After a successful first year, girls’ wrestling in South Dakota is going through some changes. Those changes were approved recently by the board of directors of the South Dakota High School Activities Association.

We’re dustin’ off the buckin’ chutes as we prepare to kick off the 2021 rodeo season in Burke. Volunteers have been working relentlessly to repair the Stampede rodeo grounds from the 2019 tornado damage and the disrepair that comes from not having a rodeo in more than a year.

Despite hearing criticism from member schools, last week the board of directors of the South Dakota High School Activities Association approved a compressed schedule for this year’s state track meet. The meet will be held on May 28 and 29.

At its annual meeting on April 20, the member schools of the South Dakota High School Activities Association nominated nine candidates for three positions on the board of directors. Nominated for the West River At-Large position, open to athletic directors in schools located west of the Missouri River, were Kelly Messmer of Harding County, Todd Palmer of Sturgis, James Bagwell of Crazy Horse and Cooper Garnos of Lyman.

When voters approved Initiated Measure 26 in November of 2020, in addition to legalizing marijuana for medical use in South Dakota, the measure also provided for the creation of an oversight committee to evaluate and make recommendations to the South Dakota Legislature and the state Department of Health. With the law set to take effect July 1, 2021, the Executive Board of the Legislative Research Council will be appointing members of the oversight committee at its June 2, 2021, meeting.

A former wildland firefighter who owns the land where a burn pile ignited a large wildfire near Rapid City says he believe the blaze was intentionally set. In a 60-page report, the landowner told investigators he was “100% sure the burn pile fire was completely out.’’ The landowner says he’s experienced two suspicious fires since buying the property in 2018.