• PIERRE, S.D. (AP) -- State officials say South Dakota has received the highest possible federal rating for education programs that help children with disabilities.
• The U.S. Education Department reports that South Dakota is one of only 23 states or territories to meet the requirements and purposes of the federal Individuals with Disabilities Act for both school programs and a program that helps infants and toddlers.
• One part of the federal law monitors the effectiveness of special education services at the preschool levels and in elementary schools and high schools. Another

part rates the Birth to Three program, which services younger children and their families.
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• SPENCER, S.D. (AP) -- The South Dakota Highway Patrol says authorities are searching the Spencer area for a Florida prisoner who escaped from a transport van at an interstate fuel stop.
• The patrol says 31-year-old Oscar Antonio Herrera-Menjivan was one of 13 prisoners being taken to a Nebraska facility by a private prison transport van. Herrera-Menjivan escaped and headed south-southeast when the van stopped for gas about 2 a.m. Saturday off Interstate 90's Exit 353.
• He's described as 5-foot-5, 140 pounds with black hair and brown eyes.
• The patrol says initial Information indicates the prisoner was originally charged with sexual assault of a minor.
• The company picked up other prisoners in a route that took the van into Wyoming. The van was returning east on I-90.
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• PIERRE, S.D. (AP) -- A state economic development agency is accepting applications for grants that will help South Dakota gas stations install pumps that let customers choose different blends of fuel containing ethanol.
• The Governor's Office of Economic Development is providing $960,000 for the program.
• Most ethanol now is a blend of 10 percent ethanol and 90 percent gasoline. The blender pumps let customers choose blends with a higher percentage of ethanol.
• Hunter Roberts, state energy policy director, says the program that started earlier

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