The Dakota Scout replaces Argus Leader as official newspaper for Minnehaha and Lincoln counties

Startup newspapers across eastern South Dakota planting flags in public notice fight

This content is courtesy of SiouxFallsLive.com, a Sioux Falls news outlet that operates independently of The Dakota Scout.

The list of local governments choosing to make The Dakota Scout their official newspaper grew by two on Tuesday with the addition of Minnehaha and Lincoln counties.

The two county commissions met for the first time in 2025, a meeting that typically includes a list of housekeeping duties, such as the swearing in of new members.

The designation of the official newspapers for the posting of legal notices is one of those tasks. Both counties dropped the Argus Leader in favor of The Dakota Scout, a locally owned news operation with a weekly print edition as well as online publishing.

That follows decisions last year by the city of Sioux Falls and the Sioux Falls School District to move away from the Argus Leader, owned by Gannett, a publicly held company that operates more than 200 dailies and 1,000 weekly papers across the country.

Filings detail owners of The Dakota Scout and Argus Leader

“The Dakota Scout is excited to add both counties to a growing list of governments that rely on the newspaper to inform their citizens of publicly noticed government business,” the newspaper’s co-founder Joe Sneve said in a statement to Sioux Falls Live. “That Minnehaha and Lincoln counties have now joined the city of Sioux Falls and the Sioux Falls School District in that regard means the community knows exactly where to go to find out what their public officials are doing each and every week.”

A parallel situation is playing out in Aberdeen, where the Gannett-owned American News has lost the legals to the locally owned Aberdeen Insider. The Insider follows a similar model as The Dakota Scout, with a free weekly paper and digital subscriptions, and has been designated as the legal newspaper for the city of Aberdeen, the Aberdeen School District and Brown County, as well as several smaller local governments.

“We didn’t set out to get these, we've just had people come to us,” said Managing Editor Scott Waltman, a veteran journalist who spent more than 20 years with the American News. “I think they just wanted to have their minutes posted in a community-based publication.”

The Insider and the Watertown Current, another upstart weekly, were founded by Troy McQuillen, a local publisher who also owns Aberdeen Magazine.

The Watertown Public Opinion is also a Gannett-owned legacy daily with few, or any, local reporters or employees.

“It’s been going really well,” Waltman told Sioux Falls Live. “All of us in the newsroom have experience as reporters here in town before we came over to the Insider. Everything we do is local.”

The Insider currently has about 5,200 subscribers between print and digital, he said.

“The community has been very supportive,” he said. “Those of us working in the newsroom, we appreciate it as much as the community, I think. It’s been very healthy.”

Back in Sioux Falls, the Minnehaha County Commission voted 5-0 to choose four official newspapers: The Scout, the Brandon Valley Journal, the Garrettson Gazette and the Minnehaha Messenger, based in Hartford.

The commissioners said they supported the rural weeklies as well as making the switch to The Scout.

“I appreciate the fact that we see representation on a regular basis from all four of those here or in personal contacts asking questions even before and after meetings,” Commissioner Gerald Beninga said during the meeting. “I also appreciate the fact that we have the three rural communities well served.”

Commissioner Cole Heisey, who was sworn in for his first term moments before, said The Scout’s local ownership was a key factor.

“They are the only paper that is produced and printed in Sioux Falls. There is also a local contact available if any issues arise,” Heisey said.

The amount of money spent by Minnehaha County to publish legals peaked at about $145,000 in 2020 but has been gradually declining since then. Not all the bills are in for 2024 but so far the county has spent about $120,000.

The Lincoln County Commission voted 4-1 to designate three papers: The Scout, the Lennox Independent and the Tea Weekly.

Local governments are required by state law to publish legal notices such as requests for bids, meeting agendas and minutes in physical newspapers that meet several benchmarks. The requirement often comes under scrutiny of public officials who see it as an unnecessary expense in the digital age.

But the South Dakota NewsMedia Association – which represents the state’s newspapers and several digital-only outlets – has successfully argued that the cost of publishing legals is a small price to ensure the public’s access to their governments.

The Scout, which began publishing in 2022, was founded by Jonathan Ellis and Sneve, two former Argus Leader reporters. The pair pressed for changes to state law to allow free circulation newspapers to qualify to carry legal notices.

With the help and blessing of the SDNA, The Scout was able to convince the State Legislature to change the law, which was effective on July 1, 2024.

The Sioux Falls City Council picked The Scout in June ahead of the July 1 effective date of the law. But Gannett and the Argus Leader challenged the decision in court, claiming the upstart weekly hadn’t properly filed the paperwork.

On July 18, a Minnehaha County judge denied a request for an injunction to restore the Argus Leader’s designation and set a November trial date. But in October, Gannett asked for the case to be dismissed.

The Argus Leader can re-apply for the designation to each of the governments when the contracts expire.