South Dakota
Prevention groups fear consequences from Noem’s proposal to reduce funding for anti-tobacco efforts • South Dakota Searchlight
An anti-smoking group is warning of “devastating effects” if South Dakota lawmakers approve Gov. Kristi Noem’s proposal to reduce funding for a tobacco use prevention fund by more than half.
A bill backed by Noem’s administration would drop the Tobacco Prevention and Reduction Trust Fund’s annual allocation from $5 million to $2 million. Legislators will consider the bill during the annual legislative session that began Tuesday in Pierre.
The fund sustains the South Dakota Tobacco Control Program, aimed at preventing South Dakotans from using tobacco products and helping residents quit through the South Dakota QuitLine.
Much of the funding goes toward contractual services for QuitLine. The state currently holds a one-year, $824,000 contract with Avera Health to provide telephone and other tobacco counseling services for Quitline and a one-year, $1 million contract with Pierre-based Vilas LTC Pharmacy to provide medication for QuitLine participants. The state allocated nearly $400,000 toward grants and subsidies last fiscal year for other prevention and counseling initiatives, according to the Bureau of Finance and Management.
Ben Hanson, North and South Dakota government relations director for the American Cancer Society Cancer Action Network, said the cut “robs” money that was “promised” and overwhelmingly supported by South Dakota voters in 2006, when they passed an initiated measure to increase the tax on tobacco products and create the fund.
“We think it’d have long-term pretty devastating effects on respiratory health and eventually youth smoking rates,” Hanson said.
The trust fund receives revenue from the tobacco tax on cigarette, cigar and chewing tobacco sales. State law currently requires that the first $30 million from the tax goes to the state’s general fund, the next $5 million goes to the trust fund, and any further revenue goes to the general fund. Noem’s bill would keep that formula but change the $5 million trust fund allocation to $2 million.
Noem’s proposal comes as the state faces a tight budget year due to lower-than-anticipated sales tax revenues. Tobacco tax revenues are also falling. Noem’s administration projects the state will collect about $42 million in tobacco taxes this fiscal year, its lowest amount since 2006.
The QuitLine and other funded prevention efforts extend to non-tobacco nicotine products that have grown in popularity, including e-cigarettes, vape pens and nicotine pouches. But the tax doesn’t include those products. The state Department of Revenue cannot track non-tobacco nicotine product sales, a spokesperson told South Dakota Searchlight in an email.
Between 2022 and 2023, the percentage of U.S. high school students reporting tobacco and nicotine product use — including e-cigarettes — declined from 16.5% to 12.6%, but the percentage among middle school students increased from 4.5% to 6.6%, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. In South Dakota, 14.7% of high schoolers reported using e-cigarettes last fiscal year, according to the Bureau of Finance and Management, which was three times higher than the percentage that reported smoking and seven times higher than the percentage that reported spit tobacco use.
The Carroll Institute in Sioux Falls received about $17,000 in funding last fiscal year from the Tobacco Prevention and Reduction Trust Fund to purchase prevention curriculum for elementary school students. About 85% of the Carroll Institute’s funding comes from state government, including grants from other sources than the trust fund, said Carroll Institute Executive Director Tiffany Butler.
A decade ago, the institute focused on alcohol. Now, it focuses on vaping education, said Kristi VanDeRostyne, prevention services program manager. She said some students vape in the school bathroom or even the classroom during the day, using devices that look like pens, water bottles or USB flash drives.
“I know our state and nation are all worried about fentanyl and meth. It’s everywhere,” VanDeRostyne said. “Where do you prevent that from happening? By building those prevention skills at a young age while you still have that captive audience.”
Instead of reducing contributions to the trust fund, Butler said she’d prefer to see the fund’s grants expanded to cover more costs, including reimbursing staff time.
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The South Dakota Lottery offers multiple draw games for those aiming to win big. Here’s a look at Dec. 20, 2025, results for each game:
Winning Powerball numbers from Dec. 20 drawing
04-05-28-52-69, Powerball: 20, Power Play: 3
Check Powerball payouts and previous drawings here.
Winning Lucky For Life numbers from Dec. 20 drawing
08-21-30-41-47, Lucky Ball: 15
Check Lucky For Life payouts and previous drawings here.
Winning Lotto America numbers from Dec. 20 drawing
09-12-34-45-50, Star Ball: 01, ASB: 02
Check Lotto America payouts and previous drawings here.
Winning Dakota Cash numbers from Dec. 20 drawing
04-15-17-23-35
Check Dakota Cash 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.
South Dakota’s weak open records law gives police agencies full discretion on whether to release footage from body or dashboard cameras, and in most cases, the videos of officer conduct are never shown to the public.
South Dakota News Watch made formal public records requests to obtain video footage of use of deadly force incidents from eight separate law enforcement agencies in November, and all of the requests were quickly denied.
On a few occasions, South Dakota law enforcement agencies have released video footage of their own accord but not necessarily in cases where officer conduct is in question.
The Watertown Police Department released a video on Facebook in early November showing officers responding to a possible break-in with their guns drawn only to find a whitetail buck that had made it into a bedroom.
In 2016, the Rapid City Police Department posted a dash cam video to its public Facebook page showing the chief’s nephew proposing to his girlfriend in a mock traffic stop. “This one is too good not to share,” the Facebook post noted.
(Watertown Police Department Facebook page)
The Rapid City Police Department rejected News Watch’s request for videos of a May 30, 2023, incident in which an officer fatally shot 25-year-old Kyle Whiting, who brandished a fake gun during a foot chase. A bystander inside a nearby home was also shot in the abdomen by the officer and survived. The state ruled the
shooting was justified
.
Some police agencies will occasionally release still images from body or dashboard camera videos, typically when the screenshots show an officer facing a clear threat that appears to justify use of deadly force.
In August, the state released an image from video of a July 5, chase in which a Sioux Falls police officer shot and wounded 24-year-old Deondre Gene Black Hawk in the 100 block of Garfield Avenue.
One still image released to the public shows the gun Black Hawk fired at police. Another image shows Black Hawk pointing the gun toward a pursuing officer prior to the shooting, which
was ruled justified
by state investigators.
In a move that appeared to have political overtones, videos were released in 2021 showing former South Dakota Attorney General Jason Ravnsborg being pulled over by officers for suspected traffic violations. The videos and audio showed Ravnsborg informing officers of his status as attorney general during the traffic stops, some of which did not result in tickets.
The videos were released during a period when Ravnsborg was facing possible removal from office for striking and killing a pedestrian in September 2020.
Ravnsborg was eventually impeached, an action supported by then-Gov. Kristi Noem, whose office also made the unprecedented move of releasing videos of Ravnsborg being interviewed by detectives during the investigation into the 2020 fatal accident.
(Screenshot of 2021 state video)
Video of a June 2023 police-involved shooting in South Dakota was released by the federal Bureau of Indian Affairs. In that incident, 39-year-old James Schneider of Watauga fired a weapon and then led authorities on a vehicle chase that ended at the Bullhead Community Center parking lot.
According to the dashboard video, Schneider was waving his arms and holding a handgun in an area where people were present. After he turned to flee into a residential neighborhood, he was shot in the back by an officer. Schneider was found guilty in August of assault and weapons charges after a jury trial and is awaiting sentencing.
In releasing
the video
, the BIA said it was doing so to be transparent in its operations. To protect the privacy of all involved, faces were blurred in the video.
McPherson County Sheriff David Ackerman, president of the South Dakota Sheriff’s Association, said body and dash cameras are important tools for police agencies in both urban and rural areas, even though his camera program costs about $60,000 a year, roughly 10% of the overall departmental budget.
“These are very valuable tools, and it’s something that in this day and age, every office and agency needs to have,” Ackerman said. “I’m glad where we are today because they’re for the protection of the public as well as the officers.”
Monty Rothenberger, assistant police chief in Yankton, said he supports the use of dash and body cameras as a way to increase accountability for officers and to aid in resolving public complaints.
“I wouldn’t do this job without a body camera, and I enjoy wearing it,” Rothenberger said. “I don’t have anything to hide. And because everything is on video, I feel like Big Brother is watching and I support that.”
— This story was originally published on southdakotanewswatch.org.
PIERRE, S.D. (KELO) — Two people licensed to practice medicine in South Dakota have received official reprimands for unprofessional conduct.
The South Dakota Board of Medical and Osteopathic Examiners took the actions against Phinit Phisitkul, a foot and ankle surgeon for CNOS in Dakota Dunes, and Sheena Rippentrop, an OB/GYN who specializes in reproductive medicine for Sanford Health.
The South Dakota reprimands came after Phisitkul was officially punished by the Iowa Board of Medicine and after Rippentrop was officially punished by the North Dakota Board of Medicine.
Phisitkul admitted that he sexually harassed a medical student in 2017 while he was employed by the University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics, where he practiced for 10 years.
Phisitkul agreed in a May 16, 2025, settlement with the Iowa board to take “live Board-approved courses on the subjects of professional boundaries and medical ethics,” have “a chaperone present during all examinations and consultations with female patients” for one year, and to pay a $2,500 civil penalty to the Iowa state treasurer.
Phisitkul signed a separate settlement agreement with the South Dakota board on June 26, 2025, and the board voted to accept it on September 11, 2025.
Rippentrop, meanwhile, was reprimanded by the South Dakota board earlier this year for “falsely documenting in a patient’s medical records that two IUI procedures were performed on the patient.”
The North Dakota medical board opened an investigation of Rippentrop in 2024 and considered an official complaint alleging that Rippentrop “falsely documented in a patient’s medical records that two intrauterine insemination (IUI) procedures were performed when Dr. Rippentrop did not complete an IUI on either occasion.”
The North Dakota complaint specifically said:
“(Rippentrop) established a physician patient relationship with Patient A. Patient A carried
the BRCA2 gene and wanted to proceed with in vitro fertilization (IVF). However, Patient A’s insurance required that Patient A go through three intrauterine inseminations (IUI) before
insurance would cover IVF. (Rippentrop) saw Patient A on August 17, 2024, and September 23,
2024 for an intrauterine insemination (IUI). On both dates, (Rippentrop) documented in Patient A’s chart that the IUI procedure was done without difficulty even though (Rippentrop) did not complete the IUI on either occasion.”
Rippentrop signed a stipulation on October 29, 2024, agreeing “the allegations in the Complaint are true and are grounds for disciplinary action by the North Dakota Board of Medicine.” The North Dakota board on January 31, 2025, approved its order that Rippentrop receive a reprimand.
The South Dakota board in turn approved its reprimand of Rippentrop on June 12, 2025.
Neither Rippentrop nor Phisitkul appeared at their hearings held by the South Dakota board.
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