South Dakota Searchlight’s most-read news and commentary of 2024
Description
Images that accompanied South Dakota Searchlight's most-read news and commentary of 2024. Top, left to right: flood damage at McCook Lake in June (Courtesy of Dirk Lohry); Gov. Kristi Noem with Donald Trump in March in Ohio (Scott Olson/Getty Images); Robert F. Kennedy Jr. at a Phoenix campaign event (Rebecca Noble/Getty Images). Middle, left to right: Noem at a 2023 Trump rally in Rapid City (Scott Olson/Getty Images); Charles Merrival in 2019 in Rapid City, prior to being singled out as an alleged cartel member by Noem in 2024 (Courtesy of Charles Merrival family). Bottom, left to right: Bikers at the Sturgis motorcycle rally, where there were mystery overdoses in 2024 (Scott Olson/Getty Images); State Rep. Scott Odenbach, R-Spearfish, at the Capitol in 2024 prior to his elevation to majority leader in 2025 (Makenzie Huber/South Dakota Searchlight); A B-1B Lancer from Ellsworth Air Force Base takes off in February prior to a relocation of Ellsworth B-1s to North Dakota. (U.S. Air Force photo by Senior Airman Leon Redfern)
As 2024 comes to a close, here’s a look back at South Dakota Searchlight’s most-read news stories and commentary of the year, ranked by pageviews:
Most-read news stories of 2024
- Trump calls Noem to podium at Ohio rally, comments on her appearance
- Ellsworth temporarily moving 17 planes and 800 people to North Dakota
- Latest Amtrak study maps include potential routes through Sioux Falls, Rapid City
- Man in photo Noem used as alleged proof of cartels says it’s hindered his right to a fair trial
- Health lab director says ‘very unusual’ Sturgis rally overdose reports remain a mystery
- Drug cartels: A link in every illegal fentanyl pill in South Dakota, not just on reservations
- McCook Lake residents say their homes were sacrificed, and they want a new flood plan
- Tribe gets nearly $8 million from federal program that state shunned
- Noem rejects more than $70 million in federal funds for energy and environmental programs
- New landscape confronts South Dakota Republicans after political earthquake shakes incumbents
Most-read commentary of 2024
- Flood washes away Noem’s false veneer of leadership
- Noem-Lewandowski relationship doesn’t have to be an affair to be inappropriate
- Noem’s dog killing was bad, but to really understand her, consider the goat
- South Dakota drug conviction is among the baggage RFK Jr. brings to the ballot
- What Noem’s shot heard around the world says about her approach to problems
- Well, it’s official. Kristi Noem is breaking up with South Dakota.
- Puppy-killing Kristi Noem may have brought us together
- Why South Dakota health care is the nation’s second most expensive
- Noem rides back to D.C., possibly eyeing a bigger prize
- Noem’s border aid comes with personal costs for South Dakotans
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