(Continued from page 24)

• The Tourism Department spent about $225,000 each year for the past three years for the opportunity, which covers the cost of the float and the talent on the float, Hagen said, adding that the price is anticipated to go down for the next three years.

• Officials have not yet held any meetings to discuss which musician will appear atop the float this coming November, Hagen said.
•

• SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (AP) -- A South Dakota man has been sentenced to two years of probation and ordered to pay $85,000 for killing an endangered whooping crane.
• Jeff Blachford, of Miller, pleaded guilty in federal court Wednesday to one count of violating the Federal Endangered Species Act.

• Authorities say the 26-year-old Blachford shot and killed an adult male whooping crane in April 2012 about 17 miles southwest of Miller.
• Whooping cranes are one of the rarest birds in the world with a total population of about 600.
• U.S. Magistrate Judge Mark Moreno ordered Blachford to forfeit the rifle he used to kill the whooping crane and stripped him of hunting, fishing and trapping privileges in the United States for two years.
•

• PIERRE, S.D. (AP) -- South Dakota's attorney general is warning about an increase of synthetic drugs coming into the state.
• Marty Jackley told a group of educators, health care professionals and parents in Pierre Wednesday that many of the drugs are being sold illegally over the Internet.
• Jackley says the drugs can be difficult to detect because of the numerous combinations of chemicals in the hallucinogens.
• KCCR radio reports that the attorney general showed the group some examples of synthetic drugs.
• A recent synthetic drug case in North Dakota resulted in the overdose deaths of two teenagers. More than a dozen people have been charged, including a Texas man who allegedly sold the deadly drugs over the Internet.
•

(Continued on page 26)