South Dakota
South Dakota could soon implement a young adult rehabilitation program
/cloudfront-us-east-1.images.arcpublishing.com/gray/XUNP5DBEZBG3RFEKW4VPDWEFLE.jpg "South Dakota could soon implement a young adult rehabilitation program")
RAPID CITY, S.D. (KOTA) – Criminal justice statewide may see a change in the outcome’s adults between the ages of 18 and 25 experience.
On Thursday, the Barriers for Emerging Adults Task Force released its final reports and recommendations to the Governor, Chief Justice, and state legislature.
This task force was created by HB 10-63 during the 20-23 legislative session. Their goal was to examine how effective diversion can be for young adults.
As part of the task force’s recommendations, they are asking the legislature to create a funding mechanism to support the diversion process. This will allow the criminal justice system more options when considering sentencing for young adults.
The task force also recommends prioritizing training for any new diversion processes implemented, to revise statutes to allow flexibility for 18 to 25-year-olds, and to encourage a change of mindset across the justice system.
Pennington County State’s Attorney Lara Roetzel emphasized this isn’t a soft approach to crime.
” You’re never going to hear me talking about wanting to hug a thug, I’m very firm on crime, but this is a special population that deserves to be treated in a special way and I think that’s what this report represents,” said Roetzel.
The reasoning for these recommendations is based on data that suggests brain development does not complete until 25 and that young adults are highly susceptible to peer pressure.
For Pennington County, diversion is a familiar topic.
“Pennington County is uniquely situated to be helpful in that regard because of the past five years we’ve done adult diversion program in our county, no other county in the state of South Dakota has done that,” said Roetzel.
Roetzel says these changes could be implemented as early as the next legislative session.
Copyright 2023 KOTA. All rights reserved.
MILBANK, S.D. (Dakota News Now) – South Dakota Attorney General Marty Jackley announced that one person had been arrested following a shooting that occurred at a Milbank nursing home on Wednesday.
Jackley told Dakota News Now that an employee dispute led to the shooting at Avantara Milbank where a supervisor was shot in the nose area and received minor injuries.
The suspect was arrested and there is no danger to the public at this time.
South Dakota DCI is leading the investigation and the suspect is in the process of being formally charged.
They are presumed innocent under the US Constitution.
Copyright 2025 Dakota News Now. All rights reserved.
RAPID CITY, S.D. (KOTA) – The National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health awarded South Dakota Mines Mining Engineering and Management professors Rudrajit Mitra and Andrea Brickey a $1.25 million grant to research safety improvements in underground mining.
With mining science advancements allowing for deeper digs, Mitra says safety needs to be at the forefront.
“As you go deeper, they squish the opening,” Mitra said. “So, there’s a lot of movement in the rock. Our task is to make sure that stays open for the life of the mine, but also as people are walking in and out, as equipment is driving in and out, they don’t fall.”
Mitra and Brickey will collaborate with professors from Colorado School of Mines and Montana State University in the project.
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Copyright 2025 KOTA. All rights reserved.
RAPID CITY, S.D. (KOTA) – You can never be too careful when out on the ice.
After several cars fell through the ice at a popular ice fishing spot in northeast South Dakota over the weekend, it serves as a reminder of safety measures people can follow when fishing on a frozen lake or pond.
When ice fishing or going out on the ice in general, the team leader of the Rapid City Pennington County Water Rescue Team, Matt Curley, recommends it’s better to be accompanied by someone or multiple people instead of on your own.
In addition, it’s a good idea to wear life jackets in the case of an emergency. He also wants people to understand that no ice is safe ice, meaning there’s always a risk no matter the thickness of the ice.
“The minimum thickness for hard clear ice would be two inches. But again, like we said, we don’t recommend that anybody goes out on the ice just because we never know with the freezing and thawing, what the conditions of the ice actually are,” Curley said.
According to the South Dakota Game, Fish and Parks Facebook page, they recommend as well when on the ice, to always wear ice picks around your neck and have rope nearby.
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Copyright 2025 KOTA. All rights reserved.
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