KWIT: Regional News for 5/9 (2008-05-09)

In Iowa...

WASHINGTON (AP) - Married farmers with joint incomes of up to
$1.5 million a year could still qualify for crop subsidies. That's
under a five-year, $300 billion farm bill compromise that would
boost the Agriculture Department's food and farm programs.
Agriculture Secretary Ed Schafer reiterated a Bush
administration threat to veto the bill. That's as details of the
House-Senate compromise emerged yesterday.
White House budget director Jim Nussle says the legislation
still spends too much, relies on budget gimmicks and doesn't have
hardly enough reform.
Nussle says that for those reasons, it would still be something
that the administration would oppose.
Georgia Sen. Saxby Chambliss, the top Republican on the Senate
Agriculture Committee and one of the bill's negotiators, said that
Bush has not told him directly he'll veto the bill.
But White House staffers have made it clear to him that Bush's
support is unlikely.

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) - A former union representative has been
found guilty in federal court of harboring illegal immigrants
working at a Swift & Co. meatpacking plant in Marshalltown.
Braulio Pereyra-Gabino was found not guilty of other charges,
including false use of a Social Security number and aggravated
identity theft.
He faces up to five years in prison and a $250,000 fine on the
harboring charge.
Pereyra-Gabino was working as vice president of Local 1149 of
the United Food and Commercial Workers union when he was arrested
by federal immigration officials in July 2007.
Prosecutors contend that he told undocumented workers how to
escape detection and protect their fake identities used to get jobs
at the Marshalltown plant.
Pereyra-Gabino's attorney declined to comment on Thursday's
verdict.

ALTA, Iowa (AP) - A 78-year-old legally blind man from northwest
Iowa has bowled a perfect game.
Alta resident Dale Davis nailed 12 consecutive strikes and
reached 300 on Saturday night during league play. Davis has limited
peripheral vision but can't see straight ahead.
Century Lanes owner Clem Ledoux says that Davis' game didn't
draw much attention until he reached 10 strikes. That's when folks
poured out of the bar to watch his final two shots.
Ledoux said Davis threw a "Brooklyn," where a right-hander
strikes the left side of the head pin, for his final strike. The
feat brought wild cheers from Davis' fellow bowlers and onlookers.
It's the first 300 Ledoux could recall at the alley since he
took over in 1984.

In Nebraska...

LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) - Secretary of State John Gale is predicting
a low voter turnout for the primary election Tuesday.
Gale said yesterday that he expects just 27 percent of
registered voters will go to the polls.
The fact that the Nebraska presidential primaries won't affect
delegate selection to the Republican and Democratic national
conventions is one reason for Gale's prediction.
Other factors cited by Gale include few high-profile races
throughout the state and a limited slate of county offices on the
ballot.
Turnout in recent primary elections has been up and down. The
2006 primary election drew 35 percent of registered voters,
compared with 21 percent for 2004.
Gale's office says there are 1,117,491 registered voters in the
state.

SURPRISE, Neb. (AP) - Stephanie Johanns jokingly refers to her
husband's Senate campaign as the "Johanns reunion tour."
Mike Johanns, former governor and U.S. agriculture secretary, is
visiting dozens of towns this week as he vies for the Senate seat
to be vacated by Republican Chuck Hagel.
Johanns is the heavy favorite to win Tuesday's primary election
against political newcomer Pat Flynn of Schuyler.
Johanns says he's organized volunteers in 86 of 93 counties so
far and raised more than 2 million dollars, helped by a December
visit from President Bush.
The former agriculture secretary says he hopes to be on the
Senate's Agriculture Committee if he wins in November.
Johanns says Nebraskans don't want government running their
health care decisions.

WASHINGTON (AP) - Unlikely partners, including oil refineries,
environmentalists and food producers, are opposing the country's
ethanol policy.
The groups say the increased output of the alternative fuel is
inflating food costs and contributing to higher prices at the pump.
Farmers and other ethanol supporters dispute these claims. But
lobbyists seem to be convincing some in Congress. Twenty-four
Republican senators, including presidential candidate Senator John
McCain, last week sent a letter to the Environmental Protection
Agency urging it to repeal or roll back ethanol output targets.
Most analysts say Congress is unlikely to alter the ethanol
mandate, given the political importance of farm states in an
election year.
The top 1- ethanol producing states -- including Nebraska --
account for half the electoral votes needed to win the White House.

In South Dakota...

SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (AP) - Democratic presidential hopeful Hillary
Clinton shrugged off calls to drop out of the race during a
campaign stop in Sioux Falls. She said the Democratic Party will be
stronger as the process continues. She says it's exciting that on
June 3rd, the votes in South Dakota and Montana -- the last
presidential primaries -- will count.
Clinton pressed major campaign themes, stressing a need to
change the energy policy and ramp up work on renewable sources. She
also said oil companies should be made to put up ethanol pumps at
gas stations.

VERMILLION, S.D. (AP) - Crews continue working to restore
electricity in northwest South Dakota, where rain, ice and heavy
snow pulled down power lines last week.
Jerry Reisenauer (RISE'-en-our) is manager of Grand Electric
Cooperative. He says 3,000 power poles were lost in Harding County
and 400 in Butte County.
He says about 390 residential customers are still without power,
along with about 400 commercial accounts -- many of which are oil
wells in Harding County.
Reisenauer says it could be two weeks before the work is
finished.

MITCHELL, S.D. (AP) - Corn planting is falling well behind
normal in South Dakota because of the cool, wet spring.
Just 10 percent of the corn acreage had been planted at the
beginning of the week. The five-year average is 32 percent. A year
ago, 14 percent of the crop was in the ground.