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2012, citing the "rushed and arbitrary deadline" imposed by congressional Republicans.
• Book, managing director at ClearView Energy Partners in Washington, said he still thinks President Barack Obama is likely to eventually approve the project, but added, "Things always seem to take a bit longer on 'Keystone Standard Time.'"
• Environmentalists have seized on the pipeline as a symbol of the fight against global warming, saying the pipeline would extend U.S. dependence on fossil fuels that warm the planet. Opponents also worry about oil spills that could seep into the Ogallala Aquifer that provides water to eight states in the central U.S.
• Pipeline supporters -- including lawmakers from both parties and many business and labor groups -- say the project would create thousands of jobs and reduce the need for oil imports from Venezuela and other politically turbulent countries.
• TransCanada could change the route to avoid Nebraska, but that would likely delay the project while the State Department reviews the new route.
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• PIERRE, S.D. (AP) -- South Dakota representatives have expressed unanimous support for a provision requiring students in public schools to recite the Pledge of Allegiance every day.
• The state's House approved the bill Thursday. It will go on to the Senate.
• The bill allows students who don't wish to recite the pledge to do so respectfully. But school districts would have to provide students with a daily opportunity to participate in the salute.
• Some representatives said the issue should be left to the authority of individual school districts, but they still supported the bill.
• If it passes, the bill's main sponsor says South Dakota would be the 40th state to pass such a law.
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• BUTTE, Mont. (AP) -- A former Butte man was charged with killing his father after investigators were able to prove the missing man was dead, a Montana sheriff said Thursday.
• Adam Hatfield, 23, was arrested Wednesday in the southwestern South Dakota city of Hot Springs, where he had been working at a convenience store.
• A complaint charging Hatfield with deliberate homicide in the 2008 death of his

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