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businessman Matt Culhane said in a statement, referring to the building with corn murals that attracts about 200,000 tourists annually. "It's something that will draw tourists and residents alike farther south, all while improving traffic flow to our downtown merchants."
• There also are plans to make wider pedestrian crossings to increase foot traffic and make the area safer for walkers. The downtown would have benches, sitting walls, bike racks, information kiosks and public art displays.
• Funding the project likely will take a cooperative effort involving the city and downtown businesses, Mitchell Mayor Ken Tracy told The Daily Republic newspaper. The city's bonding capacity is limited because of the $13.9 million in bonds it sold in December and January to fund four major projects, including a renovation and expansion of the Corn Palace, he said.
• The blueprint was drafted by designArc, a Brookings company. Company spokesman Lee Rowland said the health of communities usually is represented by their downtown areas.
• "I think that, overall, it would certainly improve our Main Street," Tracy said of the plan.
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• RAPID CITY, S.D. (AP) -- A jury has been selected for the trial of a man accused of shooting another man to death in a Rapid City motel parking lot early this year.
• A jury of nine men and five women, two of whom are alternates, will decide the fate of 30-year-old Charles Birdshead.
• The Rapid City man is charged with felony manslaughter in the death of 33-year-old Eustacio Maruffo at the South Dakota Rose Inn on Jan. 7.
• Prosecutors say Birdshead was at the motel to deal drugs. Birdshead's attorney says he was the victim of a setup and that he acted in self-defense.
• The trial is scheduled to last six days. Birdshead also is accused of having a sexual relationship with a teenager. He will have a separate trial on that charge.
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