South Dakota

Lawmaker panel set to back app store and device-based age verification for minors • South Dakota Searchlight

Published

2 years ago

October 2, 2024

Companies that run app stores or make mobile phones and tablets could be required to verify the age of their users in South Dakota under the terms of legislative proposals presented Wednesday in Pierre.

Lawmakers with the Study Committee on Artificial Intelligence and Regulation of Internet Access by Minors voted unanimously to ask the state Legislative Research Council to draft the two “age gating” bills for presentation during the 2025 legislative session, which starts in January.

South Dakota attorney general tells lawmakers to consider age verification for porn sites

Committee members heard testimony for and against the age verification strategy during the seven-hour hearing. A representative from Facebook parent company Meta and online safety advocates were among those to support the ideas; trade group representatives for app developers and other tech companies came out against them.

No state has passed laws for app- or device-based age verification, but Meta is among the players to have signaled support for the idea, and U.S. Rep. John James, R-Michigan, has introduced a bill on app-based verification in Congress.

“This is a bipartisan idea, a common sense idea,” said John Schweppe, policy director for the Virginia-based American Principles Project, which he described as “a pro-family conservative group. “It’s been something that folks have frankly agreed on for a long time, that we should be able to protect kids from harmful material online.”

Schweppe pointed to the passage of age verification laws in 19 states that put the burden for verification on websites or social media companies. The South Dakota House of Representatives passed a similar bill this year, but it was killed in a Senate committee.
Other states’ bills have faced legal challenges from tech companies, which argue they violate the First Amendment rights of adults. One such law out of Texas currently awaits a hearing from the U.S. Supreme Court.

Proposals pitched as ‘one and done’ age verification

App-based age verification would require app stores run by companies like Apple or Google to offer parental control features, many of which are already available. App stores would be required to take “commercially reasonable and technically feasible steps” to determine or estimate a user’s age and to require those younger than 16 to get a parent’s permission before downloading apps to mobile devices.

Aberdeen man becomes first charged under new law banning computer-generated child porn

The law would require app stores to send “a digital signal” to websites, applications or online services to say if a person accessing them is younger than 13 years of age, between 13 and 16, between 16 and 18, or older than 18.

Companies that develop apps, meanwhile, would be required to use that information to “provide readily available features” that would allow parents to limit their child’s time on the app, see who their “friends” are on social media apps, to see who their children are messaging with and who their children have blocked.

The device-based age verification proposal would include the same requirements for app stores, but would also require device-makers to try and determine a user’s age and send digital signals.

Some social media apps already offer parental control features similar to those that would be required under such a proposal. Meta recently rolled out a series of updates to Instagram meant to offer more control to parents and more restrictive experiences for teen accounts.

Nicole Lopez, who oversees youth safety policy for Meta, appeared in person at the South Dakota Capitol building Wednesday to outline some of those features and pledge its support for the app-based age verification proposal.

“While Meta has a robust, multi-layered approach to determining one’s age, we are only one part of the online ecosystem,” Lopez said. “The reality is kids are not only getting smartphones at increasingly younger ages, but they hop from app to app to app to app.”

One study from the University of Michigan, Lopez said, found that teens access an average of 40 apps a week. An app-based age control system “will not only make it easier on parents, but it will empower them when it comes to overseeing their teens’ experiences online.”

Joel Thayer, president of the bipartisan Digital Progress Institute, said an app store-based system could be the simplest way to add guardrails against the ills of social media.

“The evidence is staggering,” Thayer said, that “social media is harmful to children. He cited a recent call for a warning label on social media from the U.S. surgeon general and a host of statistics tying depression, body image issues and spikes in suicidal thoughts by teens to spending five or more hours a day on social media.

“The good news is that states like yours can take action,” Thayer said.

An app store-based system with digital signals “presents a one-and-done solution for apps.

“You only prove it to the app store once,” he said.

Opponents: Free speech concerns, unintended consequences

Kristian Stout of the Portland, Oregon-based nonprofit International Center for Law and Economics testified against the proposal. App store data on user ages can be unreliable, he said, and forcing companies to expend resources to create digital signals could stifle innovation in smaller companies.

Stout also talked through a few of the ways users can bypass digital signals. Users can switch their mobile browser to desktop mode, for example, “which makes a website think you’re not on a mobile device,” thereby preventing mobile device signals – and their associated age-gating content restrictions – from being sent when a user tries to access adult content from an app like Reddit.

“Smart kids know how to do this,” Stout said. “If I know how to do it and I’m 47, my 16-year-old son definitely knows how to do this.

Stout was also among the witnesses to encourage lawmakers to consider an approach that would place a premium on educating parents and children about online safety and the existing tools to track youth behavior.

‘Firehose’ of information confronts legislators studying internet use by children and AI

Justin Hill of NetChoice, a tech company trade association, told lawmakers that it’s unnecessary to pass laws that might fail a First Amendment test when so many options already exist for parents.

“The devices already do all the things that were said today,” Hill said.

Hill’s organization also submitted written testimony opposing app-based age verification, as did the Computer and Communications Industry Association in a letter submitted to the Legislature.

That organization’s policy director, Khara Boender, testified that digital literacy is key. She also talked about the bills’ assumptions regarding traditional family structures in a country where not all children live with their parents, and how the device-based proposal raises questions about how the law would handle devices that aren’t purchased new.

“When a cousin or sibling graduates from college and they get a new phone for a graduation gift, they may be transferring that phone down to a younger sibling, where we need to actually ensure that the protections and device settings that currently exist are turned on correctly,” Boender said.

Two proposals garner committee support

Committee members had four versions of the age verification bills to review Wednesday. One focused on app store-based age verification, another on app store- and device-based verification. Each of those would level civil and criminal penalties against non-compliant companies.

Another version of the app store-based proposal only applied civil penalties.

Yet another proposal would revive the 2024 bill that would have required website-based age verification to access adult content. That bill was sponsored by Rep. Bethany Soye, R-Sioux Falls, who is also a committee member. On Wednesday, she voiced concerns that app store-based age-gating would fail to address the issue of minors accessing pornography on web browsers. Others testified along those same lines, arguing that South Dakota’s failure to advance that bill was a stain on its reputation as a state that cares about kids.

“I think we need to stop talking about it and start being about it,” said Karen McNeal, an independent state Senate candidate from Rapid City.

The committee voted unanimously to send the first two proposals — containing civil and criminal penalties — to the Legislative Research Council for drafting. They also voted to send a bill that would define artificial intelligence under state law to the council.

Committee vice-chairman, Republican Rep. Mike Weisgram of Fort Pierre, said the endorsements wouldn’t prevent individual lawmakers from sponsoring the remaining proposals.

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South Dakota

Land and Lending Conference to feature national speakers on anniversary of 1929 market crash

Published

3 hours ago

June 9, 2026

Press Room

Land and Lending Conference to feature national speakers on anniversary of 1929 market crash

June 9, 2026

This event listing is sponsored by South Dakota State University.

A prominent financial journalist will anchor a conference in Sioux Falls this fall that explores the credit cycle in the context of the 1929 stock market crash.

The 2026 South Dakota Land and Lending Conference, presented by the Ness School of Management and Economics at South Dakota State University, will be Oct. 15 at the Denny Sanford PREMIER Center.

The date marks the 97th anniversary of the onset of the 1929 crash, the greatest financial collapse in American history. Fittingly, the conference this year will explore the credit cycle — how markets expand, overheat and seize — and what that cycle means for real estate, agricultural land, lending and the rural economy.

The event draws roughly 500 real estate developers, agricultural lenders, bankers, investors, policymakers and students from across South Dakota and the region.

“The 1929 crash extended from Wall Street to Main Street,” said Joe Santos, the Larry and Diane Ness endowed director and professor of economics at the Ness School. “It traveled to the farm economy, collapsing commodity prices, depressing land values and shutting down the credit channel along the way. Ninety-seven years later, the credit cycle persists, and the business and policy challenges it creates are ones our audience faces every day. It is the right moment to examine them.”

Andrew Ross Sorkin to anchor morning fireside

The morning opens with a fireside conversation between Santos and Andrew Ross Sorkin, co-anchor of CNBC’s “Squawk Box,” founder of DealBook at The New York Times and author of “1929: The Inside Story of the Greatest Crash in Wall Street History,” named a Best Book of 2025 by TIME, The Economist, Financial Times and Bloomberg. His earlier book, “Too Big to Fail,” reconstructed the 2008 financial crisis with the same narrative depth.

“Andrew is among the most accomplished financial journalists of his generation,” Santos said. “His new book reconstructs 1929 the way “Too Big to Fail” reconstructed 2008: from the inside, with requisite detail and depth. Hosting Andrew on the 97th anniversary of the crash is no accident.”

Sorkin will then join the land panel “Challenges and Opportunities in Real Estate” alongside Eric Lynch, economist at the National Association of Home Builders; Sean Turgeon, partner and state-certified general real estate appraiser at Rogers Appraisal Service Inc.; and David Widmar, co-founder and managing partner of Agricultural Economic Insights. Paul TenHaken, mayor of the city of Sioux Falls, will moderate the panel.

Natasha Sarin on fiscal policy and the credit channel

Over lunch, Natasha Sarin, president and co-founder of the Budget Lab at Yale, professor at Yale Law School and former counselor to Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen, will join Jake Mortenson, economist at the Joint Committee on Taxation, for a fireside conversation on the federal budget, debt sustainability, fiscal policy and the credit channel. Sarin, who also holds a Ph.D. in economics from Harvard University, is a contributing columnist for The New York Times and a frequent guest on CNBC’s “Squawk Box,” CNN and MS Now.

“Natasha’s research on tax policy, household finance and macroprudential risk management, combined with her Treasury experience, places her at the center of questions that determine the cost of credit for every borrower in the room,” Santos said. “The federal government’s fiscal position and the trajectory of public debt bear directly on Treasury yields, which benchmark mortgage rates, farm credit rates and commercial real estate financing rates.”

Closing panel explores agricultural credit and the rural economy

The afternoon closes with the land and lending panel “Agricultural Credit and the Rural Economy,” featuring Chuck Conner, former deputy and acting secretary of agriculture at the USDA and former president and CEO of the National Council of Farmer Cooperatives; Rick Dusek, executive vice president at CHS Inc.; Tom Halverson, CEO of CoBank; and Hunter Roberts, South Dakota secretary of agriculture and natural resources. Matthew Diersen, the Griffith Chair in Agricultural Finance at the Ness School, will moderate the panel.

“The closing panel brings the conference home,” Santos said. “Conner shaped the federal policy architecture that governs agricultural credit. Halverson leads CoBank, one of the most significant agricultural lenders in rural America. Dusek runs the operational heart of the nation’s largest farmer-owned cooperative. And Hunter Roberts represents the state whose producers, lenders and landowners make up our audience. The Ness School is proud to host them.”

Breakout sessions and reception

Concurrent breakout sessions, sponsored by SDSU Extension, will follow the morning program. A reception will follow the conference close at 2:30 p.m.

Tickets and the full program are available at sdstate.edu/ness-school-management-economics/south-dakota-land-lending-conference-2026.

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South Dakota

SD Lottery Powerball, Lotto America winning numbers for June 8, 2026

Published

13 hours ago

June 9, 2026

Press Room

The South Dakota Lottery offers multiple draw games for those aiming to win big.

Here’s a look at June 8, 2026, results for each game:

Winning Powerball numbers from June 8 drawing

03-24-34-43-49, Powerball: 20, Power Play: 3

Check Powerball payouts and previous drawings here.

Winning Lotto America numbers from June 8 drawing

04-23-25-30-47, Star Ball: 04, ASB: 05

Check Lotto America payouts and previous drawings here.

Winning Millionaire for Life numbers from June 8 drawing

20-25-40-50-55, Bonus: 01

Check Millionaire for Life payouts and previous drawings here.

Feeling lucky? Explore the latest lottery news & results

Are you a winner? Here’s how to claim your prize

Prizes of $100 or less: Can be claimed at any South Dakota Lottery retailer.
Prizes of $101 or more: Must be claimed from the Lottery. By mail, send a claim form and a signed winning ticket to the Lottery at 711 E. Wells Avenue, Pierre, SD 57501.
Any jackpot-winning ticket for Dakota Cash or Lotto America, top prize-winning ticket for Lucky for Life, or for the second prizes for Powerball and Mega Millions must be presented in person at a Lottery office. A jackpot-winning Powerball or Mega Millions ticket must be presented in person at the Lottery office in Pierre.

When are the South Dakota Lottery drawings held?

Powerball: 9:59 p.m. CT on Monday, Wednesday, and Saturday.
Mega Millions: 10 p.m. CT on Tuesday and Friday.
Lucky for Life: 9:38 p.m. CT daily.
Lotto America: 9:15 p.m. CT on Monday, Wednesday and Saturday.
Dakota Cash: 9 p.m. CT on Wednesday and Saturday.
Millionaire for Life: 10:15 p.m. CT daily.

This results page was generated automatically using information from TinBu and a template written and reviewed by a South Dakota editor. You can send feedback using this form.

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South Dakota

Black Hills Bottlenecks: Construction update for the week of June 8

Published

23 hours ago

June 8, 2026

Press Room

Black Hills Bottlenecks: Construction update for the week of June 8

RAPID CITY, S.D. (KOTA) – Summer roadwork season is underway across South Dakota, with construction projects, highway maintenance, utility work and safety campaigns affecting travelers in several parts of the state. Here’s a look at the latest updates motorists should know for the week ahead, before heading out on the roads.

Ditch work begins June 8 on SD Highway 20 west of Reva

A road construction project is scheduled to begin Monday, June 8, on South Dakota Highway 20 west of Reva.

According to the South Dakota Department of Transportation, crews will perform miscellaneous ditch work on SD Highway 20 from approximately 1.75 miles west to 1 mile west of the junction with Highway 79.

DITCH WORK BEGINS JUNE 8 ON SD HIGHWAY 20 WEST OF REVA(KOTA)

Construction activities will take place weekdays between 5 a.m. and 5 p.m. MDT and are expected to continue through June 26. The project is scheduled to conclude at 4 p.m. MDT on Friday, June 26.

Motorists traveling through the area are encouraged to use caution and be alert for construction workers and equipment operating near the roadway.

Drivers with questions about the project can contact their local South Dakota Department of Transportation area office for additional information.

Blotter operations begin June 8 on U.S. Highway 385 near Pactola Dam

Road work continues on U.S. Highway 385 between Pactola Dam and Calumet Road.

Beginning June 8, contractors will start blotter operations, a process that involves packing and hardening the road surface. The work is expected to continue through July.

BLOTTER OPERATIONS BEGIN JUNE 8 ON U.S. HIGHWAY 385 NEAR PACTOLA(KOTA)

Motorists should use caution in the work zone and be aware of loose gravel and reduced speeds during the construction period.

Black Hills Energy to remove powerline overnight along Fifth Street in Rapid City

Black Hills Energy will remove an overhead power line in downtown Rapid City later this week, with work scheduled overnight to minimize traffic disruptions.

The decommissioning is set to begin around 9 p.m. Wednesday along Fifth Street, stretching from the alley south of Kansas City Street to the alley north of Main Street.

Black Hills Energy to remove powerline overnight along Fifth Street in Rapid City(KOTA)

Officials say the nighttime schedule is intended to reduce impacts in the busy downtown area and provide a safer work environment. One lane of Fifth Street will be closed during the project, and drivers are asked to use caution while traveling through the area.

The work is expected to be completed in a single night. For questions or more information, the public can contact Black Hills Energy at 605-721-2642.

SDDOT outlines summer timeline for mowing highway ditches across the state

The South Dakota Department of Transportation is reminding landowners that highway ditches can’t be mowed until specific dates each summer. In parts of western South Dakota, mowing can begin June 15, while areas east of the Missouri River must wait until July 10. All mowing must be finished by Sept. 1 unless an extension is approved.

Landowners next to state highways get first priority to mow the adjoining ditches. Anyone else must have permission from the property owner, and a permit is required to mow along Interstate highways.

The state may mow some areas earlier to control weeds and improve safety. For more information, contact a local SDDOT office or visit the SDDOT website.

Officials encourage safe towing practices statewide during Trailer Safety Week

The South Dakota Department of Transportation is encouraging drivers to prioritize safe towing practices during Trailer Safety Week, June 7-13.

The annual awareness campaign highlights the importance of trailer safety and aims to educate the public on proper trailer maintenance and use. The initiative also seeks to strengthen partnerships among trailer dealers, manufacturers and consumers to promote safer roadways.

State officials said increased awareness and proper trailer maintenance can help prevent crashes and improve safety for all motorists traveling South Dakota highways.

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