Latest South Dakota news, sports, business and entertainment:

INDIGENT CLAIM Commission rejects record indigent claim MITCHELL, S.D. (AP) The county commission at Mitchell denied a $249,000 indigent health care claim because it said the patient had the means to pay for health insurance but chose not to purchase it.

The bill was the largest indigent claim ever filed with the county and covers chemotherapy and other services given to a Davison County resident at a hospital.

Commissioners unanimously denied the payment, claiming that the applicant was "indigent by design." Information from: The Daily Republic, http://www.mitchellrepublic.com HOMELESS SURVEY Another homeless count planned in SD SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (AP) Another survey of the homeless is planned in South Dakota. It's the second one this year by the Housing for the Homeless Consortium.

The federal government requires a survey every other January that's used to distribute grants for homeless programs.

One was done in January, but the Consortium believes its survey on Thursday will provide a more accurate number because the weather is better. In winter, it's sometimes hard to find and question the homeless.

The January survey counted 1,189 homeless, an increase of 16 percent from January 2007. But it does not include people who were living with a relative or friend in what is called "doubling up." SCHOOL AWARDS 2 SD schools receive Blue Ribbon designation SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (AP) Two South Dakota schools have been designated 2009 National Blue Ribbon Schools by the U.S. Department of education.

Oldham-Ramona School and Tabor Elementary School will be honored on Nov. 3 in Washington.

The award honors public and private schools that are either academically superior or have made dramatic gains in student achievement and helped close gaps in achievement among minority and disadvantaged students.

SISSETON Wahpeton FUNDING Sisseton Wahpeton College gets $220,000 from USDA ABERDEEN, S.D. (AP) Sisseton Wahpeton College will receive a $220,000 education and outreach grant.

The Agency Village college is one of 22 tribal schools nationwide getting funds through the U.S. Department of Agriculture Rural Development Tribal College Grant program.

The grants are provided to land-grant institutions for education and outreach to provide essential services to Native American communities and to help meet residents' needs.

Information from: Aberdeen American News, http://www.aberdeennews.com BADLANDS THISTLES Spraying completed on Badlands thistles PIERRE, S.D. (AP) Aerial spraying to kill Canada thistles in Badlands National Park has been completed for the year.

Park officials say the spraying was needed because the Canada thistle is a noxious weed that otherwise would spread and interfere with the natural ecology in the park and nearby land.

Badlands National Park has about 64,000 acres of wilderness, and a commercial helicopter operation sprayed more than 5,000 of those acres in July. Outside the wilderness areas, all-terrain vehicles were used to spray another 150 acres infested with Canada thistles.

PARK STICKERS 2010 park stickers available soon PIERRE, S.D. (AP) The 2010 annual park entrance license for state parks and recreation areas can be purchased starting Oct. 1.

It costs $28 and is valid through May 20, 2011. A second entrance sticker can be purchased for $14.

The license is required for entrance into designated state parks, recreation areas and lakeside use areas.

The 2010 license features a picture of two girls sledding. It's the first winter scene ever used on the park entrance sticker that's affixed to a vehicle windshield.

BONESTEEL FATAL Head-on crash kills Lower Brule man, 32 BONESTEEL, S.D. (AP) A 32-year-old man has died in a head-on collision in south-central South Dakota.

The South Dakota Highway Patrol identifies the victim as Randell Quilt of Lower Brule. The Patrol said Quilt was eastbound on U.S.

Highway 18 a mile west of Bonesteel about 1:30 p.m. Saturday when his 1992 Honda Accord crossed the center line and collided head-on with a semi.

The semi driver was not injured.

Quilt was not wearing his seat belt. It wasn't known whether alcohol was involved.

LOST GRAVESTONE Mystery of lost gravestone is solved YANKTON, S.D. (AP) A genealogy enthusiast from Nebraska, helped solve the mystery of the lost gravestone.

Several years ago, a gravestone bearing the name of J.J. Hlavac (LAH'-vihk) was found in Marne Creek in Yankton. No one knew where it came from.

Enter Brad Kellogg of Wakefield, Neb., who runs a nonprofit Web site that collects photos of South Dakota gravestones for genealogical purposes. He says another genealogy buff matched the information on the gravestone to a record of a burial at a cemetery in Tabor (TAY'-bor), about 17 miles from Yankton.

And when Kellogg called to check with a source for the Tabor cemetery, he ended up talking with Mary Ann Vanecek (VAN'-uh-chek).

It turns out J.J. Hlavac (LAH'-vihk), who died in 1910, was her husband's grandfather.

Vanecek says the family had been looking for the lost gravestone for some time.

No one knows how it ended up in the creek several years ago.

(Copyright 2009 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.) APNP 09-20-09 1619CDT | save this article / add to your favorites list