Crime · Rapid City, SD
Isiah Taha, a Rapid City teen who pleaded guilty to second-degree manslaughter in the December 2024 fatal shooting of 16-year-old Kade Potter of Box Elder, was sentenced Friday. Judge Jeffrey Connolly imposed the maximum sentence of 10 years at the South Dakota State Penitentiary but suspended four years, with credit for 692 days Taha spent in Pennington County jail. Prosecutors said Taha was heavily intoxicated and handling a firearm when it discharged, killing Potter near Deadwood Avenue and Omaha Street.
Crime · Rapid City, SD
Kane Youngman, 31, pleaded guilty Friday morning in Pennington County's 7th Circuit Court to first-degree manslaughter in the shooting death of Monte Gakin, 29. The fatal shooting occurred last August at the Oxford Apartments on East Watertown Street in Rapid City, where Youngman admitted getting into an argument with Gakin and shooting him multiple times with a handgun while Gakin sat on a couch. Youngman, originally charged with murder, stated he did not know Gakin. He faces up to life in prison; no sentencing date has been set.
Community News · Rapid City, SD
The Sioux Council of Scouting America will distribute donation bags in participating Black Hills neighborhoods on Nov. 7 for its annual Scouting for Food drive. Residents are asked to fill bags with nonperishable items and leave them outside their homes by 8 a.m. Nov. 14, when Scouts will collect donations. Collected food will go to local food banks and Feeding South Dakota. Suggested donations include canned vegetables, soup, pasta, rice and peanut butter; organizers ask residents to donate only unopened items and check expiration dates.
Community brief · Rapid City, SD
AARP South Dakota will host two free November events in Rapid City recognizing family caregivers, veterans and military families. A screening of the film The Upside is set for Wednesday, Nov. 4, at 6:30 p.m. at the Elks Theatre, with registration required. On Veterans Day, Wednesday, Nov. 11, an open house runs from 1 to 3 p.m. at the AARP information center inside Uptown Rapid, requiring no registration. Refreshments and resource information…
Community brief · Rapid City, SD
The 2026 Nobel Prize in Physics recognizes University of Wisconsin-Madison professor Francis Halzen for his contributions to the IceCube Neutrino Observatory and the discovery of high-energy neutrinos from space. South Dakota Mines is one of 58 institutions across 14 countries participating in the IceCube Collaboration, with researchers traveling to the South Pole to study cosmic rays using the observatory's detector arrays. In 2024, Mines…
