(Continued from page 20)

mentioned as possible candidates.
•
•

• PINE RIDGE, S.D. (AP) -- A Pine Ridge man accused of using a baseball bat to beat another man to death after the two had argued has been sentenced to more than five years in federal prison.
• Thirty-one-year-old Antoine Bissonette Jr. was sentenced to 63 months behind bars to be followed by three years of supervised release. U.S. Attorney Brendan Johnson says restitution will be determined later.
• Bissonette initially faced a second-degree murder charge in the Feb. 12 death of Daniel Bad Milk near Pine Ridge. He pleaded guilty to voluntary manslaughter in May.
•

• RAPID CITY, S.D. (AP) -- The Rosebud Sioux Tribe has bought 40 acres of land in western South Dakota's Black Hills in an auction that was made necessary when a first attempt ended in confusion and a non-sale.
• Pennington County auctioned off the remote land west of Deerfield Lake last month but the sale was nullified because the high bidder mistakenly thought he was paying $2,550 for the entire parcel, not per acre. A second auction was held Tuesday, and the tribe was the high bidder, paying more than $144,000 for the land.
• The tribe will pay a total of $158,410 with fees factored in. The purchase comes just days after a consortium of tribes raised $9 million to buy land in the Black Hills that they consider sacred.
•
•

• PIERRE, S.D. (AP) -- An organization representing state governments across the nation has given an award to South Dakota Gov. Dennis Daugaard's plan to fight the mountain pine beetle infestation in the Black Hills.
• The Council of State Government has recognized the program as an outstanding government initiative, one of two winners in the Midwest.
• The program uses state, private and federal resources to fight the mountain pine beetles that are killing trees in the Black Hills. Daugaard has pledged $4 million over

(Continued on page 22)