Saturday,  June 07, 2014 • Vol. 16--No. 324 • 14 of 27

News from the

SD offering weed control to combat leafy spurge

• PIERRE, S.D. (AP) -- The South Dakota Department of Agriculture will help qualifying landowners combat a tough, noxious weed called leafy spurge.
• The department has offered biological control agents to address the weed. Biological control agents range from fungi and bacteria to insects and mites.
• These agents are not always effective and take time and work to show results. Department officials say other weed control methods are necessary while the biological controls take effect.
• Establishment of the agents can take one to three years and more time after that to reduce the leafy spurge.
• Integrated Weed Management programs include biological agents as well as chemical methods like herbicides.
• More details on the program are available through the Agriculture Department.

10 named in Pine Ridge drug conspiracy indictment

• RAPID CITY, S.D. (AP) -- Federal grand jurors have indicted 10 people from Rapid City and the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation on drug distribution and conspiracy charges.
• The U.S. Attorney's Office says the allegations stem from the distribution of cocaine and marijuana from 2005, mainly on the reservation.
• Those named in the indictment include Gerald LeBeau, Neil LeBeau, Susan Schrader, Holly Wilson, Whitney Zephier, Marie Zephier, Thomas Patrick Brewer, Twila LeBeau, Pablo LeBeau, and Lona Lee Colhoff.

Lawsuit challenges North Dakota gay marriage ban
KEVIN BURBACH, Associated Press

• BISMARCK, N.D. (AP) -- Seven couples filed a federal lawsuit Friday challenging the constitutional prohibition on same-sex marriage in North Dakota, making it the last state in the country with a ban to be sued by gay couples seeking the right to wed in their home state. A federal judge also struck down Wisconsin's ban, ruling it was unconstitutional.
• The North Dakota lawsuit, filed in federal court in Fargo, challenges both that

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