Tag Archives: South Dakota

First, a reminder from last month: South Dakota’s Republican governor told an audience that her 2-year-old granddaughter “already” had several guns. Speaking at a National Rifle Association (NRA) event in Indiana on Friday, Kristi Noem spoke about her grandchildren, Addie and Branch. She said that the nearly 2-year-old Addie had a shotgun and a rifle. “Now Addie, who you know, …

The Argus Leader reports: Porter Sculpture Park, listed by TIME Magazine as one of the top 50 American Roadside attractions in 2010, was vandalized Wednesday, May 10. It will now take up to several years to repair the damage, said the creator and operator of the park Wayne Porter. The guardians, which look like human-sized skeletons with protruding ribs and …

Fox News reports: Sean Hannity pressed Noem on her prospects for a 2024 presidential run, as she has long been considered a potential Republican primary candidate. Noem replied she is “super focused here in South Dakota” but added the U.S. cannot afford another Biden term. When pressed further, Noem said her answer is “not a ‘no’,” but underlined she is …

The Argus Leader reports: Joel Koskan, who ran unsuccessfully for state Senate in 2022 and days before the election was arrested on charges relating to child abuse, pleaded guilty to two counts of felony incest Tuesday morning. He was sentenced in a Hughes County court room to 10 years in the South Dakota State Penitentiary. Koskan, 44, originally faced felony …

Sioux Falls’ CBS affiliate reports: After investigating, authorities determined there’s enough evidence to charge 47-year-old Rocky Hayes with three counts of possessing child pornography. According to court documents, evidence in the case includes illegal videos of children. The Secretary of State’s office says Hayes runs at least three businesses out of his home. He does marketing, design and communications along …

The Associated Press reports: South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem, along with the state’s Republican attorney general, said Tuesday the state will prosecute pharmacists who dispense abortion-inducing pills following a recent Food and Drug Administration rule change that broadens access to the pills. The Republican governor and South Dakota Attorney General Marty Jackley released a letter to South Dakota pharmacists saying …

So this really happened: South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem’s (R) staff gifted her a flamethrower for Christmas. White House reporter Philip Wegmann tweeted a video and photos of Noem using the flamethrower on a pile of cardboard boxes. Ian Fury, Noem’s communications director, said the staff added a plate to the device bearing the state’s motto, “Under God, the people …

Just in press release: Today, Governor Kristi Noem signed Executive Order 2022-10, which bans the Chinese social media platform TikTok for state government agencies, employees, and contractors using state devices. This order is in response to the growing national security threat posed by TikTok due to its data gathering operations on behalf of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). “South Dakota …

Rapid City’s ABC affiliate reports: A failed South Dakota House candidate made his initial appearance in court Tuesday on a charge of second-degree rape. Bud Marty May, 37, of Kyle, was first arrested on Nov. 13 on one count of second-degree rape, a class 1 felony that could carry up to 50 years in prison and would have May pay …

ABC News reports: South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem was returning from an official appearance in Rapid City in 2019 when she faced a decision: Overnight in the capital of Pierre, where another trip would start the next day, or head home and see her son attend his high school prom? The Republican governor chose the latter, a decision that eventually …

Politico reports: A South Dakota ethics board on Monday said it found sufficient information that Gov. Kristi Noem may have “engaged in misconduct” when she intervened in her daughter’s application for a real estate appraiser license that it could take action against her. The three retired judges on the Government Accountability Board determined that “appropriate action” could be taken against …

The Associated Press reports: South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem on Monday released a revised proposal for social studies standards in public schools that lays out a mostly shining vision of American history, after an initial draft of the standards came under heavy criticism last year from conservatives. The 15-member standards workgroup included Noem’s chief of staff, two Republican lawmakers and …

Fox News reports: A new ad from Gov. Kristi Noem is fueling presidential rumors. But what’s sparking 2024 presidential speculation is less about what’s in the ads than where they’re being viewed. Among the states where the ads are getting clicks are Iowa, New Hampshire, and South Carolina, the first three states to hold contests in the GOP’s presidential nominating …

The Hill reports: South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem (R) on Sunday said she will ban telemedicine appointments with abortion care providers who prescribe pills online in the GOP-controlled state in the wake of the Supreme Court’s decision overturning Roe v. Wade. Noem told host Margaret Brennan on CBS’s “Face the Nation” that she brought a bill forward in her state …

CNN reports: The South Dakota state Senate on Tuesday voted to convict and remove state Attorney General Jason Ravnsborg from office on two articles of impeachment after he struck and killed a pedestrian in September 2020, making Ravnsborg the first elected official to be impeached and removed in the state’s history. The Senate needed approval from two-thirds of the Republican-controlled, …

The Associated Press reports: South Dakota senators on Tuesday begin hearing evidence for the impeachment of Attorney General Jason Ravnsborg, whose account of a fatal 2020 traffic accident led criminal investigators, some lawmakers and the victim’s family to question his truthfulness. Ravnsborg, a Republican who only recently announced he wouldn’t seek a second term, faces two charges in the state’s …

The Associated Press reports: South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem, who has elevated her national prominence through a hands-off approach to pandemic restrictions, won the Republican primary on Tuesday against a former legislative leader who accused her of using the office to mount a 2024 White House bid. The first-term governor’s primary win against former South Dakota House Speaker Steve Haugaard …

Dakota News Now reports: South Dakota Attorney General Jason Ravnsborg will not run for re-election in 2022, regardless of the outcome of his Senate impeachment trial. Ravnsborg first won the office in 2018 after winning in a crowded state Republican convention race. He would go on to defeat Democratic nominee Randy Seiler in the November general election. Ravnsborg’s tenure as …

CBS News reports: The South Dakota House on Tuesday impeached state Attorney General Jason Ravnsborg over a 2020 fatal crash in which he initially told authorities he thought he had struck a deer or another large animal. Ravnsborg will at least temporarily be removed from office pending the historic Senate trial, where it takes a two-thirds majority to convict on …

The Daily Beast reports: More than a year and a half after he ran down and killed a man, South Dakota Attorney General Jason Ravnsborg may be done with facing any consequences. A special investigative committee of the South Dakota House of Representatives emerged from a closed-door meeting Monday to recommend against impeaching Ravnsborg. It would have been the first …