National news
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Drug overdose deaths down nationally, but rise slightly in South Dakota
There were 30,000 fewer U.S. drug overdose deaths in 2024 than the year before the largest one-year decline ever recorded. An estimated 80,000 people died from overdoses last year, according to provisionalCenters for Disease Control and Prevention datareleased Wednesday. Thats down 27% from the 110,000 in 2023. The CDC has…
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Farmers take wait-and-see approach to Trump’s trade wars
WAVERLY, Minn. Minnesota farmer Dan Glessing isnt ready to get too upset over President Donald Trumpstrade wars. Farm country voted heavily for Trump last November. Now Glessing and many other farmers are taking a wait-and-see attitude toward the Republican president’s disputes with China and other international markets. China normally would…
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Egg prices plateau, remain near record highs
U.S. retail egg prices fell in April from the record-high prices they hit earlier this year, according to government data. The average price for a dozen Grade A eggs declined to $5.12 last month after reaching a record $6.23 in March, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. It…
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Economic data worries tourist businesses in South Dakota
PIEDMONT John Carley joined about 100 other business operators in early May for a meeting of the Black Hills & Badlands Tourism Association to preview the 2025 tourism season. The mood in the room, he said, was a little muted compared to recent years, when South Dakota set repeated records…
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South Dakota Humanities Council receives big grant
BROOKINGS Shortly after having nearly its entire budget cut by the Trump administration, the South Dakota Humanities Council is receiving at least $200,000 from a national nonprofit dedicated to supporting the arts and humanities. The Mellon Foundation actually dedicated $15 million to all (humanities) councils throughout the United States and…
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Noem pulls protections for Afghans
WASHINGTON Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem Monday announced about 9,000 Afghans living in the United States who had been protected from deportation will no longer be shielded as of mid-July. After the United States withdrew from Afghanistan in 2022, the Biden administration designated Temporary Protected Status, along with…
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FDA will allow three new color additives made from minerals, algae, flower petals
U.S. regulators said Friday that they would allow three new color additives made from natural sources to be used in the nations food supply. It comes after health officials pledged a sweeping phase-out of petroleum-based dyes widely used in foods from cereals to sports drinks to boost health though action…
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Robert Prevost, first pope from US in history of Catholic Church, takes the name Leo XIV
VATICAN CITY Catholic cardinals broke with tradition Thursday and elected the first U.S. pope, making Chicago-born missionary Robert Prevostthe 267th pontiff to lead the Catholic Church in a moment of global turmoil and conflict. Prevost, a 69-year-old member of theAugustinian religious orderwho spent his career ministering in Peru, took the…
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Dakota State University students bristle at Noem speech
MADISON Dakota State University hasnt experienced the student protests taking place at other U.S. colleges. Nestled in rural South Dakota, most of the nearly 4,000 students have been focused on their studies or job hunts, avoiding politics and partisan groups. Until now. The university administration decided to award an honorary…
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CDC’s health-tracking programs fall victim to budget cuts
NEW YORK U.S. Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.s motto is Make America Healthy Again, but government cuts could make it harder to know if thats happening. More than a dozen data-gathering programs that track deaths and disease appear to have been eliminated in the tornado of layoffs and proposed…
