• Citing better weather conditions and hard work, officials fighting the White Draw Fire in southwest South Dakota say the forest fire is now 50 percent contained.
• The upbeat assessment Monday night followed a tough day that included the crash of an air tanker fighting the blaze, killing at least one crew member.
• The White Draw Fire north of Edgemont was burning nearly 5,000 acres, fire information officer Julie Molzahn said in a news release. She said 292 people were fighting the fire, aided by a helicopter doing water drops. The news release said 22 structures and 31 outbuildings were still threatened by the blaze.
• Earlier Monday a shift in the wind helped crews build fire lines in areas that burned the previous day, fire spokesman Brian Scott said.
• "A little bit here and a little bit there we'll burn, but hopefully not a lot today," Scott said Monday.
• No people or livestock had been harmed by the fire that was sparked by a vehicle Friday afternoon in the Edgemont area, about 80 miles southwest of Rapid City. However, an Air Force C-130 plane belonging to the North Carolina National Guard crashed while fighting the fire Sunday.
• Capt. Ruth Castro, a spokeswoman for U.S. Northern Command at Peterson Air Force Base in Colorado Springs, said the plane was flying from that base. David Eaker of the Great Basin Incident Management Team said six people were aboard, but no other information was immediately released.
• However, relatives of Lt. Col. Paul Mikeal, of Mooresville, N.C., said they were

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