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• SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (AP) -- Attorneys, judges, social workers and mental health professionals will gather in Sioux Falls and Rapid City next month to talk about the juvenile justice system.
• The second annual Children's Justice Conference is being held in Rapid City on Sept. 11 and in Sioux Falls on Sept. 13.
• The South Dakota Unified Judicial System sponsors the conference. The conference will focus on sharing best practices for child welfare cases and new programs under way.
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• CHET BROKAW,Associated Press
• PIERRE, S.D. (AP) -- Gov. Dennis Daugaard said Wednesday that South Dakota government should be as open as possible so people can find out what the state and local governments are doing.
• "We think good government is transparent and open," Daugaard said at the first meeting of a task force that will study state laws on open meetings and records.
• Daugaard and Attorney General Marty Jackley appointed the 33-member task force, which intends to recommend changes in laws dealing with open meetings and the availability of documents held by state agencies and local governments. The panel includes representatives of news organizations, law enforcement officials and prosecutors, and officials from cities, counties and school districts.
• Daugaard said South Dakota took a big stride when the 2009 Legislature changed the law to presume that all government documents are public unless there's a good reason to keep them secret, but he said improvements or clarifications are probably needed in that law.
• The Republican governor said information should not be kept confidential just because officials don't want to defend what they've done.
• "If we're afraid to defend that, maybe it's indefensible and maybe that's a good reason it should be open," Daugaard said.
• Jackley, whose office deals mainly with the law requiring government meetings to be open and announced ahead of time, said clarifications are needed in that law so officials know what they can and can't do.

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