civil rights

SIOUX FALLS (AP) — The bishop of the Catholic Diocese of Sioux Falls says followers should not "disown God's law" following the Supreme Court's decision giving same-sex couples the right to marry. Bishop Paul Swain directly addressed the Supreme Court's Friday decision at a...

WANBLEE (AP) — Four Lakota residents of a community on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation have filed a federal lawsuit claiming that officials in a South Dakota county are violating their voting rights. The Wanblee residents argue in the lawsuit that Jackson County is discriminating...

YANKTON (AP) — An openly gay Yankton teenager has filed a discrimination complaint against the fast food restaurant where he worked alleging he was forced to wear a name tag with a homophobic slur. The 16-year-old Tyler Brandt filed the complaint this week with the Equal Employment...

CHAMBERLAIN -- The honor song fight is not dead in Chamberlain. The Office for Civil Rights under the U.S. Department of Education has launched an investigation into a complaint filed against the Chamberlain School District for halting public comment on allowing an American Indian...

The South Dakota Advisory Committee to the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights will hold a public briefing Wednesday to gather information from government officials and others regarding the administration of criminal justice in Rapid City and South Dakota. The commission will hold the...

PIERRE (AP) — An employee of an Army Corps of Engineers office in Pierre says he has been denied promotions because he is black. The Capital Journal reports that John Newell has filed complaints with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, saying he has been denied advancement...

PIERRE (AP) — South Dakota Attorney General Marty Jackley welcomed a U.S. Supreme Court decision on Monday that says prayers that open town council meetings don't violate the Constitution even if they routinely stress Christianity. Jackley last year joined 23 states in a "friend...

SIOUX FALLS (AP) — An American Indian group is upset that two South Dakota counties named in a voting rights lawsuit that was dismissed are seeking to recoup their court costs from 25 Oglala Sioux members. The lawsuit accused Shannon County of violating voting rights by failing...

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Marches, speeches and global bell-ringing are set to mark the 50th anniversary this month of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr's "I have a dream" speech, a key event in the struggle of African Americans for racial equality. The week of commemorations in Washington...

She had on her Sunday best, as everyone else did. In her pretty, embroidered dress, done hair and cat-eye glasses, Kathleen Johnson was stretching to see the speakers on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial and to snap a better photo of the crowds when -- splash! -- in she went. "It...

WASHINGTON — Donald Cash was just a teenager in 1963 when he finished his shift at a downtown clothing store in Washington and joined the throngs marching toward the National Mall. He never got close enough to hear the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. speak, but always considered...

PIERRE (AP) — The South Dakota State Historical Society's museum in Pierre will take part in a national project designed to encourage discussion of America's civil rights movement. The museum at the society's Cultural Heritage Center is one of 473 institutions across the country...

SIOUX FALLS (AP) -- An organization that asked state officials in South Dakota to approve satellite absentee voting offices on three American Indian reservations has now filed a complaint with the federal Justice Department's civil rights division. The Argus Leader reports (http://argusne.ws/174cGrj...