Thank you!
We’d like to express our gratitude for everyone who contributed to the recent fundraiser in support of our Voter Guide, which provides free information on candidates, ballot questions and voter registration for all South Dakotans.
Forty-nine donors had contributed to the campaign as of Monday afternoon. If you’d like to help push us over 50, you can still offer your support!
SEARCHLIGHT NEWS
Lars Herseth, a Democratic former legislator and 1986 nominee for governor, died Sept. 12, 2026, at age 80. He’s pictured here in a 2023 oral history interview. (Screenshot courtesy of South Dakota State Archives/YouTube)
By Seth Tupper
Lars Herseth, a Democratic former South Dakota legislator and 1986 nominee for governor, died Saturday of cancer at age 80.
Herseth grew up in a politically active Democratic family in rural Houghton, where he returned to be a farmer and rancher after graduating from the University of South Dakota. His father, Ralph Herseth, was the state’s 21st governor from 1959 to 1961, and his mother, Lorna Herseth, was South Dakota’s secretary of state from 1973 to 1979. Lars Herseth’s daughter, Stephanie Herseth Sandlin, served in the U.S. House from 2004 to 2011.
COMMENTARY
U.S. Senate Majority Leader John Thune, center, and Sen. Mike Rounds, right, Republicans from South Dakota, speak with an attendee, left, at the Dakotafest agricultural trade show in Mitchell on Aug. 19, 2026. (Photo by Joshua Haiar/South Dakota Searchlight)
By Brad Johnson
The Trump administration is moving on two fronts to weaken protection for South Dakota’s wetlands and streams.
One proposal could remove most seasonal streams and wetlands from the Clean Water Act. The other could permanently certify old and potentially inaccurate maps associated with the Swampbuster program, which is supposed to discourage farmers from converting wetlands to cropland.
FROM STATES NEWSROOM
The U.S. Supreme Court on Oct. 9, 2024. (Photo by Jane Norman/States Newsroom)
By Jacob Fischler
The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday kept in place a lower court’s order blocking President Donald Trump’s embattled plan to place new restrictions on mail ballots for this year’s midterm elections.
D.C. NEWS
Trump’s Canadian trade war stirs up trouble for Republican candidates | Kevin Hardy/Stateline
Trump gives feds 90 days to consider removing endangered species protections for wolves | Clark Corbin/Idaho Capital Sun
NATIONAL NEWS
Vance warns fraudsters not to ‘screw the American taxpayer’ as operation uncovers $245M in losses | Morgan Chilson/Kansas Reflector
McConnell says he will cast his first Senate vote Monday after June hospitalization | McKenna Horsley/Kentucky Lantern
AROUND THE REGION
NORTH DAKOTA MONITOR
MINNESOTA REFORMER
IOWA CAPITAL DISPATCH
NEBRASKA EXAMINER
WYOFILE
SD NEWS FROM OTHER MEDIA
FREE
Couple finds life next to limestone mine unnerving | South Dakota News Watch
MAY REQUIRE A SUBSCRIPTION OR AN ACCOUNT
The WRAP: Learn about the restraint system the RCPD used before man died | Rapid City Journal
U.N. chooses South Dakota’s Luke Lindberg to lead World Food Programme | The Dakota Scout
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