OFFICER INVOLVED SHOOTING IN YANKTON LEAVES ONE INJURED, DCI TAKES OVER INVESTIGATION

YANKTON, S.D. – An officer involved shooting last night at the Summit Activities Center/Yankton High school left one injured and a DCI investigation underway.

The incident occurred as a wrestling match between Watertown and Yankton was ending, around 8:30.

According to witnesses there was an altercation near the west side exit of the building. A number of Yankton Police Officers responded to the parking lot where the shooting took place. A residential ring camera just west of the high school recorded a number of rapid shots.

Yankton School Superintendent Dr. Wayne Kindle said that persons still inside the building at the time of the shooting were placed in lockdown inside the theatre at the school.

South Dakota Attorney General Marty Jackley said that the officers involved were not injured and also that the Division of Criminal Investigation will take charge of the investigation with the cooperation of the Yankton Police Department.

Officials said there is no threat to the public but asked that that the public stay away from the scene so law enforcement can conduct the investigation.

The DCI will process the crime scene, conduct a forensic examination of all collected evidence, interview officers and witnesses, and review all video cameras from the area.

After the investigation is complete, the DCI will issue a shooting summary likely within 30 days.

 

REPRESENTATIVE DUSTY JOHNSON RE-ELECTED AS CHAIR OF MAIN STREET CAUCUS

WASHINGTON, D.C. (South Dakota Searchlight) – U.S. Rep. Dusty Johnson, R-South Dakota, was reelected as chairman of the Main Street Caucus, his office said Wednesday.

Johnson has led the group since 2022. The congressional caucus describes itself as a group of more than 80 “pragmatic conservatives” seeking to “come together to find practical solutions.”

“Now is a special time in American history,” Johnson said in a news release. “We must secure the border, cut spending, and roll back unnecessary regulations. The Republican Main Street Caucus will work with President Trump and the Senate to deliver on this strong, conservative agenda. I’m proud to lead this group during this exciting time.”

Johnson won reelection in November over Democratic challenger Sheryl Johnson.

 

POLICE COMMISSION: COMPLAINTS AGAINST COPS ON THE RISE BUT FEWER THAN 1% OF SOUTH DAKOTA OFFICERS DISCIPLINED

PIERRE, S.D. (John Hult / South Dakota Searchlight) – Complaints about law enforcement have steadily risen over the past few years, owing in part to an online portal that simplifies the process of making a complaint to the state Division of Criminal Investigation about alleged police misconduct.

Even with the rise, though, fewer than 1% of certified officers in South Dakota were disciplined for their behavior in 2024.

“I know we get mired down sometimes in the misconduct, the complaints, the investigations. It’s easy for us to see or be of the perspective that there’s a lot of things going on in the state that are concerning,” Law Enforcement Training Director Hank Prim said Wednesday at a meeting of the state’s Law Enforcement Officers Standards and Training Commission in Pierre. “But the perspective in that stat I think really shows us where reality is.”

Prim presented the figures in a summary of what he called an “Integrity Report,” which lays out complaints against officers and their disposition. Prim pulled it together at the urging of commission member Neil Fulton, who is the dean of the University of South Dakota Knudson School of Law. Fulton said the State Bar of South Dakota produces a similar report for the edification of that group’s board members.

In Prim’s one-page rundown, he noted that complaints against officers are up again this year, continuing a trend in increased complaints that’s held for the past three years. There have been 142 complaints filed in 2024 thus far, a 24% increase over this point in 2023.

The commission also reviews applications for possible certification and entry into the state’s basic law enforcement training course. In 2024, the commission denied 13 total applications: eight from law enforcement hopefuls, four for people hoping to become 911 dispatchers, and one from a person who’d hoped to be a school sentinel. Sentinels are non-law enforcement personnel allowed to carry weapons in schools, in theory to retaliate against safety threats.

Another 13 students were dismissed from basic law enforcement training, five for disciplinary reasons, one for failure to prove their skills proficiency and seven for academic failure.

There were 16 officers who voluntarily gave up their certification after a misconduct complaint: 13 law enforcement officers, two 911 dispatchers and one person who was certified in both areas.

The commission held seven contested case hearings, and twice offered settlement agreements to officers, which typically require some measure of remedial training and a suspension but do not result in a loss of certification.

Request for victim notification

The commission voted Wednesday to certify a handful of K-9 units, to reinstate eligibility for an officer with lapsed certification and to allow a student rejected for basic training several years ago for failure to disclose his full educational history another shot at joining the academy.

Before the integrity report or certification votes, however, Rapid City lawyer Jim Leach appeared briefly to suggest a change to commission protocol with regard to contested case hearings.

In those hearings, the commission serves as judge and jury in cases where an officer contests allegations of misconduct.

In October 2023, excessive force resulted in a suspended certification for a Brookings officer named Damian Weets. At the commission’s most recent meeting, commissioners voted to allow Weets to return to duty without a second psychological examination.

Weets roughed up an intoxicated man — a client of Leach — at the Brookings County Jail. Leach appeared at Weets’ hearing, but wasn’t given any notice about it.

“The only way that I learned that there would be a contested case hearing was because I got a call two days before the hearing from a member of the news media,” Leach said.

Leach suggested that the commission consider adopting a rule under which the alleged victim of an officer facing a misconduct hearing — and their lawyer, if applicable — be notified of the hearing.

In criminal proceedings, the South Dakota Constitution requires the notification of victims of upcoming hearings involving the person who victimized them, should they choose to be notified.

Adopting a similar approach to notification by the commission, Leach said, “would have no downside for you folks,” but would reassure citizens who struggle to trust police that the overseers of ethics in the state take misconduct seriously.

“Just in terms of greater transparency in government, I think that’s a good thing,” Leach said. “I understand that some processes in government need to be in private, but this is not one of them.”

Dan Satterlee, director of the Division of Criminal Investigation, told Leach the commission will take the matter under advisement the next time it reviews its policies.

 

LATEST 2024 FARM INCOME FORECAST SHOWS OVERALL DECREASES FROM 2023

UNDATED (Cami Koons / Iowa Capital Dispatch) – Farm income is forecasted to have decreased in 2024 by 4% from 2023, largely because of a decrease in cash receipts, or the gross income, from the sale of commodity crops, according to the December update of the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s farm income forecast.

Carrie Litkowski, the farm income team leader with USDA Economic Research Service, presented the latest update in a webinar Tuesday, and said the forecast was very similar to its previous September iteration.

“But somehow it feels a little more important, as we near the end of the year, to evaluate the current state of the farm economy as a starting point for considering what challenges and opportunities may lie ahead for U.S. agriculture,” Litkowski said.

Net cash farm income for 2024 is projected to be $158.8 billion, which in inflation-adjusted figures is 3.5% lower than net cash farm income in 2023. The forecast shows the 2024 figure, however, is 9.8% above the 20-year average for net cash farm income, and represents a less gradual decline than that of 2022 to 2023.

Net cash farm income is the income minus expenses of the farm, including government payments, but excluding things like changes in inventories or economic depreciations, which are reflected in the “net farm income” figures.

The sale of agricultural commodities is projected to decrease by less than 1 percent overall as an over 8% increase in animal and animal product receipts nearly offsets the over 9% decrease in forecasted crop receipts.

Because of this, net cash income for all farm businesses specializing in crops is forecasted to be lower this year than last, but all farm businesses specializing in animal or animal products are expect to have higher net cash farm income than they did in 2023.

This could mean lower net cash income for the farming sector in South Dakota for 2024, as the first and third largest category of cash receipts on South Dakota farms in 2023 were corn and soybeans, which are projected to decrease, nationally, by 23% and 14% respectively in 2024.

The data used in the USDA ERS forecasts represents the entire farming sector of nearly 2 million farms and ranches. Litkowski said the reports are used to inform policy makers and lenders, and in determining the ag sector’s contributions to the U.S. economy.

It’s forecasted that farmers in 2024 will have a decreased need of supplemental and disaster assistance, as well as lower dairy margin payments. That will result in a forecasted $1.7 billion decrease from 2023 in direct government payments to farmers.

Litkowski said natural disasters like hurricanes Helene and Milton have not yet shown up in the data, because much of the harvesting in the affected regions had already been completed at the time of the hurricanes, and payments have not yet been issued.

“Natural disasters have the potential to affect farm income, and historically, they have,” Litkowski said. “Sometimes it just takes time to know the impacts.”

USDA also forecasts overall lower input costs, primarily in feed fertilizers and pesticides for farmers in 2024. Other inputs, however, like labor, interest rates and livestock and poultry purchases are forecasted to have increased.

Median farm income for 2024 is expected to increase to $100,634, which is almost 3% higher, without adjusting for inflation, from 2023. Off-farm income, which represents the biggest share of income for most on-farm families, is projected to increase in 2024, after decreasing slightly over the past three years.

Litkowski clarified that “half of all farms are residential farms” where the owner’s primary occupation is not farming, which typically leads the median on farm income to appear as a negative amount.

The forecast will be updated again Feb. 6 when the department will release its first projections for 2025.

 

UPCOMING LEGISLATIVE SESSION WILL DECIDE THE FUTURE OF NEW PRISON SITE IN SOUTH DAKOTA

SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (Parker Brown / Dakota News Now) – Governor Noem’s budget address this week included setting aside $182 million to go towards the new men’s prison fund that already has $567 million.

The project is expected to get more attention in the upcoming legislative session.

With the new request, the prison project will be fully funded, according to the state. Lawmakers were informed that the final price tag will be $825 million to construct the new men’s prison in rural Lincoln County, but there’s a lot that needs to happen first.

The cost for the new 1,500-bed maximum-security prison may possibly exceed the initial price tag, leading to an investment of nearly $1 billion.

Neighbors Opposing Prison Expansion (NOPE) Vice President Madeline Voegeli said this project is more than what South Dakota needs it’s too expensive.

“If we break that down for how much the project costs, we’re looking at a half a million dollars per cell,” Voegeli said.

Some have pointed out locations that might make more sense, like adding to the Jameson Annex or building on state-owned land west of the current proposed site that has access to infrastructure already.

NOPE is calling for more transparency on why the cost is higher than their suggested price in a state DLR study.

“That [DLR Study] was at $350 million, so when we look at a total of $825M, that number is incredibly concerning. It’s far and above what I think any legislator initially thought that the state would be taking on,” Voegeli explained.

Lawmakers like soon-to-be Senate Majority Whip Rep. Kevin Jensen said there will be plenty of discussion on the prison project this upcoming legislative session because many have questions.

“Far too many things are just being rushed along and pushed along. We need to take a look, so all I’m asking legislators to do is let’s take a timeout, let’s wait a year, let’s do some more study, let’s get some more answers, let’s find out why DOC refuses to even consider looking at another location and I think the taxpayers deserve that we do that for them. That’s what they sent us there for is to protect their money and to do our due diligence and make sure that we’re doing the right thing,” Jensen said.

Jensen hopes that the legislature can take another closer look at the 2022 DLR study, because after inflation, it still projected 17 separate DOC projects including a new men’s prison for less money than the total cost being proposed under the current plan.

He wants the legislature to be extra careful with how they spend taxpayer dollars, especially because this project could be one of the biggest approved spending in the state’s history. He also believes there might be some unnecessary space being added to the prison project.

“We keep hearing that it’s a 1500-bed maximum-security prison. We only have 200 maximum-security prisoners in the entire state. Why do we need another 1300 beds? They’re saying that it costs an extra $400M to make the whole thing maximum security. It’s a head-scratcher. Why do we have to do that?” Jensen asked.

Jensen said just because the DOC is further along in the process of building a new men’s prison, doesn’t mean they can’t change the location if it will save the state money.

It’s important to note that the Jameson Annex will still be open and operational even after the new penitentiary is built.

It could be pushed through quickly, but Jensen hopes more legislators pump the brakes on the project. In order to start building, the site and use of funds need to be approved by both the House and Senate in separate bills.

“I’ve heard two things. I’ve heard legislators say this is going to drag out through the entire session and I’ve also heard that they’ll try and push this through as fast as they can. At this point, that might be kind of an uphill battle right now,” Jensen said.

Regardless, this legislative session will either finalize, pause or end the push for the Lincoln County prison site. There’s still one thing all sides continue to agree on.

“Nobody is questioning, ‘Do we need to do something?’ Every legislator will tell you, ‘Yes’. Will every legislator tell you that we need to do this? No, they won’t,” Jensen said.

Both Jensen and Voegeli expressed concern with other corrections facilities statewide that also require upkeep and upgrades. Voegeli said these facilities might not get as much attention if the state can’t find ways to save money building the new prison.

Also, they believe it takes away from the ability to make changes to get at the root cause of incarceration rates.

“Help with our recidivism rates or our incarceration and what that looks like looking at reform, those are really important pieces that were missing when we’re spending a billion dollars,” Voegeli said.

According to Jensen, the DOC hopes to have shovels in the ground by late March or early April.

The Department of Corrections was unavailable for comment on this story.

 

BOARD BACKS WATER RIGHTS FOR PROPOSED MISSOURI RIVER PIPELINE AND INCREASED USE OF JAMES RIVER

PIERRE, S.D. (Joshua Haiar / South Dakota Searchlight) – A state board approved additional usage of the James River for irrigation and endorsed a future-use permit for a proposed water pipeline from the Missouri River to western South Dakota.

The South Dakota Water Management Board’s decisions, made Wednesday in Pierre, finalized the James River proposal and advanced the Western Dakota Regional Water System application to the state Legislature for consideration.

The pipeline application would reserve 20,765 acre-feet of Missouri River water annually for use in 19 western South Dakota counties. That’s nearly 7 billion gallons per year.

Ron Duvall, a state engineer with the Department of Agriculture and Natural Resources, recommended approval of the permit based on the abundant availability of water in the river, the need for the reserved amount and the potential beneficial use of the water.

He said the request is in addition to 52,545 acre-feet already reserved by other entities involved with the pipeline proposal, potentially bringing the total amount of the project’s water rights to 73,310 acre-feet.

The Western Dakota Regional Water System, established in 2021 and based in Rapid City, aims to deliver Missouri River water to communities, tribes and rural water systems. The project has received some state and local funding but has a projected cost in the billions, which would require federal funding.

The application does not authorize immediate construction or use but would reserve the right to use the water in the future.

James River increase

The board also approved a plan to increase pumping rights on the James River.

There are currently 116 water rights or permits and two future-use permits on the eastern South Dakota waterway, appropriating or reserving 298.92 cubic feet per second of the 300 cfs limit. Demand for more agricultural water rights and an increase in the amount of water flowing down the river prompted the state’s Water Rights Program to reassess its James River management plan.

The river has experienced a nearly 300% increase in its annual flow since the late 1990s. A state report says increased precipitation is the cause. Other researchers have attributed widespread streamflow increases not only to higher precipitation, but also to urban development that sends rainfall running across concrete and asphalt into streams, expanding tile drainage systems under farmland that divert excess moisture into local creeks and rivers, and the conversion of grassland to cropland, which causes higher runoff.

Acknowledging the recommendation from the Department of Agriculture and Natural Resources to exceed the 300 cfs cap established in 1965, the board voted to approve the plan.

The plan does not include a fixed cap. Instead, it transitions the state to a system in which individual water permit applications are evaluated on a case-by-case basis.