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more than six years. The Air Force wants to add three "military operation areas" to create a fly space of about 27,500 square miles -- an area larger than West Virginia.
• The last time a B-1B was destroyed in a crash was on Dec. 12, 2001, when a bomber involved in the war in Afghanistan slammed into the Indian Ocean near the island of Diego Garcia, Herritage said. A cause has never been determined. The crew had reported having difficulty controlling the bomber. All four crewmen ejected safely, including the pilot and co-pilot, who were from Ellsworth.
• At the start of the war in Afghanistan, B-1Bs and B-52s were making almost daily bombing runs over the country and began pounding al-Qaida mountain hide-outs in the Tora Bora region.
• In April 2008, an Ellsworth B-1B bomber caught fire after landing at al-Udeid Air Base in Qatar. The crew members all escaped safely. A month earlier, an Ellsworth B-1B collided with two emergency-response vehicles during landing after reporting an in-flight emergency at Andersen Air Force Base in Guam.
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SD Retirement System assets hit record high
CHET BROKAW,Associated Press
• PIERRE, S.D. (AP) -- The South Dakota Retirement System's assets have grown to a record high of more than $9 billion after earning 19.5 percent on investments in the past fiscal year, officials said Monday.
• The system's assets peaked at about $8.2 billion in 2007 and then plummeted during the recession. Those assets had risen to more than $9 billion by June 30, up more than $1.5 billion for the fiscal year.
• South Dakota Investment Council Chairman Hugh Bartels, of Watertown, said the Investment Office staff in recent years has posted some of its best investment returns in the Retirement System's 40-year history.
• "The staff for the last four years have hit home runs every year. This year, they hit a grand slam walk-off home run," Bartels told a legislative committee.
• Bartels told the Executive Board, which handles management issues for the Legislature, that final numbers are not yet complied, but the South Dakota Retirement System's investment return for the past year is expected to be tops in the nation among similar state pension plans.
• Retirement System Director Rob Wylie said unofficial records indicate the system ended the past fiscal year about 103 percent funded. That means the South Dakota system's assets are about 103 percent of all future potential future benefits to be (Continued on page 17)
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