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and economic development from 2006 to 2010 under former Gov. Michael Rounds, was found dead with a gunshot wound on Oct. 22 near Lake Andes. Autopsy results have still not been released nearly a month after the death of Benda, who also served as loan monitor for Northern Beef Packers.
• State officials have said that the EB-5 program is a federal immigration program run and controlled by federal immigration authorities.
• But Tyler said that many of the projects funded through EB-5 also received state funds, and residents have a right to details about South Dakota's economic development efforts. She said she asked the governor's office last week to order an independent audit, but she was told that it doesn't have the jurisdiction to do so.
• "We deserve to see where all this money has gone and has come from," Tyler said.
• Tony Venhuizen, Daugaard's spokesman, said SDRC is a private company that had a contract with the state, and the contract did not give the Governor's Office of Economic Development the authority to audit all of SDRC records.
• He said the office in 2012 required SDRC to sign a deposit control agreement to give the state access to SDRC's accounts, but the agreement "does not authorize or provide a vehicle for GOED to conduct a complete audit of SDRC's books."
• Venhuizen said GOED is initiating a thorough audit and review, at the governor's request.
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Congress honors American Indian code talkers
HENRY C. JACKSON, Associated Press
• WASHINGTON (AP) -- For decades, the wartime service of 96-year-old Edmond Harjo and other American Indian "code talkers" was something that wasn't even officially acknowledged, let alone publically recognized.
• But on Wednesday, Harjo sat in the Capitol's Emancipation Hall soaking in a standing ovation from hundreds of people -- after an introduction from House Speaker John Boehner.
• Harjo, a member of the Seminole Nation of Oklahoma, is one of the last surviving members of a group of American Indians who used their native language to outwit the enemy and protect U.S. battlefield communications during World Wars I and II. In a ceremony Wednesday, congressional leaders formally awarded the Congressional Gold Medal to American Indians known as code talkers honoring the service of 33 tribes.
• From his seat, Lyle Cook watched the applause for Harjo and a procession of speeches proudly, with a lump in his throat.
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