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Groton Daily Independent
Friday, Aug. 25, 2017 ~ Vol. 25 - No. 056 ~ 18 of 65
Waverly-South Shore def. Wilmot, 25-23, 23-25, 23-25, 25-23, 15-12 Hanson Tournament
Consolation Semi nal
Ethan def. Platte-Geddes, 30-28, 25-18
Gayville-Volin def. Freeman Academy/Marion, 2-1
Seventh Place
Freeman Academy/Marion def. Platte-Geddes, 25-18, 25-13 Fifth Place
Ethan def. Gayville-Volin, 25-12, 25-4
Championship
Hanson def. Andes Central/Dakota Christian, 25-9, 25-12
South Dakota farmers face destroyed crops from herbicide
SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (AP) — South Dakota farmers are reporting crops devastated by herbicide drift.
Farmers believe the herbicide to be dicamba, which is used for weed control. Three dicamba products — Engenia, FeXapan and Xtendimax — are registered for use on dicamba-tolerant soybean plants in the state. State Department of Agriculture of cial Tom Gere said more than 150 farmers have reported suspected damage from the herbicide within the rst week of the department opening surveys to farmers. The de-
partment was still accepting reports Tuesday, the Argus Leader reported .
“We’ve had like four come in since lunch time,” Gere said Tuesday. “It’s signi cant.”
Gere said the department doesn’t know yet whether it would ban the Monsanto herbicides or discontinue
their registrations for 2018. Dicamba has been banned in Arkansas and reviewed by U.S. regulators over concerns it can drift or vaporize and move.
Weeds eld specialist Gared Shaffer said farmers have been using dicamba since the 1950s, but Monsanto started recently selling soybean varieties genetically altered to withstand dicamba.
The herbicide has been known to cause cupping and veining symptoms in plants that are intolerant of it. Soybean farmer Al Krutsinger said his plants’ leaves have cupped and wrinkled. He’s reported it to the state, saying he’s worried what this could mean for his harvest.
“It’s hard to make a living already and if they won’t take your beans, I just can’t imagine,” he said. “No- body’s talking about it. Nobody’s even brought it up.”
Farmers nationwide have said the herbicide’s directions are too complicated to understand, and they end up with dicamba drift because of faulty applications and failure to abide by buffer zones.
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Information from: Argus Leader, http://www.argusleader.com
Franken, Klobuchar deny blocking Trump’s federal nomination By KYLE POTTER, Associated Press
ST. PAUL, Minn. (AP) — Minnesota Sen. Amy Klobuchar said Thursday she’s still considering the nomina- tion of a state Supreme Court Justice to a federal post, echoing comments from fellow Democratic Sen. Al Franken as Republicans accuse the pair of blocking a conservative appointment.
President Donald Trump nominated Minnesota Supreme Court Justice David Stras to a vacancy on the 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, which serves Minnesota, North Dakota, South Dakota, Missouri, Nebraska, Iowa and Arkansas. Elevated to the state’s highest court in 2010 by then- Gov. Tim Pawlenty, Stras was also on Trump’s shortlist for the U.S. Supreme Court.
But more than three months later, Stras’ nomination is still in limbo. Klobuchar and Franken haven’t given Stras their sign-off through so-called blue slips — a privilege given to home state senators before judicial nominations progress for nal Senate con rmation.
The delay has caused outrage among Republicans in both Minnesota and in Washington, D.C., where Trump has accused Democrats in the Senate of blocking his nominations for judgeships and other top