Saturday,  June 30, 2012 • Vol. 12--No. 352 • 19 of 32 •  Other Editions

(Continued from page 18)

• Attorney information for Sweeney was not immediately available.
• Police reports say Sweeney was found June 11 a few blocks away from a juvenile sitting next to the body of 18-year-old Christian Bjerk.
• Federal, state and local law enforcement authorities have linked Bjerk's death and the June 13 overdose of 17-year-old Elijah Stai of East Grand Forks, Minn., to a bad batch of a synthetic hallucinogen.
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Xcel Energy requests electricity rate increase

• SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (AP) -- Xcel Energy is asking the South Dakota Public Utilities Commission to approve an 11.5 percent electricity rate increase.
• The company says the rate hike is needed to provide reliable and cost-effective

service, support Sioux Falls' future growth and invest in its Monticello and Prairie Island nuclear plants.
• The utility asked to recover the costs of investments through a rate increase of approximately 11.5 percent, or a total revenue increase of about $19.4 million.
• Xcel says typical residential electricity customers would see their monthly bills go up by about $10.
• Laura McCarten, regional vice president of Xcel's Northern States Power Co.-Minnesota, says the company invested about $8 million in 2011 directly in South Dakota on projects. It has also invested in nuclear and other power plants that serve the state.
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South Dakota forest fire now 60 percent contained

• RAPID CITY, S.D. (AP) -- A forest fire in South Dakota's Black Hills southwest of Rapid City is now 60 percent contained, and evacuation warnings have been lifted for 18 homes and structures in the area.
• Sheridan Lake Road also has been reopened to traffic.
• The Dakota Fire has burned about 330 acres near Sheridan Lake. Officials say the more than 200 firefighters battling the blaze made significant gains the past few days.
• Most of Sheridan Lake is now open to boating, but the lake's east arm remains off-limits.


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