KWIT: Regional News for 5/21 (2008-05-21)

In Iowa...

SCHLESWIG, Iowa (AP) - A woman and her baby have been found dead
in a home in the western Iowa town of Schleswig (SHLES'-wig).
The Crawford County sheriff's office says a neighbor found
33-year-old Shannon Steinbach hanging in the basement Monday. Her
4-month-old daughter, Hope, was found dead in an upstairs bathroom
in about 5 inches of water.
Investigators say the woman was supposed to pick up her husband
from work. When she didn't show up, her husband called the
neighbor.
Acting Sheriff Michael Bremser says it appears to be a
murder-suicide. The investigation remains open pending autopsy
results.

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) - Best Life, a men's magazine, has ranked
Des Moines as the sixth best city in America to raise a family.
The magazine ranked Honolulu the best city, citing low
unemployment and relatively high per-pupil spending by the island's
public schools. It also notes the large number of beaches on Oahu.
Editor Stephen Perrine says the magazine also considered sprawl,
the crime rate, median home value and the number of parks and
museums in arriving at its list of the 100 best cities.
Other top cities include Virginia Beach, Virginia, Billings,
Montana, Columbus, Georgia, and San Diego, California.
The magazine says Philadelphia, Flint, Michigan, and Dayton,
Ohio, are among the ten worst cities in the country to raise a
family.

HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) - Drug maker Merck & Company will pay Iowa
and 28 other states 58 million dollars to settle a lawsuit.
The settlement stems from allegations that its ads for the
once-popular painkiller Vioxx deceptively played down health risks.
The deal was announced yesterday and calls for Merck to submit
all new TV commercials for its drugs to the Food and Drug
Administration for review before they can be aired.
The civil settlement ends a joint three-year investigation.
Vioxx was taken off the market in 2004 after research showed it
doubled the risk of heart attacks and strokes.

In Nebraska...

LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) - The state attorney general says he'll
appeal a district court ruling that voids the collection of
property taxes by natural resources districts in the Republican
River basin.
The taxes were included in a 2007 law and were meant to help
bring Nebraska into compliance with a three-state water compact.
Yesterday, Lancaster County District Judge Paul Merritt struck
down part of the law, saying it violates the state constitution by
giving the natural resources districts special authority to tax.
Merritt argues that it's not probable that the state would enter
into other, multistate water compacts that would qualify for that
type of taxing authority.
Attorney General Jon Bruning says "the ruling effectively bars
almost any legislation regarding interstate compacts."

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) - A lawsuit seeking class-action status has
been filed against Nebraska's health agency, saying it overstepped
its bounds by denying Medicaid health care coverage to some welfare
recipients.
The Nebraska Appleseed Center filed the lawsuit yesterday in
Lancaster County District Court. The lawsuit names the Nebraska
Department of Health and Human Services and various state officials
as defendants.
The lawsuit challenges a Health and Human Services' policy that
removes Medicaid from families that fail to fully meet work
requirements under Nebraska's welfare-to-work program known as
Employment First.
The lawsuit seeks to stop the state from withdrawing Medicaid
from adults in families sanctioned for failure to participate in
Employment First.

LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) - A sixth-grader from Lincoln has advanced to
the final round of the National Geographic Bee and will be among 10
finalists to compete for $25,000.
Akshay Rajagopal of Lux Middle School advanced yesterday from
the preliminary round of the national competition, which was open
to 55 students who were tops in state contests. The 11-year-old
will compete this morning in the final leg.
Vijay Rajagopal says his son's interest in geography started
when he was 5 and the family lived in Malaysia. The boy could
easily memorize names of countries and their capitals.
The National Geographic Bee is open to students in grades 4
through 8. To advance to the national level, students must first
win their state competition.

In South Dakota...

PIERRE, S.D. (AP) - South Dakota officials and six news
organizations have reached a proposed legal settlement that would
allow exit polling within 100 feet of a voting place.
The lawsuit argued that a South Dakota law barring exit polling
near voting places violates the First Amendment because it
restricts the news organizations' speech and commentary about the
political process and limits their opportunities to gather
information about elections.
The proposed agreement was filed yesterday in federal court, but
Judge Lawrence Piersol has not yet signed it.
Attorney General Larry Long says Piersol could accept the
agreement, reject it or seek to modify it.
The settlement would prevent the state from applying the
distance restrictions on exit polling in the June 3rd primary and
subsequent elections.
Long says the agreement seemed prudent because courts elsewhere
have ruled against similar restrictions on exit polling.

PIERRE, S.D. (AP) - Barack Obama and Hillary Rodham Clinton are
working hard to win American Indian votes as the two Democratic
presidential hopefuls compete in South Dakota's presidential
primary.
Front-runner Obama met privately with about 50 Lakota leaders
from across South Dakota before his public appearance in Sioux
Falls last week. He drew cheers during the public speech when he
talked about the need to improve conditions in Indian communities.
Clinton has now issued detailed proposals for helping to improve
health care, create jobs, improve housing and fight crime on
reservations. Her husband, former President Bill Clinton, has
campaigned on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation.
Obama also has pledged to expand health services, improve
education, combat methamphetamine dealers, promote economic
development and improve housing on reservations.
Both Democrats have promised that if elected they would pay
attention to Indian issues.
The Indian vote could play a big role in determining which
candidate wins the June 3rd primary in South Dakota.

VERMILLION, S.D. (AP) - The Triple-A auto club says a
one-percent crop is being projected in travel for the upcoming
Memorial Day holiday weekend as compared to last year.
Mark Medeja (muh-DAY'-uh) of Triple-A South Dakota says fewer
travelers should mean less demand for gas. He says it should be
enough to keep costs down.
Medeja says South Dakota should not see a significant spike in
prices -- if any.
He also says retailers are competing so they don't price
themselves out of their markets. Medeja says that should keep gas
costs level over the period.
The average U.S. price for a gallon of self-serve unleaded
gasoline is three-dollars and 80 cents.

RAPID CITY, S.D. (AP) - The Social Security Administration has
released the most popular baby names for 2007.
In South Dakota, the top five for boys are Ethan, Mason, Jacob,
Gavin and Noah.
For girls, the 2007 top five are Ava, Emma, Olivia, Addison and
Hannah.
Carter, Logan and Landon were big for boys in 2006 but no longer
are in the top five. And two of the most popular girls names from
2006 - Madison and Grace - fell out of the top five.
The Social Security Administration reports a trend of children
named for celebrities or celebrities' children.
Maddox, the name of the oldest child of Brad Pitt and Angelina
Jolie, ranks at 226, while the name Miley, in its first year on the
list, is 278.