SUSPECT ARRESTED IN THE THEFT OF DHS SECRETARY KRISTI NOEM’S PURSE

WASHINGTON, D.C. (AP) – A suspect has been arrested in connection with the theft last week of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem ‘s purse as she ate at a Washington, D.C., restaurant, officials said Sunday.

Noem’s purse was nabbed on Easter Sunday and reportedly contained about $3,000 in cash, her keys, driver’s license, passport and Homeland Security badge. The Homeland Security Department said Noem had cash in her purse to pay for gifts, dinner and other activities for her family on Easter.

A suspect was taken into custody without incident in Washington after an investigation by the U.S. Secret Service and the Metropolitan Police Department, according to Secret Service Washington Field Office Special Agent in Charge Matt McCool.

The suspect was arrested Saturday, the police department said.

Interim District of Columbia U.S. Attorney Ed Martin told NBC News the suspect was in the country illegally.

In a prepared statement, McCool called the suspect a “serial offender” and said there was no evidence Noem was targeted because of her position.

“There is no indication it was because of that. It was frankly, it was a nice looking purse,” Martin told NBC News.

McCool said the investigation revealed evidence of potential device and credit card fraud.

The Metropolitan Police Department said the suspect was connected to two other purse thefts in Washington restaurants earlier this month through video evidence. The suspect was charged with robbery for the other incidents.

The Secret Service is investigating the Noem theft and will present its findings in federal court. There was no indication of criminal charges being filed against the suspect as of Sunday.

The Secret Service referred questions to the U.S. Attorney’s office, which did not respond to emails seeking more information.

Noem thanked law enforcement agencies “for finding and arresting the criminal who stole my bag on Easter Sunday as I shared a meal with my family.”

“This individual is a career criminal who has been in our country illegally for years,” Noem said in a prepared statement. DHS did not immediately respond to an email requesting further detail on the suspect’s immigration status.

Martin told NBC another suspect was being sought.

 

SOUTH DAKOTA PUBLIC BROADCASTING GETS FINANCIAL BOOST FROM THE CORPORATION FOR PUBLIC BROADCASTING

WASHINGTON, D.C. – The Corporation for Public Broadcasting recently announced its awarded five grants totaling $9.65 million to statewide public broadcasting networks in Louisiana, South Dakota, Wisconsin, and Wyoming, as well as KSUT Tribal Radio in Colorado.

The announcement comes after the Federal Emergency Management Agency, working with CPB, lifted a 65-day hold on $38 million in contract reimbursements to CPB for public media stations seeking to update their equipment to create a more resilient and secure public alerting system.

“In times of disaster, the American people need to know they can depend on public media to be there in their communities, providing emergency alerts and essential information,” said Patricia Harrison, President and CEO of CPB. “These grants fund critical infrastructure that ensures our stations can warn people to take cover, seek higher ground, and head for safety. Families can feel safer knowing that public media has their safety as a top priority.”

South Dakota Public Broadcasting in Vermillion, pending final contract negotiation, will receive up to $3.4-million dollar to buy and install 12 digital alert encoders/decoders, upgrade 10 FM stations so the entire statewide radio network can transmit in HD radio, and install equipment providing backup redundancy for the radio network in case of an emergency.

“This is exciting news,” said Julie Overgaard, Executive Director of South Dakota Public Broadcasting. “We thank CPB for the continued investment being made in the critical infrastructure we need to deliver vital alerting information to help keep our communities safe during emergencies.”

 

SOUTH DAKOTA USES PORTION OF OPIOID SETTLEMENT FUNDS TO DISTRIBUTE OVERDOSE PREVENTION KITS

PIERRE, S.D. (Makenzie Huber / South Dakota Searchlight) – About 20,000 opioid overdose prevention kits will be distributed across South Dakota thanks to a partnership between the state and Sioux Falls-based nonprofit Emily’s Hope. The kits are filled with naloxone, an antidote for opioid overdoses, along with other resources and information.

Emily’s Hope founder and CEO Angela Kennecke, whose daughter died from a fentanyl overdose in 2018, announced the partnership in Sioux Falls on Friday alongside South Dakota Attorney General Marty Jackley, state Health Department Secretary Melissa Magstadt and state Social Services Department Secretary Matt Althoff.

The distribution is funded with $350,000 of South Dakota’s $78.6 million “and counting” in national opioid settlement funds, Jackley said. The national opioid settlements were reached to resolve opioid litigation against pharmaceutical distributors and manufacturers accused of flooding communities with opioid painkillers even though they allegedly knew how addictive and deadly the drugs were.

South Dakota will receive about $50 million over the next 15 years from the first settlement and will receive another $28.6 million over the next 17 years from a settlement with Walgreens, CVS, Walmart, Teva and Allergan.

“That’s what is so important about this partnership is it’s putting those dollars back to work to save and protect people,” Jackley said.

Teva pharmaceuticals donated 2,313 kits for the effort and sold the other kits at a discounted rate to the state.

Ninety-five South Dakotans died from overdoses in 2023, according to the state Department of Health. Forty-seven of the deaths were opioid-related, and 39 of those were fentanyl-related, Magstadt said. Fentanyl is a synthetic opioid.

“Since 2019, we’ve had a 70% increase in the amount of fentanyl deaths in South Dakota,” Magstadt said. “It’s hitting home.”

The program will target areas of the state impacted the most by opioid use, overdoses and death, officials said. The top 10 counties impacted, according to Emily’s Hope, are Minnehaha, Lincoln, Pennington, Corson, Roberts, Turner, Todd, Oglala Lakota, Beadle and Meade.

Although most overdose deaths are among white residents, Native Americans are disproportionately affected. Native Americans die from overdoses at a rate of 26.6 per 100,000 — more than four times the rate among white South Dakotans, according to the State Unintentional Drug Overdose Reporting System.

The kits will be placed in publicly accessible areas, Kennecke said. Emily’s Hope has been distributing naloxone kits, primarily in the Sioux Falls area, for nearly a year. The organization has distributed about 6,000 kits in that time.

Although most overdoses occur in private residences, they also happen in public restrooms, in traffic or on the street, Kennecke said. Offering them in public allows more bystanders to access the drug and intervene.

“Our goal is to have one of these kits in every house, in every business, by every AED possible,” Kennecke said. AEDs are automated external defibrillators that help people in cardiac arrest, many of which are stationed in public areas and offices throughout the state.

Magstadt called naloxone a “one more chance” medicine, since it halts overdose symptoms and opens a window for people to seek treatment for opioid use disorder. Administering naloxone will not harm someone who isn’t experiencing overdose, she said, and victims often appear sleepy while overdosing from opioid use.

The state has distributed about 15,000 naloxone kits in the last eight years to law enforcement, emergency medical services and schools across the state using a federal grant. About 3,600 kits have been distributed to public spaces through the new program so far.

South Dakota’s current plan in the Department of Social Services is to put a majority of settlement dollars into a trust fund to gain interest over time. Althoff said he wants to ensure the money is spent wisely rather than “spend this precious resource for the sake of spending.”

Jackley told South Dakota Searchlight he doesn’t agree with the trust fund approach and he’d rather see the funds be put toward prevention and treatment immediately. That includes funneling some of the settlement money toward rehabilitation for South Dakota prisoners, he said.

“Today, there was a minimal amount of money used from that settlement to save lives,” Jackley said. “We need to do more of that.”

 

FIRST CANDIDATE FOR GOVERNOR FOCUSES ON PROPERTY RIGHTS, SPENDING AND HALTING ‘CORPORATE WELFARE’

SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (Makenzie Huber / South Dakota Searchlight) – Dissatisfaction with the “status quo” is driving Jon Hansen and Karla Lems to run for South Dakota governor and lieutenant governor, they said.

The pair officially announced their 2026 campaign to hundreds of supporters Thursday at the South Dakota Military Heritage Alliance in Sioux Falls. The crowd included property rights advocates against eminent domain for carbon dioxide pipelines, “election integrity” activists and over a dozen Republican lawmakers.

Hansen, who currently serves as state House speaker, will seek the Republican Party’s nomination for governor, with Lems, his second in command in the House, running to serve as his lieutenant governor.

The two, along with speakers who introduced them, said elected officials too often put the “people’s interests” second to special interests. To resounding applause, they said that’s caused a wave of opposition to establishment politicians, a referred state pipeline law that voters rejected in November, and ousted incumbent state lawmakers in last June’s primary election.

“Grassroots patriots from all across the great state of South Dakota are standing up and we are saying in record numbers, ‘No more corruption, no more waste and abuse, no more tax on our land and our liberties and our way of life,’” Hansen said to the crowd. “Today renews the coming of the end for all of that.”

If elected, Hansen pledged to “clean up” the system by cutting state government and spending. He also promised to create “education choice grants” for alternative and private school education, and sign an executive order to “define man and woman, end the woke and restore common sense.” Hansen said he plans to stop offering “corporate welfare” as well.

Republican governors and lawmakers for decades have invested millions of tax dollars in bonds, loans and grants to entice businesses to build and expand in the state. That includes funding for farmers and value-added operations, as well as support for larger investments such as Tru Shrimp.

Hansen cited the Tru Shrimp deal as an example of “corporate welfare.”

State and local officials committed $6.5 million in taxpayer money for a low-interest loan six years ago for Tru Shrimp to build a facility in Madison. The company has not built the facility, even though it was expected to break ground in 2024. The company, which has since changed its name to Iterro, announced it’s “more than halfway” to its fundraising goal to begin the Madison project earlier this year.

“I think it’s just unnecessary government mingling, and it’s risky business, and they’re wasting our taxpayer dollars to do it,” Hansen said of the deal. “It’s that sort of stuff that we want to say ‘no more’ to. Let’s just get back to the free market, low tax and low regulation.”

A Dell Rapids lawyer, Hansen has spent a decade in the South Dakota House of Representatives. The 39-year-old was elected House speaker for the most recent legislative session after serving as speaker pro tempore from 2021 to 2022.

Lems, from Canton, owns a coffee shop and property management business. The 56-year-old entered the state political fray in 2022 and was elected as House speaker pro tempore during the most recent legislative session, the first woman to hold the position in state history.

The two are riding the momentum of private property rights and anti-abortion successes in the last year.

 

TWO STATE OFFICIALS JOIN DEPARTMENT OF HOMELAND SECURITY

SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (Dakota News Now) – Two top South Dakota officials are heading to the U.S. Department of Homeland Security.

On Thursday, Governor Larry Rhoden thanked Department of Tribal Relations Secretary David Flute and Information and Technology Commissioner Madhu Gottumukkala for their service to the state.

Flute will move on to serve as DHS’s Senior Tribal Advisor on Indian Affairs and Gottumukkala will serve as Deputy Director of the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency under former South Dakota governor and DHS Secretary Kristi Noem.

Algin Young, a veteran tribal law enforcement leader, will now serve as the Secretary for the Department of Tribal Affairs beginning on April 25. Young currently serves as the State’s Tribal Law Enforcement Liaison.

Young has a 23-year career serving in law enforcement with roles including Chief of Police for the Oglala Sioux Tribe, Police Officer, Special Agent (Criminal Investigator), Indian Highway Safety Director, Regional Agent in Charge within the Division of Drug Enforcement, and Associate Director of Field Operations.

Gottumukkala will maintain his commissioner role until May 16th.