South Dakota
Mitchell Republic's Marcus Traxler named SD Sportswriter of the Year
MITCHELL — The Mitchell Republic’s Marcus Traxler was named South Dakota’s Sportswriter of the Year for 2023, the National Sports Media Association announced Tuesday.
The award is voted upon by fellow sportswriters and sportscasters in the state. A first-time winner, Traxler will be honored at the NSMA’s award banquet in North Carolina this summer.
“Our newspaper has put a strong emphasis on covering sports for years and we’re grateful to have Marcus leading that charge,” Mitchell Republic Editor Luke Hagen said. “He’s a wonderful person, a fantastic writer and reporter and has undoubtedly earned this recognition for all his hard work.”
Traxler, a native of Le Center, Minnesota, is a South Dakota State University graduate. He’s worked for the Mitchell Republic for 10 years. He’s covered a wide variety of news and sports topics around the region and has been the newspaper’s Assistant Editor for the last six years. He was named the state’s Outstanding Young Journalist in 2017, as recognized by the South Dakota Newspaper Association.
Currently, he leads the newspaper’s staff of four sportswriters and writes about high school and college sports in the Mitchell region and around the state. He is also a leader in the newspaper’s enterprise and column writing and contributes to the Mitchell Republic’s sports podcasts and videos. Traxler is also a contributor to the fast-growing Sioux Falls Live website for high school and Division I college sports coverage. The Mitchell Republic and Sioux Falls Live are owned by Forum Communications.
“It does not surprise me that Marcus is being named state Sportswriter of the Year,” Mitchell Republic Publisher Joni Harms said. “We are so fortunate to have someone of his talents on our team. His dedication, discipline and leadership abilities are nothing but quality. His expertise in the sports world has extended to coaching his reporters to be their best. Well deserved, Marcus.”
The South Dakota Sportscaster of the Year for 2023 was University of South Dakota play-by-play broadcaster John Thayer, of Vermillion. Thayer also won the award for the first time.
Our newsroom occasionally reports stories under a byline of “Mitchell Republic.” Often, the “Mitchell Republic” byline is used when rewriting basic news briefs that originate from official sources, such as a city press release about a road closure, and which require little or no reporting. At times, this byline is used when a news story includes numerous authors or when the story is formed by aggregating previously reported news from various sources. If outside sources are used, it is noted within the story.
South Dakota
Republican businessman Toby Doeden advances to primary runoff in South Dakota governor’s race
Republican businessman Toby Doeden has advanced to a runoff in South Dakota governor’s race, NBC News projects.
Gov. Larry Rhoden, who replaced Kristi Noem last year when President Donald Trump nominated her to lead the Department of Homeland Security, was battling with Rep. Dusty Johnson and former state House Speaker Jon Hansen for a second spot in the July 28 runoff. The primary will go to a runoff because no candidate eclipsed 35% of the vote.
Trump did not issue an endorsement in the race. Doeden branded himself on his campaign website as “a total political outsider who’s tired of the government’s failure to deliver on its promises” and one of Trump’s “fiercest supporters.”
Rhoden, a former lieutenant governor, agriculture secretary and lawmaker, campaigned on property tax cuts and lowering crime in his bid for a four-year term.
Johnson is the state’s lone representative in the House, where he previously was chair of the Republican Main Street Caucus. Hansen, who was elected to the South Dakota House in 2010, held several leadership positions before he became speaker.
The Republican nominee will be the favorite to win the general election in the solidly red state this fall. A Democrat has not served as governor in South Dakota since the 1970s, and Trump carried the state by 29 points in 2024.
News
Agronomist: eastern South Dakota crops hit and miss
An agronomist in eastern South Dakota says corn and soybeans are hit and miss as the growing season begins.
Steven Zemlicka with AgTegra Cooperative tells Brownfield, “We’ve got corn anywhere from V1 all the way up to V4. Biggest stuff’s maybe touching V5. Corn’s coming right along, looks pretty good. A little bit of hail here too, but I don’t think it’s going to be much of an issue. Stands for the most part are pretty good, pretty solid.”
Zemlicka says soybean emergence has been slow due to the wet, cool conditions, and there are a few fields that still need planted.
“People were still working on planting soybeans when we got the recent rain.”
He says recent rain totals ranged from a half inch to as much as four inches in the northeast part of South Dakota; the southern part of the state has been drier.
South Dakota’s corn is rated 61 percent good to excellent, with soybean conditions rated 57 percent good to excellent, according to USDA’s first condition ratings of the season.
RAPID CITY, S.D. (KOTA) – The South Dakota Community Foundation is encouraging nonprofits to apply for funding this June.
Beth Massa and Ginger Niemann joined us live with what you need to know before applying.
Watch the full interview above.
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