Latest South Dakota news, sports, business and entertainment:

FORT PIERRE WATER Fort Pierre considers new water source FORT PIERRE, S.D. (AP) Fort Pierre officials are considering contracting with a rural water system for better-quality water.

Fort Pierre's water has high levels of rust and manganese, which can cause stains. Mayor Sam Tidball says the long-standing problem has to be addressed, and the only other option would be building a third city well and eventually a treatment facility.

Under the proposed contract with the West River Lyman Jones Rural Water System, the average resident's monthly water bill would go from $21 to about $35.

The City Council is expected to discuss the matter at its Sept.

8 meeting.

Information from: KCCR-AM, http://www.todayskccr.com/ TAX MORATORIUM Forms available for tax freeze on historic sites PIERRE, S.D. (AP) The South Dakota State Historical Society has application forms available for a program that freezes property tax assessments on historic sites that are restored or rehabilitated.

The society's board of trustees last year approved 32 properties from across the state for the program. The deadline for applying this year is Nov. 2.

The property tax moratorium is available for buildings that are listed on the national or state registers of historic places and are rehabilitated according to federal standards. The moratorium puts an 8-year freeze on a property tax assessment so it cannot be increased as a result of the certified rehabilitation work done on the building.

PLANE CRASH NTSB report: Plane was doing tricks before crash TEA, S.D. (AP) An investigation of a plane crash in southeast South Dakota shows the pilot was performing aerobatic maneuvers shortly before plummeting into a Soybean field.

The preliminary report from the National Transportation Safety Board says the plane had just recovered from an aerial trick when it crashed Aug. 16 near Tea.

The pilot, 28-year-old Todd Eslick of Sioux Falls, and his passenger, 12-year-old Tristan Schmitz of Brookings, were killed.

Eslick was a member of the Vanguard Squadron, a group that does aerial stunts. A witness said she saw the plane go up and down a couple times, and then she heard the engine stop and backfire before the crash.

It could be six to 18 months before a final report is issued by NTSB.

Information from: Argus Leader, http://www.argusleader.com SD PRISONER FRAUD Woman in SD prison convicted while behind bars PIERE, S.D. (AP) A 41-year-old inmate at the South Dakota Women's Prison in Pierre is scheduled to be sentenced Sept. 25 after being convicted of committing forgery, attempted grand theft and identity theft while behind bars.

Mary Elizabeth Petersen was charged after prison staff members discovered she had forged another person's name and credit card number on mail order forms in 2007. The forms were intercepted before they could be mailed.

Petersen was convicted last week in Pierre.

She's in prison for two unrelated cases: a grand theft conviction out of Davison County and embezzlement convictions in Minnehaha County.

Information from: KGFX-AM, http://www.dakotaradiogroup.com ABDUCTION TRAINING Child abduction response team seeks certification PIERRE, S.D. (AP) The South Dakota Division of Criminal Investigation will seek certification of its Child Abduction Response Team during a mock child abduction exercise in Pierre.

The exercise will be conducted Friday at Steamboat Park in Pierre.

The South Dakota team will be the fifth in the nation to seek the certification.

The Child Abduction Response Team mobilizes local, state and federal agencies to help the agency leading the investigation when a child is missing under suspicious circumstances.

The mock exercise will involve a response, investigation, search, recovery of the child and arrest of a suspect.

BIRD BARS More sandbars planned for protected birds VERMILLION, S.D. (AP) The Army Corps of Engineers will build more sandbar habitat for two protected birds on the Missouri River near Vermillion.

The endangered interior least tern and the threatened piping plover use sandbars to nest and raise their young each summer. A Sioux City, Iowa, company was awarded contracts totaling $1.9 million to create 100 acres of sandbar habitat.

The company will build up two existing sandbars so they remain above the water level. Work will start in September after the birds have migrated south and be complete by spring when the birds return.

The Corps of Engineers is required to make sandbar habitat because it's not being created naturally by the river's flow.

SKYPE-MUSICIANS Skype connects pro trumpet player, NSU students ABERDEEN, S.D. (AP) Some trumpet players at Northern State University are using technology to get ahead in their craft.

The students use Skype, a software application that brings people together over the Internet, to play with professional trumpeter Doug Woolverton, who lives in Rhode Island.

One, Alex Massa, says the sessions with Woolverton have put him "leaps and bounds" ahead of where he'd be without them.

Woolverton is a member of Roomful of Blues, a band based in Providence, Rhode Island, and backs up the trumpet player for Bruce Springsteen.

Massa and Woolverton spend at least two and a half or three hours practicing and working on improvising.

(Copyright 2009 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.) APNP 09-06-09 1607CDT | save this article / add to your favorites list