SEARCHLIGHT NEWS
South Dakota Gov. Larry Rhoden speaks on Sept. 23, 2026, at the David Lust Accelerator Building in Rapid City during the announcement of a planned addition to the facility that will house an office for defense contractor Northrop Grumman. (Photo by Seth Tupper/South Dakota Searchlight)
By Seth Tupper
RAPID CITY — Getting Ellsworth Air Force Base removed from a closure list 21 years ago was the beginning of the work needed to secure the base’s future in western South Dakota, Republican U.S. Sen. Mike Rounds said Wednesday.
“Once we knew Ellsworth was safe, we also knew that building up the base’s infrastructure and developing the region to attract others in the defense industry was the best way to prevent future threats,” Rounds said.
By John Hult
It could cost up to $697,000 a year for South Dakota’s state-level public defender to begin taking on trial-level cases in the state, an advisory committee heard on Wednesday.
The Office of Indigent Legal Services opened in 2024 with the hiring of a director, and expanded the following year to add four additional attorneys and a paralegal. At the moment, the office handles appeals in criminal and abuse and neglect cases.
COMMENTARY
A Postal Service sign marks the location of a post office in Rapid City, South Dakota, on Sept. 22, 2026. (Photo by Seth Tupper/South Dakota Searchlight)
By Brad Johnson
On Tuesday, Sept. 15, I paid $36 to send a small box containing a Minnesota Vikings jersey from Watertown to Rapid City by two-day mail guaranteed to arrive Thursday. It arrived Monday.
By then, U.S. Postal Service tracking information indicated it had traveled some 1,500 miles: from Watertown to Huron, Fargo, West Fargo, possibly Clearwater, Minnesota, Sioux Falls, then back to Huron, Fargo, West Fargo, Sioux Falls and finally Rapid City.
FROM STATES NEWSROOM
A Flock camera monitors passing traffic on Sept. 2, 2026 in Miami. (Photo by Joe Raedle/Getty Images)
By Ariana Figueroa
WASHINGTON — A vast and growing network of artificial intelligence-driven Flock cameras could violate constitutional privacy rights, U.S. senators on a Judiciary Committee subcommittee said during a Wednesday hearing.
GOP Sen. Josh Hawley of Missouri, the chair of the Crime and Counterterrorism Subcommittee, said the point of the hearing was to find out “what is going on with the expanding surveillance network that appears to be going coast to coast in this country.”
D.C. NEWS
Lindsay Clancy case could spur legislative action on postpartum depression, psychosis | Sofia Resnick/Stateline
US Senate Republicans spotlight trans athletes issue as midterms approach | Shauneen Miranda
NATIONAL NEWS
Oregon narrows LGBTQ+ foster youth protections after losing federal appeals case | Oregon Capital Chronicle
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