Thursday,  August 2, 2012 • Vol. 13--No. 019 • 20 of 38 •  Other Editions

(Continued from page 19)

US Atty vows to shut down synthetic drug dealers

• SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (AP) -- A week after local, state and federal officials busted tobacco shops in Sioux Falls for synthetic drugs, U.S. Attorney Brendan Johnson has vowed to shut down the dealers.
• Three Sioux Falls tobacco shops were among shops raided across the country last week as part of a nationwide sweep to seize cash, property and synthetic drugs.
• Johnson spoke at a news conference Wednesday with several local law enforce

ment officials. He says officials are working hard to keep synthetic drugs off the streets.
• Officials say that although the South Dakota Legislature passed laws banning synthetic drugs, people change the recipe to get around it. So officials say a federal law that bans analog drugs is helpful in prosecuting cases. Analog drugs have the same effect as illegal drugs.
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Additional SD CRP land opened to haying, grazing
CHET BROKAW,Associated Press

• PIERRE, S.D. (AP) -- Farmers and ranchers in drought-stricken South Dakota will gain much-needed livestock feed as federal officials will allow emergency haying and grazing on additional land in the Conservation Reserve Program, the state's two U.S. senators said Wednesday.
• U.S. Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack already had allowed haying and grazing on about 500,000 CRP acres, but Republican Sen. John Thune and Democratic Sen. Tim Johnson had asked Vilsack to extend it to approximately 445,000 acres designated as wetlands.
• Vilsack agreed to do so Wednesday in South Dakota and other states. The CRP program pays farmers to take land out of production to guard against erosion and create wildlife habitat.
• "The drought as you know continues to worsen out there," Thune said in a telephone news conference with reporters. "You look at the crop conditions out there and you can see it's a very difficult year for agriculture in South Dakota. We need to take every step we possibly can and utilize those emergency authorities that are available."
• Johnson said Vilsack's decision will open most, but not all, wetlands in the CRP

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