KWIT: Regional News for 5/2 (2008-05-02)

In Iowa...

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) - Some things never change: Republican
John McCain dislikes farm subsidies.
The presidential candidate spoke in Des Moines yesterday, giving
what he termed "straight talk" about the farm bill being debated
in Congress.
McCain says he would veto the bill because he believes farm
subsidies are unnecessary.
His comments come in the heart of farm country, a place where
subsidies for corn and ethanol fuel are wildly popular.
Congress is struggling to finish a farm bill that can survive a
threatened veto. It passed another extension and sent it to
President Bush, who, like McCain, says it is bloated with subsidies
for wealthy farmers. The nearly 300 billion dollar bill would pay
for farm and nutrition programs for the next five years.

BURLINGTON, Iowa (AP) - A major highway bridge that crosses the
Mississippi River at Burlington was closed yesterday after a
collision.
The U.S. Highway 34 bridge was closed after barges broke free
from a staging area upstream and collided into one of the bridge's
piers.
One barge continued downriver and struck a BNSF railroad bridge,
which also was closed.
Officials with the Iowa Department of Transportation say
inspectors found only minor blemishes to the highway bridge's pier,
apparently caused by a glancing blow from the barges. No damage was
found to the bridge's deck or support cables, and the bridge was
later reopened.
The bridge, known as the Great River Bridge, opened in 1993.
The railroad bridge carries dozens of trains a day, including
Amtrak.
Amtrak was temporarily putting passengers from the eastbound
California Zephyr on charter buses in Mount Pleasant.

SIOUX CITY, Iowa (AP) - A 19-year-old has pleaded guilty to
beating a man whose frozen body was found in a snowy backyard in
Sioux City.
Jeremy Lee McCoy pleaded guilty to second-degree murder
yesterday and was sentenced to 50 years in prison.
Police say McCoy assaulted 35-year-old Carlos Tailano twice on
Feb. 11 and took away the victim's shirt, socks and shoes in frigid
temperatures.
Tailano's body was found in a backyard later that afternoon,
lying under several inches of new snow. Police say he appeared to
have been beaten and thrown face down.

In Nebraska...

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) - An anti-racism activist from Tennessee says
Nebraskans should not be duped into supporting a ballot initiative
that would ban affirmative action, thinking it will prevent
minority applicants from getting jobs they're not qualified for.
Laws already protect against that.
Tim Wise says policies that allow consideration of race and
gender in public hiring, contracting and school admissions are
still needed to protect against unintentional bias.
His comments came in advance of a speech yesterday at Creighton
University.
Nebraska is one of five states being targeted by the California
group Super Tuesday for Equal Rights. A petition drive is under way
to get a proposed constitutional amendment banning affirmative
action on the November ballot.

FREMONT, Neb. (AP) - Fremont police are looking for who ever is
responsible for drugging the drinks of women around town.
Police say one to two women a week are passing out in Fremont
bars, and investigators say it's because someone is slipping an
over-the-counter drug in their drinks. An undercover Fremont police
detective says a small group of people are going to bars and
targeting women between the ages of 20 and 40.
Victims pass out and wake up in the hospital vomiting,
experiencing diarrhea and sometimes seizures. The detective says it
takes almost three full days to recover.
Police say two men also have been victims of the drugged
alcohol.
Some bar owners are now taking extra precautions and allowing
only bar staff to deliver drinks to tables.

In South Dakota...

PIERRE, S.D. (AP) - The number of active registered voters in
Minnehaha County now exceeds 100,000.
That means South Dakota's most populous county holds about 20
percent of the state's registered voters.
A report posted on the secretary of state's office WEB site
shows that South Dakota has 504,327 active registered voters.
Republicans make up nearly 47 percent of registered voters, while
Democrats account for 38 percent, and independents are 15 percent.
In the past two years, Democrats have gained 3,857 registered
voters, while Republicans have gained 2,779. Independents have
gained 7,760.

WASHINGTON (AP) - Congress has sent another extension of farm
and nutrition programs to President Bush as lawmakers struggle to
finish a farm bill that can survive a presidential veto.
Both the House and the Senate today passed a two-week extension
of current law. Bush has threatened to veto the new legislation
because it is bloated with subsidies for wealthy farmers.
Farm-state lawmakers have said they don't have the votes for
more drastic cutbacks, mostly due to opposition from Southerners
who represent cotton and rice farms, which are more expensive to
run.

PIERRE, S.D. (AP) - The South Dakota Supreme Court has upheld a
jury verdict that required a paving company to pay the Gettysburg
School District more than $278,000 in damages for building a faulty
running track.
The school district hired an engineering firm and Bituminous
Paving Inc. to build a new outdoor running track in 2002, but the
asphalt cracked and was uneven after the construction.
The school district filed a lawsuit, and a settlement was
reached with the engineering company. A jury found Bituminous
Paving owed damages for negligence, breach of warranties and breach
of good faith.