As a new Congress was sworn in, this might seem like a bad time to talk about raising federal lawmakers’ pay. A government funding package failed last month, throwing Washington into a frantic …

The deadly attack on new year revellers in New Orleans, which killed at least 15 people and injured dozens more, was all the more terrible for its familiar characteristics. The method of attack …

January serves as National Human Trafficking Prevention Month, an important time for reflection, awareness, and action. This month is a solemn reminder of the urgent need to protect the most …

Gov. Kristi Noem seems surprised about the amount of state money flowing to public broadcasting. “South Dakota has the third highest per capita funding of public broadcasting of any state …

Jimmy Carter’s presidency began with a simple act meant to signal a new relationship between the people and their government: He and his wife, Rosalynn, got out of their limousine and walked a …

Anglers catching fish in zebra mussel-infested lakes may be reeling in adult walleyes with mercury content 72% higher and perch with 157% higher levels than those being caught on non-infested lakes. …

She didn’t really say it in so many words, but it was obvious to anyone who listened to Gov. Kristi Noem’s budget speech. She’s breaking up with us. Maybe she didn’t want to …

Every year, I am always blown away by the decorations at the South Dakota State Capitol. Volunteers decorate dozens of trees and decorate the whole Capitol in a theme. This year, the theme is …

To hear South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem tell it, her newly proposed and euphemistically named “Education Savings Account” program is all about giving disadvantaged parents the …

Next month, Americans will turn the page on the Biden presidency. For many Americans, that day can’t come soon enough. The last four years have been characterized by a number of crises. With …

It was almost two years ago that this space was used to offer the idea that the South Dakota Legislature was operating under a two-and-a-half party system. The half party was Democrats, too few to …

Longstanding laws and norms govern how one presidential administration is supposed to hand off power to the next. They’re designed to ensure a smooth transfer while at the same time imposing …

The noise of wingbeats flying above the cattails creates instant excitement for my two yellow labs. Ducks start landing in the decoys, and my two oldest sons (who are 4 and 6) look up at me with huge …

An effective and efficient system of indigent defense is important for all South Dakotans. South Dakota has devoted a couple years of study, discussion and legislative action to the issue. Judges, …

It is an astonishingly large number: 5.3 billion. That’s how many meals were distributed by the nation’s largest domestic hunger relief organization, Feeding America, in 2023 alone. In a …

During my newspaper career I was tasked with writing five editorials a week. Consequently, I wasn’t choosy about revisiting some subjects. If it was in the news, it was fair game for an …

In 2021, Attorney General Merrick Garland established new, but long-needed, press protections barring federal prosecutors from purasuing journalists’ communication records with confidential …

The United States Senate is arguably the least democratic (small “d”) institution in any democracy in the world, with the possible exception of the British House of Lords. The Senate …

There’s hardly a corner of South Dakota where you won’t find a farm, ranch, or some other trace of our rich agricultural heritage — it’s the lifeblood of our state. …

It’s telling that virtually the only positive spin economists of every political persuasion are putting on Donald Trump’s latest vow to ignite a global tariff war is the possibility that …