RAPID CITY, S.D. – Monument Health's flagship hospital received the lowest federal quality rating possible over the past two years, according to the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, which helps patients evaluate hospital safety and quality of care. Monument Health leaders said they are working hard to raise the rating by CMS, which gave the Rapid City hospital a 1 out of a possible 5 star rating. No other hospital in South Dakota or within a 200-mile radius of Rapid City had a 1-star rating in 2023, the latest year the ratings were released. Among the 14 hospitals in the state that ..read more

Editor's note: This is the eighth in a series of stories on children that Jackie Hendry, producer and host of South Dakota Public Broadcasting's "South Dakota Focus" is writing for South Dakota News Watch. Each month, she previews the upcoming show. SIOUX FALLS, S.D. – South Dakota has more children in the foster system than families to care for them. On average, there were more than 1,000 children in the system in any given month last year but just over 800 foster families licensed statewide. Children enter the system for a number of reasons, but the leading causes of foster placement in the ..read more

To the uninitiated, taking a sick resident of a nursing home to a hospital or emergency room might not seem like a big deal. But those trips can be brutal for elderly patients and facility staff – often requiring the hooking or unhooking of medical equipment, bundling of patients into warm clothes, helping them in their wheelchair or walker into a van and enduring wait times to see a nurse or doctor who doesn't always have access to their medical records. "It’s not good for anyone to go to an emergency department but especially for the elderly population," said Josh Hofmeyer, CEO of Dow Rumme ..read more

SIOUX FALLS, S.D. – Camela Theeler and Eric Schulte each took an important step Thursday in their path to becoming federal district judges and giving South Dakota’s U.S. District Court full representation for the first time since 2021. Theeler and Schulte passed through the Senate Judiciary Committee in Washington and were favorably reported to the full U.S. Senate, where a final confirmation vote is expected in the next few weeks. “I think it will move fairly quickly,” Carl Tobias, a University of Richmond law professor who studies federal judicial nominations, told News Watch. “(Senate Majo ..read more

SIOUX FALLS, S.D. – Travis Entenman stood on the banks of the Big Sioux River in central Sioux Falls on an early April afternoon, watching the future flow. High winds swept through Falls Park, the city’s namesake, as he spoke of downtown development and a master plan for the park that will showcase a stretch of the 419-mile-long tributary that weaves through South Dakota’s largest city. “I’m hopeful that we can get the river to a place that the whole community can be proud of,” said Entenman, managing director of Friends of the Big Sioux River, a nonprofit that works to protect and restore th ..read more

South Dakota's attorney general, a lawyer who represents journalists and a First Amendement expert will explain how to navigate the state's open meetings and records laws during a free seminar on Saturday, April 20. The training will be held online, and a limited number of tickets will be available for in-person sessions at South Dakota Public Broadcasting's studios in Sioux Falls and Rapid City. "Understanding South Dakota's Open Government Laws" is designed for journalists, students, public officials and South Dakotans who want to learn more about information that's publicly available or sho ..read more

The U.S. Supreme Court is weighing a case involving medication abortion that could change the way some South Dakota women access abortion services by crossing the border into neighboring states. Watching closely is South Dakota Attorney General Marty Jackley, who has joined other state AGs in saying that relaxed federal regulation of abortion pills makes it tougher for states to enforce their own laws. The Supreme Court's first abortion-related case since overturning Roe v. Wade in 2022 involves the Food and Drug Administration’s oversight of mifepristone, the primary drug used for medication ..read more

The high cost of obtaining health care in South Dakota – ranked second most expensive in the nation – is prompting some residents to forgo necessary medical care over worries they cannot afford it, according to a recent national data analysis. South Dakota is followed only by North Carolina in a new national ranking of health care expenses based on the cost of medical care and insurance. At nearly $12,500 per year, the state has the highest per-capita health care spending rate among all Great Plains states, the data show. Largely based on data from KFF, formerly the Kaiser Family Foundation ..read more

VERMILLION, S.D. – Tracelyn Gesteland was an ambitious opera teacher and vocalist when she arrived at the University of South Dakota in 2008, firmly aware of the irony of her entrance. If she was going to make her mark in perhaps the most metropolitan and exclusive of the cultural performing arts, why was she in the heart of the Great Plains, with not an opera set in sight? “I had come from Chicago and Houston, which had very vibrant arts scenes,” said Gesteland, a professor of voice and opera at USD. “I had my doubts, to be honest, about whether I would stay here long.” Fast forward to early ..read more

Editor's note: This is the seventh in a series of stories on children that Jackie Hendry, producer and host of South Dakota Public Broadcasting's "South Dakota Focus" will write for South Dakota News Watch. Each month, she previews the upcoming show. RAPID CITY, S.D. – Just inside the Dahl Arts Center in downtown Rapid City, a large canvas features the painting of an outdoor basketball court behind a chain link fence and barbed wire. An eagle glides in the sky above a fuchsia building. Flowers bloom in the foreground – each representing a girl serving time at the nearby Juvenile Services Cent ..read more