First round play began Tuesday in the Women’s Division II NCAA Elite Eight at the Sanford Pentagon Center in Sioux Falls. In the noon game, California of Pennsylvania defeated Nova Southeastern 84 to 79. In the 2:30 PM game, Emporia State of Kansas defeated returning national runner-up West Texas State 62 to 50.

OK Sturgis, you get one more big party for the 75th anniversary of the Sturgis Rally and Races this summer, then that’s it. You’ve finally gone too far. You’ve sold you soul and have whore-mongered your city park to the highest bidders. Never mind that the event flies in the face of the family values that South Dakotans say they love.

SIOUX FALLS–Friendly confines, a number one seed and leading three-fourths of the game wasn’t enough to put the Augustana Vikings men into Tuesday’s Central Regional Championship. The Augie men lost to the fourth-seeded Northwest Missouri State University Bearcats 66 to 65 Sunday night before a full house of 3,113 at the Sanford Pentagon.

Thursday, our colleagues at KCSR-AM in Chadron, Nebraska broke the story that the Lakota Nation Invitational basketball tournament is considering moving to Sioux Falls. Spearfish, Hot Springs and Bismarck have also expressed interest in the tournament that has a $6 million economic impact. Organizers are considering the move because of racial incidents in Rapid City, like the throwing of beer and racial insults hurled at Native American students at a hockey match.

Teri Ellis Schmidt with the Sioux Falls Convention and Visitors’ Bureau recalls a trip to Tulsa, Oklahoma about a decade ago to the Summit League Championship, played in a small gym to a small crowd. “There was literally so few people in the gymnasium watching the tournament, we wanted to whisper so our voices wouldn’t carry and people might hear us about what we could do better,” Ellis Schmidt said.

Big Time college basketball came to The Denny this weekend after the Summit League Tournament moved down the block from the Arena. And the reviews are in: The Denny is The Bomb to coaches and players alike. Western Illinois junior forward Ashley Luke, the league’s player of the year and already in graduate school, loved playing at the Premier Center.

While the Keystone XL pipeline has received most of the public and press attention in South Dakota, there’s another crude oil line that may be crossing the state—the Dakota Access pipeline. “It will range anywhere up and down the line from what I’ve been reading from 12 inches to 30 inches,” Sattgast said.

A hazardous materials trailer caught fire and fireworks exploded in another fiery truck on Friday, as a massive fatal pileup of 150 vehicles in icy conditions shut down a major interstate in southern Michigan. At least one person died, 10 were injured and six cars and semi-trailers caught fire in the pile-up about 10 miles east of Kalamazoo, Michigan State Police spokesman Lt.

(Reuters) - A winter snowstorm was expected to blanket a wide swath of the U.S. Midwest on Saturday before heading to the East Coast, bringing up to a foot (30 cm) of fresh accumulation to parts of New England, days after a blizzard slammed the region, forecasters said. Six to 12 inches of snow were predicted from Iowa to Massachusetts, with New York and New Jersey expected to bear the brunt of the storm when it blows in to the region on Monday, the National Weather Service said.

Forgot to lock a door before going on vacation? No need to call the neighbors: there’s an app for that. In just a few years, home security systems have gone from complicated keypads that might lock the doors to comprehensive systems that monitor all types of functions. A number of local and national companies in the Topeka area offer home security services, equipment and smartphone apps.

That’s the advice of Curtis Stillwell at the Grass Pad, a nursery stock, seed, sod and wild bird enthusiast store in Olathe, Kansas. “Just get off your butt and do it,” he jokes. “It’s not rocket science. You can buy a small hanging feeder and a 10 pound bag of wild birdseed for less than $10. Start small and sees who shows up.”.

By Barbara Goldberg Jan 8 (Reuters) - Record-breaking cold that gripped the U.S. East and Midwest on Thursday snarled travel, shut schools, filled homeless shelters and even led to zoo penguins being ordered inside. Snow expected to accumulate to 3 feet (1 metre) deep was falling in upstate New York near Watertown, and snow already blanketing South Dakota was whipped by winds into a "ground blizzard" that made driving treacherous, said meteorologist Dan Petersen of the National Weather Service.

Jan 8 (Reuters) - Record-breaking cold that gripped the U.S. East and Midwest on Thursday snarled travel, shut schools, filled homeless shelters and even led to zoo penguins being ordered inside. Snow expected to accumulate to 3 feet (1 meter) deep was falling in upstate New York near Watertown and snow already blanketing South Dakota was whipped by winds into a "ground blizzard" that made driving treacherous, said meteorologist Dan Petersen of the National Weather Service.

(Reuters) - Heavier than expected snow snarled traffic in Washington on Tuesday, forcing Attorney General Eric Holder to cancel a trip to New York for the funeral of former Governor Mario Cuomo, while the U.S. Midwest prepared for brutal cold. The Washington region got up to 5 inches of snow, well above initial forecasts.

The race for South Dakota Democratic Party Chair may be turning on where the two candidates stand on abortion. Party officials meet Saturday in Oacoma to select a new chair to replace Deb Knecht of Houghton, who is stepping down. Announced candidates for the chairmanship are Minnehaha County Commissioner Jeff Barth of Sioux Falls and retired teacher and former Sioux Falls Education Association president Ann Tornberg of Beresford.

(Reuters) - Republican Mike Rounds has won the U.S. Senate seat in a three-way race in South Dakota, Reuters/Ipsos projected on Tuesday, a crucial gain for Republicans as they clinched control of the chamber. Rounds, 60, a former governor of the state, defeated former U.S. Senator Larry Pressler, who ran as an independent, and Democrat Rick Weiland, a one-time aide to former Democratic Senator Tom Daschle.