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Otter Tail Power asks SD to recertify 3 projects
• SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (AP) -- Otter Tail Power Co. has asked state regulators to recertify three long-planned transmission projects in eastern South Dakota.
• Otter Tail and other utilities received permission in 2006 to build a new coal-fired power plant, Big Stone II, with new transmission lines and substations.
• The proposed power plant, which was to have been built next to an existing plant near Milbank, was canceled in 2009.
• But the company has told the South Dakota Public Utilities Commission that a need remains for transmission facilities in the region.
• The Argus Leader reports (http://argusne.ws/VDj9BV ) that because the companies did not begin construction within the four-year time frame specified in state law, Otter Tail needed to ask the commission to recertify the substation and transmission lines it wants to build in Grant and Deuel counties.
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Police offer 'virtual ridealongs' via Twitter
KRISTI EATON,Associated Press
• SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (AP) -- Riding side by side as a police officer answers a call for help or investigates a brutal crime during a ridealong gives citizens an up close look at the gritty and sometimes dangerous situations officers can experience on the job.
• But a new social media approach to informing the public about what officers do is taking hold at police departments across the United States and Canada -- one that is far less dangerous for citizens but, police say, just as informative.
• With virtual ridealongs on Twitter, or tweetalongs, curious citizens just need a computer or smartphone for a glimpse into law enforcement officers' daily routines.
• Tweetalongs typically are scheduled for a set number of hours, with an officer -- or a designated tweeter like the department's public information officer -- posting regular updates to Twitter about what they see and do while on duty. The tweets, which also include photos and links to videos of the officers, can encompass an array of activities -- everything from an officer responding to a homicide to a noise complaint.
• Police departments say virtual ridealongs reach more people at once and add transparency to the job.
• "People spend hard-earned money on taxes to allow the government to provide (Continued on page 18)
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