Searchlight Report

After three years, $14 million in funding from state lawmakers and $2 million from donors, the museum at South Dakota’s Cultural Heritage Center in Pierre opened its doors again to the public this week. The renovations include upgraded museum exhibits and additional space for the State Historical Society to continue collecting for decades to come. The South Dakota Historical Society Foundation is...

While many people are looking ahead to next week’s celebration of the nation’s 250th birthday, including a fireworks display with President Trump at Mount Rushmore , many Native Americans on the Great Plains have been focused on a different anniversary this week: the 150th commemoration of the Battle of the Little Bighorn. Also known as the Battle of the Greasy Grass, it was a major Native America...

Nathan Sanderson, executive director of the 4,000-member South Dakota Retailers Association , wants to “make state government boring again.” He joins Searchlight Report host Meghan O’Brien to explain why, and to talk about how another major turnover in South Dakota’s Legislature — including the recent ousting of 16 incumbents — could help make it happen.

Republican political commentator Pat Powers has been writing about South Dakota campaigns for more than 20 years on his South Dakota War College blog. He joins Searchlight Report host Meghan O’Brien to break down what he calls “the fatal error” in the race for the Republican nomination for governor.  After four Republicans sought their party’s nomination, none succeeded in getting the 35% needed t...

Longtime South Dakota journalist and Searchlight commentary writer Kevin Woster joins Searchlight Report host Meghan O’Brien to discuss the race for South Dakota’s Republican nomination for governor. The race is headed for South Dakota’s first-ever top two runoff in a statewide contest. No candidate reached the 35% of voters needed to secure a win Tuesday night. Advance voting for the runoff will...

In this episode of Searchlight Report, host and reporter Meghan O’Brien talks with Samantha Chapman of the American Civil Liberties Union of South Dakota about the things voters need to know for the primary election: why they might have something to vote on even if they think they don’t, what to do when their rights are questioned, what to know about new laws regarding citizenship, why it’s smart...

In this special edition of the Searchlight Report, host Meghan O’Brien interviews U.S. Rep. Dusty Johnson , one of four people running for the Republican nomination for governor of South Dakota. In a series of four episodes , O’Brien asked all four candidates the same set of questions on topics including abortion, relationships with tribal nations, climate change, taxes and Medicaid. She also aske...

In this special edition of the Searchlight Report, host Meghan O’Brien interviews Jon Hansen , speaker of the state House and one of four people running for the Republican nomination for governor of South Dakota. In a series of four episodes, O’Brien asked all four candidates the same set of questions on topics including abortion, relationships with tribal nations, climate change, taxes and Medica...

In this special edition of the Searchlight Report, host Meghan O’Brien interviews Gov. Larry Rhoden , one of four people running for the Republican nomination for governor of South Dakota. In a series of four episodes, O’Brien asked all four candidates the same set of questions on topics including abortion, relationships with tribal nations, climate change, taxes and Medicaid. She also asked each...

In this special edition of the Searchlight Report, host Meghan O’Brien interviews Toby Doeden , an Aberdeen businessman and one of four Republicans running for their party's nomination for governor of South Dakota. In a series of four episodes, O’Brien asked all four candidates the same set of questions on topics including abortion, relationships with tribal nations, climate change, taxes and Medi...

This week’s episode of Searchlight Report features Reporters Joshua Haiar and Makenzie Huber and Editor Seth Tupper in conversation with host Meghan O’Brien about their series on how and when South Dakotans will be impacted by new laws that use higher sales taxes to reduce property taxes.

In this week’s episode of Searchlight Report, reporter and host Meghan O’Brien takes listeners through the expense and unease surrounding a fireworks celebration at Mount Rushmore, including an ongoing drought and potential harm to endangered species, as well as resistance from Indigenous groups in the Black Hills. Also, a final debate between the state’s four Republican gubernatorial candidates h...

In this week’s Searchlight Report podcast episode, host Meghan O’Brien talks to both sides in a dispute over proposed drilling for uranium in South Dakota’s Black Hills. She also explains Gov. Larry Rhoden’s $10 million in grants to spur defense contracting and bring a gunsmithing program to the state , plus a legislative board’s decision to raise the pay of the state investment officer despite co...

This week, reporter and Searchlight Report host Meghan O’Brien brings listeners the key moments — courtesy of KELO-TV — from the first debate in the race for South Dakota’s Republican nomination for governor. She also has highlights from the Legislature’s Veto Day , including the fate of legislation on lab-grown meat, in-home care and a deteriorating dam . 

In the 10th episode of Searchlight Report, reporter and host Meghan O’Brien has interviews from the streets of Pierre during a No Kings protest against the Trump administration. She also explains what new voters in South Dakota will need to know about proving their citizenship for the upcoming election. Reporter Makenzie Huber spoke with a state lawmaker about what was neglected in this year’s leg...

A white-knuckle drive around a state training course highlights the end of the 101st South Dakota legislative session in this week’s episode of the Searchlight Report.  Lawmakers also approve the state’s budget , finding money to increase funding for education, Medicaid providers and state employees — the state’s “big three.” Republican Gov. Larry Rhoden approves two major bills in a property tax...

As the 2026 South Dakota legislative session winds down, the push for property tax relief is coalescing around plans to provide that relief with money from higher sales taxes, after lawmakers reduced sales taxes just three years ago. But how did we get here? Searchlight Report host Meghan O’Brien takes a look back at what pushed the state toward the need for property tax relief in recent years, th...

In this special episode of Searchlight Report, journalists Meghan O’Brien and Joshua Haiar recap an unusually chaotic and contentious week in the South Dakota Senate, including a failed search for state Sen. John Carley during a key day of the session, resulting in the defeat of a pair of data-center related bills.

In the sixth episode of Searchlight Report, Meghan rounds up the fight to incentivize or restrict data centers , and the flurry of property tax relief bills that are moving through the Legislature. An education committee advances a bill that would allow charter schools in the state, and a major Sioux Falls meatpacking plant is finding a new home in the city. Also, a bill that would have establishe...

The South Dakota legislative session crosses the halfway mark in the fifth episode of Searchlight Report. Meghan covers the governor’s veto of a lab-grown meat ban, updates on dueling lawsuits over an abortion-rights advertising campaign, and a new proposal that would require schools to show a prenatal development video . One lawmaker wants employers to use E-Verify to check all employees’ citizen...

In the fourth episode of Searchlight Report, Meghan chronicles the fate of South Dakota legislative bills dealing with alternative COVID-19 treatments , a 50-year sales tax break for data centers, guns at colleges and schools, and lab-grown meat. Also, Republicans suspend one of their own for remarks about Democrats and God, and Gov. Larry Rhoden talks about that time he forgot his twin’s birthday...

In this week’s episode of Searchlight Report, Meghan recaps criticisms of “woke” grant funding that derailed a pretrial program, a resolution asking South Dakotans to pray for the state, and a proposal to limit the liability utilities face for wildfires. Meanwhile, former South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem continues to appear in national headlines, and her successor continues to back her actions. Searc...

This week in the Legislature, lawmakers discussed hemp and kratom regulation, an ethics bill based on South Dakota Searchlight reporting and an eminent domain issue that could end up on the ballot in November. A committee meeting was interrupted by a disagreement about seating arrangements. Gov. Larry Rhoden announced a bill to increase the punishment for threats or acts of violence that disrupt r...

In the first episode of Searchlight Report, South Dakota Searchlight audio reporter Meghan O’Brien dives deeper on the first moves made in the 2026 legislative session, on issues including property rights, medication abortions, the state’s controversial Future Fund and an ethics bill inspired by Searchlight reporting. Meghan also shares archival audio from Don Barnett, who died recently at age 83....