Tuesday,  Oct. 1, 2013 • Vol. 15--No. 78 • 27 of 45

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Man must repay for burning church on Standing Rock

• BISMARCK, N.D. (AP) -- A Cannonball man must pay back the cost of a church he set fire to on the Standing Rock Indian Reservation.
• Nineteen-year-old Phoenix Martinez pleaded guilty to arson in June for torching the St. James Episcopal Church in the North Dakota town of Cannonball in July 2012.
• The church was destroyed.
• The U.S. Attorney's Office says Martinez was sentenced Monday in Bismarck to three years and four months in federal prison, followed by five years of supervised release. He must also pay restitution of $354,000.

SD GOP lawmakers firmly against health care law

• SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (AP) -- South Dakota's two Republican members of Congress said they hope a government shutdown can be avoided, but that they strongly believe their constituents do not want federal health care law to be implemented.
• Sen. John Thune said Monday he would not support a resolution to continue funding the government if it includes funding for the implementation of the Affordable Care Act. But Thune said he could vote in favor of a government funding measure if the White House and Senate Democrats compromise on some key points, which they've been unwilling to do.
• "I don't have any expectations about how this ends this evening, except to say that it's a process that will go back and forth," he said.
• Sen. Tim Johnson said the Senate passed clean legislation to fund the government and the House should, too.
• "It is time for the House to act like grown-ups and do their job by passing this simple continuing resolution," the South Dakota Democrat said earlier in a statement.
• South Dakota Republican Rep. Kristi Noem said she wants to avoid a government shutdown but also supports a one-year delay in the health care law's requirements for individuals, just as President Barack Obama did for businesses.
• "House Republicans will continue to do what the American people elected us to do -- keep the government open and get rid of Obamacare," she said in an emailed statement.
• If Congress doesn't pass a resolution to fund government past midnight, hundreds of thousands of workers would be sent home. Employees in critical parts of the government, such as the military and air traffic controllers, would stay on the job.

SD governor offers staff to keep Mt. Rushmore open

• PIERRE, S.D. (AP) -- Gov. Dennis Daugaard offered the help of state employees to keep Mount Rushmore open if a federal government shutdown forces the memorial's closure, but a park official said that can't happen.

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