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SD public defense duties shift from counties to state; SCOTUS appears skeptical of restricting government communications with social media companies; Trump lawyers say he can't make bond; new scholarships aim to connect class of 2024 to high-demand jobs.

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The SCOTUS weighs government influence on social media, and who groups like the NRA can do business with. Biden signs an executive order to advance women's health research and the White House tells Israel it's responsible for the Gaza humanitarian crisis.

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Midwest regenerative farmers are rethinking chicken production, Medicare Advantage is squeezing the finances of rural hospitals and California's extreme swing from floods to drought has some thinking it's time to turn rural farm parcels into floodplains.

Grand Canyon May Get Improvements, Additional Staff

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Thursday, February 26, 2015   

GRAND CANYON NATIONAL PARK, Ariz. - Grand Canyon and other national parks could get some much-needed maintenance and additional staff if Congress approves a proposed budget currently under consideration.

John Garder, budget and appropriations director for the National Parks Conservation Association, says Interior Secretary Sally Jewell is asking Congress to increase National Park Service funding by more than $400 million, an increase of more than 10 percent.

After years of recession-related budget cuts, Garder says parks are "in pretty rough shape."

"Improvements to trails, restoring trails that are crumbling," he says. "We also need improvements to visitor centers where they have out-of-date programs, leaking roofs, bathrooms that are decaying and other needs."

Garder says some parks have deteriorated to the point of causing dangerous conditions for visitors. He notes there is more than $300 million in "deferred maintenance" costs at Grand Canyon alone.

According to Garder, maintaining and improving national parks is critical because they serve as huge economic drivers.

"In Arizona, more than 10 million visitors in 2013 spent more than $773 million," he says. "That supported almost 12,000 private sector jobs."

Nationally, Garder says national parks contributed about $27 billion to the U.S. economy in 2013, and supported nearly 250,000 jobs.


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