BY BOB MERCERState Capitol Bureau

PIERRE — A legislative con-ference committee couldn’t ne-gotiate a compromise Tuesdaynight on a statewide banagainst textingwhile driving.

The panelagreed 6-0 togive up on thetalks.

The full Sen-ate and the fullHouse of Repre-sentatives areexpected to rat-ify that report today(Wednesday).

The dividing line waswhether cities and countieswould be able to keep theirpresent bans and pass newbans tougher than the pro-posed state law.

Each chamber had passed atexting ban this session. HouseSpeaker Brian Gosch, R-RapidCity, wanted the local bans elim-inated, while Sen. Mike Vehle, R-Mitchell, wanted them to beallowed to remain in place.

Eight cities and one countyhave local bans. Those can re-main in effect without legisla-tive action.

“It’s my conclusion no bill isbetter than a bad bill,” Sen.Craig Tieszen, R-Rapid City,said.

BY DEREK BARTOSderek.bartos@yankton.net

GAYVILLE — Even thoughmembers of the Gayville-Volingirls basketball team haven’tpreviously played in the statetournament, it doesn’t meanthey lack experience.

The Raiders clinched theirfirst state tourney spot inschool history last week, defeat-ing Freeman 44-40 in overtimefor the Region 5B

championship. The team willface Sully Buttes at noon onThursday in Huron.

However, three starters forGayville-Volin aren’t far removedfrom state-level competition.

Laura Nelson, GenevieveClark and Megan Hirsch were allmembers of the Raiders crosscountry team that placed sec-ond at the South Dakota StateCross Country Meet last fall.

BY ROB NIELSENrob.nielsen@yankton.net

Plans for a replacement facilityfor the Avera Yankton Care Center(AYCC) were released by officials atAvera Sacred Heart Hospital Tues-day. The facility will mean the relo-cation of the 73 beds at AYCC to theAvera Sister James Center on theMajestic Bluffs campus. This willmean 187 total beds on the campus.

Tony Erickson, executive direc-tor of Senior Services, said the proj-ect is aimed at building up what thecurrent facility lacked.

“The big component that we arefocused on is redesigning a little bit

in areas to fix some of the deficitsthat we’ve had in the first design ofthe Majestic Bluffs Sister Jamescampus,” Erickson said.

One of the cornerstones of theproject will be the addition of atown center — catering to visitors,residents and staff alike — whichwill include a deli, a pub, a generalstore, children’s play area, bank,post office and beauty salon.

Erickson said the design booststhe facility’s profile when it comesto the level of care it can deliver.

“This design concept, to me, isreally going to give us a state-of-the

BY NATHAN JOHNSONnathan.johnson@yankton.net

The Yankton County Commissionostensibly took a step forward in ne-gotiations with Yankton Area Progres-sive Growth (YAPG) and Dakota PlainsAg Center Tuesday as they work to-ward an industrial rail park.

But how big of a step remains tobe seen.

During a meeting last week, theparties set up a special meeting inorder to discuss what it would take toput together a tax increment district(TID) that would be acceptable to thethree parties.

However, most of the 2 1/2-hourmeeting Tuesday was spent debatingthe merits of tax increment financing(TIF) and whether any developmentbeyond the Dakota Plains grain shut-tle facility would occur if a rail loop isbuilt.

The commission spent a majorityof the meeting listening.

“I think what we were hoping to

get to was a consen-sus that the com-pany would becomfortable that itwas likely the TIFwould be approvedand adopted afterworking through the60- to 75-dayprocess,” said RobStephenson of YAPG

after more than 90 minutes of discus-sion. “I think the company would takethe risk of starting their project if theythought that was going to happen. Itdoesn’t feel like that’s going to hap-pen today.”

The commission has alreadyagreed to rezone the property be-tween 436th Avenue and 437th Av-enue, and north of Highway 50, fromagricultural to commercial, andgranted a conditional-use permit tobuild a grain storage facility on thesite.

REGION 2-3 | OBITUARIES 3 | VIEWS 4 | LIFE 5 | MIDWEST 7 | SPORTS 8-10 | WORLD 11 | CLASSIFIEDS 12-14

TOMORROW: Yankton’s ABS Takes Step Forward With Latest Accreditation Print

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Mostly Cloudy With Snow Showers9 a.m.: 27 | 3 p.m.:39 | DETAILS: PAGE 2

YA N K T O N D A I LY

Volume 139Number 269 The Dakotas’ Oldest Newspaper | 14 PAGES | www.yankton.net

PRESS&DAKOTAN

WEDNESDAYMarch 12, 2014

A 2-For-1 Solution!In regards to its recent “Comics Showdown,” the

Press & Dakotan has made a decision — or rather,two of them.

For the two preceding weeks, we tested fourcomic strips to determine a replacement for the “DickTracy” strip. We received approximately 80 re-sponses for this test.

Ultimately, two of the four strips stood out. “PICKLES” was the hands-down winner in the

voting, so it will take its place on the P&Dʼscomics page starting Monday.

And so will “HAGAR THE HORRIBLE,”which also polled well. Weʼve tested it twice in recent

years and it had a strong showing both times, soweʼve decided to add this strip, too. Weʼll do someslight adjusting of the comics page to accommodatethe new strip, plus the “DEAR ABBY” and“JACQUELINE BIGAR’S STARS” horoscopecolumns.

Also, while weʼre reworking the page, we will runa larger format of the “PEANUTS” strip, which is aresponse to readers who were concerned aboutits small size.

We thank everyone who participated in oursurvey and our “Showdown.”

I N S I D E

S P O R T S

8 D A Y S U N T I L

SPRING

American Profile

Queens Of The Summit!

Yankton County com-missioner John Harperdiscusses one of thepoints of a proposedTax Increment District(TID) involving DakotaPlains and Napa junc-tion during a specialCounty Commissionmeeting Tuesday atthe County Govern-ment Center. (KellyHertz/P&D)

Industrial Rail ParkTalks Creep Along

Avera Announces$11 Million Plan

To Boost Facilities

G-V Taking Advantage OfCross-Sport Experiences

* * *

JAMES D. CIMBUREK/P&DSouth Dakota women's basketball coach Amy Williams, holding basketball, and her team acknowledge the fans after receiving the championship trophy from theSummit League Tournament on Tuesday at Sioux Falls Arena. The Coyotes topped Denver 82-71 for their first NCAA berth. For more coverage, see page 8.

Freng

AVERA | PAGE 14

G-V | PAGE 2

USD Parts WaysWith James • 8

TextingBan DiesIn Pierre

Gosch

TEXTING | PAGE 2

State Bound!Bucks Advance With Win • 8

COUNTY | PAGE 14