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decision on the plan by Calgary-based TransCanada to transport oil extracted from Alberta tar sands more than 1,700 miles to refineries on the Gulf Coast.
• Opponents are now focused on the new secretary of state, John Kerry, who will make a recommendation to President Barack Obama on whether to green-light the project.
• Activists said they remain hopeful Obama will reject the pipeline due to environmental concerns ranging from possible spills to the effects of the project on global warming. The pipeline would carry an estimated 800,000 barrels of oil a day.
• Nebraska Gov. Dave Heineman opposed the initial route but supported it after the route was changed to veer away from an area that state officials designated as the ecologically sensitive Sandhills region, which overlies the sprawling Ogallala Aquifer. Heineman said he's satisfied the state listened to landowners' concerns, noting a 2,000-page review by the state Department of Environmental Quality that concluded the project would have a minimal environmental impact.
• TransCanada spokesman Shawn Howard also said the company has listened to the concerns of Nebraska residents during a series of state environmental hearings. The company also submitted to four federal environmental reviews and nearly a dozen state and local ones, he said.
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• VERMILLION, S.D. (AP) -- The interim athletic director at the University of South Dakota is getting the job on a more permanent basis.
• The Yankton Press and Dakotan reports (http://bit.ly/14zMp7E) that David Herbster received the news Thursday during an athletic department meeting with president Jim Abbott. Herbster, the former senior associate athletic director, is in his sixth year with the department.
• USD volleyball coach Matt Houk says he feels like the two have built a solid relationship, and there's a lot of trust between coach and administrator. Houk says he's confident in Herbster's ability to lead the department and to keep pushing the school to bigger and better things.
• The athletic director position opened in December after David Sayler resigned to accept a position at Miami University in Oxford, Ohio.
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• OMAHA, Neb. (AP) -- A monthly survey of bankers says that strong farm income

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