(Continued from page 30)

possible."
•

• BILLINGS, Mont. (AP) -- A recent sale of oil and gas leases on federal lands in Montana, North Dakota and South Dakota brought in $3.9 million in bonus bids.
• The Bureau of Land Management said Wednesday that 151 parcels in the three states received bids in the agency's May 8 auction. All but two of the parcels are in Montana.
• The highest single-parcel bid was $238,400 for a 596-acre parcel in Richland County.
• The highest per-acre bid, at $2,800, also came on a parcel in Richland County. The rural county along the North Dakota border is located in the heart of the booming Bakken formation oil fields.
• The leases are good for ten years after they are issued.
•

• SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (AP) -- Wal-Mart Stores Inc. is abandoning plans to build a third store in South Dakota's largest city at a site that sparked widespread opposition from neighbors.
• Company officials say they will continue to look for another site in Sioux Falls.
• Wal-Mart had wanted to build a 150,000-square-foot store on 18 acres in the southeast part of the city, but neighbors of the proposed site raised concerns ranging from increased traffic to possible water drainage problems. The City Council earlier this month rejected a zoning change that would have paved the way for Wal-Mart to build on the site.
•

• SOUTH HEART, N.D. (AP) -- The southwest North Dakota oil patch town of South Heart is looking south for housing.
• Housing and workers are in high demand in oil country. Developer Butch Kern tells KELO-TV (http://bit.ly/KM1tQb) that his family's company is ordering homes from South Dakota instead of building them on-site. He says his company has sold more than a dozen homes in South Heart and Dickinson since last June and is waiting on at least a dozen more.
• It's not just houses that Madison, S.D.-based Custom Touch Homes is sending

(Continued on page 32)