• RAPID CITY, S.D. (AP) -- The head of the South Dakota Stockgrowers Association says an early October blizzard that killed tens of thousands of cattle in western South Dakota will have a staggering economic impact.
• Stockgrowers Executive Director Silvia Christen told the Rapid City Council on Monday night that the direct economic impact of the cattle loses could be half a billion dollars, and the indirect impact could be $1.7 billion.
• So far there's been no federal aid. A relief fund set up in the wake of the Oct. 4 blizzard that dumped up to 4 feet of snow in the region has about $300,000 in donations so far. Christen says money has come from people in 48 states and three countries.
• Ranchers in northwestern Nebraska and southwestern North Dakota also suffered heavy cattle losses.
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• BISMARCK, N.D. (AP) -- One of two men accused of conspiring to murder a South Dakota man in North Dakota has changed his plea to guilty.
• Twenty-six-year-old Theo Crowe said in court Monday in Bismarck that he went along with a plan by 20-year-old Joshua Clark to kill someone. Clark maintained his not guilty plea.
• The two are accused in the death of 18-year-old John Swain, who was reported missing in mid-May after moving to Bismarck from Sioux Falls, S.D., in search of work. Police believe Clark and Crowe lured Swain into a Bismarck home, hit him with a hammer and cut off his legs.
• Authorities say Swain's body was found in June at the home of Crowe's grandmother in Poplar, Mont.
• Crowe will be sentenced later, and Clark will be scheduled for trial.
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