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Highway Patrol Reports Quiet Tuesday for Rally Crashes
STURGIS, S.D. — The Tuesday rally-stat report from the South Dakota Highway Patrol was rather quiet on the accident scene. Released Wednesday morning, the patrol listed only two injury crashes and no fatal crashes through the latest 24-hour reporting period. One of the crashes involved a motorcycle striking a deer on U.S. Highway 385. The patrol made 15 D-U-I arrests in the latest reporting period, sending the year-to-date total to 69. Misdemeanor drug arrests total 129 on the year while felony drug arrests now total 57. The patrol made 21 misdemeanor drug arrests and 11 felony drug arrests during the latest reporting period. (Full story)
Sturgis Rally Traffic Drops Nearly 12% Tuesday
STURGIS, S.D. — Traffic entering Sturgis for this year’s rally continued its downward trend in the latest numbers released by the South Dakota Department of Transportation. Tuesday’s number of vehicles entering Sturgis totaled 51,742 vehicles, down nearly 12-percent from last year on this date. It is the third straight day of down numbers over last year after opening weekend numbers were up. The 5-day total so far for the year is 275,450, which is down 4.7-percent over last year as well as the 5-year average of 289,024 vehicles. (Full story)
Rapid Transit Offers Free Orientation Rides for Youth Ride Free Program
RAPID CITY, S.D. — Rapid Transit System is offering its ‘Youth Ride Free’ program again this year. Parents can learn more about the program Monday, Aug. 17 through Aug. 28 by taking a free orientation ride when with their school-age child. The orientation ride is a parent’s chance to become familiar with routes and schedules and address any questions about the program before their child uses the bus service. Rapid Transit System has offered the ‘Youth Ride Free’ program since the start of the 2016 school year. (Full story)
Rapid City Man Arrested After Allegedly Threatening Motorist With Knife
RAPID CITY, S.D. — A 35-year-old Rapid City man was arrested after allegedly threatening a motorist with a knife in the area of Interstate 90 and Haines Avenue Tuesday night and then driving to a nearby fast-food lane, police said. Police said the suspect approached a vehicle and brandished a knife and stuck it through the open window of the victim’s vehicle before returning to his own car. The suspect then drove to a drive-through at 1911 Haines Avenue. Arriving officers located the suspect vehicle still in the drive-through lane. The driver was identified as Quitan Chee, 35, of Rapid City. (Full story)
Defense in Charlie Kirk’s killing say shooter should not get death penalty, hit ‘intended target’
Lawyers for the man charged with killing conservative activist Charlie Kirk say he shouldn’t be eligible for the death penalty because the shooter hit the “intended target” during an event attended by thousands of people last year in Utah. Defendant Tyler Robinson’s attorneys say prosecutors have not proven that others who attended Kirk’s Sept. 10 event at Utah Valley University were in danger by the shooting. That’s a potentially aggravating factor under state law that would make it a capital crime. Prosecutors have said they have “overwhelming” evidence against Robinson. Robinson is charged with aggravated murder and has not entered a plea. (Full story)
Minnesota man kills his wife and daughter at a daycare after killing another relative
HOPKINS, Minn. (AP) — Police in Minnesota say a man who killed his wife and their 7-year-old daughter at a daycare is also suspected of killing a 78-year-old relative in a separate attack. Police said Wednesday that the 41-year-old father fatally shot himself after stabbing his wife and the child at a home in Hopkins where she operated a daycare. At a Wednesday afternoon news conference, the police chief in Burnsville stepped forward and said a woman who was the man’s “close family relative” was also found dead at a home where they were both living. No other children were physically harmed at the daycare. (Full story)
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt is leaving the Trump administration
WASHINGTON (AP) — White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt will be leaving the Trump administration at the end of the month to spend time with her young family. The 28-year-old Leavitt called it a “bittersweet decision” in a social media post Wednesday shortly after President Donald Trump announced she’d be stepping down. She is the youngest person in history to hold the role and recently gave birth to her second child. She said that, since returning to the White House from maternity leave, she has felt she could not devote enough time or attention to both roles. Trump said she will be one of his “top outside advisors.” (Full story)
