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• RAPID CITY, S.D. (AP) -- A proposed gold mine that would be built near Spearfish Canyon in South Dakota's Black Hills has cleared an initial permitting hurdle.
• The Lawrence County Planning and Zoning Commission on Thursday recommended approval of a conditional use permit for the mine.
• The Rapid City Journal reports (http://bit.ly/MaU2Vo) that the recommendation next goes to the county commission, which will discuss the issue at a special meeting on July 23.
• The Deadwood Standard Project wants to extract gold six miles west of Lead (LEED). The site is just east of Spearfish Canyon, but the conditional use permit be

ing sought calls for a 500-foot buffer from the rim of the canyon.
• To begin operations, the mine also would have to get approval from a number of state boards.
•

• CHARLOTTE, N.C. (AP) -- The North Carolina Air National Guard says it is amazed with the number of people who want to help the families of four of its members killed in a plane crash while fighting a wildfire in South Dakota.
• Officials said Friday they aren't just getting money donations, but also offers to cooks meals or mow the lawns of the families who lost loved ones.
• Terry Henderson helps coordinate the 145th Airlift Wing's Airmen and Family Readiness Center and says the organization is keeping a database so they can track all the offers of help and get them to the right people.
• The four men killed were on a C-130 tanker when it crashed Sunday in the South Dakota Black Hills. Two people on board were injured.

• PIERRE, S.D. (AP) -- A Pierre woman who authorities say took more than $14,200 from the convenience store where she worked will not serve jail time if she stays out of trouble.
• Twenty-eight-year-old Samantha Dewell was given a three-year suspended sentence and put on supervised probation for five years. She also will be required to pay back the money.

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