• PIERRE, S.D. (AP) -- The South Dakota Department of Agriculture has provided more than $11,000 in grants for tree planting projects.
• They came from the Urban and Community Forestry Comprehensive Challenge Grant Program and the U.S. Forest Service. Recipients matched the grants with more than $16,000 worth of additional resources.
• Participating communities are providing cash, labor and supplies to support the projects. Officials say the funding will address forestry problems in the communities and show the importance of trees.
• Sturgis was awarded the most with $4,000. Lead was given $2,500. The department gave around $1,000 to the other cities.
• An additional $14,500 in grants was previously distributed in western South Dakota. Those funds were designed to replace trees damaged during Winter Storm Atlas.
•

• RAPID CITY, S.D. (AP) -- A standoff between law enforcement officials and a

burglary suspect who took a 2-year-old boy hostage in Rapid City ended after officers forced entry into a home and rescued the child, police said.
• Rapid City Police Chief Karl Jegeris said the standoff ended late Tuesday after more than 6 hours, with the suspect taken into custody. No officers were injured, and the child was returned unharmed to his family.
• The police department said earlier Tuesday that officers were initially called around 4 p.m. to a burglary in progress. The suspect fled and ran into a nearby home.
• Several adults and children were able to get out of the home, but the suspect took the boy hostage, police said in a news release.
• Rapid City Police spokeswoman Tarah Huepel said the suspect did not know the child.
• Authorities had on-and-off communication with the suspect during the standoff and evacuated several nearby houses, Jegeris said. Initial reports indicated he had

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