• by Ray Schultz , July 8, 2024

The Argus Leader, a Gannett publication, has gone to court, seeking reinstatement as the official newspaper for the publication of legal notices, election notices and other official notifications in Sioux Falls, South Dakota.

In June, the Sioux Falls City Council voted to award that business to The Dakota Scout, effective July 1. 

However, the Scout allegedly did not file the required sworn statement as to its ownership and circulation. 

The Argus Leader, which has had the plum for many years, requests a “temporary restraining order and preliminary injunction declaring the Dakota Scout does not quality as a legal newspaper under South Dakota statutory law, and to direct the City to reinstate the Argus Leader as the official legal newspaper of Sioux Falls, unless and until another newspaper meets the statutory qualifications of a legal newspaper is approved by the City to serve as the official legal newspaper,” the Argus Leader says in its filing with South Dakota’s Circuit Court for the Second Judicial District.