• CUSTER, S.D. (AP) -- The Kinney Fire in the Black Hills National Forest in southwestern South Dakota is about 40 percent contained.
• Fire officials say they expect to fully contain the blaze Thursday. It is at nearly 2 ½ square miles but spread little on Wednesday as firefighters improved and reinforced containment lines on the fire's perimeter.
• The cause of the blaze that began Tuesday northeast of Newcastle, Wyo., is still being investigated. No people have been evacuated and no structures harmed. About 185 people are battling the fire on the ground and from the air.
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• BISMARCK, N.D. (AP) -- Some Upper Midwest farmers who thought they caught a break when the federal government eased crop insurance rules for land hit by prolonged flooding are finding it isn't as easy to cash in as they first thought.

• The "prevented planting" provision pays farmers if they can't plant due to extreme weather like flooding. A new rule for the "prairie pothole" region of the Dakotas, Montana, Minnesota and Iowa addresses multiple-year disasters -- essentially letting farmers collect as long as they had planted a crop on the land at least once in the past four years.
• But there also are other provisions. The Risk Management Agency recently published memorandums clarifying rules, and some farmers aren't meeting them.
• Members of North Dakota's congressional delegation are urging the RMA to address the issue.
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