• RAPID CITY, S.D. (AP) -- The Black Hills National Forest in South Dakota will use extensive commercial tree thinning to battle the mountain pine beetle.
• Forest Supervisor Craig Bobzien (bawb-ZEEN') says the plan developed over more than a year will target 248,000 acres of vulnerable woodlands within the 1.2-million-acre forest. Commercial logging will be used on almost half of the acres over five to seven years to make them more resistant to the destructive bugs that have infested more than 40 million acres of the nation's forests.
• Officials estimate that about 405,000 acres of the Black Hills National Forest is infested. That's about one-third of the forest.
• Bobzien says the response plan includes a variety of treatment options and will cost about $70 million to implement.
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• SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (AP) -- Avera Health is buying St. Mary's Healthcare Center in Pierre in a merger that will give the Sioux Falls-based health network a stronger foothold in central South Dakota.
• The deal takes effect with the new year and includes St. Mary's 60-bed hospital in Pierre and a 10-bed affiliate hospital in nearby Gettysburg. Avera will have 31 hospitals in five states.
• Terms of the sale were not disclosed. Both St. Mary's and Avera are affiliated with the Catholic church, and Avera vice president Daryl Thuringer says the acquisition technically is a transfer of sponsorship within the church.
• St. Mary's has 425 employees in Pierre and 100 in Gettysburg. They will become part of the Avera network that includes 14,000 employees in about 100 communities.
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• BOX ELDER, S.D. (AP) -- The South Dakota Governor's office has awarded Box Elder a $50,000 grant to replace playground equipment.
• The Rapid City Journal reports (http://bit.ly/XXoxqj) that the money from the Land and Water Conservation Fund will be used this spring to replace playground equip

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