KELOLAND wins 3 Murrow Awards
'I'm thrilled by the work our team produces every day,' said KELOLAND Media Group Vice President and General Manager Mari Ossenfort. 'These awards reflect the dedication and commitment our journalists have to telling compelling stories and making a difference in our communities.'
2025 Sioux Falls homicides mapped: May 15
The three categories KELOLAND won were: Excellence in Diversity, Equity and Inclusion for America's forgotten people – Praying for justice, safety and running water, News Documentary for Emergency & Hope on Pine Ridge, and Sports Reporting for A League of their Own.
Regional winners now advance to the national round. Those winners will be announced later this year.
KELOLAND Media Group was the only South Dakota television station to receive a Murrow award.
Rapid City teen assaults train operator
Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
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The Hill
04-08-2025
- The Hill
18 motorcycle crashes reported in single day at Sturgis Rally in South Dakota
SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (KELO) — The South Dakota Highway Patrol has released a list of crashes and arrests that came during a single day at the 85th Sturgis Motorcycle Rally, a 10-day rider celebration event. According to a press release from the Department of Public Safety, there were a total of 18 crashes between 6 a.m. Saturday to 6 a.m. Sunday, with one of them being deadly. Fatal crash: 9:34 a.m. Saturday. A 2019 Harley-Davidson motorcycle was traveling westbound in the passing lane of US 16A when the driver was unable to negotiate a curve and tipped onto their right side. The motorcycle slid into the eastbound lanes, colliding with three other motorcycles. The 58-year-old male driver of the 2019 Harley died from his injuries. The other three riders received serious, non-life-threatening injuries. Helmet use for all four riders is under investigation. Injury crashes: 9:26 a.m. Saturday. A 2019 Harley-Davidson motorcycle was turning north onto US 16 from the Happy Place Campground when the front brake locked up, causing the rider to 'lay the motorcycle down.' The driver and motorcycle fell onto the right side. The rider, who was not wearing a helmet, sustained minor injuries and was transported to Rapid City Monument Hospital. 10:49 a.m. Saturday. A 2013 Victory motorcycle heading westbound on SD Highway 44 had a flat tire, and as the driver was slowing down to pull over, he lost control and went into a ditch. The driver and passenger were 'separated' from the motorcycle. They were not wearing helmets and received serious, non-life-threatening injuries. 12:31 p.m. Saturday. A 2011 Harley-Davidson motorcycle was heading northbound on SD 87 when the driver failed to negotiate a left turn and ran off the road and up an embankment. The driver was separated from the motorcycle, which fell on top of the rider. The driver was not wearing a helmet and received serious, non-life-threatening injuries and was flown to a hospital. 1:01 p.m. Saturday. A 2009 Harley-Davidson motorcycle traveling south on SD 87 crossed into northbound traffic and crashed into a 2024 Harley-Davidson trike. Both riders were separated from their motorcycles. The driver of the 2024 Harley was not injured, but their passenger and the driver of the 2009 bike sustained minor injuries and were taken to Monument Health in Custer. All three were wearing helmets. 2:26 p.m. Saturday. A 2015 Harley-Davidson was westbound on I-90 when the driver hit the rumble strips as they were negotiating a curve, causing the Harley to enter the median. The rider was separated from the motorcycle and landed in the median. The rider was not wearing a helmet and sustained serious, non-life-threatening injuries. 4:55 p.m. Saturday. A 2023 Harley-Davidson was westbound on I-90 in the right lane when it tried to pass a 2024 Harley-Davidson in the left lane and 'made contact' with the other bike. The contact caused the driver of the 2023 Harley to lose control and go into a ditch, resulting in minor injuries. The other driver was not injured. Both were wearing helmets. 5:13 p.m. Saturday. A Ford Escape was rear-ended by a motorcycle while stopped at a stoplight. The motorcycle rider, who was wearing a helmet, sustained serious, life-threatening injuries and was flown to Monument Health in Rapid City. The driver of the Ford Escape was not injured. 5:44 p.m. Saturday. A 2025 Harley-Davidson motorcycle traveling west on US 14A collided with the rear end of a 2012 Ford F150 that was stopped and waiting to make a left turn. The Harley driver, who was not wearing a helmet, received minor injuries and was taken to the hospital. The Ford driver was wearing a seatbelt and was not injured. 6:40 p.m. Saturday. A 2013 Harley-Davidson motorcycle traveling east on I-90 tried to exit, but realized the road was closed. The driver laid the bike on its side and slid under the gate before coming to a stop. The driver, who was not wearing a helmet, was transported to a hospital with serious, non-life-threatening injuries. 12:44 a.m. Sunday. A 2005 Harley-Davidson motorcycle heading south on SD 79 and a 2022 Harley-Davidson motorcycle traveling north were straddling the centerline and struck each other. The 2005 Harley came to rest in the southbound lane, while the other motorcycle ran off the road and ended up in a ditch. Both drivers were transported to the hospital. The driver of the 2005 Harley was wearing a helmet and sustained life-threatening injuries, while the other driver sustained serious, non-life-threatening injuries. Helmet use for the latter driver is under investigation. 12:50 a.m. Sunday. Sturgis Police tried to stop a 2021 Harley-Davidson motorcycle for alleged exhibition driving, but the motorcycle fled, leading to a police pursuit. Traveling at high speed, the motorcycle went off the road and into a ditch on US 14A. The driver, who was not wearing a helmet, sustained serious, life-threatening injuries and was taken to Monument Health via helicopter. All information released so far is only preliminary, according to the South Dakota Department of Public Safety. In addition to crashes, the South Dakota Highway Patrol reported that from 6 a.m. Saturday to 6 a.m. Sunday, there were a total of 21 DUI arrests, 31 misdemeanor drug arrests and 14 felony drug arrests. Highway Patrol also issued a total of 252 citations and 592 warnings from Saturday to Sunday.
Yahoo
08-07-2025
- Yahoo
Minnesota lawmaker released from ICU following politically motivated shooting in June
Minnesota State Sen. John Hoffman has been released from a hospital intensive care unit and moved into a rehabilitation facility to continue his recovery from a politically-motivated attack in June, a family spokesperson tells CNN Tuesday. Though the family acknowledges that Hoffman 'still has a long recovery ahead,' spokesperson Bess Ellenson shared a photo taken Monday showing the senator looking upbeat, smiling, and flashing a thumbs up as he stands in front of a hospital room door with a rolling suitcase. Vance Boelter, 57, allegedly shot Hoffman and his wife, Yvette, in the June 14 shooting spree, which authorities say targeted Democrats and figures with connections to the abortion rights movement. Minnesota State Rep. Melissa Hortman, her husband, Mark, and the couple's golden retriever, Gilbert, were killed in the attack at their home. The Hoffmans shared a statement last month with their account of that night. The statement said the couple and their adult daughter, Hope, were awakened at 2 a.m. on Saturday, June 14, by a person shouting and pounding on their front door, identifying himself as a police officer. All three were in the entryway when the door opened, and the person pointed a gun at Hoffman. The senator lunged at the man, they wrote. Hoffman was shot nine times, his wife was shot eight times as she tried to close the door. Their daughter Hope, who was uninjured, was able to secure the door and call 911. Yvette Hoffman was released from the hospital on June 19, CNN affiliate KARE reported. Boelter was arrested following a 43-hour manhunt. He is facing federal and state charges, including murder, stalking, and weapons offenses.
CNN
07-07-2025
- CNN
‘We have to keep growing': Mother of killed Israeli hostage in battle to have a grandchild with his harvested sperm
'Something can be born out of everything – if you want it to,' said Iris Haim, whose hostage son Yotam was killed in Gaza. Those words are helping her find hope. The new beginning that Haim now longs for is a grandchild, created from sperm she had harvested from Yotam's body upon its return home in December 2023. 'Yes, a disaster happened,' Haim, 59, told CNN of her son's killing from the Israeli town of Mevaseret Zion, a few miles west of Jerusalem. 'But it doesn't control me.' Yotam, 28, was kidnapped by Hamas-led militants from kibbutz Kfar Aza on October 7, 2023. After spending 65 days in captivity, he was mistakenly shot by Israeli troops on December 15, 2023 along with two other hostages, Alon Shamriz and Samer Talalka, as they attempted to flee their captors in northern Gaza. Yotam is the only Israeli hostage whose sperm is known to have been retrieved posthumously, and whose family is lobbying to use it to have a child. Haim says Yotam, a single man at the time of his death, always wanted children. 'Yotam really wanted that – he talked about it a lot,' she said. A total of 205 hostages have so far been returned, 148 of whom were released alive, and 57 returned dead, according to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's office. Most had been dead for weeks, if not months, making the men's sperm no longer viable for use – except for Yotam's. That's where his mother saw an unexpected opportunity to have what would be her first grandchild. Chances of successful sperm retrieval are highest in the first 24 hours after death, with the cut-off time being 72 hours, according to the Israeli government. There are currently 50 Israeli hostages held in Gaza, of whom at least 20 are believed to be alive. Both Hamas and Israel have accepted a new ceasefire proposal and indirect negotiations on a deal have restarted, raising hopes that more could return home soon. Haim remembers with painful clarity the moment Israeli authorities came to her home and told her about her son's death. 'Yotam was killed. By friendly fire. While escaping Hamas captivity. He was mistakenly identified as a terrorist,' Haim recalled the officers saying. 'Four sentences I will never forget,' she told CNN. Half an hour after they broke the news of Yotam's death, one officer approached Haim and whispered, 'you can request sperm retrieval,' Haim said. The process 'immediately got started, immediately,' she said. Yotam's sperm was retrieved within the necessary window of time. Ten samples were extracted, 'enough for five children,' Haim recalled being told by the doctor who performed the procedure. Haim now faces an uphill battle to get approval to use his sperm to produce a grandchild. If she succeeds, her next challenge would be to find a woman to carry the child and raise it. Sperm lives on briefly after death, which is why it's possible for doctors to retrieve it from testicular tissue. Any live sperm cells found are transferred and frozen in liquid nitrogen. None, however, can be used without approval from a family court, where Haim now faces an uphill battle to continue her son's lineage. In Israel, extracting sperm from a dead body is permitted, but there is no law that clearly defines the process of using the sperm for the purpose of producing offspring. 'In Israeli law, we don't have a law for this procedure,' Nily Shatz, Haim's lawyer, said, adding that family courts have only approved posthumous use of sperm by parents of the deceased to produce a child twice in the past; however, the second case was later overturned after an appeal brought by the state. 'All the other cases were rejected.' The first case was that of a woman who after years of court battles was able to have a grandchild after proving that her son, who was killed in Gaza in 2002, wanted children, according to Shatz. The court, however, declared that the ruling should not be perceived as a precedent, saying legislators must decide on the matter in the future. The second case was that of a couple who are still fighting in court to have a grandchild with retrieved sperm of their late son, who died in 2012. Last week, after CNN spoke with Shatz, an Eilat court gave permission in principle for Sharon Eisenkot to use sperm retrieved from her son Maor – a soldier killed in Gaza in 2023 – to have a grandchild through surrogacy. 'Should a specific request be submitted regarding the identity of the woman chosen to carry the embryo fertilized with M.'s sperm, it will require the court's approval,' the ruling Thursday said. In keeping with usual practice in family court, the full names of those involved in the case were not given but the court directed CNN to this ruling. Meirav Ben-Ari, a lawmaker in Israel's parliament, the Knesset, is pushing for a bill that formally allows family members to use retrieved sperm even if the deceased had not specifically stated his wish to have a child posthumously, as long as they can prove the deceased would have wanted a child. Ben-Ari told CNN the bill 'is not moving forward now, because the (governing) coalition objects (to) it, mainly the religious parties.' Netanyahu's coalition is made up of some of the most religiously conservative parties ever to hold power in Israel, including ultra-Orthodox and far-right religious Zionist factions whose agendas are reshaping the country's legal and social fabric. Shatz, Haim's lawyer, said that after the horrors of October 7, it was past time for parliament to pass a law on the issue, especially as families of hundreds of fallen soldiers retrieve the sperm of their dead. But while Haim longs to be a grandmother, the issue of using the sperm of deceased men remains controversial. It raises ethical, religious and legal questions that lawmakers are yet to address. For now, cases are assessed individually by the family courts, Shatz said. And since there are varying opinions in government about the practice, each case is viewed with extreme caution, she said. At the moment, for families to use the sperm of their deceased, they must prove to the courts that the person who died wanted children, even after his death. Yotam's family is working to prove that he wanted children by providing testimony from relatives, friends and his therapist, but such intangible proof is likely to be harder for many others to present. 'There's no logical way (where) usually people say that I want a child, even if I'm going from the world,' Shatz said, noting this isn't something ordinary men think about, especially when young. Posthumous sperm retrieval (PSR) in Israel was previously open only to partners – provided other relatives did not object – while parents of the deceased had to apply for legal permission. Following the October 7 attacks, the Ministry of Health loosened the rules. Sperm retrievals have soared since. There have been at least 224 sperm retrievals from fallen soldiers and security personnel, the ministry told CNN, as well as 17 from deceased civilians. 'In previous years, approximately 15–20 such retrievals were performed annually,' the ministry said. Medical professionals, bereaved families and legal experts have told CNN that the atrocities of October 7 have made questions around how sperm is preserved and used more urgent than ever, as Israeli society grapples with the perceived threat to the Jewish people's existence. Israeli officials have repeatedly compared Hamas' October 7 attacks to Nazi atrocities during World War II, homing in on the narrative that the conflict in Gaza is a war of survival. For Haim, having a grandchild is a way to prove that Israel will keep growing despite the massacre. 'Every mother whose child was killed wants to have something from that child, not just photos. She wants something tangible,' Haim said, her eyes briefly filling with tears. 'As the people of Israel, we need to understand today that, after October 7, we need to keep growing – to show our enemies that our way, this continuity of our lives here in this country, and in general, is through the creation of new life.' Prof. Hagai Levine, a public health physician and head of the health team at the Hostages and Missing Families Forum, told CNN that Israel's recent wars have driven many in the country to 'think about your death, to think about your destiny, about what is most important for you.' 'That forces you to be in this situation. That's what war is doing to us,' he said. Levine advocates for soldiers to decide early whether they'd like to have children, and for them to preserve their sperm while they are still alive. Some have also called for soldiers to leave a 'biological will,' a testament that lays out an individual's wishes when it comes to posthumous use of eggs or sperm, whether they are retrieved after death or frozen while the person is still alive. Bella Savitsky, whose son Jonathan died in combat on October 7, opted to retrieve his sperm and got approval for it, but it came too late. Savitsky, a senior lecturer in the School of Health Sciences at Ashkelon Academic College, said studies show a maximum of 36 hours since time of death is the only time that retrieved sperm can be usable, a shorter timeframe than that cited by the Israeli government. This window is narrower in Israel because the hot weather can affect the sperm's quality in dead bodies, she said. On October 9, 2023, Savitsky received 'the knock on the door' from authorities, telling her that her 21-year-old son had been killed in heavy fighting at an army outpost near Gaza. Jonathan never wanted to be a soldier, she told CNN. He simply wanted to carry out his mandatory military service and return to civilian life. 'He wanted to get married, to have children, a dog, and a home in the countryside.' It took many hours for Savitsky to obtain a court order allowing the harvesting of her son's sperm. 'Altogether, it took 70 hours,' she said. 'So, when the posthumous sperm retrieval was done, it was not intact. There was no live sperm.' Sperm retrieval after death undoubtedly raises complex moral, ethical, judicial and religious questions. While technology has advanced, critics say the law has not kept up. Experts say the controversy stems from the lack of clear consent from the father and the idea of bringing a child into the world who is fatherless from the outset. 'Even if the deceased wanted to be a parent when he was alive, who says he wanted to have a child after his death? It's not the same thing,' Prof. Gil Siegal, head of the Center for Medical Law, Bioethics and Health Policy at Ono Academic College, told CNN. 'You are bringing into the world a child whose parent is known, named and deceased. This has a significant psychological impact and is different from a single-parent family,' Siegal said. Some may also object to having children that effectively serve as a monument to the deceased father. In that case, 'the grandparents are seeking a 'memorial' – a form of commemoration – or trying to recreate something that cannot be recreated,' Siegal said. There are also religious considerations, as 'retrieving sperm is an intrusive act, and in Judaism, there is a critical prohibition against desecrating the dead,' he said. To mitigate these issues, Savitsky believes that young men should be asked whether they would want their sperm to be posthumously retrieved before they enter army service, but said the ministry of defense may be wary of implementing this as it could dent troop morale. For Haim, despite the difficulties, the battle to have a grandchild gives her strength in the face of the tragedy she faces after October 7, as well as hope for the future. In May, the State Attorney's Office gave a green light in principle for Haim to use Yotam's sperm. That was a first step towards what may be a long journey for her to have a grandchild. The family still needs to present evidence to prove that Yotam would have wanted a child, Shatz, Haim's lawyer said. 'In the end, the reality did happen to us on October 7. So now – what will we do with that reality? Cry, wail, say, why did this happen to us?' she asked. 'Yes, a disaster happened. Period. But what else happened? A lot of amazing things also happened. That's where I'm aiming (for).' Previous reporting by CNN's Lianne Kolirin.
