Nick Lowrey

Nick Lowrey, based in Pierre, is an investigative staff reporter for South Dakota News Watch. A South Dakotan for more than 20 years, he is a former editor of the Pierre Capital Journal.

Cancellation of festivals costing SD communities money and momentum

The COVID-19 pandemic has led to the cancellation of dozens of fairs, festivals and other events in South Dakota in 2020 that typically provide a significant revenue boost and foster community cohesiveness in cities and counties across the state. As of early June, nearly four dozen community events, many of

‘Uncounted’ unemployed workers taking brunt of COVID-19 hardships in SD

Stacey Twiggs is one of the “uncounted” unemployed people in South Dakota. Twiggs, 35, is a massage therapist from Black Hawk who has seen COVID-19 turn her life upside down. She hasn’t gotten sick, but the pandemic has destroyed her once-thriving business, forced her to live off credit cards

Regulatory gaps and missed opportunities allowed COVID-19 to spread freely in US meatpacking plants

The COVID-19 pandemic has overwhelmed the U.S. meatpacking industry, but public health experts say the risks posed to workers and the U.S. food supply chain by airborne viral infections were readily apparent and could have been addressed years ago. Ongoing virus outbreaks could have been avoided, and future

Closure of Smithfield and other plants forces SD pork producers to consider desperate measures

The closure of major pork processing plants across the U.S., including the massive Smithfield Foods plant in Sioux Falls, has state officials and pork producers in South Dakota planning for the worst — the potential euthanization of thousands of hogs that cannot be sold. Since the COVID-19 pandemic began, American

Need for food skyrocketing among poor or unemployed SD residents during pandemic

Demand for food assistance among needy South Dakota residents has skyrocketed during the COVID-19 pandemic, and donations of food and the volunteers needed to help distribute it are becoming harder to find. So far, the food collection and delivery systems in South Dakota have kept up and most families are

COVID-19 testing in SD is imperfect, but remains only option for confirming cases

The ability to quickly, regularly and accurately test for the deadly coronavirus is a key component of the ability of the medical field and the public to understand the extent of the pandemic, and of government officials’ ability to adequately respond. And yet, the testing for the presence of the

SD businesses and governments brace for ‘almost non-existent’ 2020 tourism season due to COVID-19

The COVID-19 pandemic has almost completely shut down tourism in South Dakota, one of the state’s largest industries. The loss of visitors now and potentially into the summer tourism season threatens to cut off a vital economic lifeline for businesses and their employees and eliminate a major source of