The godfather of South Dakota's pipeline fight, battle origins, pooh-poohing a prison proposition & compelled prayers for the Mercato block

A group of South Dakota landowners fighting to prevent a carbon pipeline from crossing their properties won a victory Thursday when the Supreme Court ruled the pipeline company has not demonstrated it has power to exercise eminent domain under state law.

President George H.W. Bush was entering his second year in office. Phil Collins’ “Another Day in Paradise” dominated radio airwaves. And a grand plan was being hatched to pump Missouri River water to hundreds of thousands of South Dakotans for the first time ever.

HARRISBURG – A packed gymnasium erupted in applause Tuesday night after the Harrisburg City Council voted to reject a contract with the state to offer sewer service to a proposed new state men’s prison.

Visions of transforming one of Sioux Falls’ most crime-riddled blocks into a hub for affordable housing and mental health services are coming to fruition.

The reaction to a South Dakota Supreme Court decision that threw a wrench into the plans of a company hoping to build a carbon sequestration pipeline came fast and furious Thursday.