KWIT: Regional News for 5/14 (2008-05-14)

In Iowa...

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) - Federal officials say the raid at a
kosher meatpacking plant in northeast Iowa is the largest of its
type in U.S. history.
Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials say 390 people
have been arrested on immigration charges after a Monday raid at
Agriprocessors in Postville.
Officials say 314 men and 76 women were initially taken into
custody by ICE agents. Of that number, 56 have been released on
humanitarian grounds, typically because their arrest would leave a
child with no custodian.
Those arrested are being held in county jails and at a
fairgrounds.

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) - Governor Culver has signed into law a
package that spends 25 million dollars to extend health coverage to
50,000 uninsured children.
The money will be allocated over three years.
Culver says Iowa may be the first state in the nation to insure
all children.
The governor signed the bill yesterday at a Des Moines health
care clinic, where more than half the patients don't have health
insurance.
Culver also signed a spending bill that supports health and
human service programs.

IOWA CITY, Iowa (AP) - A union that represents 2,000 nurses in
Iowa has filed a lawsuit against a California group, claiming it
violated Iowa's Trade Secrets Act.
The Service Employees International Union Local 199 filed the
lawsuit in Johnson County District Court on Monday.
The union claims in the lawsuit that the California Nurses
Association violated Iowa law by mailing unsolicited promotional
materials to 2,000 nurses it represents.
The lawsuit also claims the California association illegally
obtained a private mailing list of union members.

CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa (AP) - State regulators have rejected
requests from five Iowa towns to create their own municipal
electric utilities.
The towns include Kalona, Wellman, Rolfe, Terril and Everly. The
Iowa Utilities Board voted yesterday that it is not in the public
interest for the towns to create their own utilities.
The vote came after Alliant Energy and MidAmerican Energy fought
the request before the board. Alliant owns Interstate Power &
Light, the electric supplier in the towns.
Tom Aller, president for Interstate Power & Light, says the vote
will protect residents from greater financial uncertainty. He says
municipalizing the utilities would have cost the towns too much.

In Nebraska...

LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) - Democrat Scott Kleeb won the Nebraska
Senate primary over Columbus industrialist Tony Raimondo.
With nearly all precincts reporting, Kleeb had 69 percent of the
vote.
On the Republican side, former U.S. Agriculture Secretary Mike
Johanns rolled past political newcomer Pat Flynn on his way to the
November contest to replace Republican Chuck Hagel, who isn't
seeking re-election.
The 57-year-old Johanns, also a former Nebraska governor, has
already raised more than $2 million.

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) - All three Republican incumbents advanced to
the general election yesterday in Nebraska's U.S. House races.
Republican Representative Lee Terry will face a rematch against
his 2006 opponent, Democrat Jim Esch. Both Esch and Terry predict a
tough fight in the general election as Terry tries for a sixth
term.
Esch says he thinks he has a better chance to win this year
because he is better known. But Terry is not taking Esch lightly.
In the 3rd District, Republican Representative Adrian Smith won
88 percent of the vote to beat Jeremiah Ellison.
Democrat Jay Stoddard won 74 percent to beat Paul Spatz.
Stoddard will advance to face Smith.
In the 1st District, Republican Representative Jeff Fortenberry
and his Democratic challenger Max Yashirin were running unopposed.

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) - Barack Obama has beaten Hillary Clinton again
in Nebraska, adding a symbolic victory in the Democratic
presidential primary to his win in February's caucuses.
With nearly all precincts reporting, Obama won 49 percent of the
vote. Clinton received 46 percent.
The primary victory was window dressing for Obama, who leads
Clinton in the national delegate and superdelegate counts. Obama
already won 16 of Nebraska's 24 delegates in the state's first
caucuses three months ago.
Meanwhile, presumptive Republican nominee John McCain added
Nebraska to his list of primary victories. He received 87 percent
of the vote. Ron Paul was the only other candidate on the ballot.

In South Dakota...

SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (AP) - Starting with the return of Bill
Clinton today, Democratic presidential candidates and their
supporters will descend on South Dakota the remainder of the work
week.
Bill Clinton plans to speak on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation
this afternoon at the high school in Pine Ridge.
Then tomorrow, Hillary Clinton plans to return to South Dakota.
Details and the location were not immediately released.
On Friday, the Democratic front-runner, Barack Obama, is
scheduled to make his first campaign stops in South Dakota.
Obama is to visit the Watertown area Friday morning and Sioux
Falls in the evening. Details are still being worked on.
Also on Friday, Ethel Kennedy, wife of the late 1968
presidential contender Robert F. Kennedy, and her son, Max, are
scheduled to appear in Rapid city and Pine Ridge in support of
Obama's candidacy.

SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (AP) - George McGovern says Barack Obama and
Hillary Clinton should stop criticizing each other and instead make
joint appearances.
The former U.S. senator from South Dakota and 1972 presidential
candidate outlined yesterday what he called a formula to unify the
party and defeat McCain.
His proposal is for Obama and Clinton to appear together at
least once in each of the five remaining primaries in Kentucky,
Oregon, Puerto Rico, Montana and South Dakota.
McGovern says each would speak about what he or she would do if
elected and then talk about why President Bush's policies have
failed and why they would continue to fail under McCain.
He says both campaigns responded favorably to the idea.

PIERRE, S.D. (AP) - The state's juvenile corrections monitor
says he conducted four formal investigations into incidents at
South Dakota's programs for juvenile offenders in Custer during the
last half of last year.
John Ellis said one case involved a staff member who filled a
boy's hat with snow and then threw it at the boy. He says that
staff member then quit.
Ellis said another case involved a volunteer from the
ministerial association who told some boys they would go to hell if
they followed Native American religious beliefs. The other two
cases involved a lack of discipline in a program and an
inappropriate comment by a teacher.

PIERRE, S.D. (AP) - The South Dakota Education Association has
elected Sandy Arseneault of Custer as its new president for a
three-year term.
The middle school teacher will take office in July, replacing
Donna DeKraai, who was term-limited.
Arseneault defeated Bonnie Mehlbrech of Sioux Falls in an
election that was held during April.
SDEA represents more than 7,000 elementary and secondary
teachers, higher education faculty, education support
professionals, retired educators and students preparing to become
teachers.