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• In a written statement, Tribal Chairman Michael Jandreau said he presented Bureau of Indian Affairs officials with the tribe's request that the U.S. Interior Department find it would be in the tribe's best interest to build the casino on the land, which is five miles outside the exterior boundary of the tribe's reservation.
• If Interior Secretary Sally Jewell approves the plan, the new casino would still require Gov. Dennis Daugaard's approval.
• Daugaard spokesman Tony Venhuizen said Daugaard will follow his earlier pledge not to weigh in on the project until after the Interior secretary makes a decision.
• "He will wait until that step and then consider the information that's been complied, but he doesn't feel it's appropriate to make any kind of signal prior to that point in the process," Venhuizen said.
• In earlier public meetings in the area, officials said the casino would cost $34 million. It is envisioned in two phases, with a casino and travel plaza to be followed by an events center, hotel and water park.
• If the new casino is built, the tribe would close its existing casino in Lower Brule, which is more than 15 miles off the interstate.
• The tribe's application describes the land along I-90 as a good spot for a casino because it would take advantage of heavy traffic, provide jobs for people in the area and help the tribe deal with economic and social needs on its reservation.
• A 1988 federal law allows American Indian tribes to conduct the same kind of gambling allowed elsewhere in a state. Conditions for tribal casinos located on reservations are set in compacts negotiated with the state.
• Philip Hogen of Black Hawk, a lawyer representing the tribe, said additional approval from the Interior secretary and governor is needed to conduct gambling on trust land acquired outside a tribe's reservation after the 1988 law was passed. The federal government several years ago approved the tribe's request that the land near Oacoma be placed in trust for the tribe.
• "This is the first formal step to initiate that process," Hogen said, referring to the application filed Wednesday.
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House passes GOP bill to speed pipeline approval
MATTHEW DALY,Associated Press
• WASHINGTON (AP) -- House Republicans pushed through a bill Wednesday to bypass the president to speed approval of the Keystone XL oil pipeline from Canada to Texas. Democrats criticized the legislation as a blatant attempt to allow a foreign (Continued on page 23)
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