• PIERRE, S.D. (AP) -- South Dakota Gov. Dennis Daugaard is ready to propose a new state budget.
• The Republican governor is outlining his budget plan in a speech Tuesday afternoon to the South Dakota Legislature.
• In the past week, Daugaard has said he will recommend a pay raise for state employees and increases in state aid to school districts and reimbursements to hospitals and other facilities that provide medical services to poor people.
• The governor has not given dollar amounts for his proposed spending plan, but he has said he will recommend that school districts get an increase under a state law that boosts aid by the rate of inflation up to a maximum of 3 percent.
• Education and health care officials have said they need more than the governor is likely to propose.
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• ALBION, Neb. (AP) -- Nebraskans have another chance to let state regulators know at a public hearing what they think of a new oil pipeline route a Canadian company proposed.
• The Keystone XL pipeline TransCanada wants to build to carry crude oil to Gulf Coast refineries has proven controversial, and environmentalists say the project could contaminate groundwater reserves.
• But the project has strong support from labor unions that say the pipeline will create thousands of jobs and from the oil industry that says the pipeline will help satisfy oil demand.
• So Nebraska environmental regulators should expect a large crowd at Tuesday evening's hearing in Albion.
• Regulators issued a draft 600-page report on the pipeline's proposed route in October. Once regulators finish their review, Gov. Dave Heineman will decide whether to recommend the project.
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