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The group is deploying for nine months of duty in Afghanistan after final training at Camp Shelby, Miss.
• The unit's mission will be to coordinate contracting functions at a brigade or combat team level.
•

• SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (AP) -- Lawyers for a South Dakota beef processing company suing ABC News for defamation have asked a federal judge to remand the lawsuit back to state court.
• Beef Products Inc. sued ABC News Inc. for defamation over its coverage of a meat product that critics dub "pink slime." The company is seeking $1.2 billion in damages.
• ABC argues that two of the companies listed in the lawsuit, BPI Technology Inc. and Freezing Machines Inc., are not true parties and the case should be thrown out.
• But in a motion filed Wednesday, BPI lawyers outline how all three companies have a stake in making the product called lean, finely textured beef.
• A lawyer for ABC News didn't immediately return a message seeking comment.
•

• SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (AP) -- A South Dakota man who drove drunk and struck a pedestrian who ended up dying has pleaded guilty to involuntary manslaughter.
• U.S. Attorney Brendan Johnson announced Wednesday that 49-year-old Thomas Hacker, of St. Francis, pleaded guilty to the charge on Monday.
• Prosecutors say Hacker's blood-alcohol content was .255 when he struck and killed a pedestrian walking along the road in August. The legal limit for driving in South Dakota is .08.
• Hacker faces up to eight year in prison and a $250,000 fine when he is sentenced.
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• SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (AP) -- Former South Dakota Gov. Mike Rounds says he is going to announce his intentions about running for the U.S. Senate during a series of events across South Dakota on Thursday.
• Rounds earlier formed a committee to explore a run for the U.S. Senate seat held by Democrat Tim Johnson. The seat is up for election in November 2014.
• Rounds will make his announcement at three stops on Thursday in Pierre, Rapid

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