Lee Strubinger

1 week ago | sdpb.org | Lee Strubinger

Justin Warner corks a bottle of nero d’avola Saturday night at BB’s Natural—a wine bar in downtown Rapid City. As the burgundy beverage spills into a wide-bulbed red-wine glass, both he and his spouse and co-owner Brooke worry how tariff uncertainty will affect their business. “Everyone’s just trying to figure out what this looks like and it’s still pretty unclear at this point," Brooke said.

2 weeks ago | sdpb.org | Lee Strubinger

A ballot question committee is asking federal courts to toss a pending law moving up the deadline to submit petition signatures. It’s an issue that was decided by federal courts in 2023 — that South Dakota’s petition deadline could not be more than six months before an election. That case, SD Voice V. Noem, was in response to a state law that moved the deadline an entire year before an election. The state lost and as a result lawmakers set a deadline of May to submit signatures.

2 weeks ago | sdpb.org | Lee Strubinger

The South Dakota Department of Social Services assumes it will have lower Medicaid utilization in the coming year. That's led state lawmakers reduced the state Medicaid match by $4.5 million for the coming fiscal year. "There was a lot of reason to believe there were more numbers, more South Dakotans than what we've realized," Althoff said.  Althoff said the program is averaging about 30,000 South Dakotans — that’s ten thousand less than anticipated last year.

2 weeks ago | sdpb.org | Lee Strubinger

South Dakota’s lone US Representative said President Trump is laying out a strategic plan to reorder the American economy. Those comments came after Trump imposed a 10 percent tariffs on almost all imported goods on Wednesday, and even higher ones on goods from other countries like the European Union, Japan and China. “Hopefully we can get through this quickly," said Congressman Dusty Johnson, who says he's not a fan of tariffs as a long-standing part of the American economy.

3 weeks ago | sdpb.org | Lee Strubinger

A health care advocacy network is filing a legal challenge against the state to prevent a new law from going into effect. Dakotans for Health is suing to prevent moving the filing deadline to submit signatures for initiated ballot questions from May to February. In a lawsuit announcement, the group said the change creates a shortened timeline, subjecting circulators to harsher weather conditions and decreased voter interest.