Right now, about 700 cars a day pass that way, mostly towards the nearby Badlands National Park or to the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation, 6 miles away.

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Emergency crews were working Thursday to reach isolated tribal members near the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation to get help to those with medical needs, such as dialysis.

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Accompanied by a posse of cabinet ministers, congressmen and corporate executives, the president touched down in Appalachia, the Mississippi Delta, the Pine Ridge Indian reservation in South Dakota and other black spots of economic backwardness.

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