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Jim Kent

Jim Kent is originally from Brooklyn, N.Y. A freelance writer and radio journalist who currently lives in Hot Springs, South Dakota.  Jim can be heard on a variety of radio programs including National Public Radio, South Dakota Public Radio, and National Native News Radio. He is also a columnist for the Rapid City Journal and a guest columnist for the Lakota Country Times.

Former editor of The New Lakota Times, and a correspondent with a variety of Native American newspapers, Jimâ

  • We visit a cowboy Christmas ball in South Dakota's Black Hills. Such events are enjoying a revival after fading away in the late 20th century. Attendees enjoy nostalgia for earlier, simpler times.
  • A descendant of the commander at the 1890 Wounded Knee Massacre apologized to victim descendants. Together they back legislation to rescind 20 Medals of Honor given to massacre soldiers.
  • The Sturgis Motorcycle Rally in South Dakota, once notorious for nudity and brawls, eases into its 78th year.
  • Native Americans of the Northern Plains are gathering this weekend to commemorate an 1868 agreement with the United States — one often invoked in the debate on pipeline construction.
  • It's been three months since state officials closed four liquor stores in Whiteclay, Neb. As the small town's primary source of income, that has affects both good and bad. The state-backed Whiteclay Task Force is plotting the town's future as dilapidated buildings are being razed and replaced with green space. Even the regulars who drank openly day and night and passed out on the sidewalks and in the alleys are gone.
  • The state shuttered stores in Whiteclay, Neb., which borders the dry Pine Ridge reservation, where half the adults struggle with alcohol abuse. But critics say the move infringes upon business rights.
  • For a small population, Whiteclay, Neb., sells a lot of beer, mostly to the nearby Pine Ridge Reservation. But now, as the liquor stores look to sell, a pastor is trying to buy them out.
  • The Little Bighorn Battlefield National Monument in Montana is one of the most visited sites in the National Park System. And for more than two decades, seasonal ranger Mike Donahue spends his summers at Little Big Horn, teaching visitors all about the historic battle.
  • A group of Native American students created a video to show that their community is about more than alcoholism, broken homes and crime. The students are in Washington, D.C., Monday to lobby Congress for increased funding for schools on reservations.
  • South Dakota is home to one of the most recognizable monuments in the world: Mount Rushmore. But there are dozens of other lesser known physical testimonies to men and women across the state. As part of our summer road trip series, "Honey Stop The Car!," we go to Deadwood, where there's a tribute to a preacher who didn't live long in that Wild West town.