• Unemployment rates fell below 7 percent in a majority of U.S. cities in November, evidence that steady job gains are benefiting most parts of the country.
• The Labor Department said Tuesday that rates fell in November from October in 215 of the 372 largest metro areas. Rates were unchanged in 33 and rose in 124.
• Rates dropped below 7 percent in 192 cities. That's the first time since the recession ended that more than half of large cities had rates below that threshold.
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• PIERRE, S.D. (AP) -- South Dakota legislative leaders are joining with Gov. Dennis Daugaard to propose changes in the state's criminal justice system.
• Daugaard in his State of the State speech Tuesday outlined proposals to cut prison costs by treating more criminal offenders outside prison walls. He says public safety also will be improved by treating more offenders in intensive probation, parole and other community supervision programs.
• Daugaard, Supreme Court Chief Justice David Gilbertson and legislative leaders appointed a panel that made the recommendations.
• Senate Republican Leader Russell Olson of Wentworth says it's good to start a legislative session with a nonpartisan plan backed by all three branches of government.
• House Democratic Leader Bernie Hunhoff of Yankton says the criminal justice reforms are needed because the current system is not working.
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• RAPID CITY, S.D. (AP) -- The president of the Oglala Sioux Tribe is scheduled to undergo surgery on Wednesday to repair a broken pelvis.
• The injury is a result of a one-vehicle accident that occurred on Dec. 29 when Bryan Brewer was driving on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation in western South Dakota. Brewer was transferred to Rapid City Regional Hospital with a broken pelvis and broken ribs.
• Brewer, who recently moved to the rehabilitation unit of the hospital, was expected to be released next week. But spokeswoman Toni Red Cloud says Brewer

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