South Dakota

South Dakota State hires Jackson as head coach

Published

1 year ago

January 1, 2025

South Dakota State hires Jackson as head coach

Dec 31, 2024, 09:45 PM ET

BROOKINGS, S.D. — Former South Dakota State player and assistant Dan Jackson has been hired as the Jackrabbits’ new head coach, the school announced Tuesday night.

Jackson takes over for Jimmy Rogers, who left for Washington State after leading the Jackrabbits to the Football Championship Subdivision semifinals.

Jackson was Idaho coach Jason Eck’s defensive coordinator this season and had been set to move to New Mexico for the same position under Eck before the SDSU job opened.

Jackson played for the Jackrabbits from 2003 to 2005 and became a graduate assistant at SDSU in 2012, when the program began its current streak of 13 straight FCS playoff appearances.

He was elevated to cornerbacks coach in 2014 and also served as recruiting and special teams coordinator and assistant head coach under John Stiegelmeier before moving on to Northern Illinois following the 2019 season. Jackson coached two seasons at Northern Illinois, then was hired at Vanderbilt, where he coached defensive backs during the 2022 and 2023 seasons.

The Jackrabbits, who won national titles in 2022 and 2023, finished this season 12-3 overall and as co-champions in the Missouri Valley Football Conference.

Source link

South Dakota

SD Republicans pitch fixed 4.2% sales tax without property tax caveat

Published

11 hours ago

January 29, 2026

Press Room

SD Republicans pitch fixed 4.2% sales tax without property tax caveat

PIERRE — South Dakota’s top Republican leaders want to make the state’s reduced sales tax rate permanent.

Senate President Pro Tempore Chris Karr, R-Sioux Falls, and House Speaker Jon Hansen, R-Dell Rapids, plan to bring Senate Bill 195, which would permanently fix the state’s current sales tax rate at 4.2%. This bill was filed on Jan. 29.

The sales tax percentage was previously set at 4.5%. The 2023 Legislature passed House Bill 1137, which instituted the deceased tax rate starting on July 1, 2023, with a planned expiration date of June 30, 2027.

In a Jan. 29 press conference held after the Legislature adjourned for the day, Karr said the money not generated from the additional three-tenths percentage amount—about $111 million per annum—would directly to tax payer savings.

The Senate leader was explicit in saying his proposal would not go towards property tax relief.

“Would you rather pay more in sales tax to offset somebody else’s owner-occupied property tax?” Karr said “I think most people would say, ‘No, I don’t want that. I don’t want to pay an increased sales tax on food and clothes and the other things I buy to pay for somebody else’s house, their property taxes specifically.’”

Karr expressed concern that allowing the sales tax rate to return to 4.5% would mean the additional revenue generated to go toward “things that aren’t core government.”

“We start using it on shiny objects and things that are for political purposes, so I want to protect these dollars while we can,” Karr said.

More than half of the state’s overall revenue picture is made up of an ongoing sales and use tax, which saw a fiscal year-to-year decrease.

South Dakota FY2025 collected about $1.43 billion from the state sales and use tax — a 1.5% decrease compared with FY2024. Data from the state’s Bureau of Finance & Management indicates several months measured in FY2025 saw dips in sales and use tax growth.

But the Sioux Falls senator argued the state’s average growth in sales tax revenue has remained steady.

South Dakota benefited from billions of dollars of federal pandemic aid during the COVID-19 crisis, which skewed the state’s budgeting and spending priorities in past years, according to South Dakota Searchlight.

Without accounting for those years, Karr said South Dakota’s sales tax growth has increased by 4.3%

Gov. Larry Rhoden noted during his 2025 budget presentation that the FY2026 collections are estimated to reach about $1.5 billion and $1.56 billion in FY2027. State sales and use tax revenue has seen month-to-month growth since June, with a more-than-8% increase in October.

Acknowledging the state’s tight belt appropriators may want around the budget for fiscal 2027, Karr said he believes the expected growth means state government should be able to “absorb” some of the lost sales tax revenue.

“I think we’ll still see some good growth going into next year and hopefully have those dollars for the ‘Big Three,’” Karr said. The “Big Three” refers to South Dakota’s three largest spending areas: Medicaid, K-12 education, and state employee pay.

“I think we can do it, and if I’m wrong, then let’s start ratcheting the sales tax up. But I don’t think it needs to go all the way back up to 4.5% at this time,” Karr said.

Source link

South Dakota

Fact brief: Can people hunt on South Dakota tribal lands?

Published

23 hours ago

January 29, 2026

Press Room

Fact brief: Can people hunt on South Dakota tribal lands?

Yes.

Though rules differ, several South Dakota reservations allow hunting on tribal lands.

The Standing Rock Sioux Tribe, located in north-central South Dakota and parts of North Dakota, allows hunting on its 1.6 million acres. The tribe uses a lottery system for tags for deer, antelope and elk and also offers guided hunts.

The Oglala Sioux Tribe, which includes Pine Ridge in southwestern South Dakota, requires non-members to have a guide who is certified with the reservation. The Yankton Sioux Tribe requires a guide for non-Indians.

The South Dakota Game Fish and Parks has memorandums of understanding with five of the reservations, allowing sharing of information, season recommendations, managing resources and providing law enforcement assistance when requested.

The South Dakota Department of Tribal Relations says hunters should reach out to each individual tribe to learn about their rules and regulations and whether they require guides.

This fact brief responds to conversations such as this one.

Source

SDGF&P, Tribal relations

Standing Rock Sioux Tribe, Game & Fish Department

Oglala Sioux Parks and Recreation Authority, 2024 Hunting Guidebook

Yankton Sioux Tribe, Hunting regulations

South Dakota Department of Tribal Relations, Hunting on tribal lands

South Dakota News Watch partners with Gigafact to publish fact briefs that refute or confirm a claim with supporting information and additional evidence and context.

This story was produced by South Dakota News Watch, an independent, nonprofit organization. Read more stories and donate at sdnewswatch.org and sign up for an email to get stories when they’re published. Contact Michael Klinski at michael.klinski@sdnewswatch.org.

Source link

South Dakota

SDHSAA state basketball tournament to returns to Sioux Falls in 2027

Published

1 day ago

January 28, 2026

Press Room

SDHSAA state basketball tournament to returns to Sioux Falls in 2027

There won’t be any South Dakota high school state basketball championships in Sioux Falls in 2026, breaking a 65-year run of South Dakota’s largest city hosting one of the state’s premier high school sporting events.

The Class AA and A boys tournaments will be in Rapid City at The Monument, with the AA boys in the ice arena and the A boys in Summit Arena from March 19 to 21. The Class B boys will still be at the Barnett Center in Aberdeen on the same dates.

The AA girls will also be at Summit Arena at The Monument in Rapid City on March 12 to 14, the Class A girls will be at the Watertown Civic Arena and the Class B girls will be at First Bank & Trust Arena in Brookings.

The South Dakota High School Activities Association (SDHSAA) updates its website to reflect the next year’s state tournament schedule, but the organization knew well in advance that Sioux Falls would be without a championship in 2026.

SDHSAA Executive Director Dan Swartos, Ed. D., said the Denny Sanford Premier Center is the only venue in Sioux Falls that can hold 5,000 to 7,000 people for a basketball tournament. With a couple of extra events booked for 2026 and an existing contract with the Sioux Falls Stampede requiring Friday and Saturday nights to be saved, that squeezed out the high school state tournaments.

“March of 2026 is a unique year because we were awarded two NCAA events – D2 wrestling and also the NCAA (Division I) hockey regionals,” said Denny Sanford Premier Center General Manager Mike Krewson. “That has never happened in the history of the city before.”

The Summit League tournament is also scheduled for the first week of March. The Summit League is scheduled to be at the Premier Center through 2029, and the center is holding dates beyond in case of a contract renewal.

Swartos said this situation will also arise in 2028, and the success of the 2026 state tournaments will help determine the final plan for 2028. If this Rapid City experiment works out, that can be back on the table.

“We might have an opportunity to have some more casual fans out in Rapid City,” Swartos said. “For the people who are there, if they want to bop between venues for different games throughout the tournament, they’d be allowed to do that and see both classes at the same time.”

Swartos is also considering working with South Dakota State University to get First Bank & Trust Arena and the University of South Dakota for the Sanford Coyote Sports Center, but other logistical challenges arise from there.

The Premier Center is working with the City of Sioux Falls to diversify its events, including concerts, shows and sporting events, but sometimes there are just not enough weeks in a given month or year.

March is especially difficult for scheduling, with the Stampede’s season coming to a close, high school state tournaments taking place and NCAA winter sports seasons ending. That’s a lot of opportunities for the Premier Center to showcase Sioux Falls both in person and on broadcasts.

“Different events reach different people,” Krewson said. “We try to schedule in everything we can and be accommodating, but sometimes there’s not enough weeks in the month. Especially March, which is our busiest.”

The City of Sioux Falls benefits from some of the Premier Center events in more ways than getting people in town. Krewson recalled a curling event that was broadcast on Peacock and NBC Sports that included a promotional package for Sioux Falls that would have cost over $1 million if it were purchased.

“We look at it as revenue, exposure for the community, how is it going to do for tourism, those types of things,” Krewson said.

Krewson noted that the city bids on the NCAA events, then lets him and other Premier Center officials know, so the dates could be saved.

Both parties, the SDHSAA and the Premier Center, will continue their partnership in 2027 and beyond, with the AA boys basketball state tournament in Sioux Falls in 2027. The A boys will be in town in 2029, the AA boys will be back in 2030 and there are requests out for 2031.

Source link