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•  PIERRE, S.D. (AP) -- Gov. Dennis Daugaard says he is naming Laurie Gill as commissioner of the Bureau of Human Resources.
•  Gill already serves in Daugaard's cabinet as Human Services secretary, a position she has held since 2011. She's also the part-time mayor of Pierre.
•  Daugaard says Gill is an experienced manager, and the state will benefit from her strong leadership.
•  Gill has also worked in the Department of Health and as the administrator of Medical Associates Clinic in Pierre.
•  Gill replaces Commissioner Sandy Zinter, who retired earlier this year. The appointment is effective Sept. 3.
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•  PIERRE, S.D. (AP) -- South Dakota's Agriculture Department is leading a three-state trade mission to Russia to tout beef cow genetics in the Northern Plains.
•  Officials with the state agriculture departments in Kansas and Montana also will be involved in the trip planned for late October, along with beef producers and industry representatives.
•  Russia was the largest market in the world for U.S. cattle exports last year, according to the federal Agriculture Department's Foreign Agriculture Service.
•  "Hundreds, if not thousands of these cattle are coming out of South Dakota -- not surprisingly as our state is home to some of the best cattle genetics on the globe," said Ty Eschenbaum, agriculture development representative for South Dakota's Agriculture Department. "In 2012, we were the fifth-largest producer of beef cattle in the nation, based on calves born."
•  The eight-day mission will include stops in Moscow and in Novosibirsk, Russia's third-largest city. Funding is being provided by U.S. Livestock Genetics Export, a nonprofit international trade organization that develops markets for U.S. livestock with help from the federal government.
•  South Dakota's Agriculture Department led a similar mission last October.
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•  PIERRE, S.D. (AP) -- The South Dakota Lottery Commission has approved larger starting jackpots for the Mega Millions lotto game.

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