Former President Donald Trump speaks to the media as he leaves court for the day at Manhattan Criminal Court on April 18, 2024, in New York City. Trump was charged with 34 counts of falsifying business records, which prosecutors say was an effort to hide a potential sex scandal, both before and after the 2016 presidential election. (Brendan McDermid-Pool/Getty Images) The New York state court trying former President Donald Trump on criminal charges empaneled a full 12-person jury on the third day of the trial Thursday, according to reports. The trial approached the end of its first phase Thur ..read more

Public lands in the Montana Mountains provide access to the Sheldon National Wildlife Refuge in northwest Nevada. (Bureau of Land Management photo) The Bureau of Land Management will publish a final rule soon allowing the nation’s public lands to be leased for environmental protection, a Thursday news release from the Interior Department said. The rule, which both proponents and detractors say marks a shift in the agency’s focus toward conservation, directs land managers at the agency to identify landscapes in need of restoration and to create plans to fill those needs. It also creates two ne ..read more

A person dials 911 on a mobile phone. (Getty Images) A 911 outage affecting hundreds of calls for emergency services throughout South Dakota on Wednesday night was caused by a company installing a light pole in Kansas City, Missouri, according to South Dakota’s 911 telecommunications provider Lumen, formerly known as CenturyLink. Lumen, which is headquartered in Louisiana, said the outage was caused by a third party but did not offer any further explanation about how the light pole installation caused the outage. The outage included 911 services in South Dakota, Nebraska and Nevada. Another 9 ..read more

Katherine Goodlow holds Coco the puppy outside her grandmother's home in Hisle on the Pine Ridge Reservation in South Dakota. (Arielle Zionts/KFF Health News) HISLE, S.D. — Katherine Goodlow is only 20, but she has experienced enough to know that people around her are dying too young. Goodlow, a member of the Lower Brule Sioux Tribe, said she’s lost six friends and acquaintances to suicide, two to car crashes, and one to appendicitis. Four of her relatives died in their 30s or 40s, from causes such as liver failure and COVID-19, she said. And she recently lost a 1-year-old nephew. “Most Nativ ..read more

The Veterinary Diagnostic Laboratory at Iowa State University tests samples from animals for viruses such as avian influenza. (Photo courtesy of Veterinary Diagnostic Laboratory) It appeared to be a problem with the food. In February, dairy cattle in multiple herds in northern Texas were suddenly producing less milk, and what they gave was abnormal and thick. And the typically voracious eaters had seemingly lost their appetites. For weeks in March, veterinarian Dr. Barb Petersen sought an answer. She talked to dairy owners and exchanged notes with fellow vets in the panhandle of Texas. She su ..read more

An Amtrak engine moves through a rail yard on the southern edge of downtown March 13, 2009, in Chicago, Illinois. (Scott Olson/Getty Images) The head of the South Dakota Department of Transportation dismissed the possibility of passenger rail in the state during a meeting of the Railroad Authority Board on Wednesday. Secretary Joel Jundt addressed the topic during the board’s first meeting since the Federal Railroad Administration presented a map of possible passenger rail futures that, for the first time, presented a possible route through South Dakota. South Dakota is the only state in the ..read more

(Getty Images) Over 21,500 South Dakotans have enrolled in Medicaid expansion since it became available in July 2023, representing about 16% of total Medicaid enrollment in the state. Medicaid is a joint federal-state health insurance program for low-income adults, children, pregnant women, elderly adults and people with disabilities. South Dakota voters approved a citizen-proposed constitutional amendment in 2022 that expanded Medicaid to people whose incomes are 138% of the federal poverty level or less, which is up to $43,056 for a family of four or $20,783 a year for a single person in 20 ..read more

U.S. Department of Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas speaks to the media about an overview of public safety plans for Super Bowl week at the Mandalay Bay Convention Center on Feb. 7, 2024, in Las Vegas, Nevada. (Candice Ward/Getty Images) WASHINGTON — The U.S. Senate on Wednesday dismissed two articles of impeachment against Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas. The Democrat-controlled chamber voted, 51-49 along party lines, to adjourn the impeachment trial after finding that the impeachment articles accusing Mayorkas of not complying with federal immigration law and br ..read more

U.S. Speaker of the House Mike Johnson of Louisiana, center, listens as Rep. Mike McCaul of Texas, left, speaks during a press conference at the U.S. Capitol on April 16, 2024 in Washington, D.C. Also pictured is House Majority Leader Rep. Steve Scalise of Louisiana, right. (Win McNamee/Getty Images) WASHINGTON — U.S. House Republicans unveiled three bills Wednesday that would provide $95 billion overall in assistance to Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan, instead of voting on a similar bipartisan Senate-approved package that’s been waiting around for months. The Ukraine bill would provide $60.84 bil ..read more

The Hughes County Courthouse in Pierre, pictured in November 2022. (John Hult/South Dakota Searchlight) Three out of every five people who go to civil court in the U.S. do so without a lawyer. That figure comes from the Self-Reported Litigation Network. While the South Dakota Unified Judicial System hasn’t studied how often that happens in the state, South Dakota Supreme Court Chief Justice Steven Jensen said there are plenty of examples. Those cases are called “pro se,” meaning people are representing themselves — often because they can’t find or afford a lawyer. The problem is a concern in ..read more