Tuesday,  July 24, 2012 • Vol. 13--No. 010 • 12 of 28 •  Other Editions

Sioux Falls weighs consolidating 3 schools

• SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (AP) -- The superintendent of South Dakota's largest school district is proposing to consolidate three central elementary schools because of declining enrollment and aging buildings.
• Superintendent Pam Homan wants to close Longfellow and Jefferson schools and raze Mark Twain. A new, larger school would be built where Mark Twain now stands.
• Homan says the new two-story school would cost $10 million. The Argus Leader reports that officials estimate the cost of renovating the decades-old existing schools

would be more than $8 million.
• KELO reports that the district will continue weighing other options. If school board members decide to move forward with the proposal, the changes likely wouldn't happen until at least 2012.

S. Dakota firefighters hoping for 'cold front'

• ROSEBUD, S.D. (AP) -- Firefighters desperate for a break in the excruciating heat while battling wildfires on the Rosebud Indian Reservation are looking forward to temperatures in the low 90s.
• The so-called cold front is expected to hit Wednesday. State Fire Meteorologist Darren Clabo says he hopes it'll help calm the flames that have engulfed more than 7,500 acres of reservation land since late last week.
• Lightning strikes started numerous fires on the reservation. Rosebud Sioux President Rodney Bordeaux has declared a state of emergency and requested state and federal aid.
• The fires are among several dotting the state. One near Edgemont is similarly sized, having burned more than 11 square miles. Another in the Black Hills has scorched about 16 square miles. Recent drought conditions have helped fueled the blazes.

Reward offered for information on homemade bomb

• CANTON, S.D. (AP) -- The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives is offering a $5,000 reward for information leading to the arrest of the person or persons responsible for the attempted bombing of a residence in Canton.
• Harley Ellis says he found the homemade device with jugs of gasoline and gunpowder connected to battery wires and a timer on the back step of his trailer on the morning of July 8.

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