MARTY JACKLEY OFFICIALLY ANNOUNCES CONGRESSIONAL RUN IN HIS HOMETOWN
STURGIS, S.D. (KOTA) – South Dakota Attorney General Marty Jackley officially announced his run for U.S. House of Representatives Tuesday night at the Loud American Sturgis.
With Representative Dusty Johnson running for governor in 2026, Johnson’s seat is up for grabs. For Jackley, making this announcement only a few miles away from the farm he grew up on was important.
“It’s such a wonderful opportunity to come back to the Black Hills and announce my run for Congress,” Jackley said. “I plan to work hard and make South Dakota proud.”
If elected, Jackley says he hopes to address a number of issues on the national scale.
“It’s about public safety,” Jackley said. “It’s about a strong national defense, securing that border, government accountability, and finding those opportunities for our youth, economic opportunities across the state.”
Jackley has served as the current Attorney General and United States Attorney for South Dakota.
Additionally, Jackley is the Chairman of the National Association of Attorneys General and Attorney General Alliance.
Jackley joins State Senator Casey Crabtree in the Republican race to replace Congressman Dusty Johnson, who is running for Governor.
HIGH PLAINS PROCESSING CELEBRATES ITS COMPLETION
MITCHELL, S.D. (J.P. Skelly / KORN) – Around 1,000 people gathered at the new High Plains Processing plant to celebrate its completion.
Governor Larry Rhoden praised the investment. “It’s just part and parcel with what we’ve done in South Dakota,” said Rhoden. “We’ve adapted and we’ve diversified, and that just gives us more options. It gives the producers and the plant managers more options.”
He also is standing firm on moving forward with economic development despite critics. “I just think that’s a dangerous trend, and people are talking about going backwards in our economy,” the Governor pointed out. “And we have a lot going for us in South Dakota, our economy’s been booming. And we’ve been reaping benefits because of that.”
Governor Larry Rhoden delivers remarks during the High Plains Processing ribbon-cutting Tuesday south of Mitchell. (KORN News Radio Photo)
Rhoden said he’ll keep pursuing further economic development opportunities as long as he’s Governor.
The High Plains Processing facility is set to go online in October. It’s capable capable of processing 35-million bushels of soybeans annually or the equivalent of one million tons of higher-oil crops.
High Plains will operate 24 hours a day employing around 80 people.
MAN BIT BY VENOMOUS PET SNAKE
SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (KELO) – Police were called to a southeastern Sioux Falls apartment on Sunday after a man reported that his pet cobra bit him. That snake was an African forest cobra—but it wasn’t the only scaly creature in the apartment.
“When animal control did respond, we were made aware that there were two cobras in his bedroom loose, along with a confined eastern diamondback rattlesnake,” said Patty Beckman, Sioux Falls Animal Control supervisor. “So, animal control was able to get into the apartment and remove the loose cobras safely.”
The man was brought to the hospital and all three snakes were brought to Reptile Gardens in Rapid City.
In the city of Sioux Falls and the state of South Dakota, it is illegal to own venomous snakes. At the Great Plains Zoo it is legal.
“It requires a lot of permitting and a lot of safety protocols, and we’ve just opted not to do that,” said Leigh Spencer, the education and conservation director at the Great Plains Zoo.
Along with it being illegal outside of zoos, venomous snakes don’t make good pets for other reasons.
“Venomous snakes are a huge safety risk, which is why it’s illegal in Sioux Falls to have them,” said Spencer. “It’s why there’s a lot of places where you can’t have venomous snakes, and why we choose not to have them here because of the safety concerns for humans.”
Luckily for animal control, it is not very common for people in Sioux Falls to keep the potentially dangerous animals as pets.
“This is probably the first case within, I’d say five or six years,” said Beckman.
And although you should stay away from snakes that are venomous, not all slithering creatures are a threat.
“The snakes in your backyard are good. Leave them alone. Let them be. Let them do their job. But definitely take lots of good considerations before you bring them into your house,” said Spencer.
TRUMP-CHINA TRADE DISPUTE HEIGHTENS HARVEST ANXIETY FOR SOUTH DAKOTA SOYBEAN FARMERS
RAPID CITY, S.D. (Seth Tupper / South Dakota Searchlight) – Jerry Schmitz is rarely at a loss for words about soybeans.
But when asked if farmers have faith in a good outcome from the Trump administration’s trade standoff with China, his gaze shifted and his brow creased momentarily as he thought about the best way to answer.
“Hope might be the better word over faith,” he said.
Schmitz, of rural Vermillion, is the executive director of the South Dakota Soybean Association and the South Dakota Soybean Checkoff. A checkoff is a fee that’s collected from soybean sales and used for research and promotion of the crop.
During and after a roundtable discussion Saturday at the Central States Fairgrounds hosted by a nonprofit called Farmers for Free Trade, Schmitz expressed concerns about the effects of trade disputes on farmers.
About 60% of soybeans grown in South Dakota are exported, with China formerly buying about 30%, Schmitz said. China imports soybeans largely for livestock feed to meet the growing demand for meat among its 1.4 billion people.
Now the country is boycotting purchases of U.S. soybeans in retaliation for tariffs on Chinese goods imposed recently by Republican President Donald Trump.
“There is not a bushel sold to China right now, and we’re about to harvest,” Schmitz said.
Trump has said he’s wielding tariffs — taxes on imported goods — as a negotiating tool to correct trade imbalances with other countries.
The Chinese boycott has reduced demand for U.S. soybeans, which has influenced prices. Soybeans sold for about $10.50 per bushel one year ago in South Dakota, but are now $1 to $1.50 lower, and there are fears of further declines without a China trade deal.
Another participant in Saturday’s roundtable, South Dakota Republican Congressman Dusty Johnson, put the impact of lower prices in perspective. Noting that South Dakota farmers raise nearly 250 million bushels of soybeans annually, he said a price drop of $2 per bushel translates to a loss of $500 million.
Johnson said he’s spoken with the Trump administration’s U.S. trade representative about the importance of resolving the China trade dispute quickly.
“We need a deal sooner rather than later,” Johnson said, “because there is not an unlimited ability in farm country to be able to weather the storm.”
Johnson and Schmitz said farmers are planning to store some of the soybeans they’ll harvest this fall, in hopes of selling later at a higher price. Schmitz said grain elevators and soybean processors lacking buyers might have to store excess beans on the ground outside their facilities.
Both also stressed the long-term importance of finding additional buyers for U.S. soybeans. That could include developing better trade relationships with countries that have large populations and growing economies, such as India.
It could also include capitalizing on new domestic markets, such as the possibility of converting soybean oil into sustainable aviation fuel. A $500 million processing plant that will open this fall in Mitchell, for example, will process soybeans and other oilseed crops for uses in renewable fuel, food, livestock feed, lubricants and more.
Those efforts could reduce dependence on Chinese demand but aren’t likely to wholly replace it.
“Although we want to diversify away from China, you simply can’t ignore China,” Johnson said.
The congressman said many of the farmers he meets are “still backing the president’s play” to use tariffs in negotiations that could benefit agriculture in the future, but he said high tariffs “cannot be business as usual on a go-forward basis.”
“The president’s trying to use them as a tool to get better deals,” Johnson said. “I understand that approach, but we do not want to just end with high tariffs.”
The roundtable organizer, Farmers for Free Trade, is on a 14-state tour in an RV wrapped with pro-trade messaging. The group advocates for open markets and reduced trade barriers, said its executive director, Brian Kuehl, of Wyoming.
He referenced a statistic indicating exports account for 20% of the value of U.S. agricultural production.
“So if you were to lose all your exports, you’re going to lose farms, and you’re going to lose farmers. You’re going to lose rural America and rural communities,” Kuehl said.
