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of the state, as it was last year when more than 1.5 million birds were shot.
• The season begins Oct. 20 and runs through next Jan. 6.
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• BISMARCK, N.D. (AP) -- The U.S. Forest Service is implementing fire restrictions on some national grasslands in North Dakota and South Dakota because of dry conditions that have elevated the danger of wildfires.
• Fires and campfires are being restricted to developed recreation sites equipped with metal fire rings or elevated charcoal grills. Smoking is being prohibited except within enclosed vehicles or buildings, developed recreation sites and barren areas at least three feet in diameter.
• The restrictions go into effect Friday on the Little Missouri, Grand River and Cedar River national grasslands.
• Forest Service spokeswoman Babete Anderson says the 5-square-mile Deep Creek 2 fire on the Little Missouri grasslands in western North Dakota is now fully contained. The fire was sparked by lightning late last week. No structures burned and no people were hurt.
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• PIERRE, S.D. (AP) -- Nature and the federal government are offering some relief Thursday a day after record-breaking temperatures struck the Dakotas amid an enduring drought.
• More than a dozen cities in the two states set high-temperature records on Wednesday. The South Dakota capital of Pierre hit 110 degrees, and many other cities, including Rapid City and Sioux Falls, surpassed 100 degrees, according to National Weather Service. Slightly cooler temperatures were forecast Thursday.
• Sioux Falls implemented once-per-week watering restrictions for the first time since 2003 because months of drought have reduced the flow in the Big Sioux River, according to the Argus Leader newspaper. Precipitation in South Dakota's largest city is more than 5 inches below normal this year.
• Many cities in North Dakota also had triple-digit temperatures Wednesday. Grand Forks County issued a burn ban because of high fire danger. The western part of the state, where crews have been battling wildfires, also remains dry.
• "To be in the 100s this late in the year is so rare," Bryan Henry, fire meteorologist with the Northern Rockies Coordination Center, told The Bismarck Tribune.

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