Jeffrey Lindblom

The park completed construction in 2016, but didn’t have the funding to get everything they wanted. They’re hoping to now with the help of the Rapid City Vision Fund.

“We’re very proud and privileged," says Jerry Zepp about his son, Jamie, who died due to a heart attack in 2020 at 45, and is the guest of honor at Rapid City's Heart Walk.

The Rapid City Public library has been bringing books all around Pennington County this summer. Not by coming into the library, but instead through pop-up libraries they’ve been setting up around town over the weekend.

Hiking, Mountain Biking, Motorcycling, Fishing... in the Black Hills, how about all of the above? In 2018 the Black Hills National Forest began to seek public input for modifications, additions and changes to the trail systems. One of the proposals highlighted Rapid City’s Shanks Quarry and Schroeder Trailhead’s, which are going to be merged into an all-purpose loop.

He says they would like to dedicate more space to telling the story of the 1972 flood, which is nearing its 50th anniversary, highlighting the resilience and growth that has taken place since the tragedy.

The property was abandoned in 1888 where “they started their own ranch and actually started the town of Deerfield South Dakota,” says Knutson.

During Rapid City’s Legal and Finance Committee meeting today, the topic of marijuana zoning rules for four different types of establishments, manufacturing, cultivation, dispensaries and testing, were discussed for a final time before they are voted on by City Council next week.

If passed by City Council, it would come as a $500 bonus to what was estimated as 446 employees in April, and would cost the City just shy of $260,000 dollars.

The Pennington County Sherriff’s Office and the Rapid City Police Department have been trying to erect a crisis care unit in Rapid City that would tend to mental health care needs in the community that Police say are currently lacking.

It was originally built in 1963, and they say it hasn’t changed much outside of a slight expansion two years ago. CEO, Keiz Larson, says although their kitchen hasn’t changed much in 60 years, the needs of Rapid City have.

Roberts pounded the gavel and says, “That’s the first time I’ve ever done that in 10 years,” not allowing Evans to continue their dispute.

"It’s time to remind seniors how much they matter to the community," says April Malik, Director of the Minneluzahan Senior Center. She says that this is the first time they’re seeking city help. ”Showing respect for the older population and appreciation for their work their whole lives by putting some funds into the Senior Center,” says Malik, “and the places that they choose to come and do their fun would be money well spent.”

“We are a company that creates technology for public safety,” says Axon's Voyager I Truck Manager Sydney Ruder. Their mission is to protect life, transparency and truth.

They say any establishment that cultivates, dispenses, manufactures or tests medical marijuana must be 1,000 feet from a public or private school.

He was eight years into his career at the time at the time and driving private ambulances. After the attack, he says, “It hit home for me that, that’s what I wanted to do. I realized that, ‘yeah, I did want to transition over and become a firefighter.’”

"I’ve been wanting to do this for a very long time. I thought, ‘how cool would it be if would just go and not only reflect, meditate or pray.’ But, also watch our kids playing around, and we can kind of think about our loved ones that we’ve lost while we’re surrounded by life.”

“There’s about one in nine South Dakotan’s who are food insecure or in danger of being food insecure, 100,000 people 'ish,' and it’s worse for kids. It’s more like one in six for children. So, it’s a big deal. It’s a big issue. It isn’t changing any too fast. Poverty is not a simple thing to address,” says Burke.

You may have noticed the smoke, one sneeze at a time.

The vehicle will be manned by Greg Vonwald and his partner, who are going to drive 24 hours on Saturday. Reporting to the New Orleans area, their mission is to deliver food and water to those in need, and refer them to other volunteers with the Red Cross to assist them with shelter.

The Rapid City Council held a working session today where they discussed medical marijuana dispensaries.

In all of the Black Hills combined, Monument Health is performing 400 to 500 tests daily. 30-percent of which are positive.

Within the last week, nearly 3,000 COVID-19 tests were completed and 30-percent of those were positive. A month ago, Monument Health’s system had less than 10 hospitalized COVID-19 patients. As of Monday, they reported that number was up to 110.

The proposed ordinance will allow a medical marijuana dispensary for every 5,000 people. With Rapid City's near 75,000 population, 15 dispensaries will be allowed.

To get help, they’ve had to send people over 400 miles to Cheyenne, Wyoming and as far as 500 miles to Denver, Colorado for ICU COVID-19 medical care.

Kistler admitted to having a sexual relationship with the girls and said that he “loved them,” knowing they were 17 and 13 years old. He says his love is why he didn't see it as child pornography.

Experts say they wouldn’t be surprised if these conditions continued to make their way south into the Hills and increase drought conditions.

They recommend that a woman who is pregnant, breastfeeding or even thinking about getting pregnant get vaccinated against COVID-19.

Mayor Steve Allender proposed a budget Monday that hopes to both alleviate some of the burden placed on officers and assist a demographic in need, the homeless.

The new space is the first in the cemetery to be dedicated to mausoleums, but will still have individual cremation sites and family plots.

The additional police presence will cover as many school zones as possible and will continue for the coming days and weeks.

Homelessness isn’t an area of expertise for police, yet make up a majority of their calls, and they wind up simply transporting repeat offenders to and from jail, “providing very short term solutions,” says Allender.

The CDC map referring to areas of transmission continues to show more red. Or, areas that have high transmission of the Delta Variant of COVID-19. These areas include much of the southwestern area of South Dakota, only excluding Bennet County, and these areas are recommended by the CDC to be wearing masks and practicing social distancing vaccinated or otherwise.

"Now, what we have in front of us is what looks as close to a bugout from Saigon as we have in a generation,” says Sen. Rounds. Rep. Johnson says, "right now, the Taliban has more Black Hawk helicopters than 210 countries in the world. That is the fault of this white house, and the reality is we have got to restore some strength to the situation.”

“Ask questions. Find out who has resources for you. Parents should be encouraged to ask their questions and be met with a safe environment to ask those questions. I think that’s important. No question is a poor question.”

The drizzly weather through the morning and early afternoon made the Central States Fair staff nervous for their grand opening earlier this afternoon. But, just as the event kicked off, the sun was out and shining!

“An offender may not see these children as children because that communication occurs through the internet. Which is a dangerous thought because these are true children and true victims, even though the internet is the means of victimization,” says Gromer.

Experts say that northeastern Wyoming has it considerably worse. They're listed as extremely dry, the second highest ranking on the monitor. Parts of the western United States are listed as being under exceptional drought, which is the worst ranking. These rankings compared to southern South Dakota falling under the the lowest ranking, abnormally dry, leads experts to say it hasn’t been so bad here in the Hills.

Kayaking has many forms that range from tranquil peaceful all the way to extreme and thrilling.

The Central States Fair gets underway Friday, and organizers are expecting a big bounce back after a slower than normal fair last year.

"We should allow people that really need it to have access to it, and we should prevent people that don't need it from getting access to it as well."

GRAPHIC COURTROOM QUOTES - A prosecutor said that Swift had distributed a video that included a young girl performing sexual acts on him, and that he admitted to engaging in sexual acts with an infant.

Resident Reaction - Of 20 citizens spoken with downtown, there wasn’t a single citizen who voiced that people should be allowed to smoke wherever they want.

Last year, the use of both recreational and medicinal marijuana were on the ballot. Both had the support of the majority of the votes, but only medicinal was passed. However, that doesn’t mean South Dakota might not see recreational marijuana in the future.

People make their way from all over the world to the Sturgis Motorcycle Rally, all because they share a love for motorcycles. For these two, it's a love that's also shared by husband and wife.

The Kirk Hill wildfire is currently burning just five miles southwest of Sturgis. As of 5:30pm, Forest Service Personnel had estimated that 50 acres of land have already been engulfed in flames, with 0% containment.

In an effort to help children, a new policy shift, called Handle with Care, is allowing police to share with schools when they cross paths with a child facing a traumatic encounter at home or elsewhere.

”We’re going to do what we can to keep our staff and students safe knowing that there is still a pandemic. Certainly, we want more than than anyone to get back to a normal school year, so we’re going to do that as much as we can. But, we are going to still try and put safety measures in place, because we think that’s the right thing to do. Ultimately, what those look like -- that could change when it’s in front of the board and they have an opportunity to vote on it.”

With the Rally underway and attracting massive crowds from all over the nation into a small town of just over 5,000, it begs the question... when the hotels fill up, where are people staying?

At the Sturgis Rally, a common image that comes to mind are bikers in black leather. Well, it turns out that those bikers come in all shapes and sizes. Including the 4-legged and furry kind.

“We’re all family. Let’s put it that way. It don’t matter where you come from. You know,” says Washee, “we’re all family.”