Latest South Dakota news, sports, business and entertainment:

MEAT MESS 44 tons of rotting meat stink up South Dakota town BRIDGEWATER, S.D. (AP) A South Dakota town that had to remove 44 tons of rotting bison meat left in a warehouse wants to know if the owner plans to pay for the cleanup.

Ilan Parente (EE'-lahn pah-RENT'-ay) closed Bridgewater Quality Meats in January 2008 and moved the business to Minnesota.

The meat stayed cold until December, when the power was cut. By June, the smell had extended to the whole town, so workers removed the mess.

The stench is gone but Parente owes more than $11,000 for cleanup costs and more than $14,000 in property taxes on the business and a house.

According to a lawsuit, he could face civil penalties of up to $7 million if convicted of dumping too much blood and animal parts down the drain.

Parente could not be reached and his lawyer declined to comment.

PIPELINE LAWSUIT Judge dismisses tribes' lawsuit against pipeline SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (AP) A judge has dismissed a federal lawsuit filed by four American Indian tribes from South Dakota and Nebraska in an attempt to stop construction of the TransCanada Keystone Pipeline.

It will move crude oil from Alberta, Canada, to refineries in Kansas, Oklahoma and Illinois.

The $5.2 billion project over more than 2,100 miles will also go through North Dakota, South Dakota, Nebraska and Missouri.

The Sisseton-Wahpeton Oyate (oy-YAH'-tay), Rosebud Sioux, Santee Sioux and Yankton Sioux argued that treaties and federal laws and regulations were broken during the environmental assessment of the route and granting of a permit.

But a judge dismissed the complaint, saying the tribes didn't show a treaty basis or that the government failed in its duties.

SD GUARD LAWSUIT Retired SD colonel appeals Guard lawsuit SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (AP) A retired colonel is appealing the dismissal of a discrimination lawsuit she filed against the National Guard, the Army and three commanders.

Nancy Wetherill claimed discrimination based on her gender and Japanese-American heritage and wants the 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals to hear the case.

Defendants include Army Secretary Pete Geren, South Dakota National Guard Adjutant General Steven Doohen, Wetherill's former supervisor, Brig. Gen. Theodore Johnson, the Army and South Dakota National Guard.

A federal judge dismissed the lawsuit, saying she couldn't hear the case because of Wetherill's military status.

abortion-SCHOOL Rapid City district reaches agreement over rental SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (AP) The Rapid City School District has agreed on a settlement with a group that wanted to rent an auditorium for an event before a 2008 vote to ban abortion.

A court document that asks for an extension in deadlines states that both sides are exchanging settlement documents, but no details were filed.

Citizens For Life and its president, Allen Carlson of Rapid City, sued the district over claims the group was prevented from holding events at a school.

After the lawsuit was filed, the group reached an agreement with the district and was allowed to use the Dakota Middle School auditorium.

That prompted Citizens for Life to drop a request for a preliminary injunction, but the federal lawsuit advanced.

BROWN COUNTY-3M Brown County, 3M disagree over land assessment ABERDEEN, S.D. (AP) A Brown County official says the county and diversified manufacturer 3M Corp. are negotiating a settlement about the value of the business' Aberdeen property.

Director of Equalization Mary Worlie assessed the land at $14.76 million, but the company requested an assessed value of $9.2 million.

After the Consolidated Board of Equalization upheld Worlie's figure, 3M challenged to the South Dakota Office of Hearing Examiners and had the amount reduced to $7.4 million.

Now, Brown County is appealing the hearing examiner's decision in state court.

County records show the land was assessed at $8.8 million in 2006, $10.1 million in 2007 and $14.6 million in 2008. Its value increased as improvements were made.

Information from: Aberdeen American News, http://www.aberdeennews.com BIRTH RECORDS Lawmakers face balancing adoptees' rights SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (AP) A Vermillion lawmaker, state Representative Eldon Nygaard, says he will sponsor an attempt to let adult adoptees in South Dakota obtain their birth records without having to go in front of a judge.

The measure is supported by people who belong to South Dakota Support and education for Adoption Legislation, also known as South Dakota SEAL.

A similar bill passed both chambers early this year but didn't make it out of a conference committee after it was amended.

State Representative Joni Cutler of Sioux Falls, who was adopted as an infant, says she supports the current law.

South Dakota SEAL members say they are not pitting adoptees' rights against birth parents' rights. Lynne Banks, who has two adopted daughters, says a privacy right for birth parents does not exist in legislation, nor does it exist in adoption contracts.

WARRANTS ONLINE SD county posts list of outstanding warrants ELK POINT, S.D. (AP) The Union County sheriff's office is now posting its list of outstanding arrest warrants on its Web site.

Sheriff Dan Limoges says some people don't realize there's an active warrant out for their arrest. He's asking the public to help track down people on the list.

There are more than 3,900 outstanding warrants in Union County.

To view the 83-page list, go online to http://unioncountysd.com/warrant.html.

On the Net: Union County sheriff's office: http://unioncountysd.com/ Information from: KMEG-TV, http://www.kmeg.com SCHULTZ SYMPOSIUM SDSU to honor Nobel Prize winner T.W. Schultz BROOKINGS, S.D. (AP) South Dakota State University will honor the late Nobel Prize winner T.W. Schultz this coming week.

The South Dakota native won the 1979 prize in economics for his ideas on the value of human capital to the economy.

SDSU's 30th anniversary celebration includes a Tuesday evening keynote address by Iowa State University professor Wallace Huffman and several panels on Wednesday.

Huffman says Schultz believed in the importance of investing in people through education, on-the-job training, health, consumer information and human mobility.

(Copyright 2009 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.) APNP 10-04-09 1629CDT | save this article / add to your favorites list