Thursday,  November 1, 2012 • Vol. 13--No. 107 • 31 of 41 •  Other Editions

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• The tournaments have been held in the city since 2009. Attendance at this year's men's and women's tournaments set a record, with 40,269 fans attending games over four days in March.
• "This long-term agreement is a testament to the great support that the community of Sioux Falls has shown for our marquee event," League Commissioner Tom Douple said in announcing the deal Tuesday evening.
• The Sioux Falls Arena will host the tournaments for two more years before they move to the $117 million Denny Sanford Events Center under construction. The new facility will have 12,000 seats, nearly double the basketball seating capacity at the existing arena.
• "Six years ago, The Sioux Falls Sports Authority set our sights on bringing national and international sporting events to Sioux Falls. The Summit League basketball tournament delivered on that promise," said Kevin Lampe, chairman of the Sioux Falls Sports Authority Board. "With this event comes national television and media exposure for our great community that will reach millions of sports fans across the nation for the next five years."
• The suburban-Chicago-based Summit League has NCAA Division I members in both Dakotas, Indiana, Illinois, Michigan, Missouri and Nebraska.

Drought influencing Missouri River management plan

• BISMARCK, N.D. (AP) -- The flood of 2011 and the drought of 2012 will both likely influence how the Army Corps of Engineers manages the Missouri River in the upcoming year.
• The corps is holding six meetings in five states over four days on its annual operating plan for the river next year. Meetings were held Tuesday in the North Dakota capital of Bismarck and the South Dakota capital of Pierre. Residents and officials urged the corps to conserve water in upstream reservoirs as drought conditions persist, just a year after record summer flooding.
• Upstream and downstream interests have long battled for priority when it comes to the river, with upper states seeking more water for recreation and irrigation and lower states lobbying for support of the barge industry there. Water for any of the uses could be in even shorter supply next year.
• September runoff in the Missouri River system was at its lowest level in more than a century of record keeping, said Jody Farhat, the corps' Missouri River Basin water management chief. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration forecasts that the dry conditions will continue into next spring in some areas.

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