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reporting of various expenditures in the Agriculture Department were not major, but needed to be addressed.
• Chris Petersen, finance director for the Department of Agriculture, said it's not always easy to manage these dollars, because updates from the federal government aren't always current. Some of the grant funds can be used over the course of a few years and they typically involve a state match.
• "We don't necessarily know which pot of funds we're going to use for a project," Petersen said.
• The department has set up a plan to correct the problems with improved accounting practices.
• Audit Manager Bob Christianson said before the meeting that auditors found more problems in the 2013 audit than in previous years. He said the 2013 audit focused on more, smaller federal programs.
• "It's important for the federal government to know that federal grants are acting as planned," Christianson said.
• Rep. Melissa Magstadt said she was glad the auditors discovered problems that could be addressed before the federal government got involved.
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• PIERRE, S.D. (AP) -- A New York state ban on semi-automatic weapons sets a worrying precedent that could affect the rights of South Dakotans and people across the country to use such weapons in hunting, the South Dakota Attorney General said in a court filing.
• South Dakota joined 21 states in supporting a court challenge to New York's ban on semi-automatic weapons. South Dakota Attorney General Marty Jackley said semi-automatic guns are among the "arms" protected by the Second Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, so the New York ban is unconstitutional.
• "Hunting with semi-automatic firearms for pheasant, waterfowl and big game is commonplace in South Dakota," Jackley said in a statement. "While the ban only applies to New York at this time, the federal court's upholding of the gun ban sets a concerning precedent interpreting limitations on Second Amendment rights of all law-abiding citizens including here in South Dakota."
• A federal judge in December allowed most of New York's new gun control law to stand, rejecting arguments that its bans on large-capacity magazines and the sale of popular semi-automatic rifles violates gun rights.
• Judge William Skretny in Buffalo, New York, argued that those provisions in the law are constitutional because they're related to achieving an "important govern

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