Local News

MITCHELL, S.D. (AP) - A Rapid City woman says she plans to challenge Rep. Kristi Noem in a Republican primary for South Dakota's lone seat in the U.S. House.

Forty-six-year-old Stephanie Strong tells the Daily Republic of Mitchell she is collecting the 1,955 signatures she needs to put her name on the June 5 primary ballot.

Strong has owned several businesses with her husband. She says she believes government should reduce business regulations.

Strong is the only announced Republican challenger to Noem, who defeated Democratic Rep. Stephanie Herseth Sandlin in 2010. Noem recently announced she has raised more than $1.3 million for her re-election bid.

Candidates for the Democratic nomination to run for the House are Matt Varilek, a former member of U.S. Sen. Tim Johnson's staff, and Minnehaha County Commissioner Jeff Barth.

(Copyright 2012 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)

CUSTER, S.D. (AP) - Federal wildlife officials are investigating the killing of a wolf near Custer.

U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service special agent Brad Merrill tells the Rapid City Journal that samples have been sent to a laboratory in Washington state to determine if the animal is "pure wolf."

The gray wolf is on the state list of rare, threatened or endangered species, and sightings are rare. John Kanta with the state Game, Fish and Parks Department says the last confirmed wolf in western South Dakota was hit by a vehicle in March 2006.

Officials have not released details of the recent wolf killing.

(Copyright 2012 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)

MINOT, N.D. (AP) - Men from South Dakota and Texas have died in recent incidents in western North Dakota's oil patch.

The Occupational Safety and Health Administration says 38-year-old Richard Ries of Salem, South Dakota, died Jan. 28 when a boiler exploded near Keene, between Watford City and New Town.

On Tuesday, 28-year-old Charles Petty of Hurst, Texas, was pinned between a trenching machine and the ground at a site near New Town. The Mountrail County Sheriff's Office tells the Minot Daily News that Petty was revived at the scene but died en route to a Stanley hospital.

(Copyright 2012 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)

PIERRE, S.D. (AP) - A measure advancing in the South Dakota Legislature would require that people convicted of prostitution or soliciting prostitutes be tested for AIDS.

The House Health and Human Services Committee voted unanimously Thursday to send the measure to the full House for further debate.

The bill's main sponsor, Rep. Bob Deelstra of Hartford, says anyone convicted of prostitution or solicitation of a prostitute should have to be tested to see if they have AIDS or the virus that causes the disease.

The measure also says anyone who has had sex with someone convicted in a prostitution case could see the results of those tests.

Deelstra says an estimated 365 people in South Dakota have AIDS or are infected with HIV.

(Copyright 2012 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)

PIERRE, S.D. (AP) - Governor Dennis Daugaard says the suspension of a new business incentive law could harm South Dakota's efforts to recruit new businesses and help existing companies expand.

Current South Dakota law gives tax refunds to large construction projects, but that law expires at the end of this year. The Legislature last year passed a replacement program that would put 22 percent of the contractor's excise into a fund that a state board could use to give grants to large construction projects.

But the South Dakota Democratic Party collected enough petition signatures to bring the new grant law to a public vote in the November election. Daugaard says the referral of the law to a public vote could hamper economic development efforts because companies won't know what incentives they might get.

(Copyright 2012 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)

MADISON, S.D. (AP) - An affidavit suggests a 50-year-old grudge between a high school sports star and a classmate may have led a 73-year-old Watertown man to shoot and kill a retired teacher in Madison.

Carl Ericsson made his first appearance in court Thursday and was denied bond. He's accused of shooting retired Madison High School teacher and track coach Norman Johnson after Johnson answered the door at his house on Tuesday evening.

Court records say Johnson's wife, Barbara, found him lying on the floor and saw a man walking to a dark sedan parked outside.

(Copyright 2012 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)

MADISON, S.D. (AP) - A 73-year-old man shot to death in his home in Madison died from two gunshots wounds to his face.

Norman Johnson was shot to death after answering the door at his Madison home Tuesday night at about 7:30 p.m.

According to an affidavit filed in the case, Johnson's wife Barbara went to the front door and found her husband on the ground.

Seventy-three-year-old Carl Ericsson has been charged with first-degree murder in the shooting death. A judge denied bond for Ericsson during a court appearance Thursday afternoon and ordered him to remain in custody.

The affidavit says witnesses told authorities that the two men were high school classmates.

(Copyright 2012 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)

PIERRE, S.D. (AP) - Members of the House Local Government committee will continue to hear testimony on a bill that allows for the cremation of deceased indigent people whose funeral expenses fall upon counties' shoulders.

Carol Muller of Minnehaha County Human Services says the county has seen growth in funeral numbers and hefty costs, so counties should have the option to cremate. If no one claims the ashes, each county would decide how to handle them.

No one spoke in opposition to the bill.

The committee is expected to vote on the bill next week.

(Copyright 2012 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)

PIERRE, S.D. (AP) - The South Dakota Health Department is investigating the source of food that is suspected of sickening several students and others in the Pierre School District.

Department spokeswoman Barb Buhler says at least 50 people got sick, but officials don't think anyone became seriously ill.

School Superintendent Kelly Glodt says the source of the illness might be a taco fundraiser sponsored by a school group during a Tuesday night basketball game between Pierre and Mitchell. He says there were no immediate reports of people from Mitchell becoming ill.

(Copyright 2012 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)

RAPID CITY, S.D. (AP) - State and federal authorities are investigating the killing of two bull elk in Wind Cave National Park in southwest South Dakota.

Park spokesman Tom Farrell tells the Rapid City Journal that it appears the elk were shot and left to die along a road late Monday or early Tuesday. He calls the

incident "a tragedy and just a terrible waste."

Because of the size of the animals, a Wind Cave crew had to use a bucket loader and trailer to remove and transport the animals for further examination.

(Copyright 2012 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)