The Wrap: This Week in Review

Here are some of the stories that had Sioux Falls talking this week.

An early morning fire destroyed the A & S Construction building just west of Tea Tuesday morning. The blaze could have been started by a skid loader. Lincoln Co. Emergency crews responded to the fire. No injuries were sustained.

An underground transformer exploded early Friday morning in downtown Sioux Falls. Fire and smoke were seen rising from manholes near Wells Fargo and created power outages for several downtown businesses. According to Xcel Energy, up to 15 transformers were destroyed in the explosion. Crews from the Twin Cities arrived Friday to assist. As of Saturday morning, much of downtown remained without power and the local Red Cross set up shelter for downtown residents near the arena.

In May of 2009, a 28lb, 5 oz lake trout was caught and was the official South Dakota state record...until now. Aaron Jones of Rapid City is hoping he broke the record by at least a pound and a half on Wednesday while fishing at Pactola Reservoir. Mr. Jones is awaiting certification. 30 lbs? Nice catch!

In light of last weeks report from the Nation's Report Card for Education, which gave South Dakota a failing grade, we'd just like to point out that South Dakota has a higher graduation rate than the national average as revealed this week.

Should we arm our teachers? That topic was kicked around at most cafes and water coolers for the past few weeks. Now, A South Dakota House committee has approved a bill that would allow school districts to arm teachers with guns to protect against attacks and other deadly threats to the children. The bill was narrowly approved by a vote of 8-7 and will now be debated in the full House.

Much milder temperatures are in store for us this weekend after a frigid week in South Dakota. Last Monday morning wind chills were recorded at -30 below. Keep up-to-date with changing weather conditions with radar and 5 day forecast.