Author: DawnSherine Bernard
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Ward 2 Challenger – Christopher Vanderhoof – Left Conflict of Interest Disclosure Form Blank, Records Prove
RAPID CITY, S.D. — A challenger for Rapid City’s Ward 2 city council seat left the financial disclosure section of a required conflict of interest form entirely blank when he filed his candidacy in March, records obtained by the Rapid City Sentinel show. Signed Blank form Under penalty of Perjury Christopher Vanderhoof, who faces incumbent…
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Mayor Appoints Cushman as City Attorney After Search Yields Interim
RAPID CITY, S.D. — Mayor Jason Salamun has appointed Carla Cushman as Rapid City’s next city attorney, the city announced Wednesday via social media. The Rapid City Common Council will take up the appointment at its June 1 meeting. Cushman has served as interim city attorney since April 1, when Mayor Salamun confirmed he had…
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Ward 2 Candidate Christopher Vanderhoof ‘s Employment at Black Hills Energy Raises Recurring Conflict Questions
A candidate seeking to represent Ward 2 on the Rapid City Common Council holds a full-time senior engineering position at Black Hills Energy — a utility company with active franchise agreements, infrastructure contracts, and major capital projects currently before the council — raising questions about how often state law would require him to sit out…
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The Day Speaks For Itself : Memorial Day at Memorial Park
Sometimes you don’t need to say something profound. The day speaks for itself. It spoke through the older woman in the wheelchair, whose voice carried the weight of a Memorial Day prayer across the silent crowd. It spoke in the unexpected, impromptu moments — like Mayor Jason Salamun briefly, honestly touching on the heavy reality…
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Rapid City SD Shows Up For Its Future Self at the 2076 Time Capsule Community Photo
Rapid City SD – When time ceases for a moment, the present presents itself to the future. A Rapid City 150 years in the making showed up Friday for the Rapid City of 2076. Sesquicentennial proclamation Earlier this month, a mayoral proclamation officially recognized this sesquicentennial year, tracing Rapid City’s roots from an 1876 “Hay…
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Tuesdays at 10: Downtown Rapid City Launches Hands-On STEAM Series This Summer
The final school bell is ringing, and parents across Rapid City are staring down the double-edged sword of summer vacation: three months of freedom, inevitably followed by choruses of “I’m bored.” If you are looking for a way to keep school-aged kids engaged, curious, and learning without breaking the bank, Downtown Rapid City is rolling…
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When Words Become Weapons: Accusations, Accountability and the Cost of Getting it Wrong
On May 18, 2026, a federal jury in Nashville ordered YouTube personality Ryan Upchurch to pay $17.5 million to the father and grandfather of Kiely Rodni — a 16-year-old California girl who drowned in Prosser Creek Reservoir in August 2022. Her death was ruled accidental. No foul play. Multiple law enforcement agencies, the FBI, and…
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Rapid City Proactively Moves to Define Its Cement Plant Future
A century ago, South Dakota stepped in where private industry wouldn’t. With vast deposits of the raw materials needed for cement production sitting in the Black Hills and no private developer willing to build, Gov. Peter Norbeck championed a state-owned plant. Voters amended the state constitution to make it possible, and Dacotah Cement was born.…
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South Dakota Got Ahead of This. Here’s What it Means for Data Centers in Rapid City
Rapid City SD – Rapid City is about to get its first data center. The facility isn’t built yet. The land hasn’t closed. It hasn’t cleared city permits. But in February, Sequitor Edge — a Nebraska-based company founded in 2024 — announced plans to construct a 30,000-square-foot computing facility on a 10-acre site in the…
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The Snowball Effect: How a Bowl of Soup Can Help Your Neighbors in Rapid City
The anatomy of a financial crisis rarely starts with a single, massive catastrophe. More often, it’s the quiet pile-up of everyday setbacks. A flat tire, an unexpected repair, a surprise medical bill — suddenly, the monthly utility payment gets pushed off. Shannon Truax, Admin Operations Manager for the Rapid City Public Works Department, sees this…