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• SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (AP) -- Sioux Falls officials have announced a series of measures to improve the water quality of the Big Sioux River.
• Authorities tell the Sioux Falls Argus Leader (http://argusne.ws/1h6h8cE) that the city has cut down the levels of certain pollutants in the river, but more needs to be done.
• The new programs include educating pet owners about cleaning up pet waste, monitoring storm sewer outflows, adding water quality efforts to the city's flood management plan, restarting an annual river greenway cleanup event, and expanding waterway adoption programs.
• Sioux Falls environmental manager Bob Kappel says the city has succeeded in reducing the levels of ammonia, dissolved oxygen and iron in the river, but officials have not been perfect in monitoring the river.
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• FARGO, N.D. (AP) -- Fargo Mayor Dennis Walaker has sounded the all-clear for flood danger in the southern Red River Valley.
• Walaker made his annual pillgramage to the Red River headwaters in northeastern South Dakota and western Minnesota Thursday to gauge possible spring flooding. The longtime mayor and former city public works director has gained notoriety for making flood predictions that often trump the National Weather Service.
• Walaker tells The Associated Press there's nothing that alarms him about this year's melt and he has never seen the basin south of Fargo in such good shape.
• Residents in the Fargo area prepared for major flooding in four of the previous five years.
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• SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (AP) -- South Dakota feedlots with capacities of 1,000 or more animals reported 240,000 cattle on feed on March 1, up 4 percent from last year.
• The Agriculture Department says in its latest report that placements in feedlots during February totaled 39,000 head, down 13 percent from 2013.
• Marketings of fed cattle during February totaled 36,000 head, down 8 percent

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