South Dakota
Police academy for tribal recruits should lead to regional effort, attorney general says • South Dakota Searchlight
PIERRE — South Dakota Attorney General Marty Jackley hopes a new basic law enforcement training course that prioritizes tribal recruits will prove the state could host regional training for Native American officers from the Upper Midwest.
Jackley and U.S. Attorney Alison Ramsdell spoke Monday at the George S. Mickelson Law Enforcement Center in Pierre, in advance of a media tour of the facility and presentations on the ongoing course.
The state’s police academy has long been open to recruits from tribal law enforcement agencies. In practice, though, most attend the 13-week training through the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) at a facility in Artesia, New Mexico.
After the basic course is complete, the tribal recruits will be offered an add-on course in tribal policing, which also typically takes place in Artesia and focuses on tribal policing. The BIA has offered its support to that portion of the training in South Dakota.
“The overall goal would be to not just have South Dakota tribal or South Dakota BIA officers here, but because we do such a good job, to expand it regionally,” Jackley said.
Born of controversy, history of recruitment trouble
Gov. Kristi Noem threw her support behind the idea of an additional basic law enforcement course that would prioritize tribal recruits this spring amid a flurry of controversy over statements she’d made on public safety on the state’s tribal lands.
Noem delivered a speech on border security during the winter legislative session that linked migration at the U.S.-Mexico border to cartel-related drug abuse and violence on reservations. Noem has claimed without evidence that some tribal leaders are “personally benefiting” from a cartel presence on the state’s reservations.
Tribes have pushed back on those claims. Leaders in all nine of South Dakota’s tribes have voted to ban her from their lands, citing the claims about cartels, as well as what they’ve described as disparaging comments Noem made about Native American children and parents.
Even so, tribal leaders have long decried a dearth of funding for public safety on reservations, which is a treaty obligation for the U.S. government.
The typical expectation that tribal recruits spend weeks away from their families in New Mexico has been a barrier to recruitment noted by tribal leaders, as well as Noem and members of South Dakota’s congressional delegation.
U.S. Sen. Mike Rounds, R-South Dakota, has called for the establishment of a Midwestern training center for the BIA, pointing to the state’s Mickelson Center as a prime partnership candidate for such an endeavor.
On Monday, Jackley praised Noem for throwing her support behind the current course, now in its sixth of 13 weeks.
“I had been asking for additional classes ever since I’ve been attorney general, and I want to give this governor credit,” Jackley said.
The new course is no different from any other basic law enforcement course offered in Pierre, aside from its goal of prioritizing the acceptance of tribal recruits.
U.S. attorney: consistent training, relationships aid prosecutions
The course, provided at no cost to local agencies, drew 11 tribal recruits from three tribes: the Sisseton-Wahpeton Oyate, the Oglala Sioux Tribe and Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe. Another 13 recruits joined them from agencies across the state to make a class of 24.
Ramsdell, whose office prosecutes all felony-level crimes that occur on reservations in South Dakota, also praised the decision to hold a tribal-priority training course. She said the basic training is valuable because it brings together officers from across the state to build the kinds of relationships necessary to work across jurisdictions.
There were more than 500 prosecutions led by Ramdell’s office last year, she said, with 220 originating in tribal areas. The office also prosecuted 140 people for drug trafficking.
“Our state really leads the nation on these stats,” Ramsdell said. “We’re often second or third after Arizona and Oklahoma in prosecuting violent crime in Indian Country.”
Ramsdell said she’d looked through the list of agencies represented by the recruits before coming to Pierre, and “over the last year and a half, we’ve worked with each one of them on really meaningful prosecutions.”
In a state as small as South Dakota, she said, cooperation and relationships are critical to public safety.
“I think it’s exemplary of the fact that everything we do starts locally, and without our local partners, we wouldn’t have the success we do at the U.S. Attorney’s Office,” she said.
That’s one of the reasons Jackley said he hopes to see the course pave a path for more tribal law enforcement training in the future.
A training ground near a recruit’s home allows them to get home to their families on weekends, ensures consistency for all officers working in South Dakota’s borders and builds connections between those officers.
“I think all those things make good sense as to why this should happen here,” Jackley said. “I think it’s why we have local officers teaching this class, why we have tribal officers and tribes willing to attend it, and why I think this is going to be a success.”
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After showing signs of life on offense in 2024, Iowa is making moves to carry that momentum into 2025.
Former South Dakota State star quarterback Mark Gronowski has committed to Iowa, he told ESPN on Tuesday.
Gronowski, who made an official visit to Iowa on Jan. 3, also strongly considered the NFL, as he had already been issued an invite to the NFL scouting combine, sources told ESPN.
He is the top remaining quarterback in ESPN’s transfer portal rankings, the No. 4 overall quarterback and No. 19 overall player. He’s the most experienced and accomplished quarterback available in this cycle.
“It’s a great coaching staff,” Gronowski told ESPN of the Hawkeyes. “With Coach [Tim] Lester being there and being in the NFL last year and bringing an NFL offense to Iowa, it’s a great opportunity to develop as a player, learn an NFL offense and win a lot of games.”
He comes from a dominant career at South Dakota State, where he tied the FCS all-time mark with 49 wins as a starting quarterback and won two national titles.
Gronowski brings dual-threat capability to the Hawkeyes, as he’s thrown for 10,330 yards and 93 touchdowns and ran for 1,767 yards and 37 touchdowns.
“The culture at Iowa reminds me a lot of the classic Midwest culture I grew up in,” Gronowski said. “It’s a family atmosphere, and all the coaches are welcoming. It’s a similar situation to where I’ve been. It’s a big part of why I ended up going there.”
Iowa finished 129th out of 130 teams in scoring offense in 2023, averaging 15.4 points per game. The Hawkeyes improved this season under Lester, averaging 27.7 points per game to rise to No. 72 in the rankings.
Lester worked for the Green Bay Packers prior to coming to Iowa and brought with him the NFL offense run by Matt LaFleur that’s derived from Kyle Shanahan’s tree.
That appealed to Gronowski.
“It’s the Shanahan system that they are running there,” Gronowski said. “That’s what a lot of NFL teams are running. My goal throughout the process of transferring was getting in a situation to become the best player and be the best potential prospect for the NFL.”
There’s still plenty of work to go in Iowa’s passing game after they averaged 131.6 yards per game through the air this season — fifth worst in college football.
VERMILLION, S.D. (KTIV) – 2025 is here, and farmers are flocking to Vermillion, South Dakota, for the 41st annual Dakota Farm Show.
Over 230 vendors are on site inside the Dakota Dome in Vermillion. Products ranged from tractors and tools to fencing for livestock, and holding tanks. This year, 40 new vendors are on hand to display their products from several Midwest states including Iowa, Nebraska, South Dakota, and Minnesota.
The show isn’t limited to display. In fact, attendees can go to seminars to learn about the latest practices in the industry. Organizers say the Dakota Farm Show grows every year.
“A lot of these companies have been with us for a long time so they can talk about an era when I wasn’t around but a lot of newer companies coming in with new products that didn’t exist 40 years ago. It’s a nice annual event to get together at the Dakota Dome is always great, they’ve made a lot of improvements to make this a comfortable space to host a show such as this,” said John Riles, Vice President of Midwest Shows.
One of the big innovations in farming technology is the use of drones. Mark Quall, with Dakota Ag Solutions, said in the last five years drones have burst onto the ag scene and improved a lot within the business, serving multiple uses for farmers.
“Farming is all about efficiency and cutting your costs as much as you can. So these systems replace a lot of systems that you normally use multiple applications for. Whether it be hiring for an airplane to come out or having someone plant your cover crop for you this will do all the pesticides, fungicides, and the cover crops for you,” said Quall.
The Dakota Farm Show continues Wednesday, Jan. 8 from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. It ends Thursday, Jan. 9 with hours from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m.
Copyright 2025 KTIV. All rights reserved.
SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (Dakota News Now) – A bill that would require the Ten Commandments to be posted and taught in public schools will make an appearance in the 2025 legislative session.
First-term lawmakers usually don’t carry much legislation, if at all, but Senator John Carley out of Piedmont said it’s important to recognize the historical significance of the Ten Commandments in U.S. history.
If Carley’s bill were to pass, it would require schools to have the Ten Commandments posted in classrooms and taught as a historical document.
“We need to illustrate our history and truth, some people may want to say, ‘We don’t want to talk about these topics,’ but the Ten Commandments certainly were a part of the founding of our country,” Carley said.
Carley hopes the Christian document is taught alongside other prominent documents, including the United States and South Dakota Constitutions, the Declaration of Independence and the Bill of Rights.
He said the mention of God does not equate to a push of a religion and points to the Christian God’s role in prominent documents such as the Declaration of Independence and the Magna Carta. He also points to the stories of many historical U.S. figures as proof.
“We call him Reverend Martin Luther King. We are illustrating the historical context that he was a reverend. he wasn’t a Muslim cleric or a Hindu priest. We put his title of what it is to illustrate truth.”
Carley added that although this bill is meant to point out the historical significance of the Ten Commandments, he recognizes that there could be some cultural impact as well.
“If we find kids honoring their father and mother, a lot of parents will be happy about that. If we find people are not stealing, lying or murdering, I think our Sheriff Department and law enforcement will certainly be happy,” said Carley.
Legislative activity continues to pick up with over 50 bills filed with the 100th session just over a week away.
While Senator Carley’s bill has not been posted yet on the South Dakota legislature website, he expects it will be by the end of the week.
Copyright 2025 Dakota News Now. All rights reserved.
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