• BISMARCK, N.D. (AP) -- A Cannonball man has pleaded guilty to burning down a church on the Standing Rock Indian Reservation.
• Nineteen-year-old Phoenix Martinez was accused of torching the St. James Episcopal Church in Cannonball late last July. The church was destroyed.
• U.S. Attorney Timothy Purdon says Martinez faces up to 25 years in prison when he's sentenced on Sept. 30 on an arson charge in federal court in Bismarck.
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• SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (AP) -- South Dakota's Democratic Party is criticizing Republican U.S. Sen. John Thune for opposing the farm bill that has passed the Senate.
• Thune issued a statement Monday saying the Senate missed an opportunity to improve federal agriculture policy, while his Democratic counterpart, Sen. Tim Johnson, voted in favor of the bill.
• Thune said the Senate bill reauthorizes an outdated program, and fails to rein in redundancy and waste.
• "Many of us were eager to offer amendments to the bill in an attempt to fix some of these problems coming out of committee," Thune said. "However, despite more than 200 amendments being filed, including two I offered that would have saved taxpayers more than $5 billion, only 14 farm bill amendments were considered and voted on prior to final passage. For these reasons, I was unable to support the final bill."
• South Dakota Democratic Party Chairman Ben Nesselhuf issued a statement saying Thune had pandered to "Washington conservatives who have no idea how farming works in South Dakota."
• The five-year, half-trillion-dollar farm bill passed by the Senate on Monday on a bipartisan 66-27 vote expands government subsidies for crop insurance, rice and peanuts while making small cuts to food stamps. It also eliminates subsidies that are paid to farmers whether they farm or not.
• Thune said that as a member of the Senate Agriculture Committee he would continue fighting for "a reform-minded farm bill."

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