Tom Griffith

Tom Griffith

Tom Griffith of Deadwood has been a journalist, editor and photographer in Arizona, Montana and South Dakota. He has written or co-authored more than 70 books and had features published worldwide.

SD school districts increasingly rely on tax opt-outs to aid strained budgets

While South Dakota teachers have earned raises over the past two years courtesy of a new half-cent sales tax, school districts across the state continue to struggle with their budgets. Nominal increases in state aid to education have crippled local budgets and caused many districts to consider significant programming cuts

Education officials: State must act to keep momentum in teacher salaries

South Dakota no longer has the lowest-paid teachers in the nation, but education officials caution that lawmakers must maintain an aggressive approach to funding if that status is to continue. According to 2018 rankings and estimates by the National Education Association, South Dakota had the highest percentage increase in average

Expanded gambling in S.D. could pay off for Yankton

YANKTON, S.D. – Backers of Port Yankton, a proposed gambling and entertainment complex along the Missouri River at Yankton, are betting they can gather the necessary signatures from South Dakota voters to place the issue on the 2020 ballot. Representatives of the Yankton Area Progressive Growth group had hoped the