KWIT: Regional News for 5/22 (2008-05-22)

In Iowa...

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) - More legal documents have been filed in
a lawsuit that challenges Iowa's ban on gay marriage.
The case has led to a series of filings where the Polk County
attorney's office and a New York-based gay rights organization are
given the opportunity to answer one another's arguments.
Lambda Legal filed the lawsuit in 2005. A Polk County judge then
ruled the gay marriage ban was unconstitutional.
The issue is now before the Iowa Supreme Court.
In the latest filing, the county attorney's office says Lambda
Legal seeks to have the courts set public policy, instead of
leaving the issue to lawmakers.
It also criticizes Lambda Legal's analogy between gays seeking
the right to marry and Iowa's judicial history of guaranteeing
rights for black Americans.

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) - Nebraska's governor is voicing concerns about
a proposed casino in Iowa on land near the Nebraska-Iowa border.
Governor Dave Heineman has sent a letter to the Secretary of the
Interior opposing the plan.
Nebraska doesn't allow casino gambling, but Iowa does. The rub
is that an American Indian tribe has received permission from the
National Indian Gaming Commission to run a casino at Carter Lake,
Iowa.
Carter Lake is on the Nebraska side of the Missouri River, just
northeast of downtown Omaha. According to the city's Web site,
Carter Lake's land was originally on the river's east side, but
flooding and shifting in 1877 left it on the west side.
Heineman said in his letter that the city of Omaha would be
charged with providing the necessary infrastructure for the
project. He also said a casino will exacerbate the social ills
associated with problem gambling.

SPENCER, Iowa (AP) - A man convicted in a 1997 gang killing in
northwest Iowa wants a new trial.
Juan Humberto Castillo-Alverez was convicted by a judge in
January in the slaying of a Spencer teenager in a drug case.
Castillo-Alverez was found guilty of second-degree murder,
second-degree kidnapping and conspiracy in the death of 15-year-old
Gregory Sky Erickson. He was sentenced in April to 85 years in
prison.
The appeal was filed by the state appellate defender's office.
Erickson was a police informant when he was kidnapped. He was
taken to an abandoned farmhouse in Minnesota, where he was shot to
death.
Nine others were convicted in his death. Castillo-Alverez was
the last to stand trial. He was extradited to Iowa in 2006 after
being returned to the U.S from Mexico.

In Nebraska...

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. (AP) - It hasn't been long since the ethanol
industry enjoyed praise from investors, government and consumers
who liked the idea of turning corn into fuel.
But critics are blaming the business for rising food prices. And
some in Congress want to roll back government incentives that drive
ethanol production.
Analysts like Morningstar's Ann Gilpin say the threat to ethanol
is real -- although it's unlikely Congress will change government
support for ethanol before the presidential election.
Gilpin says a change would be bad news for companies that only
make ethanol. Diversified companies like Decatur-based Archer
Daniels Midland are less threatened.
Nebraska ranks second nationally in ethanol production.
The state's Ethanol Board says Nebraska's 21 ethanol plants
annually produce more than 1.3 billion gallons of ethanol, using
nearly a half billion bushels of corn.

WASHINGTON (AP) - U.S. Sen. Ben Nelson says he'll be leading a
congressional delegation to visit top leaders in Afghanistan,
Pakistan and India over the Memorial Day weekend.
The Nebraska Democrat said yesterday during his weekly telephone
news conference that he hopes to get an update in Afghanistan on
eradication of poppy crops and on the progress of U.S. military
operations.
He also says the group will meet with U.S. soldiers whenever
possible.
Nelson will be traveling with U.S. Representatives Allen Boyd
and Timothy Mahoney of Florida and Nick Lampson of Texas.

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) - The soaring prices of food and household
items seems to be hitting low-income families in the Omaha area
particularly hard.
One indicator of that would be the mob that turned out to meet
the Salvation Army's mobile pantry this week. People began lining
up at 8 a.m. Tuesday to collect items such as shampoo,
over-the-counter medicines and snack items that were handed out
from a truck.
In all, some 300 people crowded around the mobile pantry seeking
items.
Betty Cottrell and her son, Jackson, were among those who lined
up. Jackson Cottrell is attending the University of Nebraska-Omaha,
and Betty Cottrell is unemployed.
The mobile pantry plans to again hand out items on June 24th,
July 22th, August 19th and September 23rd.

In South Dakota...

SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (AP) - Hillary Rodham Clinton's third visit to
South Dakota as a presidential hopeful will include stops in
Brandon and Brookings.
Her Friday visit includes a 1 p.m. event in Brandon that's not
open to the public, and a 5:30 p.m. town hall meeting in Brookings.
Senator Clinton made campaign visits earlier this month to Sioux
Falls and to a farm near Bath.
The campaign says she will return to the state May 28 for West
River events, including a visit to the Pine Ridge Indian
Reservation, but it gave no other details.
Clinton and Barack Obama are presidential candidates in the
state's June Democratic primary.

ELK POINT, S.D. (AP) - A prison inmate who lied in a cold case
investigation was sentenced in Elk Point to another 10 years behind
bars for perjury.
Aloysius Black Crow admitted lying to a grand jury and at a
court hearing.
He had conspired to tape-record a fake confession that led to
criminal charges against David Lykken (LICK'-uhn) in the
disappearance of two Vermillion teenage girls 35 years ago. Those
charges were dropped after Black Crow acknowledged the tape
recording was a hoax.

PIERRE, S.D. (AP) - A federal judge has approved a legal
settlement that allows exit polling within 100 feet of voting
places in South Dakota.
The agreement was reached in a lawsuit filed by ABC, CBS, NBC,
Cable News Network, Fox News Network and The Associated Press. The
news organizations sponsor the exit polls that question people who
voted to find out their views and why they voted as they did.
A South Dakota law includes language barring exit polling within
100 feet of a voting place. The settlement prevents state officials
from enforcing that law in the June 3 primary and subsequent
elections.

VERMILLION, S.D. (AP) - A state labor official says South Dakota
is ahead of national trends in creating jobs.
Bernie Moran with the state Labor Department says South Dakota
added 4,000 nonfarm jobs between March and April, an increase of
1.2 percent compared to the national rate of one-half percent.
Moran says rural states are handling the economic squeeze a
little better than other states.
South Dakota's job growth in the 12 months ending in April was
1.5 percent.