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• A report issued Tuesday says the overall Mid-America Business Conditions Index rose to 60.6 in June from 60.5 in May, hitting another three-year high.
• Looking six months ahead, the business confidence portion of the overall index rose to 63.6 from 62.5 in May.
• The survey results from supply managers are compiled into a collection of indexes ranging from zero to 100. Survey organizers say any score above 50 suggests growth, while a score below that suggests decline.
• The survey covers Arkansas, Iowa, Kansas, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, North Dakota, Oklahoma and South Dakota.
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Thune applauds ruling on women's contraception
• SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (AP) -- South Dakota Republicans say they're pleased with a Supreme Court decision that says for-profit businesses can hold religious views under federal law.
• But state Democratic Party Chairwoman Deb Knecht says the decision will make it even more difficult for South Dakota women to access basic preventative health care such as birth control.
• The justices' 5-4 decision Monday says corporations can hold religious objections that allow them to opt out of the new health law requirement that they cover contraceptives for women.
• U.S. Sen. John Thune calls it "a victory for religious freedom."
• Attorney General Marty Jackley says South Dakota joined 17 states in supporting the challenge to the Supreme Court. He says there's "a continued unease that the federal takeover of health care infringes upon our individual and state rights."
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US farmers plant record soybean crop, less corn
DAVID PITT, Associated Press
• DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) -- The nation's farmers planted the largest soybean crop on record this year by devoting millions of acres of land to the crop that had been used for growing corn, the U.S. Department of Agriculture said Monday.
• Farmers planted 84.8 million acres of soybeans, which was nearly 11 percent more than last year's 76.5 million acres. Among the states that planted record amounts of the crop were Michigan, Minnesota, Nebraska, New York, North Dakota, Ohio, Pennsylvania, South Dakota and Wisconsin.
• Corn was planted on 91.6 million acres, which was nearly 4 percent less than last year's 95.4 million acres.
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