South Dakota

Senators, representatives discuss South Dakota Public Broadcasting, state library

Published

10 months ago

March 3, 2025

Senators, representatives discuss South Dakota Public Broadcasting, state library

RAPID CITY, S.D. (KOTA) – With the South Dakota legislative session coming to a close at the end of the month, citizens still have concerns and questions about various bills and funding.

Funding for the state library and South Dakota Public Broadcasting has been discussed since the beginning of the session, and was among the topics discussed at Saturday’s legislative crackerbarrel in Deadwood.

Senator Randy Deibert and Representatives Scott Odenbach and Mary J. Fitzgerald all discussed their support of SDPB.

“I wouldn’t bet a lot of money that those cuts are going to be sustained,” Odenbach said. “What I do think is, we need to take a look at cuts to government, whether it’s the rate of growth or an outright cut. I think it needs to be, and this was a discussion I had with the governor, they should be more across the board and not necessarily just targeting for destruction or elimination of one agency like PBS.”

Fitzgerald agreed.

“I do think that public TV and the state library will be fine,” Fitzgerald said. “I think that they are doing everything they can to make sure that we can keep those available to the residents of South Dakota.”

Deibert said without public broadcasting, whether it be in the form of radio or television, the citizens of South Dakota would have much less information available to them.

He added he had more concern for the state library.

“It’s come out of appropriations with an $800,000 cut,” Deibert said of House Bill 1041. “We haven’t discussed that in our caucus yet, but it will be interesting if that stays on. But, I don’t support that cut. I think we need to make cuts and watch spending, but we need to do that as a group. We need to review that in our caucuses and with members of our body.”

House Bill 1041 passed committee with 16 yeas and two nays. It will now head to the House floor.

See a spelling or grammatical error in our story? Please click here to report it.

Do you have a photo or video of a breaking news story? Send it to us here with a brief description.

Source link

Click to comment

South Dakota

South Dakota-made munitions systems will anchor U.S. military’s drone dominance

Published

3 hours ago

December 15, 2025

Press Room

South Dakota-made munitions systems will anchor U.S. military’s drone dominance

U.S. Army Soldiers look at prototype drones as part of a flight and capabilities demonstration on Schofield Barracks, Hawaii, Oct. 22, 2025. (U.S. Army photo by Cpl. Adaris Cole)

A multi-rotor drone and its fixed-wing, one-way attack counterpart that flanked a wall-sized American flag inside a northern Sioux Falls warehouse Friday weren’t the main attraction.

Rather, Pentagon officials and South Dakota dignitaries gathered for an invite-only ceremony at MMS Product, Inc. to get a look at a newly developed military advancement that will give South Dakota a front-row seat to the U.S. military’s race to drone warfare dominance.

BEEF HEIST: South Dakota cattleman accuses Missouri man of stealing wagyu cattle in fraud case

Source link

South Dakota

Abortion access campaign tests South Dakota laws, free speech standards

Published

15 hours ago

December 14, 2025

Press Room

Abortion access campaign tests South Dakota laws, free speech standards

A cease and desist order and a national abortion-access organization told to stop advertising in South Dakota are testing both free speech and consumer protection laws.

Attorney General Marty Jackley this week issued notice to Mayday Health directing the nonprofit to halt a statewide gas station ad campaign launched earlier this month, spotlighting South Dakota’s near-total abortion ban, First Amendment protections and the reach of the Deceptive Trade Practices regulations.