South Dakota
Justice disparities on South Dakota reservations need attention, US attorney general says
U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland speaks to the media on Aug. 14, 2024, in Sioux Falls. (Joshua Haiar/South Dakota Searchlight)
SIOUX FALLS — U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland said Wednesday during a visit to South Dakota that national crime rates have declined, but challenges remain on tribal reservations in the state.
“We know that progress in some communities has not been the same,” Garland said. “Progress across the country is still uneven. Of course, there is no level of violent crime that’s acceptable.”
He said that since 2021, the Justice Department has allocated $19.1 million to support tribal justice initiatives in South Dakota.
“Tribal communities deserve safety and justice,” he said.
Garland’s visit included a Sioux Falls meeting with Alison Ramsdell, the U.S. attorney for the District of South Dakota, as well as federal, state, local and tribal law enforcement leaders. He was scheduled to participate in a roundtable meeting later Wednesday in Wagner with members of the Yankton Sioux Tribe and U.S. Sen. Mike Rounds, R-South Dakota.
John Pettigrew, acting police chief of the Oglala Sioux Tribe, recently told a congressional committee that federal funding for tribal law enforcement — which is required by treaties dating to the 1800s — is “a joke.” He said the tribe’s Department of Public Safety is funded at 15% of its needs, a shortfall that has led to inadequate staffing levels, longer response times and officer burnout.
Police Chief Edwin Young of the Yankton Sioux Tribe told South Dakota Searchlight prior to Wednesday’s meeting in Sioux Falls that the tribe struggles to recruit and retain officers.
“We need competitive pay with the local law enforcement. We don’t have a real retirement system. That stuff is pretty much nonexistent in most tribal programs,” Young said.
His department currently operates with three officers and needs at least 12 to police the area effectively, he said.
Logistical hurdles in training and recruitment exacerbate the funding challenges.
Traditionally, tribal officers have had to complete their training at a Bureau of Indian Affairs facility in New Mexico, a requirement that has been a barrier to recruiting new officers. Bu the bureau recently lent its support to a new, state-led summer training session in Pierre, which is providing training closer to home for prospective tribal officers. Rounds has asked for for the establishment of a federal tribal law enforcement training facility in the Great Plains region.
Prior to Garland’s visit, public safety on reservations in South Dakota had been a longstanding topic of public debate.
Gov. Kristi Noem gave a speech in January claiming that Mexican drug cartels are operating on reservations, and she’s repeated those claims many times since. Those and other comments led leaders of all nine of the tribes in the state to vote in support of banning her from their reservations. Noem did not attend the meeting Wednesday in Sioux Falls.
Additionally, the Oglala Sioux Tribe has sued the federal government, alleging it’s failing to adequately uphold its treaty obligation to fund public safety. Concerns about public safety on the tribe’s Pine Ridge Reservation have been heightened recently after a 56-year-old man was fatally shot at a powwow earlier this month.
South Dakota Searchlight is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. South Dakota Searchlight maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Seth Tupper for questions: info@southdakotasearchlight.com. Follow South Dakota Searchlight on Facebook and X.
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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