• SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (AP) -- Seventy percent of South Dakota's winter wheat crop is rated in good to excellent condition as the year comes to a close.
• The Agriculture Department's latest crop report says most areas of South Dakota saw below-normal temperatures and average snowfall during the month.
• Cattle and calf conditions across the state are rated 85 percent good to excellent, and 86 percent of sheep and lambs are in those categories.
• Stock water supplies are rated 89 percent adequate to surplus, and hay and forage supplies are 98 percent adequate to surplus.
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• PIERRE, S.D. (AP) -- The South Dakota Board of Regents says the state's public universities are getting a total of $1 million in research grants aimed at promoting economic development.
• The South Dakota School of Mines and Technology, the University of South Dakota and South Dakota State University will use $300,000 to work on security and anti-counterfeiting technology.
• Black Hills State University will use nearly $118,000 for biomedical research equipment, while Dakota State University will get $40,000 for cyber infrastructure.
• Northern State University will get $42,000 to upgrade chemistry labs and support research.
• The School of Mines will use $200,000 to upgrade labs for advanced manufacturing
• SDSU will get $100,000 for an imaging system to visualize molecular and physiological events in living plants and animals.
• USD will get $200,000 for scientific instruments.
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• PIERRE, S.D. (AP) -- A Pierre family is making the best of a cold winter by cooking outdoors in an oven made of earth.
• An earth oven cooks or bakes food by trapping heat inside a clay or dirt-covered dome.

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