South Dakota
28 teams battle for 2024 VEX Robotics State Championship
SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (Dakota News Now) – Last year, a team of Harrisburg High School seniors represented South Dakota in the World Robotics Championships and took home first place.
On Saturday, over 20 teams battled for VEX Robotics State Championship. The interest in robotics is growing around the state and the tougher competition will only help students grow in their skills.
“It’s been crazy. We’ve been doing this for eight years now and I remember at our first competition, there were eight teams there,” said Sam Newitt with the “Robo Chickens” team.
“The state robotics as well as Mitchell robotics has grown a lot in my time being here and that’s really exciting to see the program grow and be sustainable,” said Gabe with the “Vexinators” team.
Young minds and bright futures are pushing robotics forward in South Dakota. From humble beginnings in the first competitions to a world champion last year, youth are being inspired to get involved.
“For me, it’s very important to see this growth because we need a place for these kids, these future engineers, these future programmers to practice these skills and learn about what they can do early on,” said Event Engagement Manager with REC Foundation Chris Stewart.
Stewart was a former teacher at Harrisburg South Middle School and helped kickstart robotics there. Now, he works for the tournament organizer. Seeing the students flourish is his favorite part of the state championship.
“Today is the testament of how much work they’ve put in, how many hours they’ve put in and what they’ve managed to accomplish,” Stewart said.
While robotics is not a school-sponsored activity, students each have a unique path to getting interested and getting started.
“The way that I got involved initially was my dad was involved back when I was in elementary school and he took me along to a couple competitions and I just know I fell in love with it. Thomas and I kind of knew each other already and we just kind of decided to start from there,” Newitt explained.
“What interests me is I’m really into the building aspect. I like problem-solving and the creating aspect of just building something with your hands from scratch,” Gabe said.
Word of mouth is huge for growing the activity in South Dakota and it helps to have recognition from last year’s world champion team from Harrisburg.
“To see them go from a small town community and we compete against them and everything and then to see that kind of level at worlds was really awesome to see,” Gabe said.
Saturday’s winners included Robotics from Sioux Falls and Flapjack from Harrisburg.
The Vexinators from Mitchell took home the excellence award.
The new champions will make their way to Dallas for the world championships in April.
Copyright 2024 KSFY. All rights reserved.
South Dakota
Republican businessman Toby Doeden advances to primary runoff in South Dakota governor’s race
Republican businessman Toby Doeden has advanced to a runoff in South Dakota governor’s race, NBC News projects.
Gov. Larry Rhoden, who replaced Kristi Noem last year when President Donald Trump nominated her to lead the Department of Homeland Security, was battling with Rep. Dusty Johnson and former state House Speaker Jon Hansen for a second spot in the July 28 runoff. The primary will go to a runoff because no candidate eclipsed 35% of the vote.
Trump did not issue an endorsement in the race. Doeden branded himself on his campaign website as “a total political outsider who’s tired of the government’s failure to deliver on its promises” and one of Trump’s “fiercest supporters.”
Rhoden, a former lieutenant governor, agriculture secretary and lawmaker, campaigned on property tax cuts and lowering crime in his bid for a four-year term.
Johnson is the state’s lone representative in the House, where he previously was chair of the Republican Main Street Caucus. Hansen, who was elected to the South Dakota House in 2010, held several leadership positions before he became speaker.
The Republican nominee will be the favorite to win the general election in the solidly red state this fall. A Democrat has not served as governor in South Dakota since the 1970s, and Trump carried the state by 29 points in 2024.
News
Agronomist: eastern South Dakota crops hit and miss
An agronomist in eastern South Dakota says corn and soybeans are hit and miss as the growing season begins.
Steven Zemlicka with AgTegra Cooperative tells Brownfield, “We’ve got corn anywhere from V1 all the way up to V4. Biggest stuff’s maybe touching V5. Corn’s coming right along, looks pretty good. A little bit of hail here too, but I don’t think it’s going to be much of an issue. Stands for the most part are pretty good, pretty solid.”
Zemlicka says soybean emergence has been slow due to the wet, cool conditions, and there are a few fields that still need planted.
“People were still working on planting soybeans when we got the recent rain.”
He says recent rain totals ranged from a half inch to as much as four inches in the northeast part of South Dakota; the southern part of the state has been drier.
South Dakota’s corn is rated 61 percent good to excellent, with soybean conditions rated 57 percent good to excellent, according to USDA’s first condition ratings of the season.
RAPID CITY, S.D. (KOTA) – The South Dakota Community Foundation is encouraging nonprofits to apply for funding this June.
Beth Massa and Ginger Niemann joined us live with what you need to know before applying.
Watch the full interview above.
See a spelling or grammatical error in our story? Please click here to report it.
Do you have a photo or video of a breaking news story? Send it to us here with a brief description.
Copyright 2026 KOTA. All rights reserved.
-
Los Angeles, Ca43 minutes agoCalifornia primary election results: governor and L.A. mayor races
-
Detroit, MI1 hour agoAnother bribery scandal hits Detroit. It involves the People Mover
-
San Francisco, CA1 hour agoWhat’s Worth More Than Cash in San Francisco Real Estate? Anthropic Stock
-
Dallas, TX1 hour agoDallas weighs $500 million‑plus repair plans as City Hall’s future comes up for debate
-
Miami, FL1 hour agoMiami biotech executive was followed into his condo by man who allegedly threw him from 25th floor
-
Boston, MA1 hour agoWhat a World Cup ‘fan zone’ is and what Boston fans can expect in 2026
-
Denver, CO2 hours agoDefensive lineman Jordan Miller has a tough battle to make the Broncos’ final 53-man roster
-
Seattle, WA2 hours agoVIDEO: Mayor Wilson proposes renewing, expanding Seattle Transit Measure by doubling the sales-tax percentage that funds it.
