NEMO, S.D. – South Dakota Mines is planning to build a more than 9,000-square-foot geology field station in Nemo. The new facility will give students a dedicated space to live and collaborate while completing required field camps.

The project is being completed in conjunction with the South Dakota Mines Center for Alumni Relations and Advancement (CARA). Currently, geology students have to commute from the Rapid City campus to remote locations every day to complete their field camps.

The new center is aimed at making the study of Black Hills geology more accessible while providing late-night mentorship and a better space for students to hang out and work together.

“Several years ago we received the generous gift of land in Nemo, and at that moment, you know, that gift of land opened up some opportunities and allowed us to think about what might be possible,” said Marc Vaillancourt, Chief Executive Officer for CARA at South Dakota Mines.

Vaillancourt says the Black Hills are one of the greatest natural geology classrooms in the world, giving students the opportunity to climb rugged terrain, map complex formations, and wrestle with folds, faults, and intrusions. He emphasized that the field camp is a rigorous requirement, where students spend their days in the field conducting research and geological mapping alongside professors.

“The field station and the field camps… that really is the capstone for a student,” Vaillancourt said, “They’ve spent four years studying the work and what it takes to be a geologist or a geological engineer, and now the last thing, the capstone, is that field camp experience, being there in the weeds, so to speak, in the rocks.”

The new 9,415-square-foot facility will feature dormitories and collaboration spaces, functioning as a classroom embedded in the Black Hills. The project is estimated to cost just over $6 million and will be entirely funded by private donors.

The Center for Alumni Relations is hosting a public meeting Monday evening to share their vision and answer questions from Nemo residents. The meeting starts at 6:30 p.m. on Monday, June 8, at the Nemo Community Hall.

Per grew up in Sioux Falls and graduated from South Dakota Mines. He found his passion for weather reporting by the impact it has on the community, both in how people work and how it brings people together through severe weather preparation. He also has a passion for preventing health issues with Air Quality Index awareness. Per can be found enjoying outdoor activities in the Black Hills when the weather allows.

After landing three-star edge rusher/defensive lineman Yahzeen Zion on Saturday, the Wisconsin Badgers got another key commitment at the position on Sunday, as three-star Darin Graham committed to the program.

Graham, a native of Illinois, stands 6’5, 220 pounds, and hails from Mount Carmel, which is where the Badgers got running back Darrion Dupree from in the 2024 class.

The three-star edge rusher was a part of Wisconsin’s first group of official visitors last weekend, but left campus without announcing his commitment.

The two other top suitors here were Ole Miss, which was expected to get an official visit this weekend, and Purdue, but Graham elected to shut down his commitment this weekend and committed to the Badgers on Sunday.

He caps off quite the weekend for outside linebackers coach Matt Mitchell, who now has a loaded room with Graham and Zion (if he sticks at edge) joining three-star in-state recruit Isaac Miller.

Wisconsin also had three-star Texas Tech edge rusher Brody Pfannenstiel on campus this weekend, being a top contender there as well. But, it’s unclear if the Badgers will take another edge rusher after their success this weekend.

Graham becomes commit No. 20 in the class for Wisconsin, and the Badgers still have more to come.

DETROIT (WXYZ) — Two men are dead after being shot in the early morning hours of Sunday, in what police say were separate incidents.

Both shootings took place in between 3 a.m. and 3:30 a.m. We’re told that one shooting happened in the 19000 block of Kelly Road on Detroit’s east side, and the other happened in the 8700 block of Quincy Street on Detroit’s west side.

Authorities say that the circumstances that led up to each of these shootings are unknown. No suspects have been arrested in relation to these cases.