• RAPID CITY, S.D. (AP) -- South Dakota ranchers hurt by an early October blizzard could get help through the new farm bill as early as April, if the federal government cooperates, U.S. Sen. John Thune says.
• The farm bill passed by Congress last week restarts a livestock disaster program that had expired. Lawmakers including Thune, R-S.D.; Sen. Tim Johnson, D-S.D.; and Rep. Kristi Noem, R-S.D., have pressed the U.S. Department of Agriculture to expedite implementation of the provision. Thune said this week he hopes checks can start going out in April, according to The Daily Republic newspaper.
• Thune said he thinks USDA can offer a 30-day comment period before writing rules for certain livestock programs and then quickly make applications available.
• "If it's not the case, USDA will have some explaining to do," he said.
• Western South Dakota ranchers lost an estimated 43,000 cattle and other livestock in the Oct. 4-5 blizzard that dumped rain and as much as 4 feet of snow in the Black Hills. The farm bill provision will reimburse eligible ranchers for up to 75 percent of their losses.
• Pennington County rancher Marvin Jobgen told KOTA-TV that he worries it will be 75 percent of what cows were worth in October, when market values are higher now.
• "It's hard to make business decisions without hard facts," he said.
• Impacted ranchers are getting other help through a relief fund set up by livestock groups that has raised more than $4 million in donations from around the country.
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• PIERRE, S.D. (AP) -- The U.S. Treasury Department is providing South Dakota with nearly $4.5 million to help a state program expand its lending program for small businesses.
• The State Small Business Credit Initiative provides federal money to state agencies for lending and investing programs.
• The federal money will go to the South Dakota WORKS program to leverage private loans to small business programs. The private loans often come from local community banks.

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