Friday,  September 28, 2012 • Vol. 13--No. 073 • 28 of 39 •  Other Editions

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staff to care for the sick once the flu strikes, said Dr. William Schaffner of Vanderbilt University.
• When that happens, "we need to be vertical, not horizontal," he said.
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Police seek man they say threatened SD governor

• SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (AP) -- South Dakota authorities are looking for a man who they say threatened South Dakota Gov. Dennis Daugaard and his family.
• William Becker of Monticello, Minn., is also sought on a felony marijuana charge. KSFY-TV (http://bit.ly/V0Qw5d) reports authorities believe the 53-year-old Becker in in southeastern South Dakota or southwestern Minnesota.
• A Minnehaha County chief sheriff's deputy says Becker threatened the lives of Daugaard and his family. She says anyone who has information about Becker's whereabouts should call law enforcement.
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Stubborn drought maintains grip on lower 48 states
JIM SUHR,Associated Press

• ST. LOUIS (AP) -- The nation's worst drought in decades consumed a larger portion of the lower 48 states last week with the Midwest corn harvest in full swing, according to the latest update by a drought-tracking consortium released Thursday.
• The U.S. Drought Monitor's new map shows 65.5 percent of the contiguous U.S. experiencing some form of drought as of Tuesday, creeping up from 64.8 percent a week earlier. The portion of the U.S. in extreme or exceptional drought -- the two

worst classifications -- rose three-quarters of a percentage point to 21.5 percent.
• The latest update did not reflect storms that pounded portions of Missouri and Illinois this week, in some areas dumping as much as 7 inches of rain that growers embrace as potentially beneficial to soybean crops still in the fields. Farmers also welcome moisture in the fall and snow in the winter that softens the soil and provides needed saturation for the next planting season.
• Storms were expected in portions of the nation's midsection into the weekend, with some states needing the rain more than others.
• The latest map released by the National Drought Mitigation Center at the University of Nebraska in Lincoln showed that the area of Iowa, the nation's biggest corn producer, deemed to be in exceptional drought rose from 2.4 percent last week to 2.5 percent. The area of land subject to that most severe classification increased 2.3 percentage points in Nebraska to 73.25 percent, while conditions in Kansas, Missouri, Illinois and Indiana did not change.

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