KWIT: Regional News for 5/8 (2008-05-08)

In Iowa...

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) - An attorney for a union representative
accused of protecting illegal immigrants working at a meatpacking
plant in Marshalltown says that his client may have said some
unlikeable things. But the lawyer told a jury during closing
arguments yesterday that he wasn't guilty of any crimes.
Braulio Pereyra-Gabino (Per-EH-ra Gah-BEE-no) was arrested by
federal immigration officials in July of 2007. He faces charges of
harboring illegal workers, false use of a Social Security number
and aggravated identify theft.
His trial in U.S. District Court for the Southern District of
Iowa started Monday.
Federal prosecutors contend that from June of 2003 until early
last year, Pereyra-Gabino told undocumented workers how to escape
detection and protect their fake identities used to get jobs at the
Swift and Company plant in Marshalltown.

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) - Former Republican state legislator
George Eichhorn (EYE'-corn) has officially launched his campaign
for the U.S. Senate seat held by Tom Harkin.
Eichhorn of Stratford is one of three Republicans seeking the
nomination to run against Harkin. The Democrat is seeking a fifth
Senate term.
In announcing his Senate bid yesterday, Eichhorn released a list
of 33 prominent Republicans who are endorsing his effort.
Supporters include state Senate Minority Leader Ron Wieck and
former Senate President Jeff Lamberti.
Eichhorn will face Steve Rathje and Chistopher Reed in the June
3 Republican primary.

JOHNSTON, Iowa (AP) - University of Iowa President Sally Mason
says she's satisfied with steps taken by athletic officials to deal
with a rash of discipline and legal problems by athletes.
Mason, hired as president last year, says she's watching the
situation closely. But Mason thinks athletic director Gary Barta
and football coach Kirk Ferentz have handled recent problems well.
Mason says that if she had to intervene, she'd need a new
athletic director. Mason added she feels strongly that she has a
very good person in Barta and a very good coach in Ferentz.
Mason said she approves of the discipline meted out by Barta and
Ferentz, saying its in their good hands for now.
Most of the conduct issues surrounding the athletic department
involve the football team.
Former Iowa wide receiver James Cleveland and backup quarterback
Arvell Nelson were dismissed from the team in March after being
arrested on drug charges. Wide receivers Anthony Bowman and
Dominque Douglas are no longer on the team after both pleaded
guilty to credit card fraud earlier this year.
A number of players have been arrested on alcohol-related
charges as well.

In Nebraska...

LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) - Ben Nelson says blaming ethanol for high
food prices isn't fair.
The Nebraska Democratic senator said during a news conference
call yesterday that he's signed a letter to the Environmental
Protection Agency to block cuts to requirements for corn ethanol.
Republican Senator John Thune of South Dakota is gathering the
signatures in response to a letter from the governor of Texas and
26 senators to the EPA.
That letter asks the EPA to cut in half this year's production
requirement for 9 billion gallons of corn ethanol.
Nelson says he suspects the high cost of oil for transportation
bears more blame for the high price of food.
The Democrat says opponents simply want to blame the closest
thing they can, and ethanol is it.

LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) - The Nebraska Public Service Commission says
the state won't need a third phone area code until at least the
second quarter of 2010.
The PSC said yesterday in a news release that conservation
measures have added six months to the last predicted date for
exhaustion of 402 numbers. Experts had said Nebraska would need a
third area code by the fourth quarter of 2009.
Exhausting the phone numbers would have required people to
either use 10 digits for local calling or deal with a new area code
in what had been 402 territory.
The PSC says Omaha or Lincoln likely would keep 402 and the rest
of 402 would have a new code.
It's predicted that western Nebraska's 308 area code won't run
out of numbers until 2030.

In South Dakota...

SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (AP) - The owners of an Alcester farm that was
searched for clues in a 37-year-old cold case can question
investigators and have access to some evidence before a judge
decides whether to let the case continue.
The decision, by a federal judge, is based partly on claims that
detectives unplugged a freezer so its contents spoiled, refused to
let the owners finish chores and prevented the feeding of newborn
kittens -- many of which died.
Esther Lykken (LIH'-ken) is the mother and Kerwyn Lykken is the
brother of David Lykken, who was accused of the 1971 disappearance
of two Vermillion teens.
State prosecutors dropped the charges after a fellow inmate,
Aloysius Black Crow, acknowledged having another prisoner pose as
David Lykken to make secret recordings of a supposed confession to
the crime.

CAPITOL HILL (AP) - The White House says an agreement on a farm
bill is looking less and less likely this year.
A bipartisan group of congressional negotiators has been working
on the five-year, nearly 300-billion-dollar bill for several weeks.
They say they've reached agreement, but they're still far apart
from the White House on several issues, including the amount of
subsidies that would go to wealthy farmers.
President Bush has called the proposed measure "bloated" at a
time when crop prices are at record highs. He has threatened a
veto.
White House spokeswoman Dana Perino raised the possibility of
Congress drafting a one-year extension, if lawmakers can't pass a
bill the president would sign.
The House and Senate are expected to take up the compromise next
week.

SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (AP) - A report from the National Safety
Council says South Dakota has the fourth highest death rate from
accidental falls among people over age 65.
The state had 100 such deaths in 2005, a rate of 76 per 100,000
population in the 65-and-older age group.
The rate was highest in New Mexico at 99 deaths per 100,000 and
lowest in Alaska at 15 per 100,000.
The National Safety Council says a fall is now the leading cause
of injury deaths nationwide in that age group.

GRAFTON, N.D. (AP) - There's a shortage of carnivals available
for county fairs this year.
The secretary of the North Dakota Association of Fairs, Neil
Fleming of Cavalier, says there'll be a lot of county fairs in
North Dakota, South Dakota, and Minnesota that won't have one.
Fleming says the high cost of fuel is one reason for the
shortage. He says other factors are a dwindling rural population,
higher insurance and transportation costs, and a lack of local help
at each stop to run the carnivals.