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son.
• Also seeking the GOP nomination in the June 3 primary are former Gov. Mike Rounds, state Rep. Stace Nelson of Fulton, Yankton attorney and soldier Jason Ravnsborg and Sioux Falls physician Annette Bosworth. Rounds is considered the front-runner for the seat, which provides a prime opportunity for Republicans needing a net gain of six seats to control the Senate.
• Rhoden said Washington is broken, and there needs to be some fundamental changes in the way Congress goes about its business. He wants to ban lawmakers from becoming lobbyists for life and he supports term limits.
• "The most likely way to make change is to put enough new people in there who are willing to make change," he said.
• Rhoden wants to repeal President Barack Obama's health care law, cut spending and reduce taxes. He supports a balanced budget amendment, and he opposes abortion, gay marriage and illegal immigration.
• Rhoden has been a state legislator since 2001, serving as majority leader in the House for four years before being elected in 2008 to the Senate, where he is majority whip.
• Jon Schaff, a political science professor at Northern State University, said Rhoden's experience as longtime lawmaker help gives him credibility.
• "In that sense he's more plausible as an actual U.S. senator maybe than the non-Rounds candidates," Schaff said. "But he doesn't have a lot of recognition outside of West River. His fundraising has been modest."
• Schaff said that compared with the other three Republican challengers to the GOP front-runner, Rhoden will have a more difficult time differentiating himself from Rounds.
•

• RAPID CITY, S.D. (AP) -- The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission has issued an operating license for a proposed uranium mine in western South Dakota's Black Hills, though it isn't the only hurdle for the project and opponents say they'll fight the move.
• The federal commission said in a statement that a review "concluded the proposed facility can operate safely, including management of radiological and chemical hazards, groundwater protection, and eventual cleanup and decommissioning."
• "We certainly expected this," said Mark Hollenbeck, project director for Powertech Uranium Corp. "We have confidence in our science and we had confidence in

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