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• Roberts said fraudulent claims are submitted intentionally, not by mistake. Fraudulent claims are typically submitted by people who say they were laid off but are still working, she said. In some cases, people claim they were laid off when they were actually fired.
• "It's so flagrant. It's not like, oh poor me, I made a mistake," Roberts said.
• State Unemployment Insurance Director Pauline Heier said about 700 fraudulent claims submitted last year amounted to only about $750,000 in improper payments, a small part of the $38.7 million in benefits paid to jobless people. About 12,000 South Dakotans got jobless benefits last year, she said

• People who file fraudulent unemployment insurance claims also can be charged with a crime, but officials said prosecutions are rare. The department also currently imposes a delay in providing benefits if someone who files a fraudulent claim eventually has a valid claim. For every week of benefits received as the result of fraud, a person must wait four weeks to get paid on a subsequent valid claim.
• Heier told the council that the trust fund used to pay claims, which was decimated by a rise in unemployment during the recession, is expected to reach about $70 million at the end of next year. Roberts said once the fund hits a target of $76 million, business payments into the fund will need to be adjusted to avoid building too large a balance.
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• ND officials upset with Mo River water charges
• BISMARCK, N.D. (AP) -- North Dakota officials don't like plans by the Army Corps of Engineers to charge fees for people who want to use Missouri River water.
• The Corps is holding a public comment session in Bismarck Tuesday. The idea also drew objections at a public meeting in Pierre, S.D., on Monday.
• North Dakota U.S. Sen. John Hoeven and U.S. Rep. Rick Berg say when the Missouri River's dam system was built, North Dakota and other states that were flooded were promised water benefits. Now, they say the Corps of Engineers wants to charge for those benefits.
• Hoeven says if the corps goes ahead with its plan to charge for stored water in Missouri River reservoirs, he believes the state should challenge the idea in federal court.
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• LAWRENCE, Kan. (AP) -- Dayne Crist took the field at practice with a play in

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