Victoria Wicks

A bill to protect utilities from vandalism and trespassing has cleared its first committee hearing. The bill includes protections for electrical and communications structures, pipelines, and temporary pipe yards.

The Senate Energy and Commerce Committee has removed a controversial section from the original bill. But at least one legislator says the state might still end up in court, as it did last year with the "riot boosting" law. Victoria Wicks has this report for SDPB.

House State Affairs has voted against allowing tribes to seek reimbursement for expenses associated with pipeline protests.

Last year's legislature established the PEACE fund to collect money for state or political subdivisions whose budgets might be stressed if the Keystone XL pipeline is built and protests rise up.

The committee voted 9 to 4 against including tribes in that group.

Listen to audio for the rest of the story.

SDPB's Victoria Wicks has this report.

Opponents to the Keystone XL pipeline have again asked a Montana federal judge to impose a preliminary injunction on the project.

Indigenous Environmental Network and North Coast Rivers Alliance say President Donald Trump acted illegally when he unilaterally gave the project a permit in 2019.

Listen to audio for the rest of the story.

SDPB's Victoria Wicks reports.

South Dakota's 2020 "riot boosting" law has been approved by the state House and is on its way to the Senate. The controversial bill is a rewrite of last year's law, found largely unconstitutional by a federal judge. Advocates say this version ensures safe and peaceful protests, but opponents say it still deters free speech and assembly and pits government against tribes. For more of this story, click on the audio arrow.

SDPB's Victoria Wicks has this report, with rotunda audio contributed by Lee Strubinger.

Fentanyl analogs are lethal drugs, but they have not been permanently scheduled by the federal Drug Enforcement Agency, and therefore have not been deemed illegal. The U.S. Attorney for South Dakota says emergency restrictions are in place, but Congress needs to take action.

SDPB's Victoria Wicks has this story.

South Dakota's refurbished riot legislation has been passed by House State Affairs. The bill rewrites last year's "riot boosting" law designed to squelch pipeline protests. The committee heard testimony on Wednesday, Feb. 12, and although there was strong opposition by the Speaker of the House, the bill passed on a 10-3 vote.

Most proponents say the law keeps protests peaceful. But opponents say the bill still steps on rights of free speech and assembly.

In January 2017, two agents from the Division of Criminal Investigation went onto the Pine Ridge Reservation to investigate a crime committed off reservation. They were accompanied by a BIA agent.

One of the DCI agents spoke with a suspect. A Sixth Circuit judge later threw out the statements, saying DCI lacked authority in Indian Country.

Now the South Dakota Supreme Court will decide the issue before the case continues in the Sixth Circuit.

SDPB's Victoria Wicks reports.

Roger Jackson was convicted of third-degree rape for having sex with a woman who suffers from a rare form of dementia. In late 2018, he was sentenced to 15 years in prison with five years suspended.

Jackson, now 72 years old, appeals, saying the sex was consensual. He also holds that the investigation was inadequate, because detectives did not interview the woman.

The state says the woman was not legally capable of giving consent, and she was also not able to answer questions reliably.

Stanley Patrick Weber will serve the rest of his life in federal prison.

The former Indian Health Services pediatrician was convicted earlier this year of raping and sexually assaulting boys who were his patients at Pine Ridge IHS.

Weber was sentenced in Rapid City federal court on Monday, Feb. 11.

In crafting the sentence, Federal Judge Jeffrey Viken considered the lifelong damage done to each victim.

SDPB's Victoria Wicks reports.

A Montana federal judge has set a hearing date for renewed arguments on the Keystone XL pipeline.

The Indigenous Environmental Network and North Coast Rivers Alliance have again asked for a preliminary injunction against permitting the pipeline.

TransCanada and the Trump administration have asked for summary judgment.

Judge Brian Morris will hear arguments on those requests and more in Great Falls on March 25.

SDPB's Victoria Wicks has this report.

A lifer in the state penitentiary has lost a bid for a new trial. Chance Harruff is serving a mandatory life sentence for strangling his former girlfriend.

He appealed, saying five witnesses' testimony overlapped, and that cumulative evidence prejudiced the jury.

The South Dakota Supreme Court has unanimously upheld his conviction

SDPB's Victoria Wicks reports.

The South Dakota Supreme Court will hold its next term on Feb. 10-11, with oral arguments in three cases on the second day.

Last year Governor Kristi Noem introduced legislation designed to squelch pipeline protests and collect money from protest supporters.

The governor brought the bills late, and the legislature rushed them through to passage. But a federal lawsuit put a quick stop to one of them on constitutional grounds.

Now the governor has again introduced the legislation, but this time early in the session with major fixes.

TransCanada and the Trump administration have renewed their request to dismiss Montana lawsuits against the Keystone XL pipeline.

Parties filed briefs late in the day on Friday, Jan. 24.

Both proponents and opponents of the pipeline restated positions already on record in December, when Montana Federal Judge Brian Morris denied dismissal of the lawsuits and asked for further briefing.

Morris asked parties to clarify several issues, including whether the president has authority to issue a permit.

SDPB's Victoria Wicks has this report.

A full panel of judges in the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals will decide if the Indian Child Welfare Act is based on race or politics.

The court heard oral arguments on Wednesday, Jan. 22, in New Orleans.

In 2018 a Texas lower court found the act known as ICWA to be unconstitutionally race-based. A three-judge panel overturned that finding, but not unanimously.

Now all of the appeals judges in the Fifth Circuit will consider the issue.

SDPB's Victoria Wicks has this report.

To hear audio of oral arguments in their entirety, click on this link:

The U.S. Forest Service is not allowed to say no to mining, but it can insist on protections for surface resources. That fact emerged during an open house held at the Mystic District station in the Black Hills last week.

A Minneapolis prospecting company, F3 Gold, wants to drill exploratory holes near Pactola Reservoir in the Silver City area, and residents showed up to ask questions and express concerns.

SDPB's Victoria Wicks has this report.

A gold prospecting company wants to drill exploratory holes in the Silver City area, near Pactola Reservoir in the Black Hills.

The Mystic District of the U.S. Forest Service held an open house last week to offer information and explain how people can make written comments.

Area residents expressed concerns, not only about mining, but also about the hearing process.

SDPB's Victoria Wicks reports.

TC Energy has reported to a Montana federal court that it intends to start construction on the Keystone XL pipeline next month.

Trenching won't begin until April. But in February and March, the company plans to move heavy equipment to sites for worker camps, pump stations, pipe yards, and the first crossing at the U.S.-Canada border.

An attorney for the Rosebud Sioux Tribe says TC is jumping the gun.

SDPB's Victoria Wicks has this report.

Supporters and opponents of the Keystone XL pipeline summarized eleven days of testimony before the South Dakota Water Management Board on Tuesday, Dec. 14.

Attorneys for the South Dakota Water Rights Program and for TC Energy hold that state law limits the board's consideration specifically to the use of water during pipeline construction.

But opponents say the board has an obligation to consider potential water contamination and health consequences after the pipeline is finished.

An elder from the Yankton Sioux Tribe testified Monday, Jan. 13, on the potential impacts on women if the Keystone XL pipeline is built. Faith Spotted Eagle says the past, present, and future of indigenous women are threatened by construction and pollution. She made comments to the South Dakota Water Management Board in its hearing to determine whether to allow water use for the pipeline. SDPB's Victoria Wicks reports.

The South Dakota Water Management Board is hoping to wrap up hearings on Keystone XL pipeline permits in the next two days.

The board heard five days of testimony in October and five more days last month.

TC Energy and two landowners want to use water from Western South Dakota sources to build the pipeline and run worker camps.

Opponents include West River tribes and landowners.

SDPB's Victoria Wicks has this report.

To read the Final Supplemental Environmental Impact Statement and make a comment, click on the link below. The review ends on Jan. 21.

A federal judge in Montana has denied requests from President Donald Trump and other federal agencies to dismiss lawsuits against them for permitting the Keystone XL pipeline.

The actions were filed by the Rosebud Sioux Tribe, Fort Belknap Indian Community, Indigenous Environmental Network, and North Coast Rivers Alliance.

Judge Brian Morris issued his ruling just before Christmas. He says, in part, that it's up to Congress, not just presidents, to regulate commerce with foreign nations. And he says it's up to the courts to figure it out.

A federal judge in Montana has refused to dismiss a lawsuit brought by two tribes against President Donald Trump.

The suit claims the president's unilateral permitting of the Keystone XL pipeline in early 2019 violated treaties and the U.S. Constitution.

The Rosebud Sioux Tribe and Fort Belknap Indian Community say federal agencies have a duty to consult government-to-government with tribes.

In South Dakota, during water management hearings, a Rosebud official outlines the inadequacy of tribal involvement to date.

SDPB's Victoria Wicks reports.

Indian reservations are vulnerable to crime and exploitation when transient workers pass through the area. That's the testimony the South Dakota Water Management Board heard on Friday, Dec. 20.

The board is considering whether to allow the Keystone XL project to use local water if the pipeline is built through this state.

SDPB's Victoria Wicks has this report.

The South Dakota Supreme Court has overturned the drug conviction of a Deadwood hotel guest whose arrest started with a traffic stop.

Prosecutors held that one taillight violated state law. But the defense argued successfully that it did not, and so all drug evidence leading from that stop was inadmissible.

SDPB's Victoria Wicks reports.

If the Keystone XL pipeline is constructed, workers will stay in 10 camps as they move through Montana, South Dakota, and Nebraska.

Pipeline opponents have shared concerns about the potential for workers to commit crimes, especially against women.

At a South Dakota Water Management Board hearing on Thursday, Dec. 19, a project supervisor explained how TC Energy contractors keep control over their employees.

The chief engineer for the South Dakota water rights program says state law governs what she considers when reviewing applications.

Jeanne Goodman signed off on five water permits for construction of the Keystone XL pipeline project. Those permits have been contested by pipeline opponents.

Goodman took the stand on Wednesday, Dec. 18 at hearings in front of the Water Management Board and faced hours of cross examination.

SDPB's Victoria Wicks has this report.

This week the South Dakota Water Management Board is hearing four more days of testimony on water permits for construction of the Keystone XL pipeline. The board heard five days of testimony in October, but didn't get through TC Energy's requests.

Still waiting to be heard are applications from two landowners who want to host worker camps.

SDPB's Victoria Wicks has this report on the latest round of hearings that started Tuesday, Dec. 17.