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Daugaard's request to look into possible financial misconduct before his administration.
• The attorney general found that $550,000 of a $1 million state grant given to Northern Beef for construction and equipment costs was improperly diverted to SDRC Inc. to pay EB-5 immigration loan monitoring fees. Jackley also found that former economic development director Richard Benda, who became a loan monitor for SDRC Inc., double-billed the state for three flights.
• Benda was found dead Oct. 22 with a 12-gauge shotgun wound to his abdomen. Officials have ruled his death a suicide.
• Tony Venhuizen, Daugaard's spokesman, said Monday that state officials don't have the authority to audit the complete records of a private company and they have no jurisdiction over a federal program. That's why Jackley has turned over all information to the U.S. attorney and is cooperating with federal investigators, Venhuizen said.
• "They have jurisdiction over the EB-5 program, which the state doesn't," Venhuizen said. "They're completely independent of the state. That's who's looking into this at this point."
• Tyler's proposal must have backing from two-thirds of lawmakers for the Dec. 30 session to be scheduled. She said she's asking for a special session because the issue is too important to wait for the regular session that begins in January, when it could get lost in the pile of bills.
• "Let's find the problem and let's fix it," she said. "Let's get it taken care of."
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Wisconsin serial killer dies in South Dakota
CARRIE ANTLFINGER, Associated Press
• MILWAUKEE (AP) -- A man suspected of killing seven women in Milwaukee over a 21-year-period has died in South Dakota, where he was serving a life prison sentence.
• Walter Ellis, 53, died at a Sioux Falls hospital on Sunday of apparent natural causes, the South Dakota Department of Corrections said in a statement.
• A brother of Ellis' victims told the Associated Press he wished Ellis had served more time before dying.
• "God took him away way too soon," said Terry Williams, whose sister, Joyce Mims, was killed in June 1997.
• The state Division of Criminal Investigation was looking into the death and an autopsy was planned, though officials did not immediately know when results would be (Continued on page 19)
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