• PIERRE, S.D. (AP) -- South Dakota officials say they have started the third round of funding for grants that help gas stations buy pumps that let customers select different blends of gasoline and ethanol.
• State Economic Development Commissioner Pat Costello says $500,000 has been allocated for the current state fiscal year.
• Seventy-five retail gas stations have already installed blender pumps, and the grant program has financed 51 of those installations.
• South Dakota was the first state in the nation to allow blender pumps, which are intended to support the state's 15 ethanol plants and the more than 1,900 people directly employed in the ethanol industry.
• Grant awards up to $25,000 are available for installation of a station's first blender pump. Grants of up to $10,000 are available for installation of each additional pump.
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• MOUNT RUSHMORE NATIONAL MEMORIAL, S.D. (AP) -- Presidential re-enactors will kick-off a two-day Independence Day celebration at Mount Rushmore National Memorial on Wednesday with an in-character news conference in the Carvers Cafe.
• The re-enactors also will give presentations, sign autographs and mingle with visitors throughout Wednesday and Thursday.
• Visitors will be able to send a message to deployed troops through Operation Gratitude, a non-profit, volunteer-based group dedicated to lifting the morale of deployed service members and wounded warriors by sending letters and care packages to the troops. The park will provide postcards for visitors to mail messages from the memorial.
• Wednesday's scheduled entertainment includes hoop dancer Jasmine Pickner-Bell, children's performer Phil Baker and the Rapid City Municipal Band. Junior Ranger CD composer Jeff Wolin and Native American flutist Sequoia Crosswhite will perform on Wednesday and Thursday.
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