South Dakota

Letting go is difficult after going afield with a good dog • South Dakota Searchlight

Published

1 year ago

December 20, 2024

Letting go is difficult after going afield with a good dog • South Dakota Searchlight

Mary knew it was time before I did. Or maybe I should say she admitted it before I could.

Giving up on a dog, even when it’s pretty clearly time, can be difficult. And I needed some help from my wife, and from our vet, in recognizing the obvious.

So the time for Rosie, our 14-year-old springer spaniel, came one day last week, after a two-year decline that accelerated over the last six months and especially the last six or eight weeks.

Mary was home sick, so I sat alone with Rosie in an examination room at the animal clinic, talking to her and stroking her head and side as she drifted off, giving in peacefully to the sedative the vet had injected a few minutes earlier. Then I started to sob as I touched the call button summoning the vet and her assistant, who was pushing a cart that would take Rosie into the room where the final drug would be administered.

“I’m so sorry,” the vet said. “We’ll take good care of her.”

Kevin Woster’s dog, Rosie. (Courtesy of Kevin Woster)

I left Rosie in their gentle hands and wept my way out of the exam room, down the hall, through the lobby and on to my pickup.

And when I settled in behind the wheel, I felt Rosie’s leash in the pocket of my jacket and acknowledged through my tears that a dog that had been such an important “is” in my life had become a “was.”

I do not mean to overstate the emotions of this. Obviously, the loss of a dog is not the same as the loss of a human being. But it is the loss of a life. A life that mattered.

For most of her 14 years with us, Rosie was a high-energy force of nature in our home and out across the wild lands of our state, leading me with the gift of her nose through mucky cattails and dense upland grasses and deep-woods aspen groves.

East River. West River. Missouri River country. Black Hills highlands. We explored them all, wet and dry, windy and calm, hot and cold and quite a bit in-between.

She loved best the kind of difficult-to-traverse coverts that Pennsylvania writer Charles Fergus called “thick and uncivil sorts of places,” and I got to know them better and love them more deeply by sharing them with her.

Oh, the things you can learn by going afield with a good dog. Magical, enduring things, about the outdoors, about the dog, about yourself.

We watched more sundowns together than I could count, usually when a bird hunt was done, we were both tired and fulfilled and often enjoying the added gift of coyote song. Rosie always raised her ears and cocked her head at the music, listening intently as if trying to decipher some canine-encrypted code.

The call of the wild? Of course. And she understood it much better than I did.

Oh, the things you can learn by going afield with a good dog. Magical, enduring things, about the outdoors, about the dog, about yourself.

But she wasn’t just a strong bird dog. She also was a talented backyard escape artist and unreconstructed garbage gut with a special affinity for kids’ sweat socks, the sweatier and dirtier the better.

I’ll skip the undignified details about how those socks, once swallowed, worked their way out, one way or the other. But Rosie processed a dozen or so over the years, with great effort but without requiring emergency room care.

She was a licker, not a fighter, that dog, known in our family and throughout our neighborhood for her sweet, outgoing personality. And she was especially fond and tolerant of the 19 grandchildren — now ranging in age from a gainfully employed college graduate to a toddler — who got to bask in her affection and be her pal.

I bought her from a kennel out in the James River breaks when she was eight weeks old and officially named her James River Rose. But I rarely called her anything but Rosie.

She was the most headstrong and challenging dog I’ve had to train, or to control in the field, but also the most athletic and relentless on bird scent. And despite the occasional adrenaline-driven indiscretion, at her core Rosie aimed to please.

She was six months old when she flushed and retrieved her first prairie grouse and a few weeks older when she did the same with her first rooster pheasant. And a year or two later, she led me to three ruffed grouse — a noteworthy limit on the first day I ever saw a Black Hills ruffy — in a disorderly gathering of willow and aspen and birch deep in a spring-fed hollow up off Tinton Road south of Spearfish.

Kevin Woster's dog, Rosie, while retrieving a bird. (Courtesy of Kevin Woster) — Kevin Woster’s dog, Rosie, while retrieving a bird. (Courtesy of Kevin Woster)

She made a four-hour round-trip drive for a two-hour hunt worth it every time, even if all we trailed and flushed were a couple of hen pheasants. “No shot, girl,” I would say, and I praised her just as effusively as if we’d bagged three roosters.

She was puzzled whenever I missed a bird, ecstatic when I hit one and even in the most inhospitable of cover rarely missed a retrieve.

When we weren’t hunting pheasants or grouse, we were often up on the trails in the forest above our house in Rapid City, where Rosie maintained her nosy optimism, fervently believing — despite overwhelming odds to the contrary — that there was a pheasant or grouse waiting to be flushed around the next bend.

Never a slacker, she stayed blue-collared busy, whether snuffling her way through a Lyman County sorghum field or — in her younger days, at least — frantically chasing butterflies and even bird shadows back and forth across the backyard grass.

She was unremittingly upbeat and never failed to lift my spirits, even at the lowest of times.

Then came the decline, slow at first, much faster near the end. It was nothing out of the ordinary: an old dog with a bunch of old-dog ailments that finally reached her time.

And an old-dog lover who needed some help in admitting it.

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South Dakota

South Dakota Legislature Moving Toward Lab-grown Meat Ban | Aberdeen Insider

Published

6 hours ago

January 28, 2026

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South Dakota Legislature Moving Toward Lab-grown Meat Ban | Aberdeen Insider

South Dakota lawmakers are gunning to ban lab-grown meat.

A panel of state House legislators has advanced legislation that would ban artificial meat in the state, setting up a pointed debate over food safety, consumer choice and whether lawmakers should block products that aren’t yet on grocery shelves.

Auch

Earning support from the House Agriculture and Natural Resources Committee with a 9–3 vote Tuesday, Jan. 27, House Bill 1077 would classify cultivated-protein products — meat grown from animal cells in laboratories — as “adulterated food” under state law, effectively prohibiting their sale in South Dakota.

Supporters described the bill as a preemptive food-safety measure and a defense of the state’s livestock industry.

“This is more about a philosophy,” bill sponsor Rep. Julie Auch, R-Yankton, told the committee.

MORE: SD Senate advances Rohl’s legislative term limit proposal

She argued the state should draw a firm line against products she said are manufactured in laboratories using undisclosed processes and proprietary ingredients.

Auch also questioned federal oversight of cultivated protein, noting that companies developing the products provided their own research to regulators.

“We don’t even know what’s in it,” she said, referring to growth serums used in production.

Some cattle producers not concerned about lab-grown mean, Wittman says

Several lawmakers pressed Auch on why the Legislature should ban a product that is not currently sold in South Dakota.

Wittman

“I’m having a hard time understanding how us banning a product that isn’t on our shelves currently will help our cattle producers compete,” said Rep. Kadyn Wittman, D-Sioux Falls, during committee questions.

Wittman later said some producers are not worried about competition from lab-grown meat. She told the committee that she’s spoken with a cattle producer who said, “I am confident that my beef will speak for itself in the future.”

Opponents warned the proposal repurposes food-safety statutes to block a product on principle and could invite retaliation against South Dakota agricultural products in other states. Apprehensions about consumer choice and the precedent set by labeling a product adulterated based on how it is made rather than measurable health risk also generated committee debate.

MORE: More should qualify for senior, disabled assessment value freezes, Loeschke says

Rep. Kevin Van Diepen, R-Huron, said South Dakota is home to increasingly diverse communities with different food traditions.

“If someone else wants to eat that, why are we going to stop them?” Van Diepen asked. “That should be their choice.”

Worries about interstate retaliation were also cited, with critics contending HB 1077 could spur more politically progressive states to restrict the sale of conventionally raised livestock products.

“We all collectively can say that is bad policy,” said Rep. Drew Peterson, a cattle producer who cited California’s Proposition 12 and similar laws in Massachusetts that restrict some pork products from being sold in those jurisdictions. “If we don’t want them to do that in those states, how can we do it to them in this state?”

Supporters countered that cultivated protein represents an unresolved health experiment and a long-term threat to rural economies.

Rep. Kaley Nolz, R-Mitchell, said she views the issue through a food safety lens and does not want another generation to serve as a test case.

“I really don’t want to see another generation of Americans be an experiment for a health product,” Nolz said.

HB 1077 will next be considered on the House floor.

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South Dakota

Rodeo Rapid City Returns to South Dakota as 7-Time PRCA Indoor Rodeo of the Year

Published

18 hours ago

January 27, 2026

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Rodeo Rapid City Returns to South Dakota as 7-Time PRCA Indoor Rodeo of the Year

The seven-time PRCA Top Indoor Rodeo of The Year is back once again in Rapid City, South Dakota. Rodeo Rapid City kicks off January 30th and is full of a week of non-stop action in the rodeo arena. As one of the biggest rodeos this early on in the season, athletes are ready to show out after the National Western Stock Show and the Fort Worth Stock Show.

Best Indoor Rodeo of the Year Begins This Weekend

Starting things off in The Monument Arena will be Xtreme Bulls 2026 on Friday night, following that on Saturday the 31st is Xtreme Broncs 2026. These two events mark the opening of what is sure to be some of the season’s most action-packed performances from the best athletes bull riding, and saddle bronc riding have to offer.

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The official Rodeo Rapid City doesn’t kick off until Friday, February 5th, and it continues all weekend. Last year, securing the top spot for rough stock was Garrett Shadbolt in bareback riding, Damian Brennan in saddle bronc riding and Jake Lockwood in bull riding.

Men’s timed event winners were Boyd Sawyer (steer wrestling), Cullen Teller and Brayden Fillmore (team roping), and Tyler Milligan (tie-down roping). Katie Chism won the barrel racing.

Last season, this rodeo was an indicator of how 2025 was going to go for some of these athletes. More than one who performed well in Rapid City went on to secure a spot at the National Finals Rodeo. With a payout of nearly $200,000, a win here adds a nice chunk of change to season earnings totals early in the season.

Come For The Rodeo Stay For The Music

While there is just over a week of rodeo arena action happening in South Dakota, there will also be plenty to do in between. A new event is being added this year called Rope, Ride and Slide where two cowboys, one bronc rider and one steer wrestler each perform in individual events, then join together to team rope. This fun new addition happens Friday (Jan. 30th) and should be a way to introduce more people to the events of rodeo.

There will also be live performances happening all week as well. Kicking things off Friday night will be Tristan Schofield & The Drive by Night followed by Jessica Loobey on Saturday. During the week Big Skillet performs on Tuesday with Brandon Jones taking the stage Thursday. Rounding out musical acts are Tanner Usrey with Kenny Feidler (Friday, Feb. 6th) and Ole 60 with Rob Langdon (Saturday, Feb. 7th)

From rodeo action to live music, Rapid City is sure to be full of some of the best performances seen by rodeo fans so far this year.

To get tickets head to https://www.centralstatesfairinc.com/events

More Rodeo News

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South Dakota

SD Lottery Powerball, Lucky For Life winning numbers for Jan. 26, 2026

Published

1 day ago

January 27, 2026

Press Room

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

Here’s a look at Jan. 26, 2026, results for each game:

Winning Powerball numbers from Jan. 26 drawing

21-31-51-60-63, Powerball: 18, Power Play: 2

Check Powerball payouts and previous drawings here.

Winning Lucky For Life numbers from Jan. 26 drawing

03-21-22-42-44, Lucky Ball: 09

Check Lucky For Life payouts and previous drawings here.

Winning Lotto America numbers from Jan. 26 drawing

02-12-15-27-48, Star Ball: 09, ASB: 03

Check Lotto America 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.

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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