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private investment.
• The breakthrough comes at a key time, after the drought heightened criticism about the vast amount of corn used to brew up ethanol rather than be used for animal feed or other foods. Drought left the corn crop smaller than expected, and livestock groups blamed ethanol producers for soaring corn prices that hurt their profits.
• The push for more ethanol production comes amid federal requirements that the petroleum industry mix 36 billion gallons of the additive into the nation's fuel supply by 2022.
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• SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (AP) -- A pastry chef who gained national fame after winning Bravo network's "Top Chef: Just Desserts" plans to open a sweets shop in South Dakota's largest city.
• Chris Hanmer won the second season of the TV competition. Originally from southern California, Hanmer now runs a pastry design school in Las Vegas. His wife, Caryn, is from Sioux Falls.
• "We want to be able to give people that small package that really is something you would have in a big city, in a bigger downtown," Hanmer told the Argus Leader.
• Hanmer confirmed the plans in an email to The Associated Press Wednesday. The shop will be called CH Patisserie, named for the initials shared by Hanmer, his wife and their 20-month-old daughter, Carys.
• The business, set for a spring opening, will be modeled after small bakeries in Europe and will offer desserts such as French macaroons, bonbons, cookies and other sweets. Limited seating will be available inside, and the shop will also offer pastry classes, cater events and fill corporate orders.
• Neil Schmid of Cirrus Commercial Realty Services Inc. helped lease the downtown space and said the shop is "the perfect fit for the whole neighborhood."
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• SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (AP) -- Sioux Falls Fire Rescue is giving away smoke alarms to people who cannot afford them.
• A city ordinance requires smoke alarms in each sleeping room, the area in the immediate vicinity outside sleeping rooms, and at least one on each floor.
• The department will also provide assistance to those people who need help installing the alarms.

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