skip to main content
skip to newscasts

Tuesday, March 19, 2024

Public News Service Logo
facebook instagram linkedin reddit youtube twitter
view newscast page
play newscast audioPlay

SD public defense duties shift from counties to state; SCOTUS appears skeptical of restricting government communications with social media companies; Trump lawyers say he can't make bond; new scholarships aim to connect class of 2024 to high-demand jobs.

view newscast page
play newscast audioPlay

The SCOTUS weighs government influence on social media, and who groups like the NRA can do business with. Biden signs an executive order to advance women's health research and the White House tells Israel it's responsible for the Gaza humanitarian crisis.

view newscast page
play newscast audioPlay

Midwest regenerative farmers are rethinking chicken production, Medicare Advantage is squeezing the finances of rural hospitals and California's extreme swing from floods to drought has some thinking it's time to turn rural farm parcels into floodplains.

Dakota Access Pipeline Protesters Get Legal Help

play audio
Play

Friday, August 3, 2018   

RAPID CITY S.D. – Legal professionals are in western South Dakota this weekend, trying to locate and help about 100 people who have outstanding warrants for protesting the Dakota Access Pipeline nearly two years ago.

From late 2016 to early 2017, thousands of people protested the potential environmental impacts of the pipeline at a site in southern North Dakota, resulting in 761 arrests. Jess Fuller with the Water Protector Legal Collective says most of the people with outstanding warrants are from the Dakotas, California and New York.

"So it's been this long process over the last two years just handling all the cases, making sure everyone has an attorney, making sure everybody knows about their court date, making sure everybody even has a charge in the first place, and making sure they have all the resources that are needed and are available to them," says Fuller.

The legal collective is planning outreach events today and Saturday at the powwow grounds in Pine Ridge, South Dakota, and on Sunday at the powwow grounds in Fort Yates, North Dakota. The hotline number for people who can't make the events but want to know if they're still facing charges related to the pipeline protest is 701-566-9108.

The pipeline, built by Energy Transfer Partners, has been operational since June 2017, after President Donald Trump granted a permit over the objections of tribes and environmentalists.

Fuller says the courts and the WPLC show different numbers for those with outstanding warrants, so she's not surprised some people may not know they still face charges.

"Because you could have been arrested, had your case dismissed, you could have never even been taken into custody, you could never have been arrested, but the state found reason on Facebook or something else to charge you with a warrant," says Fuller.

Fuller says the legal collective is trying to resolve as many court cases as possible by the end of August.


get more stories like this via email

more stories
Iowa families can apply for up to $7,600 a year for private school costs. (Adobe Stock)

Social Issues

play sound

An ethics committee in the Republican-led Iowa House has dismissed a complaint filed by a group of community activists against a state lawmaker for hi…


play sound

Each spring, hundreds of thousands of California high school seniors have to figure out if they can afford to go to college in the fall - and two new …

Health and Wellness

play sound

A health care workforce shortage in New Hampshire is leaving Alzheimer's patients and their families with few options for treatment. Patients facing …


South Dakota ranks 49th in the country for its contribution to indigent legal defense costs, according to a 2023 report from the Indigent Legal Services Task Force. (Adobe Stock)

Social Issues

play sound

South Dakota is creating an Office of Indigent Legal Services after House Bill 1057 passed the Legislature with nearly unanimous support this month…

Environment

play sound

A Knoxville-based environmental group is voicing concerns over what it sees as an increasing financial strain imposed on taxpayers by nuclear weapons …

Environment

play sound

A bipartisan law set to take effect this summer prohibits foreign adversaries from buying Hoosier farmland. The signature of Gov. Eric Holcomb was …

Social Issues

play sound

Today, people across Arizona are voting in the Presidential Preference Election, a chance for registered Democrats and Republicans to choose their …

 

Phone: 303.448.9105 Toll Free: 888.891.9416 Fax: 208.247.1830 Your trusted member- and audience-supported news source since 1996 Copyright © 2021