SIOUX FALLS, S.D. – As a new year begins, here’s a look back at some of the best and most newsworthy images published in 2024 by South Dakota Searchlight, a non-profit news organization that delivers news across the state. The coverage they provide adds balance and perspective to issues affecting all South Dakotans, from all walks of life.
The B-1 bomber crash site at Ellsworth Air Force Base near Rapid City on Jan. 4, 2024. (Courtesy of U.S. Air Force)
Carbon dioxide pipeline critic and farmer Mark Lapka, of Leola, speaks during a rally at the South Dakota Capitol in Pierre on Jan. 8, 2024. (Joshua Haiar/South Dakota Searchlight)
Jason Ravnsborg, former attorney general of South Dakota, speaks during a hearing about the future of his law license on Feb. 14, 2024, at the Capitol in Pierre while his legal team looks on. (David Bordewyk/SD NewsMedia Association)
Republican presidential candidate and former President Donald Trump greets South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem during a rally at the Dayton International Airport on March 16, 2024, in Vandalia, Ohio. The rally was hosted by the Buckeye Values PAC. (Scott Olson/Getty Images)
People associated with the Life Defense Fund protest outside a library on May 1, 2024, as an abortion-rights group conducts a press conference inside. (Joshua Haiar/South Dakota Searchlight)
A June 24, 2024, view of a home destroyed by flooding the previous night at McCook Lake in southeast South Dakota. (Courtesy of Dirk Lohry)
Morgan Speichinger works to clean up her home near McCook Lake on July 3, 2024, after a June 23 flood. (Joshua Haiar/South Dakota Searchlight)
Damages remain visible in the McCook Lake community on July 3, 2024, after a massive flood hit the area on June 23. (Joshua Haiar/South Dakota Searchlight)
Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe Chairman Ryman LeBeau, Eagle Butte, S.D., (center) poses for a picture with U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland (left) and U.S. Sen. Mike Rounds (right) after a roundtable about public safety on tribal lands in Wagner on Aug. 14, 2024. (Makenzie Huber/South Dakota Searchlight)
A ceremony on Aug. 15, 2024, marks the completed excavation of caverns for the Deep Underground Neutrino Experiment in the Long-Baseline Neutrino Facility, at the Sanford Underground Research Facility within the former Homestake Mine in Lead. (Joshua Haiar/South Dakota Searchlight)
An airplane drops fire retardant chemicals near the First Thunder Fire just west of Rapid City on Sept. 3, 2024. (Seth Tupper/South Dakota Searchlight)
Jim Carlson, with the Minnehaha County Historical Society, repaints a historical marker at Falls Park in Sioux Falls on Sept. 23, 2024. (Makenzie Huber/South Dakota Searchlight)
John Cooper carries decoys to his vehicle after a day of duck hunting near Eureka on Sept. 28, 2024. (Joshua Haiar/South Dakota Searchlight)
Former U.S. Sen. Tim Johnson’s urn is displayed during his funeral at Our Savior’s Lutheran Church in Sioux Falls on Oct. 18, 2024. (Makenzie Huber/South Dakota Searchlight)
Demonstrators participate in a march for abortion rights on Nov. 2, 2024, in downtown Sioux Falls. (Seth Tupper/South Dakota Searchlight)
Campaign signs in Sioux Falls in November 2024. (Makenzie Huber/South Dakota Searchlight)
A resident votes in the 2024 general election on Nov. 5 at Gloria Dei Lutheran Church. (Makenzie Huber/South Dakota Searchlight)
A vehicle bearing the message “vote no on everything” is parked outside a polling place on Nov. 5, 2024, in Rapid City, near a sign marking a “no campaigning” perimeter. (Seth Tupper/South Dakota Searchlight)
U.S. Rep. Dusty Johnson, R-South Dakota, delivers his reelection victory speech while flanked by sons Owen, left, and Max on Nov. 5, 2024.
U.S. Sen. John Thune, R-South Dakota,. arrives for the Senate Republican leadership elections at the U.S. Capitol on Nov. 13, 2024 in Washington, D.C. Thune was elected to be the majority leader in the next session of Congress. (Photo by Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images)
U.S. President-elect Donald Trump’s nominee to be Homeland Security secretary, South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem, arrives at the Hart Senate Office Building to meet with senators on Dec. 12, 2024, in Washington, D.C. (Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images)
