A concertgoer at the North Dakota State Fair recorded footage of a B-52 bomber and a SkyWest jet on a collision course, but he didn’t realize he was watching a potential disaster unfolding before his very eyes.

Josh Kadrmas said he was in the crowd on the opening day of the annual fair Friday waiting for the B-52 flyover when he aimed his cellphone at the sky.

“We could see the exhaust from the B-52 far to the east, so I started recording as it was announced to the crowd the B-52 was going to fly over the grandstand,” he told NBC News.

A B-52 bomber flies over the North Dakota State Fair in Minot on Friday. Courtesy Josh Kadrmas

What Kadrmas also wound up catching was faint footage of Delta Flight 3788, which is operated by SkyWest, heading into the same airspace as the bomber.

“I didn’t think this would be a disaster at the time as the smaller plane was difficult to see from the stands,” he said.

Luckily, the disaster was averted when the pilot of the controls of the Minneapolis-to-Minot plane spotted the bomber in time and was able to perform a go-around maneuver to avoid hitting it and land safely at the North Dakota airport.

Meanwhile, the bomber stayed on course and flew over the cheering crowd gathered at the grandstand, a crowd that included North Dakota Gov. Kelly Armstrong, who posted shots on X of himself at the fair and of the B-52 in the sky.

Now the Federal Aviation Administration, Air Force and the airline are all investigating the incident, which happened as thousands of people were gathered below on the fairground.

“We are aware of the recent reporting regarding commercial and Air Force aircraft operating in airspace around Minot International Airport,” an Air Force spokesperson told the local Minot Daily News. “We are currently looking into the matter.”

The FAA stressed the air traffic controllers manning the tower at Minot International Airport work for a commercial contractor.

“These controllers are not FAA employees,” the agency said in a statement.

While nobody was hurt, the near collision happened six months after a military helicopter hit a passenger plane near Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport in the Virginia suburbs of Washington, killing 67 people.

Neither the airline nor investigators have released the name of the pilot. But in video verified by NBC News that was recorded by passenger Monica Green and posted to social media, the pilot explained to passengers what happened in the air.

The controllers in the tower, the pilot said, told him to turn right but that when he looked over he saw the bomber. He said that he was then instructed to turn left, but at that point he “saw the airplane that was kind of coming on a converging course with us” and flying at a faster clip.

So, the pilot said, he made the decision to turn behind the bomber.

Safely on the ground, the pilot apologized for the “aggressive maneuver.”

“It caught me by surprise,” the pilot said in the video. “This is not normal at all. I don’t know why they didn’t give us a heads-up.”

Wrapping up, the pilot concluded: “Long story short, it was not fun, but I do apologize for it, and thank you for understanding.”

The passengers applauded, the video showed.

Now that South Dakota has finished its fiscal year with a $63 million surplus, some Democrats and people affected by budget cuts are criticizing the state’s Republican administration and legislative majority for slashing spending too aggressively.

Falling sales tax revenues and rising Medicaid obligations drove lawmakers to enact targeted spending reductions in the fiscal year 2026 budget they adopted during the legislative session that ended in March. Among the notable cuts were those affecting Temporary Assistance for Needy Families , the State Library , tobacco-use prevention efforts , and subsidies for high school students taking dual credit college courses .

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Last week, Gov. Larry Rhoden reported that the state ended the 2025 fiscal year with a $63 million surplus. About a third of the surplus came from state departments spending less than their budgets allowed. About two-thirds came from higher-than-expected unclaimed property revenue.

Unclaimed property consists of an array of abandoned or forgotten private assets, including money from bank accounts, PayPal accounts, stocks, life insurance payouts, uncashed checks, unused refunds, and the contents of safe deposit boxes. Holders of the money or items, such as banks, try to find the owners. The property reverts to the state after three years.

Rhoden told South Dakota Searchlight he didn’t regret any cuts, since they were made to ongoing programs and most of the surplus came from unclaimed property, which is an unpredictable revenue source.

In his weekly column , he added he’s glad the state didn’t spend more money on “this handout or that pet project.”

“For those who wish that we would’ve spent more, I won’t apologize for making fiscally conservative decisions as your governor,” Rhoden wrote. “South Dakota is a leader in disciplined financial management.”

This is the 14th consecutive year South Dakota has reported a year-end surplus. It was achieved this year despite a $3.7 million decline in sales tax revenue.

Surplus shows a ‘neglect’ of state needs, former state contract worker says

What the governor calls “disciplined financial management,” Carter Linke calls “neglect and cruelty.”

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Linke’s contract position with the state Department of Health through Black Hills Special Services Cooperative was cut in May. He served as a tobacco prevention coordinator, researching emerging tobacco products and providing tobacco education to school districts and communities. The Legislature and Rhoden approved a $3 million annual cut to the program.

South Dakota still needs the work he was doing, Linke said.

“This notion that South Dakota is being fiscally responsible doesn’t really address the full picture and neglects the purpose of what these programs were and why they’re essential,” he said.

Linke now plans to pursue a master’s degree out-of-state this fall.

Partisan split on unpent funds

House Majority Leader Scott Odenbach, R-Spearfish, said the Legislature worked to “tighten up” budgets for state departments to avoid reverted funds like the $22 million reported for the 2025 fiscal year.

“Just like everything else, it’s a matter of being smart, defining priorities well and only budgeting for what you really need,” Odenbach said.

Democratic Sioux Falls Rep. Erik Muckey said reverted funds aren’t always a sign of overbudgeting and can also result from state departments failing to carry out their missions. He sits on the legislative budgeting committee.

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Muckey pointed to recently approved cuts to Temporary Assistance for Needy Families benefits and a Department of Social Services fund transfer regarding what he said the department described as “under utilized” mental health funding. Officials in the department said the unused funds were connected to a workforce shortage, according to Muckey, but he said it was a sign the state does not reimburse providers enough to sustain a mental health workforce.

“You can understand my ire for that when we have money and aren’t using it properly,” Muckey said.

Rhoden said the reversions are a sign of “commonsense decision making” to find opportunities to save money.

“If every state and Washington, D.C., did business that way, our country would be a lot better off,” he said in his weekly column.

Extra money goes to budget reserves

The $63 million surplus will flow into the state’s reserve funds. So will $106 million set aside during the legislative session to potentially help fund the construction of a new men’s prison. Legislators plan to meet Sept. 23 for a special session to consider a prison proposal.

Rep. Kadyn Wittman, D-Sioux Falls, criticized the surplus and unspent funds. She said the Governor’s Office opposed her most recent push to provide free lunch for public school children, which would have cost $616,000 annually.

“The budget really reflects our values, and this year we chose as a Legislature to bank millions of dollars instead of investing in critical areas,” Wittman told South Dakota Searchlight.

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She’d like more flexibility with unspent funds to meet needs and bridge funding gaps after the legislative session ends, rather than “banking it.”

Reserve funds are “hard to get at,” Muckey said, because lawmakers need a two-thirds majority to pull money from the funds. Muckey said that law shouldn’t change. That’s why it’s important, he said, to fully address the state’s needs upfront rather than having leftover money “go to the bottom line and watch things starve.”

The state’s reserve funds, now at $492 million, account for 19.9% of the fiscal year 2026 budget. Muckey would like to reduce that to 15%.

South Dakota can be fiscally responsible and take care of people because “those things are not mutually exclusive,” he said. Lawmakers often refer to reserves as “rainy day” funds, and Muckey said program cuts that hurt people are the kinds of “rainy days” the state should use excess reserve funds to avoid.

“When we are experiencing ‘thunderstorms’ in our state, why are we not using our rainy day fund to help people?” Muckey said. “We’re just hoarding cash.”

Rhoden said in the surplus announcement that the $106 million left unspent in the 2026 budget is intended to “help cover the costs of a future prison.” But Odenbach said the money could be used for other priorities.

“We need to decide where to put it,” Odenbach said, “whether that’s put toward a prison or property tax relief.”

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SD budget reserves spending

In the last decade, the South Dakota Legislature pulled funding from the state’s budget reserves for various needs and projects, according to the state Bureau of Finance and Management.

Fiscal year 2024: Transferred $93.6 million to the incarceration construction fund.

Fiscal year 2023: Transferred $183.7 million to the incarceration construction fund.

Fiscal year 2020 : Transferred $14.9 million to the general fund to keep budget reserves at 10%.

Fiscal year 2019 : Transferred $6.6 million to the general fund to keep budget reserves at 10%.

Fiscal year 2018 : Used $5.9 million to help pay for the state’s increased share of K-12 education due to a new funding formula.

Fiscal year 2016 : Used $27.4 million to pay South Dakota Board of Regents and technical college debt and freeze tuition for students.

This story was originally published on SouthDakotaSearchlight.com.

SIOUX FALLS, S.D. – The Illinois State football team was picked fourth in the annual Missouri Valley Football Conference preseason poll, as announced by the Conference office on Monday at the league’s media day in Sioux Falls. A panel of league head coaches, communications directors, and media conducted the voting.

Defending FCS national champ North Dakota State was picked as the favorite once again, as the Bison received 39 of a possible 42 first-place tallies and 417 total points to outdistance South Dakota State (355 points) and South Dakota (349 points). All three teams reached the national semifinals in 2024, and fellow NCAA playoff team Illinois State’s fourth place spot (292) was its highest pre-season pick since 2019. Youngstown State (211), Southern Illinois (208), North Dakota (196), UNI (130), Indiana State (105) and Murray State (47) round out the poll.

In addition, the MVFC released a player “Watch List” to highlight the league’s top student-athletes heading into fall camp.

Quarterback Tommy Rittenhouse , running back Wenkers Wright , tight end/fullback Scotty Presson Jr. , tight end Javon Charles , offensive linemen Jake Pope and Landon Woodard , wide receivers Eddie Kasper and Daniel Sobkowicz , defensive linemen Jake Anderson and Nick Kessler , linebacker Tye Niekamp , defensive back Shadwel Nkuba II , longsnapper Dylan Calabrese and punter Hayden Futch were the 14 Redbirds named to the league’s preseason “Watch List.” Niekamp, Calabrese, Wright, Sobkowicz, Anderson, and Rittenhouse were all recently named preseason All-Americans by Stats Perform as well.

The Redbirds are set to open the 2025 fall season on August 30 at Oklahoma, before hosting Morehead State in the home opener on September 6 with kickoff set for 6 p.m. CT at Hancock Stadium. Redbird Football season and single-game tickets, as well as mini-plans, are available for purchase now online at GoRedbirds.com/Tickets or by contacting the ISU Athletics Ticket Office at (309) 438-8000.

GoRedbirds.com and the Illinois State Redbirds App: Your sources for Illinois State tickets, Weisbecker Scholarship Fund gifts, multimedia, Redbird merchandise, photos and more.

Another inmate died this week in the custody of the South Dakota Department of Corrections, continuing a trend of higher-than-average prison deaths.

South Dakota tracks in-custody deaths by state fiscal year. That time period runs from July 1 to June 30. The state is currently in fiscal year 2026.

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Nineteen inmates died in the recently concluded 2025 fiscal year, which is more than any year since at least 2018, the earliest year for which data is readily available.

The apparent suicide of 25-year-old Justin Copier on Sunday in his cell at Mike Durfee State Prison in Springfield is the second death of fiscal year 2026.

The Department of Corrections sends a notice to the press each time an inmate dies in its care. The agency doesn’t always list a cause of death, but one particular cause has drawn the attention of state investigators four times this calendar year.

Four of the in-custody deaths are confirmed or suspected overdoses on the campus of the state penitentiary in Sioux Falls. Two of them, the deaths of 20-year-old Anthony Richards and 39-year-old Jason Garreau, have drawn criminal charges for those accused of providing them with drugs.

The state Division of Criminal Investigation is still looking into the other two cases, the June 10 death of 42-year-old Nicholas Skorka and May 18 death of Joshua Arrow.

Arrow’s death was an overdose. Skorka’s cause of death was not officially known as of Monday, according to DCI spokesman Tony Mangan.

Deaths in DOC custody, by fiscal year:

2018: 12

2019: 10

2020: 14

2021: 14

2022: 11

2023: 11

2024: 14

2025: 19

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This story was originally published on SouthDakotaSearchlight.com.

Posted Tuesday, July 22, 2025 12:01 pm

BROOKINGS — Gazala Ameen, assistant professor of plant-pathogen interactions at South Dakota State University, has been awarded the 2025 Early Career Award by the American Phytopathological Society’s North Central Division.

The honor recognizes her outstanding contributions to plant pathology through research, teaching and community engagement during the first decade of her professional journey.

Since joining SDSU in 2021, Ameen has led a dynamic research program exploring the molecular mechanisms behind plant-pathogen interactions. She works with undergraduate and graduate students in her lab and other collaborators at SDSU and beyond to develop disease management strategies and early diagnostic tools with real-world benefits for Midwest growers.

“We are very proud of Dr. Ameen for this well-deserved recognition and look forward to her continued success,” Joe Cassady, South Dakota Corn-endowed dean of the SDSU College of Agriculture, Food and Environmental Sciences, said.

Ameen’s research has made a notable impact on plant pathology during her initial five years at SDSU. She credits strong institutional support, including guidance from former Department of Agronomy, Horticulture and Plant Science Head David Wright and resources offered through the college and the university’s research infrastructure for accelerating her work.

“The discoveries we’ve made are a reflection of the amazing students and collaborators I work with every day,” Ameen said. “I have no reservations in saying that SDSU is an outstanding institution to be part of. The college has built great resources for new faculty to guide them through budget and proposal development and is constantly finding creative ways to support researchers.”

Also contributing to the future of the plant pathology field, Ameen teaches undergraduate and graduate courses such as Principles of Plant Pathology, Advanced Plant Pathology and Genetics of Disease Resistance. She has mentored numerous students through hands-on research, with many now working in industry or continuing their academic careers.

Looking ahead, she hopes her discoveries in host-pathogen interactions will pave the way for more disease-resistant crop varieties and reduce reliance on chemical treatments — directly impacting sustainability and environmental stewardship.

Ameen, who earned both her master’s and doctoral degrees from North Dakota State University, has built her career around solving complex plant immunity challenges. Her Ph.D. work focused on cloning resistance genes in barley, while her master’s thesis explored fungal sensitivity to fungicides.

Ameen’s recognition by the American Phytopathological Society’s highlights not just her personal achievements, but a growing legacy of discovery, education and service in the field of plant pathology.