On a chilly Monday morning with occasional flurries at Mount Rushmore National Memorial, South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem and South Dakota Sec. of Tourism Jim Hagen kicked off National Travel and Tourism Week.
The two addressed the past tourist season and what is to be expected for the 2021 tourism season — and by all metrics it’s looking to be a big year.
With the school year winding down, Hill City School District superintendent Blake Gardner had some big news to share in his newsletter.
US News and World Report produced its annual rankings of the top schools in the each state, and Hill City High School was ranked number one in South Dakota.
“We are honored to be ranked number one,” Gardner wrote in his newsletter. “We have a great high school and a phenomenal feeder system. I have always felt that we are the best school in South Dakota, and I love when rankings like this support my beliefs.”
A cascading domino effect of poor decisions led to a woman being arrested by Custer County Sheriff’s deputies on multiple charges Friday. Among other things, the woman showed up for 24/7 testing at the courthouse allegedly with drugs and paraphernalia in her purse.
Deputy Derrick Reifenrath said 45-year-old Bobbi Buchholz, a 24/7 drug testing program participant from Pennington County, was scheduled to appear at the Custer County Courthouse for urinalysis Friday morning. He said since she lives in Hill City it is closer for her to come to Custer for the testing.
Pacer Corporation is expanding, and in doing so, is diversifying the products in can offer.
The expansion project, which began last spring, is producing a courser grade of feldspar, which Pacer had not historically done. That, says Ryan Fredsall, Pacer’s general manager, opens up the market into possibilities of providing the new product for manufacturers of insulation and tile, two of the biggest consumers of courser feldspar.
The Hill City Prevailer News won several honors from the South Dakota Newspaper Association last week.
Editor Gray Hughes was named the 2020 Outstanding Young Journalist for a weekly newspaper. The South Dakota Newspaper Association Young Journalist award recognizes, “journalists under the age of 30 who are working for either a weekly or daily newspaper in South Dakota.”
South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem has filed a complaint in U.S. District Court against Deb Haaland, United States Secretary of the Interior, Shannon A. Estenoz, Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary of the Interior for Fish and Wildlife and Parks, Shawn Benge, acting Director and Deputy Director of Operations of the National Park Service and Herbert Frost, as National Park Service Director of the Midwest Region, over the revoking of a permit to hold fireworks at Mount Rushmore National Memorial.
In an executive order issued in January, President Joe Biden promised to protect 30 percent of U.S. land and 30 percent of U.S. oceans by 2030. The order, referred as the “30x30” program, isn’t sitting well with Custer County Commission chairman Jim Lintz.
At the commission’s April 28 meeting, Lintz said he believes it is merely a land grab, a case of the federal government trying to wrest private property from its citizens, as opposed to an impetus for climate protection.
Results of the 2020 S.D. Newspaper Association’s Better Newspapers Awards were announced last Thursday with the Custer County Chronicle winning 11, including five first places.
Jason Ferguson won three first places, Ron Burtz one and Down Country Roads magazine a first.
Custer County will convene a study group to tackle the issue of skyrocketing property taxes, although those involved agree it will likely take state legislature action to provide any real solution to the problem.
