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• The center sued, saying the information in those documents is crucial to giving the public a "better understanding of the decision making or lack of decision making," Matteson said.
• The advocacy group is asking a judge to order the Forest Service to release all the documents.
• "The urgency of this in terms of the threat to bats is really central," Matteson said. "The Forest Service should be making an effort to show the public what it knows or what it doesn't."
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SD reservation grocery store remains closed
KRISTI EATON,Associated Press
• PINE RIDGE, S.D. (AP) -- The sole grocery store on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation remained closed Wednesday despite the attorney general of the Oglala Sioux saying a temporary restraining order has been lifted.
• Oglala Sioux Attorney General Rae Ann Red Owl said she has dismissed the order and it is up to the owners to decide when to reopen the store. The Sioux Nation Shopping Center has been closed since Friday after the tribe filed the order.
• "We've stepped aside," Red Owl told The Associated Press.
• The tribe claims the store was selling outdated meat. Oglala Sioux President John Yellow Bird Steele has also criticized the store's prices, which he said are far higher than non-reservation stores. Steele told The Associated Press on Tuesday that he expected the store to open by the end of the day. Police were lined up outside the store in case a protest erupted with the store's opening.
• But there was no protest because the store didn't reopen.
• A lawyer for the store did not respond to a message seeking comment, but he told the Rapid City Journal that the store should reopen Thursday.
• In a statement, Sioux Nation store director Richard Whitmarsh said the store has corrected all violations and has been working with tribal health officials to correct any violations. He noted that Indian Health Service confirmed no incidents of food poisoning were reported or found in Pine Ridge and that any violations found have been quickly corrected.
• The closure has forced reservation residents to shop at convenience stores or travel to grocery stores in other towns. Nearby Whiteclay grocery businesses have reported an increase in traffic since the closing.
• Tami Matthews, who lives in Pine Ridge, said she's not surprised the store is still closed.
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