Jeffrey Lindblom

South Dakota Wildland Fire teamed up with the National Guard for a federally mandated ground and aviation recertification at Angostura Reservoir.

The Department of Tourism is reporting sharp increases in visitors, and their spending habits.

The materials aren't as big of a concern as they may have been, and projects across Rapid City press on in a timely manner.

Around the nation, gas prices are averaging nearly half a dollar more than last month. With trends continuing upwards, some RV owners are concerned about the future.

The baked goods had an ethnic spin to them. Where the Greek, Arabic and Eastern European platters are selling for 20-dollars. If you missed the bake sale this afternoon, Father Joseph Longofono says they’ll be selling more of the platters following tomorrow morning’s service at 10 a.m.

Years have flown by since Ellsworth Air Force Base has decorated the sky with aircraft.

The funds came in three separate grants from the Indian Health Service and are seeking to address domestic violence, youth suicide and rape.

First Interstate Bank started a fuel stipend in April in an effort to ease the financial burden of fuel costs on employees making $65,000 a year or less.

Rapid City police are reporting an increase in car burglaries, where sometimes a firearm is stolen. Usually that weapon isn't seen again until it's used in another crime.

Reaching speeds that generate 7.5 G's feels like, "a baby rhinoceros sitting on your chest," described by Frank Zastoupil, Blue Angels Pilot #4.

Dan says people often ask him, “you collect hot wheels? ‘No,’ I say, ‘I hoard them!’ This was my toybox right here,” Dan says encompassed by a massive collection of Hot Wheels and on the verge of tears, “and you’d say, ‘come on down, look at my toy box,’ and they’d say, ‘you’re crazy!”

As we head into fire season here in the Hills, it’s a good time to be thinking about what to do for yourself in the event of a wildfire as well as for your pets and livestock.

That's 124 people per day, and demonstrates a 35% increase in gun related homicide. Gun violence is the leading cause for death in children, teens and young adults 25 and younger. Where they were 10 times more likely to die because of a firearm than COVID-19.

Rapid City Police say an employee told them a man came up to the register with his hands in his pockets and demanded money. When the clerk did not do so, the man left. No more than 10 minutes later, police were dispatched to the Common Cents on Mount Rushmore Road for a similar report of a man with his hands in his pockets demanding money at the register. That time, the man said he had a gun, and the clerk complied with his demands.

Jennifer Macziewski teaches K-1 at Valley View Elementary School. She grew up in the Rapid City Area School District, and has been teaching for 11 years. Now, the South Dakota Department of Education is recognizing her. Her students approve, “because I like Mrs. Macziewski!”

For three days, a volunteer effort led by Habitat for Humanity will exclusively feature women building a Habitat home for a fellow woman in need.

Star Wars fandom can last a life time. “I was a geek as a kid. I’m still a geek now. Luckily, geeks are popular now. Unfortunately for me, when I was kid they weren’t.”

Storybook Island is awarded for making their grounds far more accessible by adding things like sensory boards for autistic children, and even introducing Braille for the blind.

South Dakota has a trigger ban if Roe vs. Wade is overturned, which would make abortions immediately illegal in the state.

Students showed off what their schools' programs have to offer in areas like construction, transportation, hospitality and more by demonstrating their skills in both hands on and written forms while judges assessed their performance.

Officials attribute that to high start up costs for facilities which influence the low pay in the business, and ultimately drive costs up for parents hoping to get their children into daycare.

Much like for your hair, clothes and car doors... the wind makes for a tough and unpredictable time for a disc. That’s likely the reason why Taegen Wells was basically alone on the course.

Keeping a car up and running for a good amount of time requires maintenance every now again. While eight out of ten Americans feel confident they know when that time is, more than half say someone else notices their problems first. Usually a spouse or parent.

Rapid City is in the upper 8-percent of fastest growing cities in all of the nation, and the fastest in the Midwest. That’s according to the US Census Bureau.

It would be difficult not to notice the high winds in the Rapid City area, which contribute to both the increased chances of a bad hair day and fire danger.

”It’s something that I think everybody needs to be a part of. These are people. I think it’s also a great way to teach children about giving and helping. Say your child has a little piggy bank and they bring in 50 cents, or a dollar in. They can help. They’ll get their truffle too.”

“I felt very confident as I was going,” says Christian Casias, who fell into the water, “the second I was about to the hit the water, I just totally ate it.”

The need for truck drivers is so high that some companies paying for some of their staff to get their commercial drivers licenses. “So, they sent me to school,” explains Jordin Williams, a recent truck driving graduate from Western Dakota Tech (WDT). “They paid for everything. They paid me to even go to school. It’s one of those things that I can go anywhere now with this. It’s something that’s a career out of it."

Sexual assault awareness has a complicated history, says Heidi Mecham, WAVI's Development Director, being an area people have been uncomfortable with talking about in the past. She says efforts like this one help rid of those stigmas surrounding the subject.

Every five years or so, Black Hills Energy heads down to West Chicago Street to trim crab apple trees nearing a power line. This time around, they were planning on removing nearly three dozen trees from the strip. However, when a nearby neighbor took a peek out her window and saw all of the marked trees, she sought to protect some of them.

Springtime is when the sun starts to peak through the clouds and warm things up a bit. When the sun comes out, so do the Rapid City rose beds, which were uncovered Thursday in Memorial and Halley Parks.

South Dakota state university student tuition is something that’s guaranteed not to go up with the national inflation trend for the rest of the year.

When someone is in crisis and in need of long-term care, they’ve been having to go as far as five hours away to Yankton to receive help.

Rapid City is reporting promising sales tax numbers for the start of 2022, where January showcased a 9% increase over 2021.

”It’s funny how it works,” says Dave Gates, a Vietnam war veteran at the Rapid City VFW, “I came back from Vietnam and, of course, nobody wanted to know that I was a Vietnam veteran. I got ostracized.”

Brian Mueller, Pennington County Sheriff’s Office Chief Deputy, and Ryan Mechaley, former South Dakota Highway Patrol Trooper, are both in the running for sheriff.

The FDA made an amendment for the emergency use of the Moderna and Pfizer boosters for those who are 50 or older, allowing them to get a second dose after four months from receiving their first.

“We’re tired of this b*******,” adds Kevin Killer, President of the Oglala Lakota Sioux Tribe. “Honestly, we are. I get profiled almost every single day; I know that. You just have to take a stand at a certain point.”

While crews are working, police are investigating the cause, because Hoelscher says “[he] can’t think of a natural ignition source that we’ve had recently. We haven’t had any lightning. So, we have our law enforcement up there taking a look at the area where the fire started and seeing if they can determine the actual cause.”

Some argument is that if you don’t have the means of running, walking or biking to where you need to go - should you have to have the added expense of paying for parking if driving is the only option? A complex issue, that isn’t so black and white.

The largest mountain lion hunted this year so far was killed in Lawrence County weighing 155 pounds and presumed to be 4 1/2 years old. While the smallest was a 6-month old shot in Pennington County, weighing 35 pounds.

In the mid '90s Rapid City began the Deer Harvest, which is a city-led operation to keep the population of deer in check.

At the beginning of the year, eleven projects were chosen to receive funding from Rapid City’s Vision Fund. Although the Minneluzahan Senior Center applied for the financial help in hopes to see repairs done around the facility, it was not selected. The senior center has also struggled to see people through the pandemic, due to high risk individuals frequenting the events. Regardless of the struggles, the senior center is moving forward.

As construction season nears, and crews are out and about, it’s even more important to put phones and electronics away and make sure you’re not distracted out on the road.

Although it’s been relatively cold for the later part of the winter, it’s not cold enough to stop Rapid City construction crews from gearing up to get some road work done. "Unfortunately, this year we have a few that have big impacts to the traveling public.”

Saturday, the Black Hills were covered in snow. However, underneath the winter blanket all kinds of rocks still lurk beneath. The Museum of Geology at South Dakota Mines gathered volunteers and staff to help the public identify their unique finds.

Smith says he’s a South Dakota democrat first and foremost, and that he believes people are ready for a change and to work together on issues.

The war in Ukraine might be thousands of miles away. However, there’s one way it’s directly affecting the Hills. Gas prices. As sanctions on Russia are threatened to hit the Russian economy harder, some predict they may topple five-dollars.

“We even have gift cards,” says Emily Mcguire, a supporter of the convoy. ”We have written letters from children. It’s a beautiful thing what they’re doing, and so it’s just our way to give back.” Their message? “We do not want excessive government control,” says Lori Moore, who supports the convoy. “We do not want any kind of mandate. It’s our choice to have a vaccine if we want, and they can say what they want but they don’t know.”

100 days from Wednesday will mark the 50th anniversary of the 1972 Rapid City flood, and the Journey Museum would like to properly commemorate and document the history by including unique perspectives.