South Dakota

The Sioux Falls Area Humane Society in South Dakota is letting anyone feeling vindictive this Valentine’s Day to name a litter box after their ex.

Robby Vargas-Cortes got a COVID-19 vaccine and a fiancée.

South Dakota investigators says that Attorney General Jason Ravnsborg reported hitting a deer with his car on Saturday night but actually killed a pedestrian whose body was not found until the next day.

The report says Sturgis generated public health costs of $12.2 billion -- enough, researchers say, to have paid every rally attendee $26,000 dollars to stay home.

A study from San Diego State University shows 19 percent of the 1.4 million new coronavirus cases in the United States over the last month can be traced back to the Sturgis Motorcycle Rally in South Dakota in August.

An analysis of anonymous cell phone data from Camber Systems, a firm that aggregates cell phone activity for health researchers, found that 61% of all the counties in the U.S. have been visited by someone who attended Sturgis, creating a travel hub that was comparable to a major U.S. city.

This year’s Sturgis Motorcycle Rally drew over 460,000 vehicles during the 10-day event, according to a count released by South Dakota transportation officials.

"You know it is so exhilarating to be an inspiration to a lot of them,” he said. “Some are looking for hope. Hope for despondent, courage to the timid, and strength to the weak.”

Up to 250,000 are expected to attend the rally, which stretches on for nearly another week.

The New York Times reported on Saturday that in 2019, a White House aide asked South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem's office about how a president could get added to the famed mountain sculpture.

Minnesota health leaders are asking Minnesotans who will be attending the annual Sturgis motorcycle rally in South Dakota to voluntarily self-isolate for 14 days after they return.

Many who rode their bikes into Sturgis on Friday expressed defiance at the rules and restrictions that have marked life in many locales during the pandemic.

An 11-year-old Yorkshire Terrier was bitten by a rattlesnake in South Dakota while on a walk with its owners last Friday, a report from local news outlet KEVN Black Hills FOX shares.

Though only about half the usual number of people are expected at this year's event, residents were split as the city weighed its options. Many worried that the rally would cause an unmanageable outbreak of COVID-19.

Trump, who has spoken forcefully against protesters who have tried to topple Confederate monuments and statues honoring those who have benefited from slavery, planned to target “the left wing mob and those practicing cancel culture," said a person familiar with his remarks.

Gov. Kristi Noem defended the upcoming celebration at the memorial in a recent interview.

Julia Lee Carter is facing charges of first-degree manslaughter and abuse or cruelty to a minor. 

Several groups led by Native American activists are planning protests for Trump’s July 3 visit, part of his “comeback” campaign for a nation reeling from sickness, unemployment and social unrest.

Amid a campaign to take down statues across the country that has moved quickly from targeting monuments of Confederate generals to those of former presidents, South Dakota’s governor is promising that the famed Mount Rushmore will not be next.