Saturday,  June 30, 2012 • Vol. 12--No. 352 • 19 of 32 •  Other Editions

(Continued from page 18)

• Attorney information for Sweeney was not immediately available.
• Police reports say Sweeney was found June 11 a few blocks away from a juvenile sitting next to the body of 18-year-old Christian Bjerk.
• Federal, state and local law enforcement authorities have linked Bjerk's death and the June 13 overdose of 17-year-old Elijah Stai of East Grand Forks, Minn., to a bad batch of a synthetic hallucinogen.

Xcel Energy requests electricity rate increase

• SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (AP) -- Xcel Energy is asking the South Dakota Public Utilities Commission to approve an 11.5 percent electricity rate increase.
• The company says the rate hike is needed to provide reliable and cost-effective

service, support Sioux Falls' future growth and invest in its Monticello and Prairie Island nuclear plants.
• The utility asked to recover the costs of investments through a rate increase of approximately 11.5 percent, or a total revenue increase of about $19.4 million.
• Xcel says typical residential electricity customers would see their monthly bills go up by about $10.
• Laura McCarten, regional vice president of Xcel's Northern States Power Co.-Minnesota, says the company invested about $8 million in 2011 directly in South Dakota on projects. It has also invested in nuclear and other power plants that serve the state.

South Dakota forest fire now 60 percent contained

• RAPID CITY, S.D. (AP) -- A forest fire in South Dakota's Black Hills southwest of Rapid City is now 60 percent contained, and evacuation warnings have been lifted for 18 homes and structures in the area.
• Sheridan Lake Road also has been reopened to traffic.
• The Dakota Fire has burned about 330 acres near Sheridan Lake. Officials say the more than 200 firefighters battling the blaze made significant gains the past few days.
• Most of Sheridan Lake is now open to boating, but the lake's east arm remains off-limits.


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