Tag: Rapid city
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The 25-Year Blind Spot: How a 563-Acre Mining Operation Escaped Rapid City’s Oversight
At 7:10 on Thursday morning, most Rapid City residents were still asleep. The ones who showed up to the Planning Commission meeting came because the ground beneath their neighborhood had been shaking before dawn. What they learned—and what the city itself had only recently discovered—was that a foreign-owned cement company had been extracting minerals from…
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Who Decides Rapid City? A Ward-by-Ward Look at Primary Turnout
On June 2, Rapid City held elections in all five wards to determine who would represent residents on the Common Council — the body that sets zoning policy, approves franchise agreements, and controls the city budget. Fewer than one in four registered voters participated. Citywide, council race turnout was 22.8% of registered voters. Statewide primary…
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Rapid City Council Races Decided; Ward 4 Results Complicated by Withdrawn Candidate
Unofficial results from the South Dakota Secretary of State, June 2, 2026 Rapid City voters settled all five ward alderman races Tuesday in a primary that saw turnout vary widely across the city, with Ward 2 recording the lowest total of any ward at 1,427 votes — less than half the 3,313 cast in Ward…
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At the Edge of Time – Rapid City Buries a Century’s Promise at the Place it all Began
Fifty years from now, when the residents of 2076 pry open the time capsule buried Friday afternoon at the base of M Hill, they will find the usual markers of a city frozen in time: photographs, newspapers, and local artifacts. But the true weight of the ceremony wasn’t just in what was put into the…
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How A Spearfish Political Power Struggle Helped Shape Rapid City Ordinance 6717
RAPID CITY, S.D. — When Rapid City’s Legal and Finance Committee advanced Ordinance 6717 Wednesday, the item was described simply as bringing the city’s municipal code into alignment with state law. What that alignment represents is a legal framework — rooted in an 1890 statute — that concentrates authority over appointed city officers firmly in…
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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…