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no areas in either category, though more than one-fourth of the state is in the severe category.
• Federal Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack this week announced nearly $12 million in additional aid for 22 states including South Dakota to help farmers and ranchers apply conservation practices that reduce the impacts of drought.
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• PIERRE, S.D. (AP) -- South Dakota Gov. Dennis Daugaard and Secretary of State Jason Gant are asking the state's attorney general to investigate automated telephone calls criticizing Republican legislative leaders for supposedly not adhering to the party's principles.
• Daugaard and Gant, both Republicans, want to know who is behind the calls and whether they violate state campaign disclosure laws. The anonymous campaign also includes letters, postcards and emails. Daugaard, in an email to supporters, referred to those behind the campaign as "cowards," according to the Argus Leader and the Daily Republic.
• "These 'robo-calls' are using misleading half-truths to target state legislative candidates," he said. "The voice on the call does not identify himself, and the organization that supposedly 'paid for' the calls appears to be violating state election laws to hide the identities of the sponsors.
• "The people who are sponsoring these calls are cowards," Daugaard said. "They are hiding their identities behind shadowy out-of-state organizations and unlisted phone numbers."
• Not all Republicans agree with the governor. Rep. Stace Nelson, R-Fulton, who leads a group of conservatives who often clash with the GOP leadership, issued a statement Wednesday saying he supports the rights of groups to disseminate "factual information about their elected officials' voting records." The calls appear to be legal, he said.
• Attorney General Marty Jackley said he is still gathering information.
• State Democratic Party Chairman Ben Nesselhuf said the party has nothing to do with the calls.
• Sen. Tim Rave, a Baltic Republican and the chairman of the state GOP, has been one of the targets of the calls. He declined to speculate about their origin but called them "cowardly."
• "It's fine to rip on somebody, but be man enough to put your name on it," he said.

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