South Dakota
Now that Noem knows what’s in her own book, she should tell us how it got there • Colorado Newsline
This commentary originally appeared in the South Dakota Searchlight.
Kristi Noem owes South Dakotans an explanation for the embarrassment she’s caused herself and the state.
The Republican governor has not yet told us how or why she included a false story in her forthcoming book about meeting North Korean leader Kim Jong Un.
Margaret Brennan of “Face the Nation” pressed Noem for an answer Sunday on CBS.
Noem replied, “This anecdote shouldn’t have been in the book, and as soon as it was brought to my attention, I made sure that that was adjusted.”
So Noem would have us believe that she didn’t know until last week — when The Dakota Scout broke the story — that her own memoir falsely claimed she had met one of the world’s most notorious dictators.
The relevant portion of the book isn’t a passing mention of Kim’s name. It’s a full-on boast.
“I remember when I met with North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un,” Noem wrote. “I’m sure he underestimated me, having no clue about my experience staring down little tyrants (I’d been a children’s pastor, after all).”
How could such a passage be included without Noem’s knowledge, when she’s the only credited author? South Dakotans aren’t as dumb as she apparently thinks we look, so we can deduce three possibilities:
She fabricated the story and thought nobody would catch her in the lie.She met some other official from an Asian country and mistook or misremembered that person as Kim Jong Un.She relied on a ghostwriter so heavily that she didn’t read her own book before it went to the printer.
We can rule out the third possibility, because we know Noem read her own manuscript. Prior to anyone else reading it, she posted social media videos of herself narrating the audiobook.
That leaves two explanations: She lied, or she’s incompetent. When those are the only answers, it’s no wonder she avoids the question.
Noem’s other starring television role this weekend was on “Saturday Night Live” — but not as the host. Instead, she was the butt of several jokes about another portion of her book, in which she disclosed that she fatally shot a hunting dog and a billy goat.
The show’s focus on Noem made it abundantly clear that she’s the main object of ridicule in the country right now. That’s no small feat while a former president is on trial for allegedly falsifying business records to cover up hush-money payments to a porn star.
The governor’s shocking fall is an abrupt flip of the script for South Dakotans, after Noem and her enablers spent the past few years promoting her rising political fame as a boon to the state.
Now South Dakotans can only wait to see how far Noem might drag down the state’s reputation before she hits rock bottom. With the book not even scheduled to be released until Tuesday — all the damage so far has arisen from advance copies — who knows what further humiliation might be in store.
Noem intended the book’s title, “No Going Back,” as a rallying cry for her plans to move the country forward. Instead, it now stands as a sadly ironic reference to a turning point in her career.
But the title isn’t the only ironic part of the book. Its 200-plus pages include pronouncements by Noem that “excuses are not accepted” in her state, and that “we need truth from our leaders.”
Perhaps Noem should take her own advice by dropping the excuses, telling the truth about why the false Kim Jong Un anecdote is in her book, and saving what little dignity she and her state have left.
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: [email protected]. Follow South Dakota Searchlight on Facebook and Twitter.
South Dakota
South Dakota ends 2026 fiscal year with $69 million surplus
google-site-verification: google9919194f75dd62c5.html
South Dakota
SD Lottery Millionaire for Life winning numbers for July 12, 2026
The South Dakota Lottery offers multiple draw games for those aiming to win big.
Here’s a look at July 12, 2026, results for each game:
Winning Millionaire for Life numbers from July 12 drawing
12-21-39-46-48, Bonus: 02
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.
South Dakota
Incarcerated women to move into new Rapid City prison to alleviate overcrowding
RAAPID CITY, S.D. — Incarcerated women will start moving into a new $87 million prison in Rapid City next month, a South Dakota Department of Corrections spokesperson confirmed this week.
The medium-security prison will be the state’s second for women. The South Dakota Women’s Prison in Pierre has operated beyond its capacity for years, with dozens of people serving their sentences at the Hughes County Jail or in halfway house facilities.
The new prison in Rapid City, which was approved by state lawmakers
in 2023
, will add 288 beds to the state’s capacity. The Department of Corrections will begin transferring women there next month, according to spokesperson Michael Winder, who said the exact date of full operations won’t be released for security reasons
The prison includes a work release area, a mother-infant building that lets new moms stay in a home-like environment with their babies, a vocational training facility to be staffed by instructors from Western Dakota Technical Institute and 96 beds for chemical dependency treatment.
The majority of the women held in South Dakota prisons are incarcerated on nonviolent drug charges, and 97% have a substance use disorder diagnosis.
“Drug addiction is a disease that must be treated,” Corrections Secretary Nick Lamb said at Friday’s ribbon cutting, adding that “Through dedicated treatment space and the therapeutic community, women will receive the counseling support and skills that they need to break the cycle of addiction and successfully return to their families and communities.”
The mother-infant program
mirrors one launched a few years ago in Pierre
.
Mothers who qualify under security guidelines stay in a group home separate from the main prison facility with other women and children for the first few years of their child’s life. The program was launched by former Corrections Secretary Kellie Wasko and was championed by Lamb in his first public conversations with lawmakers on the state’s budget committee during the 2026 legislative session.
Photo courtesy Gov. Larry Rhoden’s office
At Friday’s event, Gov. Larry Rhoden said family connections and parenting skills are key factors in rehabilitation. He framed the program as an extension of a commitment to the well-being of South Dakota families.
“This program gives mothers and their children the opportunity to build that foundation from the very beginning,” Rhoden said.
Rhoden also called out the vocational training, drug treatment and work release programs as vital to rehabilitation — and to public safety by extension. The state recently broke ground on a new $650 million men’s prison in Sioux Falls, which is set to replace the state penitentiary and is also designed to expand programming and rehabilitation.
When combined with pending policy recommendations from the state’s correctional rehabilitation task force, Rhoden said, the new prisons will help improve public safety statewide by reducing the number of people who return to prison within a few years of their release.
“At the end of the day, every person in our corrections system is a human being,” Rhoden said. “They are sons and daughters. They are mothers and fathers. People who’ve made mistakes but also have the capacity to change.”
Winder, the corrections spokesman, told South Dakota Searchlight that staff will spend the next few weeks training at the new facility in preparation for the arrival of inmates in August.
The state hired Eric Aldridge
to serve as warden in March
. Aldridge, who came to South Dakota after a stint as warden of a medium-security women’s prison in Troy, Virginia, said Friday his goal is to “to facilitate an environment, an atmosphere, a culture where people learn, they grow, they heal, and where people develop through dignity and respect.”
-
Idaho3 minutes agoIdaho attorneys rebuff DOJ threat to prosecute Secretary of State in voter roll dispute
-
Illinois9 minutes ago8 Most Charming Town Squares In Illinois
-
Indiana15 minutes agoACLU of Indiana sues over conditions at Monroe County Jail
-
Iowa21 minutes agoNorthwest Iowa woman taken to the hospital after rollover
-
Kansas27 minutes agoPilot of crop duster plane survives crash Monday in NE Kansas
-
Kentucky33 minutes agoKentucky State Police seeks public vote for national cruiser contest – Winchester Sun
-
Louisiana39 minutes agoLouisiana-based study: Bariatric surgery holds promise for young patients
-
Maine45 minutes agoHigh heat and humidity likely to bring storms to Maine