South Dakota Library Announces Awards
September 5, 2025
PIERRE – The South Dakota State Library, a division of the South Dakota Department of Education, has announced the 2025-2028
PIERRE – The South Dakota State Library, a division of the South Dakota Department of Education, has announced the 2025-2028
Grand Teton National Park will host a congressional hearing today on renewed funding for a law providing for maintenance on
SIOUX FALLS, S.D. – Sanford Medical Center Fargo and Sanford USD Medical Center in Sioux Falls have again been named
Republican lawmakers in Congress are moving to eliminate limits on energy development in several Western states. That would clear the way for President Donald Trump’s plans to sharply expand mining and drilling on public lands. House Republicans on Wednesday night voted to repeal development restrictions across large areas of Alaska, Montana and North Dakota. The repeals would reverse land use plans adopted in the closing days of former President Joe Biden’s administration that were meant to curb climate-warming fossil fuel emissions. Republicans want to create more jobs and revenue. Democrats had urged the rejection of the repeals. The Republican-majority Senate must still approve the House action.
A Montana man suspected of killing four people at a bar then evading capture for a week has been charged with additional crimes, including attempted arson. State District Judge Jeffrey Dahood ordered Michael Paul Brown to be held without bail during a Wednesday court appearance. The defendant’s attorneys said mental illness could be an issue in the case. Brown’s family has said the 45-year-old former soldier long struggled with mental illness before allegedly shooting a bartender and three patrons in Anaconda, Montana. Court documents say he also lit objects on fire in the bar and stole a vehicle after the shootings. Brown’s defense attorney entered not guilty pleas on his behalf to all charges.
Sioux Falls, S.D. – South Dakota Attorney General Marty Jackley congratulated 21 recruits graduating this Friday from the Law Enforcement
Last week’s deadly school shooting in Minnesota has students, parents and teachers again feeling the weight of gun violence. Educators
A man suspected of killing four people at a Montana bar faces four counts of murder. Defendant Michael Paul Brown lived next door to The Owl Bar in Anaconda, Montana, where a bartender and three patrons were shot and killed Aug. 1. He evaded capture for a week in the nearby mountains and is now being held on $2 million bond. A state court website on Saturday detailed the charges he faces. The case previously had been sealed by a state judge. Authorities have not commented on a potential motive for the 45-year-old former soldier. A niece says Brown long struggled with mental illness.
MISSOULA, Mont. – The federal government recently finalized an $18 million settlement with 12 people who were sexually abused by
PIERRE, S.D. – A Sioux Falls man was arrested this week on felony charges including possession of child pornography and
PIERRE, S.D. – South Dakota Lottery players are on a winning streak, with three new big winners announced from a
A Montana audit found a two-year transition between contractors tasked with monitoring Montana medical providers with substance use disorders or mental illnesses may have allowed some of those professionals to practice without oversight. The audit said the turmoil also undermined the trust of the dozens of nurses, doctors, dentists and pharmacists who were being monitored. The labor department said there was no basis for the conclusion that more than two dozen participants were unaccounted for during the transition. However, labor department employees told auditors that when one provider lost its contract, it did not turn over all its records and documentation. Some participants say the current monitors aren’t responding to their concerns.
A firefighter has died after suffering a cardiac emergency while battling a blaze in southwestern Montana. Authorities say Ruben Gonzales Romero was given medical aid, but attempts to resuscitate him failed. The 60-year-old contract firefighter from Keizer, Oregon, died Sunday afternoon. Gov. Greg Gianforte referred to him as a “fallen hero” in offering condolences. Gonzales Romero was one of more than 700 firefighters working on a fire triggered by lightning about 15 miles north of Virginia City, Montana. The fire has burned through about 15 square miles.
South Dakota Attorney General Marty Jackley, along with Sioux Falls Mayor Paul TenHaken and Rapid City Mayor Jason Salamun, have
RAPID CITY, S.D. — A large wildfire in Wyoming, the Red Canyon Fire, continues to burn at more than 50,000
WHITEFISH, Mont. WHITEFISH, Mont. (AP) — WHITEFISH, Mont. (AP) — CFN Enterprises Inc. (CNFN) on Thursday reported a loss of
A small plane landing at a Montana airport has crashed into aircraft on the ground, causing a large fire but no serious injuries. The single-engine plane carrying four people attempted to land at around 2 p.m. Monday at the Kalispell City Airport. The Federal Aviation Administration reported at least one plane on the ground was struck, resulting in a fire that spread into a grassy area before being extinguished. Kalispell Police Chief Jordan Venezio said people aboard the plane that was attempting to land had minor injuries.
A man suspected of killing 4 people at a Montana bar is in custody after a weeklong search, authorities say.
Four people are dead in a shooting at a Montana bar as a search continues for the suspect, authorities say.
The ATF says multiple people have been shot at a Montana business, and authorities are searching for a suspect.
BOZEMAN, Mont. BOZEMAN, Mont. (AP) — BOZEMAN, Mont. (AP) — Fair Isaac Corp. (FICO) on Wednesday reported fiscal third-quarter net
BILLINGS, Mont. BILLINGS, Mont. (AP) — BILLINGS, Mont. (AP) — First Interstate BancSystem Inc. (FIBK) on Tuesday reported second-quarter profit
KALISPELL, Mont. KALISPELL, Mont. (AP) — KALISPELL, Mont. (AP) — Glacier Bancorp Inc. (GBCI) on Thursday reported second-quarter net income
Search teams located the scene of an airplane crash near Yellowstone National Park using the last known location of a smart watch from one of the three victims. Authorities said Monday that the single-engine Piper PA-28 aircraft left Montana’s West Yellowstone Airport just before midnight Thursday. When it could not be located, two search planes were dispatched to look for the aircraft in the vicinity of the watch’s last known location. The search planes found the downed aircraft in dense timber just south of the town of West Yellowstone. Two people from Tennessee and a Utah man were found dead at the site.
A 42-year-old Utah man has died after he fell while descending a mountainside in Glacier National Park in northwestern Montana. Authorities said Friday that Brian Astle of Provo, Utah, fell from an off-trail climbing route on the west face of Mount Gould. The accident happened above a popular hiking route known as the Highline Trail. The fatality follows the death of a 67-year-old Texas man on Tuesday at Grand Canyon National Park. Park officials say the man had been hiking on the South Kaibab Trail, attempting to reach the Colorado River.
The University of Montana is changing course and will opt-in this year to the NCAA’s House settlement. The recent settlement means athletic programs across the country are free to start paying millions to their athletes in the biggest change in the history of college athletics. The deadline for schools around the country to opt out was Monday. Montana was originally planning to opt-in during the 2026-27 academic year. The school explained that it switched after rosters were grandfathered into the final approved settlement so that roster cuts weren’t necessary.
Pat Williams, a New Deal-style Democrat who won Montana’s great liberal-conservative showdown of 1992 to become the state’s lone voice in the U.S. House of Representatives, has died. He was 87. He died in Missoula of natural causes, a family spokesperson said. John Patrick Williams represented the western half of Montana from 1979 to 1997. When the 1990 census eliminated one of the state’s two House seats, he captured the new statewide district in a bruising race against a longtime conservative lawmaker. Williams was an unabashed liberal, a staunch advocate for organized labor and a believer in the potential of government to help people.
Authorities say a fiery explosion at a storage and disposal plant in the oil fields of eastern Montana was felt by people 10 miles away but caused no injuries or fatalities. Richland County Emergency Manger Brandon Roth says no one was on site when the explosion happened Wednesday night. The fire continued to burn Thursday. Roth says emergency crews were waiting to approach the site when it becomes less dangerous. Several storage tanks burned and Roth did not immediately know what they contained.
Across the U.S. Americans are expressing a mixture of support, apprehension and anxiety over President Donald Trump’s decision to bomb nuclear sites in Iran. Administration officials say the strikes give Iran the chance to return to negotiations over its nuclear program. Yet if the conflict spirals, it could test Trump’s foreign diplomacy skills and his support at home. At Whiteman Air Force Base in Missouri, the B-2 bombers that participated in the weekend strikes returned home on Sunday. Nearby retired Air Force veteran Ken Slabaugh said he was “100% supportive” of Trump’s decision.
President Donald Trump has told government agencies to consolidate their wildland firefighting into a single program. Thursday’s executive order comes after former federal officials warned that such a consolidation could be costly and increase the risk of catastrophic blazes. The move is meant to centralize duties now split among five agencies and two Cabinet departments. Officials have not disclosed how much the change could cost. The Trump administration in its first months sharply reduced the ranks of firefighters through layoffs and retirement offers. The personnel declines and reshuffling of agencies come as global warming makes fires more severe and destructive.
More than 2 million acres of federal lands would be sold to states or other entities under a budget proposal from Utah Republican Sen. Mike Lee. The draft provision in the GOP’s sweeping tax cut package comes after after a similar proposal was narrowly defeated in the House. Montana Sen. Steve Daines said in response that he opposes public land sales. Lee says the sales would target isolated parcels that could be used for housing or infrastructure. Conservation groups reacted with outrage, saying it would set a precedent to fast-track the handover of cherished lands to developers.
Lawyers for President Donald Trump’s administration say he has the authority to abolish national monuments meant to protect historical and archaeological sites. That includes two monuments in California created by former President Joe Biden at the request of Native American tribes. A Justice Department legal opinion released Tuesday disavowed a 1938 determination that monuments created by previous president can’t be revoked. The finding comes as the Interior Department under Trump has been weighing changes to monuments across the nation as part of the administration’s push to expand U.S. energy production.
Montana’s Supreme Court has upheld a lower court ruling that struck down as unconstitutional several laws restricting abortion access. Among the laws that the court ruled on Monday was a ban on abortions beyond 20 weeks of gestation. They were challenged by Planned Parenthood of Montana and had been blocked since 2021 when a judge issued a preliminary injunction against them. While the case has been pending, voters passed an initiative that explicitly protects abortion rights under an amendment to the Montana Constitution.
Mining company Signal Peak Energy sits atop a billion-ton coal reserve beneath Montana’s rugged Bull Mountains and ships 98% of the fuel it mines to Japan and South Korea. Congressional Republicans last week advanced a plan to approve a long-stalled permit for the mine, just as President Donald Trump looks to further boost coal exports. Yet Trump’s own tariffs make more exports an iffy proposition for most U.S. coal. Countries retaliating against tariffs might price U.S. coal out of competition altogether. In effect, an escalating trade war could undermine Trump’s goal of saving coal.
Three Montana Army National Guard members face trespassing charges after authorities say they landed a Black Hawk helicopter in a mountain pasture on a private ranch to take elk antlers before flying away. A sheriff says Thursday that a game warden tracked down the guardsmen and they turned over two antlers and an elk skull with antlers attached. Authorities say a witness saw the May 4 landing and the property owner later reported it to officials. Elk antlers grow and drop off male animals annually and can be sold and collected. A Montana National Guard official says the case is under investigation and that misuse of military equipment erodes trust with residents.
Congressional Republicans say their plan to sell or transfer 460,000 acres of public land will generate revenue and offer space to build houses in Western cities. Without clear details on how it will work, skeptics worry it could be a giveaway for developers and mining companies. For some rapidly growing western cities, owning the adjacent federal land would be a boon. Conservationists, on the other hand, fear the loss of public lands and environmental destruction. And while housing advocates are hopeful at the opportunity, they remain wary that enough affordable housing will be built. The legislation passed by the House Natural Resources Committee last week, part of the Republicans’ sweeping tax cut package.
An asbestos screening clinic in a Montana town where thousands have been sickened dust from a nearby mine has been shuttered by local authorities. The move follows a Wednesday court order to seize the clinic’s assets in order to pay off a judgment to railroad BNSF. Courts in Montana have said BNSF contributed to the asbestos pollution in Libby when it brought contaminated material through town. But the railway prevailed in a 2023 lawsuit alleging the clinic fraudulently made some patients eligible for government benefits when it knew they were not sick. The railway says it’s owed $3 million.
Idaho State Police say the driver of the tour van involved in a deadly collision with a pickup truck was licensed in California and the company that organized the trip was Ctour Holiday LLC. It’s a large tour operator that provides international travel services. The pickup truck driver and six people in the Mercedes van were killed in the crash. It happened Thursday evening on U.S. Highway 20 near Henry’s Lake State Park in eastern Idaho. Police have identified the pickup driver as 25-year-old Isaih Moreno of Humble, Texas. The tour group was headed to Yellowstone National Park. Police did not say whether the driver of the van was among those killed.