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• The South Dakota Governor's Office of Economic Development for years contracted with the privately held SDRC Inc. to administer the federal EB-5 program, in which foreign investors can secure permanent residency for as little as $500,000. The program helped fund several large projects in the state.
• As economic development director, Benda was active in promoting South Dakota opportunities to overseas investors, and he also was involved with EB-5 program as loan monitor for the plant.
• Jackley said he has heard concerns about why the autopsy and death investigation took a full month to complete, but he said the time was needed for such a thorough investigation. Jackley received the coroner's autopsy report late Wednesday night, he said, and he had to review the entire file and speak to Benda's immediate family before Thursday's release.
• "In this case, we had an autopsy, we had investigation scene reconstruction, we had interviews, we had evidence collected at the scene that we had to do forensic testing on that included anything from firearm functioning to ballistic testing to DNA to fingerprinting," Jackley said. "This was done in a very timely and efficient when you're looking at such a serious determination."
• The death investigation was conducted by the state Division of Criminal Investigation with help from the Charles Mix County Sheriff's Office and the FBI.
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• OMAHA, Neb. (AP) -- The overall index in a new monthly survey matches the previous index and also suggests the economy will continue growing at a slow pace in rural areas of 10 Midwest and Plains states.
• The report for the Rural Mainstreet Index was released Thursday and says the index remained unchanged at 54.3 in November.
• The index is based on surveys of rural bankers in Colorado, Illinois, Iowa, Kansas, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, North Dakota, South Dakota and Wyoming. It ranges from 0 to 100, with 50 representing growth neutral. A score above 50 suggests growth in that factor in the months ahead.
• The confidence index, which reflects expectations for the economy six months out, rose to a still weak 48.3 from 44.7 in October.
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• BISMARCK, N.D. (AP) -- United Tribes Technical College has banned tobacco

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