
Javad Khazaeli recalls the day workers came to his federal building in 2003 and switched all the signs to the brandnew U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. He was a young intelligence analyst, excited to be embedded with the special agents who...
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What could the future of Sanford District look like?
If you stand on the bridge on North Drive – the road that overlooks the bike trail’s switchbacks coming down by the spillway north of the penitentiary – you’ll get a “nice” view, if you will, of Smithfield. You can drive by the century-old property...
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President ousts Noem
WASHINGTON – President Donald Trump announced March 5 he was firing Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem. He said on social media that Noem would be succeeded by Sen. Markwayne Mullin, R-Oklahoma, effective March 31. Noem will become special envoy...
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NOEM MISLEADS CONGRESS
Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem misled Congress on Tuesday about the powers of her controversial top aide Corey Lewandowski, according to records reviewed by ProPublica and four current and former DHS officials. Lewandowski has an unusual role...
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U.S. submarine sinks Iranian warship
Trump administration officials pledged more firepower in the war with Iran after officials said a U.S. submarine sank an Iranian warship, with reports of at least 80 people killed. The United States and Israel will soon control Iranian airspace, and...
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Strikes hit U.S. Embassy in Saudi Arabia
The United States ordered nonemergency government personnel and their family members to leave Qatar, Kuwait, Bahrain, Iraq and Jordan and closed several diplomatic missions across the Middle East on March 3 as the war with Iran escalated. The move...
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U.S. fighter jets crash in Kuwait
Three American fighter aircraft crashed in Kuwait on March 2, with crews surviving “unscathed” and in stable condition, the Middle Eastern country’s defense ministry and the Pentagon said, as the congressional debate over President Donald Trump’s...
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Iran air strikes mark Trump’s biggest gamble
WASHINGTON – With his large-scale attack on Iran, President Donald Trump has seized a legacydefining moment to demonstrate his readiness to exercise raw U.S. military power. But in doing so, he is also taking the biggest foreign policy gamble of his...
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Vitriol. Profanity. Politics. Experts warn about role social media has played
WASHINGTON – Most of this story isn’t fit for a family newspaper. The country’s political discourse has deteriorated to the point – or become so robust – that the president can drop an f-bomb and get one lobbed back in return. Of course, caustic...
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Trump claims on Iran’s missiles are questioned
WASHINGTON –President Donald Trump’s claim that Iran will soon have a missile that can hit the United States is not backed by U.S. intelligence reports, and appears to be exaggerated, according to three sources familiar with the reports, casting doubt...
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Push to automate science with AI has constraints
University at Albany, State University of New York THE CONVERSATION Consistent with the general trend of incorporating artificial intelligence into nearly every field, researchers and politicians are increasingly using AI models trained on scientific...
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Trump touts economic gains in State of Union
WASHINGTON – President Donald Trump declared the country is booming, his opponents are “crazy” and his administration is engaged in unprecedented levels of “winning” in a marathon State of the Union address that comes as polls showed deep skepticism of...
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Removal of at-risk trees begins at Yankton Trail
The City of Sioux Falls announced on Monday, Feb. 23, that ash tree removal begins this week at Yankton Trail Park. As part of Sioux Falls Parks and Recreation’s Emerald Ash Borer (EAB) management plan, several ash trees along the Big Sioux River have...
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Peace deal for Ukraine continues to be elusive
WASHINGTON – President Donald Trump has taken extraordinary action when it comes to confronting authoritarians in places like Venezuela, where U.S. forces captured leader Nicolas Maduro, and Iran, where Trump bombed nuclear sites in June 2025 and is...
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SD near the bottom in rate of kids prepared for kindergarten
Nearly half of South Dakota children under the age of 5 are not on the right track to start school and find early success in the classroom, a rate that puts the state near the bottom in school readiness across the country. Data from the most recent...
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The Ribbon at Jacobson Plaza glows up
Bright lights and neon nights! Jacobson Plaza reopened after a windy week for a fun glow party on Feb 19. Barring inclement weather, The Ribbon is open all week long, with extended weekend hours. You can buy 45 minutes on the ice and rent skates at...
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Supreme Court strikes down Trump’s tariffs
WASHINGTON − A furious President Donald Trump slammed the Supreme Court after a landmark decision striking down his power to impose sweeping tariffs. “I’m ashamed of certain members of the court, absolutely ashamed for not having the courage to do...
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What’s next for a new $1.3 billion pork plant?
Before officials with Smithfield Foods returned to Virginia after their historic announcement earlier this week, they met with the Sioux Falls City Council on Tuesday, Feb. 17, to propose a tax incentive for the new $1.3 billion pork plant being built...
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Smithfield Foods building new plant
What a way to go for Paul TenHaken. Our Sioux Falls mayor for the last eight years will leave office by the end of the year, but he couldn’t let his desk get away before announcing one of the most “monumental” changes for the city yet: The Smithfield...
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Civil rights icon ‘kept the dream alive’
The Rev. Jesse Jackson, a towering civil rights icon who battled alongside the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., negotiated global hostage releases and shamed corporations for their lack of diversity and failure to support voting rights, died on Feb. 17. He...
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State officials announce Smithfield Foods is moving
After 115 years commanding the Falls Park neighborhood, Smithfield Foods will continue its generational impact in a newly built plant. Gov. Larry Rhoden, alongside Mayor Paul TenHaken and Smithfield CEO Shane Smith, announced Feb. 16, in what will be...
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SD native killed in bus crash was ‘greatest human’
Carter Johnson loved baseball. But he used to loathe it. He would have rather played football than follow in his dad’s footsteps. Jeff Johnson, who played baseball for South Dakota State University, said his son thought baseball was a “stupid sport”...
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Custer’s Scandinavian restaurant named one of best in U.S.
Chic Newport Beach to the Black Hills of South Dakota? That’s a new one. But, oh, this fine-dining duo made it worth every mile to the Midwest, and now we have the most decadent lobster steam buns all to ourselves. Until now. Skogen Kitchen, Custer’s...
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Compartmented
Dakota State University will have a sensitive compartmented information facility (SCIF) in its applied research lab in Sioux Falls, DSU President José-Marie Griffiths confirmed Feb. 5 to appropriators in Pierre. Potential for a SCIF at DSU was first...
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Student informants spur academic freedom debate
Texas A&M University told philosophy professor Martin Peterson in early January that he could not teach some of Greek philosopher Plato’s writings that touch on “race and gender ideology.” The university’s local chapter of the American Association of...
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Corn harvest revision hits USDA’s credibility
CHICAGO – The U.S. Department of Agriculture, long the world’s gold standard for crop estimates, faces mounting doubts about the reliability of its data from farmers, grain traders and economists following deep staff losses and a sharp upward revision...
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6 more suspects found in Epstein files, officials say
WASHINGTON – Two House members who led the effort to force the Justice Department to release more documents about accused sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein said they discovered at least six more suspected accomplices. The department began Feb. 9 allowing...
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Hundreds protest against ICE outside Super Bowl
SANTA CLARA, CA – They came, they marched, they chanted − all under a close watch. But it wasn’t ICE agents who patrolled the streets on Super Bowl Sunday, as many had anticipated. Hundreds of people on Feb. 8 took over a main thoroughfare less than 2...
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SD House defeats voting on school district opt-outs
Thirty-nine legislators voted against a bill Feb. 4 in the South Dakota House of Representatives that would’ve brought every single school district optout to a public vote. After Senate Bill 85 failed to pass, with 29 lawmakers voting for it and two...
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‘America, why am I not yours?’
There’s a 25-pound bag of rice on a doorstep in the Whittier Neighborhood. h A Sioux Falls resident, referred to here as Jones, says behind the door is a family afraid to leave and soon to be evicted if the primary provider doesn’t return home from...
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Pedestrian deaths by trains persisting
In 2018, high-speed passenger trains branded as Brightline started running along the formerly freight-only Florida East Coast Railway. Initial service from Miami to West Palm Beach was extended to Orlando in 2023. Unfortunately, the southern end of the...
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How to cheer on Team USA from Sioux Falls
Winter Olympics begin this week. h The Olympic Winter Games Milano Cortina 2026 will be held in Milan, Italy, with opening ceremonies, figure skating and women’s ice hockey starting Feb. 6, and closing ceremonies, curling and men’s ice hockey finishing...
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Gassen’s gift $1M to USD for new track & field fieldhouse
VERMILLION — Bill and Jill Gassen have gifted the University of South Dakota’s athletics department $1 million as the university aims to raise money for a new fieldhouse. The fieldhouse would host the Coyotes’ track and field programs. Athletic...
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Bills to loosen gun laws fail in committee
PIERRE — A pair of questions that struck the bullseye contributed to a South Dakota legislative committee’s uncharacteristic rejection of two bills to roll back concealed gun laws Monday at the state Capitol. The first bill would have relieved college...
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WONDER HOUND
The search for a 10-year-old boy, who was missing in Sioux Falls for roughly 20 hours, involved a wide range of police resources, including a bloodhound named Gary. Gary, a 1-year-old bloodhound, and his handler, North Dakota Highway Patrol trooper...
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Restaurants to compete in third annual contest
The Southside Slamwich has announced this year’s 16 restaurants that will participate in its third annual food competition. Co-organizer Jess Jones says the 12 participants from last year’s contest, which includes any restaurant south of 41st Street...
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Sioux Falls nonprofits experience donor fatigue
Though the holidays have come and gone, the spirit of generosity continues, especially as the new year begins. In the rapidly growing Sioux Falls metro area, residents have no shortage of causes and organizations to choose from when deciding how and...
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Deportations from ICE street arrests increase
The Trump administration dramatically increased deportations by arresting migrants on American streets, often without criminal records, according to a new report. The Deportation Data Project’s report, released on Jan. 27, shows the sweeping effects...
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Independents slam SD GOP for ICE shooting responses
PIERRE — After the killing of two American citizens at the hands of federal agents, South Dakota’s red line between the Trump administration and executive overreach may be more of a scarlet wall. At least, that’s how Craig Brown says he views...
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Sheriff Mike Milstead announces retirement
Wanted: A new Minnehaha County sheriff. After nearly 30 years behind the badge, Mike Milstead says he will not run for re-election and will retire at the end of his term. In a surprise appearance made Jan. 28 on KELO’s Greg Belfrage weekday morning...
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The Cattitude Cafe to close at end of month
The Cattitude Cafe in downtown Sioux Falls will close its doors Jan. 31, after 2.5 years of business, according to posts on its Facebook, Instagram and TikTok pages Jan. 24. The post stated that the decision “didn’t come easily,” but the business...
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Trump reports ‘very good call’ with Walz
MINNEAPOLIS – President Donald Trump on Jan. 26 said he had a “very good call” with Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, and the two “seemed to be on a similar wavelength” amid the fallout from the fatal shooting of Alex Pretti by Border Patrol agents. “Governor...
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