Tuesday,  August 28, 2012 • Vol. 13--No. 044 • 17 of 33 •  Other Editions

USDA, Oglala Sioux Tribe dedicate new building

• PINE RIDGE, S.D. (AP) -- Officials from the U.S. Department of Agriculture and the Oglala Sioux Tribe have dedicated a new building on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation to help the tribe's housing authority.
• The new 13,500-square-foot building will house the administration offices for the Oglala Sioux Housing Authority. The energy-efficient building was funded through a $3.6 million federal loan from the USDA.
• The Oglala Sioux Housing Authority manages more than 1,500 low-income rental units and 500 homeownership units on the reservation. It employs more than 120 people.

SD recognized for quality food assistance program

• PIERRE, S.D. (AP) -- The South Dakota Department of Social Services is receiving an extra $650,000 in federal funding because it has a high accuracy rate in

managing the nation's main nutrition program for low-income people.
• The department has the nation's lowest error rate in denying or ending coverage in the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, commonly known as food stamps. The South Dakota agency has the nation's third lowest overall average payment error rate, which measures the accuracy of determining a household's eligibility.
• The national average payment error rate last year was 3.8 percent, while South Dakota's error rate was 1.6 percent.
• As of July, the program served more than 104,000 people in South Dakota, About half were children. The average monthly benefit for a household was $307.


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