Mold Remediation in Sioux Falls, SD

A major grocery store with locations in South Dakota, Minnesota, and Iowa is helping families get ready for Thanksgiving Day by offering huge meal savings.

Hy-Vee stores across the Sioux Empire will offer big meal deals and budget-friendly Thanksgiving dinners to help make the holidays as easy as possible for families in South Dakota, Iowa, and Minnesota.

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Hy-Vee released different meal options that include:

These meals are great for a family of two or a big buffet for 20 family members.

But wait...there's even more! Throughout November, all Hy-Vee locations will be offering its special "Buy a ham, get a turkey free" promotion. More details about the Thanksgiving deals with Hy-Vee can be found here.

Families in the Sioux Empire can place their orders with their local Hy-Vee store or online at Hy-Vee’s website. Those who purchase a prepared meal will be able to schedule a time to pick up their purchase before Thanksgiving

Keep in mind: All Hy-Vee stores will be closed on Thanksgiving Day. However, South Dakota, Iowa, and Minnesota Hy-Vee customers can pick up curbside orders the morning of Thanksgiving from 8 AM to 11 AM.

10 Small-Town South Dakota Restaurants That Are Worth The Drive

The Sioux Empire is full of restaurants that are long-known to be local favorites.

Sure, they might be a short drive from home, but you won't regret the experience at these hometown mainstays.

Here are 10 of the best small-town restaurants in South Dakota.

READ MORE: Here’s Why Sioux Falls is the ‘Sioux Empire’ and Sioux City is ‘Siouxland’

SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (Dakota News Now) - When we turn back the clocks it’s time to turn up the heat in gyms across the country because basketball season is right around the corner.

And it will start in a big way for NCAA Division One tomorrow at the Sanford Pentagon.

The venue will host the “Field of 68 Opening Day Showcase” featuring three mid-major games capped off by South Dakota State taking the floor in the evening.

It’s the brainchild of longtime college basketball reporter Jeff Goodman who runs the Field of 68 media network and wanted to kick the college hoops season off in a special way.

Among the games tomorrow is former SDSU head coach Scott Nagy making his debut as Southern Illinois new head coach against the College of Charleston.

Which begs an obvious question.

Did Goodman try to get Nagy to square off against the South Dakota State program he coached for 21 seasons from 1995-2016?!

“Of course I tried! I was unsuccessful! And with Scott he‘s too nice a human being to try to convince him. It was like once he said no the first time, that was it! You’re not going to. That dude is the nicest guy in this business.” Goodman said of his efforts to get Nagy to play SDSU in the opener.

Nagy will make his debut with the Salukis against the College of Charleston at 11:00 AM. After that the University of Saint Louis will face Santa Clara at 2:00 PM. The event will wrap up at 5:00 PM with SDSU taking on McNeese State, each coming off seasons in which they qualified for the NCAA Tournament.

“We‘ve wanted to do something like this for a while because, frankly, college basketball starts off without a bang. I mean there‘s no good games, there all ’buy' games. I‘ve complained about it for years and we felt like we could help and get some mid-major games together and that‘s what we’ve been fortunate to do.” Goodman says.

If you can’t make it out to the Pentagon all the games will be streamed on the Field of 68’s YouTube and X (formerly Twitter) platforms.

Copyright 2024 Dakota News Now. All rights reserved.

By Matt Zimmer

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BROOKINGS — After consecutive weeks of hard-fought, down-to-the-wire, heart-pumping, nationally-televised thrillers against rivals North Dakota State and South Dakota, the third-ranked Jackrabbits had something of a reprieve on Saturday at Dana J. Dykhouse Stadium when they faced Murray State.

The Racers came in winless in Missouri Valley Conference play this year and with a 5-25 record over the last three seasons. The Jacks were 42.5-point favorites.

So nothing about SDSU's 52-6 victory in front of 16,376 fans (the Jacks' first non-sellout of the season) was surprising or especially outstanding. They did what they were supposed to do against an inferior team.

A defense that has been dominant continued to be so. An offense that had scored just 23 points in regulation in their last two games got on track and racked up nearly 600 total yards. They did not turn the ball over and had just 35 yards in penalties.

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South Dakota State races past Murray State

Jackrabbits improve to 7-2 with win over Valley's last-place squad

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By Matt Zimmer

So while this win was expected to come easily and did, there's still value in it, and not just in that coaches were able to empty the bench and give meaningful reps to players who hadn't seen many.

With the Jackrabbits' most challenging games behind them, this win should set the tone for the rest of the regular season.

SDSU (7-2, 4-1 MVFC) finishes up at North Dakota, at home against Southern Illinois and at Missouri State. None of these games should be easy, especially the finale against a 7-2 Bears squad. But the Jacks will be favored in all three of them, and none will have the hype or rivalry attachments that the last two games did.

If the Jacks can replicate the formula from Saturday's comfortable victory over the season's final month, they're probably going to end up right where they want to.

"It started on Monday in practice," said center Gus Miller. "You can never (disrespect) an opponent because the game will disrespect you. Our coaches are always talking to us, making sure in these kind of games we focus on ourselves, focus on basic techniques and make sure we're not overlooking anything."

In that regard, the Jacks certainly took care of business.

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Jacks’ big stable of backs shows off in home rout of Racers

For the first time all season, the South Dakota State backfield was available in full force on Saturday afternoon. And lowly Murray State was on the wrong end of it.

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By Marcus Traxler

They accumulated 595 yards of total offense — 343 of them on the ground. Angel Johnson, Amar Johnson, Chase Mason, Maxwell Woods and Kirby Vorhees all had rushing touchdowns. Mason and Mark Gronowski each threw touchdown passes. The defense kept Murray State out of the end zone and limited them to a mere 236 total yards.

There wasn't much evidence of the Jackrabbits taking it easy or coming out flat, but coach Jimmy Rogers said even though his team largely executed well, they didn't have the same pregame fire and excitement to play that he's used to.

"I'll watch the film when it comes to the execution, because it felt like there was a lack of energy, just in the entire stadium," Rogers said. "Just looking at (the players), I see them so much in practice that I kind of know what to expect when I watch them and their energy level. I was happy with how we played but there's plenty to clean up. We need to be crisper and better next Saturday."

That will be against a UND squad that looked strong early in the season but has lost consecutive games, against Youngstown State and, on Saturday, lowly Indiana State. Those two were both on the road, however, and the Hawks are a different team in the Alerus Center, where they'll host SDSU next week. UND beat No. 8 Montana at home earlier this year.

It'll be SDSU's third game against one of their Dakota rivals in the last four weeks, but getting Saturday's low-stress tussle with the Racers in between should help them.

"It was a physical couple of weeks and very close games," safety Tucker Large said of the games against NDSU (a 13-9 loss) and USD (a 20-17 overtime win). "So this is definitely a confidence booster for our team. It was good for our offense to get those yards and good to see our defense get some young guys in there and flying around, having fun and being themselves.

"Coach Rogers does a great job of making it the Jacks vs. the Jacks, every game, no matter who our opponent is," Large added. "We want to be our best selves. We know our standard and if we execute that good things will happen."

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Matt Zimmer is a Sioux Falls native and longtime sports writer. He graduated from Washington High School where he played football, legion baseball and developed his lifelong love of the Minnesota Twins and Vikings. After graduating from St. Cloud State University, he returned to Sioux Falls, and began a long career in amateur baseball and sports reporting. Email Matt at mzimmer@siouxfallslive.com.

SIOUX FALLS, S.D. – McNeese basketball head coach Will Wade warned the first few games of the season would be a period to get the new group of players acclimated to each other.

That proved to be true on Monday at The Field of 68 Season Opener Showcase where South Dakota State held off the talented Cowboys, 80-73, to open up the 2024-25 season.

Alyn Breed made his McNeese debut by scoring a game-high 18 points while Javohn Garcia added 15 and Christian Shumate 11.

McNeese made just 39 percent of its shots from the field, hitting 23 of 59, and sank 7 of 26 from long range for 27 percent. The Cowboys were outrebounded by a 43-29 margin including 12-8 on the offensive glass.

The Jackrabbits, the defending Summit League champions, were led by an 18-point performance from Joe Saylor while Oscar Cluff and Owen Larson each scored 14. Stoney Hadnot added 12 to round out the double-figure scorers.

Larson and Sayler combined to hit 8 of 16 from 3-point range while Larson’s trey with 42 seconds to play proved to be the dagger as the Cowboys were attempting to rally for the late game win.

Overall, SDSU made 46 percent from the field (28-61) and 12 of 35 from long range for 34 percent. In the second half, the Jackrabbits made 57 percent of their shots (16-28).

The game was tied 33-33 at the half when McNeese got back-to-back three-point baskets from DJ Richards, who finished with nine points on the night.

The Cowboys scored the first six points of the second half behind 3s from Breed and Garcia but SDSU rallied back to tie the game at 41-41 with 17:10 to play following a Larson fast-break layup.

A couple of free throws and a Joe Charles dunk put McNeese back on top 45-41 and the lead was 48-46 at the 15:01 mark after a couple of Richards freebies.

The Jackrabbits answered with an 8-0 run, started by a 3 from Jackson, and led 54-58 with 13:18 to play. The lead grew to 59-59 three minutes later and was 66-57 with 7:36 remaining when the Cowboys began to claw back.

Charles and Garcia sank consecutive 3s to pull McNeese to within 66-63, then a few minutes later and trailing 75-72, the Cowboys saw four straight jumpers fall off the mark in an attempt to pull to within 1 or tie the game.

But on the fourth miss and after an offensive rebound by Brandon Murray, Shumate was sent to the line where he made 1 of 2 and cut the gap to 75-73 with 1:29 to play.

Charles pulled in the offensive rebound on Shumate’s miss and fired up a three-pointer that was off the mark. Shumate grabbed the rebound and had an open look for a three that missed with 1:06 to play.

SDSU got the rebound and Larson sank a three with 42 seconds to play that gave the Jackrabbits a 78-73 advantage, then added another basket after a McNeese miss with 17 seconds to play.

Next up, McNeese will open its home slate on Thursday night at 7:30 against Biblical Studies in the second game of a double-header with the Cowgirls.

The murky brown Big Sioux River consistently receives poor marks for its water quality, but eastern South Dakota water systems near the river don’t know if that pollution includes “forever chemicals.”

To find out, researchers from South Dakota Mines are testing for per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) at the behest of the East Dakota Water Development District.

The study will cost the district at least $100,000 to test 11 sites from northeast South Dakota to the Iowa border past Sioux Falls, including four more sample runs throughout 2025.

“Ideally, we’ll find nothing, and we’ll have spent a lot of money to do that,” said Jay Gilbertson, district manager. “But right now, we don’t know if there is PFAS in the river. It’s hard to be proactive and plan if you don’t have information.”

A separate, federally funded project through the South Dakota Department of Agriculture and Natural Resources was announced earlier this year to assess and clean up contaminated sites in South Dakota. Falls Park, quarry lake and a former rubble site just south of the Sioux Empire Fairgrounds in Sioux Falls are being tested for PFAS and other contaminants that pose risks to the Big Sioux River. The project is in the planning phase, and testing has not started yet.

The chemicals have been used in industry and consumer products since the 1940s and don’t break down easily in the environment or in the human body. Research indicates PFAS exposure may be linked to negative developmental and reproductive effects, and an increased risk of some cancers.

The federal government established new limits on some types of PFAS in drinking water earlier this year. Those limits apply specifically to treated drinking water. The limits do not apply to chemicals found in waterways.

Water treatment plants along the Big Sioux River can pull directly from the river or pull from underground wells near the river. Sioux Falls is the only water system that pulls water from the Big Sioux River, but the city rarely uses the river as a water source.

More states ban PFAS, or ‘forever chemicals,’ in more products

An ongoing study indicates that, under the right conditions, Big Sioux River water can infiltrate wells near the river.

Gilbertson saw water treatment plants in southeastern South Dakota along the Big Sioux River several years ago experience an influx of hard water in their systems. He said the culprit was Lake Poinsett, near Watertown, which began discharging water into the Big Sioux that seeped into underground wells used by some treatment plants downstream.

That’s why it’s “better to go looking for it,” Gilbertson said, so water treatment plants can prepare solutions before contamination becomes a crisis.

If PFAS is found in the Big Sioux River, the water district can inform public water suppliers, Gilbertson added.

“Maybe we tell them, if they can, not to use the well that’s so close to the river; reactivate one a little farther away,” Gilbertson said. “As a result, they might not technically have a problem and have to stop serving customers because they stopped using the water before it became a problem.”

PFAS has been detected in wells near Ellsworth Air Force Base at Box Elder, as well as Sioux Falls Regional Airport and its co-located Air National Guard base, where the chemicals were used in firefighting foam. The forever chemical has also been detected in wells at National Guard facilities near Custer and in Rapid City, and in three private wells in South Dakota.

Sioux Falls suspended 21 of its wells suspected of PFAS contamination after the detection. Since then, all raw water samples — which can include the Big Sioux River at times — have been tested for PFAS compounds, said Sioux Falls Water Superintendent Chris Myers in an emailed statement. The city has not detected PFAS in those sources.

But even if Sioux Falls doesn’t find PFAS in river tests, that doesn’t mean there isn’t PFAS in the river: It just means it’s not immediately upstream, Gilbertson said.

“It doesn’t necessarily preclude it from the upper basin or below the city,” he added.

Most recently, a preliminary sample of Mount Rushmore National Memorial’s drinking water had levels of PFAS more than two times higher than the new federal limit.

The South Dakota Association of Rural Water Systems is testing 40 rural water systems throughout the state for PFAS chemicals in cooperation with the EPA. Cities are also testing their water and submitting it to the EPA.

Lisa Kunza, associate professor in chemistry, biology and health sciences and director of the Center for Sustainable Solutions at South Dakota Mines in Rapid City, helped collect the initial Big Sioux River samples in September.

Kunza and her team research PFAS contamination impacts on water resources, agriculture and human health. They’re looking for 40 PFAS compounds in the water. She said the initial test results could take a month to several months to get back from the lab.

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