• SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (AP) -- A state prison inmate has died of natural causes.
• South Dakota Corrections officials say 36-year-old Scott Long died at a Sioux Falls hospital on Tuesday. An autopsy is being conducted as a standard procedure.
• Long was serving 11 years behind bars for sex crime convictions in Codington County.
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• YANKTON, S.D. (AP) -- South Dakota authorities have apprehended a state prison inmate who walked away from his work release job in Yankton.
• Corrections officials say 45-year-old Myron Rainbow Sr. was arrested in the town of Avon on Tuesday night, a day after he went missing.
• Rainbow is serving a five-year term for a fourth-offense drunken driving conviction in Charles Mix County in 2009. He was being housed at a minimum-security unit in Yankton.
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• OMAHA, Neb. (AP) -- The drought affecting Midwest and Plains states has put a further drag on the regional economy.
• A report released Wednesday says July's Mid-America Business Conditions Index plunged below growth neutral for the first time since 2008. The index hit 48.7, compared with 57.2 in June.
• Creighton University economist Ernie Goss oversees the survey, and he says the drought has already harmed ethanol and food processors in the region.
• The survey of business leaders and supply managers uses a collection of indexes ranging from zero to 100. Any score above 50 suggests growth while a score below 50 suggests decline for that factor.
• The survey covers Arkansas, Iowa, Kansas, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, North Dakota, Oklahoma and South Dakota.
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• PIERRE, S.D. (AP) -- A South Dakota program has awarded grants to help organizations in 15 communities improve their computer services.
• The projects will cost more than $112,000. The grants cover 80 percent of the

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