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SD state parks set records for visitors, camping
• PIERRE, S.D. (AP) -- Visitation and camping in South Dakota's state parks reached all-time highs in 2013 for the second year in a row.
• The biggest draws were Custer State Park in the Black Hills, and Lewis and Clark Recreation Area near Yankton, the state Department of Game, Fish and Parks said Wednesday. The two parks also set their own records for number of visitors, at 1.9 million and 1.2 million, respectively.
• Both parks are major draws for out-of-state visitors. Visitation there made up nearly 40 percent of the 7.8 million park visitors statewide last year.
• Camping numbers also increased across the state, up 3.2 percent from 2012.
• "A lot of people took to the outdoors in 2013," State Parks Director Doug Hofer said in a statement. "Plus, it was a great year for fishing, which boosted use especially at the Missouri River parks."
• South Dakota's newest park, Good Earth State Park at Blood Run, near Sioux Falls, officially became a state park last July. It attracted more than 20,000 visitors in its first year.
• "For 20,000 people to visit the park, without any facilities or services yet, indicates a bright future," Hofer said.
• Blood Run was designated a national historic landmark in 1970. The area along the Big Sioux River was used by thousands of Oneota Indians into the early 1700s. Archaeologists believe that Blood Run, a term coined by European explorers because of the nearby creek's reddish-colored water, was used as early as 6,500 B.C. The area includes a large oak forest, rolling hills, flood plains, riverside bluffs and burial mounds.
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As Obama backs wage hike, a look at state efforts
The Associated Press
• President Barack Obama said in his State of the Union address Tuesday that he will sign an executive order setting the minimum wage for workers covered by new federal contracts at $10.10 an hour, a big jump from the current federal minimum of $7.25. Obama hopes his order will spur Congress to increase the minimum wage for all employees.
• In similar efforts, Democrats in more than half of U.S. states are sponsoring or are expected to introduce state-level wage hike measures, according to a national review by The Associated Press. Even in Republican-dominated capitals where the bills are longshots, the proposals still give Democrats a chance to hammer home (Continued on page 25)
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