South Dakota
House State Affairs committee passes bill prohibiting ‘obscene live conduct’ at colleges
The House State Affairs committee voted Monday morning to advance a bill prohibiting the Board of Regents or any institution under its control from using state resources for obscene live conduct.
Rep. Chris Karr’s (R-Sioux Falls) bill represents his second year of bringing legislation on this topic. In 2023, he sponsored and cosponsored bills aimed at preventing a student-led drag show held in November 2022 at South Dakota State University from ever happening again.
Drag became popular in 19th century British theater and has heavy roots in modern LGBTQ+ culture for its performance and entertainment styles that challenge traditional assumptions of gender identity and expression.
While Karr said in his rebuttal on Monday that opponents to his bill misunderstood it because he never mentioned drag or drag shows in his testimony Monday, opponent testimony and testimony from previous bill hearings indicates that’s where the focus lies.
A similar bill, House Bill 1113, to “prohibit the use of state resources for the provision of lewd or lascivious content,” was killed earlier in the session and mirrored the bills Karr brought in 2023, House Bill 1116 and House Bill 1125.
More: House committee kills bill aimed at limiting drag performances on South Dakota campuses
In introducing his bill, Karr said it would complement a policy by the South Dakota Board of Regents that prohibits minors who aren’t university students from attending events or being on campus without the supervision of an authorized adult, parent, legal guardian or other chaperone. The policy also prohibits programs involving the presence of minors to include obscene live conduct.
Karr’s bill prohibits the use of state-owned facilities or properties to develop, implement, facilitate, host, or promote any obscene live conduct, and prohibits spending public money in support of obscene live conduct.
The bill also requires the attorney general to represent the Board of Regents, an institution under its control or an employee of either if a complaint or lawsuit is brought against them for following the law.
Other proponents of the bill included Florence Thompson of South Dakota Parents Involved in Education and South Dakota Citizens for Liberty, and Norman Woods of Family Heritage Alliance Action.
More: Taking aim at drag shows, South Dakota Board of Regents pass ‘minors on campus’ policy
Opponents of the bill included Michael Garofalo with Student Federation, which represents the student governments at each of South Dakota’s six public colleges; Samantha Chapman with the ACLU of South Dakota; Melissa McCauley with South Dakota for Equity; Yvonne Taylor with the South Dakota Advocacy Network for Women; Ben Sherman; and Brett Ries.
They largely argued that this bill chills free speech and expression, poses a threat to vibrant and diverse campus activities, that the Board of Regents already has policy on this issue and that this could open up the state to a costly legal challenge.
Garofalo said legislative stances from the Student Federation require unanimous support from each institution, and student leaders were “keen” to stand in opposition to the bill. He said students want to close this chapter of opposition to drag shows and move on. He also said the bill could affect certain Hobo Day events at SDSU.
Campus organizations are uncomfortable after the “aftermath” of the discussions on this subject and similar legislation, some of the rhetoric and discourse was less than kind, and there are real people affected by bills like this, Garofalo added.
Eleven members of the committee voted to pass the bill while the sole two dissenting votes came from Democratic Reps. Erin Healy and Oren Lesmeister. The bill will now advance to a vote on the House floor.
RAPID CITY, S.D. (KOTA) – Students at South Dakota Mines heard Wednesday from retired four-star general Maryanne Miller about her journey to the highest ranks of the U.S. military.
Miller is a retired four-star U.S. Air Force general. She is the only member of the Air Force Reserve ever to be promoted to this level.
She spoke about finding greatness and living a life of fulfillment. Her stories came from her time in the Air Force and as a volunteer for Saint Teresa of Calcutta’s Missionaries of Charity.
“We so much get focused on what is our next step in life, what’s the next career move, how do we make ourselves better in our career, and we forget about how do we make ourselves better as a human being,” Miller said. “Because they have to go tandem. If it’s not tandem, you’re going to get off track.”
Miller was commissioned in 1981 and rose through the ranks before becoming a four-star general in 2018. She was the only woman serving as a four-star officer in the military at the time. She retired in 2020 after serving for almost 40 years.
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South Dakota
USDA to offer distaster assistance to South Dakota agriculture producers impacted by winter storms
SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (Dakota News Now) – The U.S. Department of Agriculture is offering financial and technical assistance to South Dakota farmers and livestock producers who may have been impacted by the recent winter storms.
“I encourage impacted producers to contact their local USDA Service Center to report losses and learn more about program options available to assist in their recovery from crop, land, infrastructure, and livestock losses and damages.” said Richard Fordyce, Production and Conservation Under Secretary.
FSA’s Emergency Conservation Program and Emergency Forest Restoration Program can assist landowners with financial assistance to restore damaged land and conservation structures or forests.
“Our staff will work one-on-one with landowners to make assessments of the damages and develop methods that focus on effective recovery of the land.” said Jessica Michalski, Acting NRCS State Conservationist in South Dakota.
For more information about the disaster assistance program, click here.
Copyright 2026 Dakota News Now. All rights reserved.
South Dakota Gov. Larry Rhoden, left, and Lt. Gov. Tony Venhuizen unveil a plaque for retired U.S. Navy Capt. E. Royce Williams in the Hall of Honor at the Capitol in Pierre on March 25, 2026. (Photo by Meghan O’Brien/South Dakota Searchlight)
PIERRE, S.D. (South Dakota Searchlight) — There’s a new name in the South Dakota Hall of Honor at the state Capitol building.
One-hundred-year-old South Dakota native and retired U.S. Navy Capt. E. Royce Williams was celebrated at a Wednesday ceremony where a plaque honoring him was unveiled, although Williams did not attend.
“In spite of being outnumbered and facing incredible danger, Captain Williams engaged the enemy with courage and skill,” said Republican Gov. Larry Rhoden. “Our state has always had a strong tradition of service, and Captain Williams is the very best of that tradition.”
President Donald Trump awarded Williams the Medal of Honor, the country’s highest military honor, at the State of the Union address earlier this year. The medal honors actions by Williams that had been classified for decades.
“His story was secret for over 50 years, he didn’t even want to tell his wife, but the legend grew and grew,” Trump said during the speech in February. “But tonight, at 100 years old, this brave Navy captain is finally getting the recognition he deserves.”
On Nov. 18, 1952, over Korean coastal waters during the Korean War, then-Lt. Williams, from Wilmot, South Dakota, led three F9F Panthers against seven Soviet MiG-15s. He disabled three enemy jets and damaged a fourth.
The Soviet jets, according to the U.S. Naval Institute, were “superior to the F9F in almost every fashion.” The mission was the only direct overwater combat between U.S. Navy fighters and Soviet fighters during the Cold War.
Williams, one of 11 Medal of Honor recipients from South Dakota, now lives in California. The Hall of Honor at the South Dakota Capitol is located in the hallway that visitors enter immediately after going through security.
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