RAPID CITY, S.D. (KOTA) –

Tonight, temperatures manage to keep dropping and Rapid City hits the 64 degree mark by sunrise tomorrow. Clear skies overnight are expected with the absence of that dense smoke! Tomorrow, we are going to see temperatures make it back into the 90s by the afternoon, so if you are out walking your furry friends, make sure to keep those paws off of the hot concrete. Temperatures make it into the mid 90s in Rapid City in the afternoon with completely sunny skies lasting throughout the entire day. Looking ahead to the month of August, temperatures decrease throughout the month and the sunset time keeps getting earlier and earlier. We are also entering one of our driest months of the year with less than 2 inches of rainfall on average. Currently we are expecting above average temperatures in KOTA Territory and below average precipitation. These conditions don’t look too promising for the current drought situation that has made itself known over Western South Dakota. Overnight tonight, temperatures make it into the 50s and 60s throughout KOTA Territory with clear skies expected throughout the entire night. We will not be as hazy as we have been the past few nights. Tomorrow, clear skies translate to sunny skies. This lasts the entire day across almost every single location. Make sure to pack those sunglasses as you are walking out of the door tomorrow morning. The next three days over in NE Wyoming and the Northern Hills displays the warm up we are going to experience. Everyone seeing 90s to triple digits by the end of the week and into the start of the weekend. Rapid City getting in on the century mark with temperatures surpassing 100 degrees on Saturday. Rain and thunderstorms work their way into the forecast by Sunday, and that looks like it will continue next week. Temperatures also reflect that with 80s for much of next week.

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RAPID CITY, S.D. (KOTA) – As the 2024-2025 school year inches closer, many school districts are tightening the reigns on their cell phone use policies.

In South Dakota, at least two school districts, Gettysburg and Edgemont, are implementing lockable pouches for students to place their cell phones during the school day.

Assistant Superintendent for Rapid City Area Schools Cory Strasser agrees with the decision these districts have made and says when cell phones are more of a disruption than a tool, changes need to be made.

“Every school addresses certain issues differently, and I think you’re seeing some of that in South Dakota. Some of the pressure is back against prevalent student use of cell phones, and it really comes down to what the learning environment looks like,” Strasser said.

Rapid City Area Schools decided to not make any changes to their current approach to student cell phone use, which consists of having phones kept in a backpack or locker throughout the school day.

“I don’t see us moving in that direction, but again we need to gauge where the potential disruption is and are we able to effectively address it through our current policy and consequences so that we can preserve the learning environment,” Strasser continued.

While schools in Rapid City are not tightening up their policy at the moment, Strasser says they are continuously keeping an eye out for any needed changes.

“We continually evaluate and look at our policies, so if there is a distinct need coming forth that we need to take a hard look at this policy, then we’re going to do that,” Strasser said.

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A federal judge has struck down an attempt by Alabama, Florida, Georgia and South Carolina to halt enforcement of the Biden administration’s final rule for Title IX, shortly before the final rule takes effect nationwide on Thursday.

The administration’s updated regulations — which seek to extend federal discrimination protections for LGBTQ students — have been met with a wave of GOP pushback since being announced by the Department of Education in April.

Though the final rule is slated to go into effect on Thursday, it’s now blocked in 22 states and has faced mounting legal uncertainty.

“In short, although Plaintiffs may dislike the Department’s rules, they have failed to show a substantial likelihood of success in proving the Department’s rulemaking was unreasonable or not reasonably explained,” Judge Annemarie Carney Axon of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Alabama wrote Tuesday in a 122-page opinion.

Axon, who was appointed by then-President Donald Trump, also wrote that “the evidentiary record is sparse, and the legal arguments are conclusory and underdeveloped.”

In late April, the group of Southern states, all with GOP attorneys general, sued the administration in federal court in Alabama over the regulations. Multiple organizations also tacked onto the lawsuit, including the Independent Women’s Law Center, the Independent Women’s Network, Parents Defending Education and Speech First.

They quickly appealed Tuesday’s ruling later in the day to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 11th Circuit.

Since the department released the final rule, 26 states in total have signed onto lawsuits seeking to block the updated regulations from taking effect.

Across multiple temporary injunctions, the final rule is blocked in Alaska, Arkansas, Idaho, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Virginia, West Virginia and Wyoming.

On Wednesday, Judge Jodi W. Dishman of the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Oklahoma halted the final rule from taking effect in the state. Oklahoma individually sued the administration back in May.

To further complicate the matter, when Judge John Broomes of the U.S. District Court for the District of Kansas temporarily blocked the measure in the Sunflower State, Alaska, Utah and Wyoming earlier in July, he extended it to also include “the schools attended by the members of Young America’s Foundation or Female Athletes United, as well as the schools attended by the children of the members of Moms for Liberty,” all groups that sued alongside those four states.

This means the final rule is blocked in schools across the country, including in states that never challenged the updated regulations. Despite Axon’s Tuesday ruling, the final rule will still be halted in any K-12 school or college in Alabama, Florida, Georgia and South Carolina that is impacted by the earlier Kansas decision.

The Department of Education did not immediately respond to a request for comment.