Charles Michael Ray
Charles Michael Ray grew up in the Black Hills of South Dakota on the banks of Boxelder Creek downstream from the town of Nemo.
He began working for SDPB Radio as a reporter in 1992 at the age of 19. He worked his way through college at the South Dakota School of Mines and Technology and received a degree in Geology in 1997. He then worked as a freelance journalist in the Czech capital of Prague, covering major stories in Central Europe. After a year overseas he returned home to continue his work at SDPB-Radio and to get back to the Black Hills.
Over the years his work has been recognized with numerous awards and fellowships. He's won two national Edward R. Murrow awards and a National Scripps Howard °µºÚ±¬ÁÏ Service award. In 2006 Ray was a finalist in the Livingston Awards for Young Journalists. In 2009 he was selected as a Logan Science Journalist Polar Fellow, he spent three weeks above the Arctic Circle at a scientific research station reporting on the impacts of climate change. He has won 20 regional Murrow Awards since 2004 and over 40 awards from the Associated Press since 1993.
Ray and his wife Andrea live in Rapid City. He still enjoys spending time at the family home in the Black Hills. He's an avid whitewater kayaker and also enjoys ice hockey, mountain unicycling, backpacking, and several other outdoor activities.
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Racial tensions are high in Rapid City, S.D., as police investigate an incident where white men allegedly shouted racial slurs and dumped beer on a group of Native Americans at a recent hockey game. -
A conflict over alcohol is escalating in the tiny town of Whiteclay, Neb., which sells millions of cans of beer annually to residents of the nearby Pine Ridge Reservation. While protesters are trying to block beer deliveries to the town, some tribal leaders are considering legalizing alcohol at Pine Ridge. -
A mile-deep mine in South Dakota was closed a decade ago. Now, it's been cleaned up and revamped as an underground science laboratory. Scientists hope the experiments thousands of feet underground will help prove the existence of dark matter. -
The 1972 flash flood in Rapid City, S.D., killed 238 people and is considered one of the worst in U.S. history. The flood changed Rapid City forever and caused city planners around the country to rethink the way towns are laid out in flash flood-prone areas. -
The sale or possession of liquor is strictly forbidden by the tribal government of the Pine Ridge Reservation in South Dakota. But there is a tiny town just over the border in Nebraska that does sell alcohol, in massive quantities, mostly to tribal residents.
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The buffalo industry is exploding as more consumers discover the health and environmental benefits of buying the meat. Bison industry officials want cattle ranchers to switch to buffalo to help fill demand. But it's not an easy sell.
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More consumers are turning to buffalo meat as a healthier choice that's often better for the environment. South Dakota is the biggest producer of buffalo, and ranchers there say their biggest challenge is keeping up with the demand.
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Quick access to credit is not an easy thing for any small business to attain. But it's even harder for Native American Natural Foods. Its headquarters in South Dakota sits on tribal lands and therefore has no value that could be used as collateral for a loan. -
Floodwaters around Pierre, S.D., are creeping up, and they're about to get much higher. The dams along the Missouri River can't hold back a massive surge of water spurred by record rains in Montana. The Army Corps of Engineers is about to open those dams to record flows. Residents are moving to higher ground. -
The northern Great Plains area is among the most isolated parts of the country, making it perfect for raising cattle and finding solitude. But it also offers training space for the Air Force, which might drastically increase the area its B-1 bombers fly.
