Looking at the bookkeepers to catch crime, and other highlights from legislative week 1

In the first episode of Searchlight Report, South Dakota Searchlight audio reporter Meghan O’Brien dives deeper on the first moves made in the 2026 legislative session, on issues including property rights, medication abortions, the state’s controversial Future Fund and an ethics bill inspired by Searchlight reporting. Meghan also shares archival audio from Don Barnett, who died recently at age 83. Barnett is the former mayor who guided Rapid City’s recovery from a 1972 flood that killed 238 people.