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• DENVER (AP) -- The Colorado Court of Appeals has rejected a challenge over the sentence of a prison inmate from South Dakota who failed to return from his work release job and was captured in Colorado.
• The court on Thursday ruled that Gregory Bakke (BAW'-kee) will have to serve three years in prison for Colorado convictions for auto theft and eluding police, and will then have to serve sentences imposed by other states. Bakke said he should be allowed to serve the sentences at the same time.
• Bakke left his work release job in South Dakota without authorization on Oct. 2 and failed to return to the Pennington County Corrections Center in Rapid City.
• Bakke is also serving a sentence of more than five years for grand theft out of Grant County.
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• RAPID CITY, S.D. (AP) -- A Department of Veterans Affairs plan to restructure its facilities in western South Dakota would be cheaper and more efficient than trying to fix aging VA facilities in Hot Springs, according to an economic analysis from the agency.
• The VA's plan to close its hospital in Hot Springs has met strong local opposition. The proposal unveiled last year also would add a clinic in Hot Springs and rebuild facilities in Rapid City. The study found that the plan would cost about $149 million, compared with $258 million for renovating the existing VA facilities in Hot Springs, according to the Rapid City Journal.
• There also would be a workforce reduction.
• "Over time we believe we should reduce our labor force from 1,080 to about 800," KOTA-TV quoted Steve DiStasio, director of VA Black Hills Health Care System, as saying Wednesday. He said the emphasis would be on natural attrition over five years, according to the Journal.
• DiStasio said a final recommendation to VA leaders has not yet been made.
• "I want to have a dialogue with whomever is coming forth with alternative proposals," he said. "We might then reframe the proposal including these new ideas."
• Hot Springs Mayor Don De Vries told the Rapid City Journal that he is not surprised the study backs up the VA's proposal. The Save the VA organization plants to release an alternative plan, he said.

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