• SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (AP) -- South Dakotans are in a scramble to protect family farms and businesses before the "fiscal cliff" threatens to cause a variety of tax hikes.
• Politicians in Washington, D.C., are at a stalemate, though party leaders from both sides say they're hoping for a deal soon.
• Nationwide, South Dakota is seen as one of the best places to set up a trust, a legal entity that can help shelter land and other assets from tax liabilities.
• Lawyer Brad Grossenburg tells the Argus Leader his year-end business has been "absolutely crazy" because people feel so uncertain.
• Karl Thoennes, administrator for the 2nd Circuit Court in Sioux Falls, says he's prepared for a courthouse rush.
• U.S. Sen. John Thune recently said he's optimistic a deal is imminent but "the question is the timing."
•

• DIRK LAMMERS,Associated Press
• SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (AP) -- An Air Force plan to more than triple the area that can be used in training exercises for the Dakotas-based B-1 and B-52 bombers is still undergoing an environmental review nearly a year after the final report was expected.
• Officials at Ellsworth Air Force Base are in the process of holding phone meetings with Native American tribes throughout the area to talk about sensitive cultural, historic and religious properties on tribal lands.
• The six-year effort to expand the airspace is a complex process that involves working with the Federal Aviation Administration, the region's Native American tribes and the public through a detailed environmental review.
• A draft environmental impact statement was released in August 2010, and public hearings were held in the Dakotas, Wyoming and Montana later that year to solicit public comments, said Maj. Matthew Reese, an Air Force spokesman based at Ellsworth.
• The Air Force earlier had said a final environmental impact statement was ex

(Continued on page 16)