KWIT: Regional News for 5/28 (2008-05-28)

In Iowa...

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) - The National Weather Service has rated a
deadly tornado that leveled half a town in northeast Iowa an EF5.
That makes it the state's strongest tornado in 32 years.
The twister tore through Parkersburg and nearby towns on Sunday,
killing seven people and destroying neighborhoods with winds up to
205 miles per hour.
The tornado was the strongest in the United States since May
4th, 2007, when an EF5 twister flattened Greensburg, Kansas,
killing 11 people.
Iowa's last EF5 tornado was in June 1976 in the central Iowa
town of Jordan. No one was killed.
Yesterday, the National Weather Service ranked Sunday's storm as
the second deadliest Class 5 tornado in Iowa since 1950. The
deadliest twister hit the Charles City area on May 15th, 1968,
killing 13 people and injuring 462.

WASHINGTON (AP) - With the year not even half done, the National
Weather Service says 2008 is already the deadliest tornado year in
the United States since 1998 and seems on track to break the U.S.
record for the number of twisters in a year.
Also, this year's storms seem to be unusually powerful. But
meteorologists say they cannot explain exactly why this is
happening.
Over the weekend, an extraordinarily powerful twister ripped
apart Parkersburg, Iowa, destroying more than 288 homes in the town
of about 1,000 residents and killing at least four people.
The brutal numbers for the U.S. so far this year are at least
110 dead, 30 killer tornadoes and a preliminary count of 1,191
twisters -- which, after duplicate sightings are removed, is likely
to go down to around 800.
The record for the most tornadoes in a year is 1,817 in 2004. In
the past 10 years, the average number of tornadoes has been 1,254.

DENVER (AP) - A federal report says climate change already is
affecting the nation's crops and livestock and will for at least
the next 25 years.
Yesterday's report by the Department of Agriculture says a
buildup of greenhouse gases driving up temperatures is increasing
the risk of crop failure and outbreaks of invasive species and
insects. It's also decreasing water resources, and livestock
productivity in the arid West.
The report by 38 scientists is part of the federal government's
ongoing assessment of climate change.

In Nebraska...

LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) - The state has appealed a court ruling that
property taxes set by natural resources districts in the Republican
River basin are unconstitutional.
The ruling against the property taxes came last week from
Lancaster County District Judge Paul Merritt.
Merritt says the property taxes authorized by lawmakers violate
a portion of the state constitution that bars the Legislature from
passing laws that give certain people or groups special privileges.
The taxes were meant to help obtain water so the state could
meets its obligations under a river agreement with Kansas and
Colorado.

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) - Senator Ben Nelson says the United States
should see more results from the billions of dollars of aid that
have been given to Pakistan to fight terrorism.
The Nebraska Democrat spoke yesterday from Italy on his way home
from a five-day trip to Pakistan, Afghanistan, India and Germany.
Nelson says the United States should consider airstrikes on
terrorist hide-outs in Pakistan if Pakistan doesn't show progress.
Some Democrats are questioning the more than 10 billion dollars
in U.S. military and economic aid given to Pakistan to fight
terrorism since the attacks on September 11th, 2001.
Last month, a report by the Government Accountability Office
found that despite the aid to Pakistan, terrorists are still
operating freely along the Afghan border.

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) - A settlement has been reached between Planned
Parenthood and a Nebraska woman who said she almost died after a
botched abortion from one of the organization's doctors.
James Snowden, an attorney for the Planned Parenthood clinic in
Lincoln, says the terms of the settlement are confidential.
The woman, identified in court documents as "Jane Roe," had
sought $37,000 in medical expenses, plus additional compensation
for lost wages and pain and suffering, after having an abortion at
the clinic in August.
Court documents say "Roe" lost 80 percent of her total blood
volume and needed blood transfusions and a hysterectomy because of
a 2 1/2- to 3-centimeter gash in her uterus.

In South Dakota...

PIERRE, S.D. (AP) - A ballot measure that would ban most
abortions in South Dakota could face a constitutional challenge if
passed in November.
That's the opinion of state Attorney General Larry Long -- who
says two other proposals on the November ballot also may draw legal
challenges.
One deals with stock market transactions and the other deals
with campaign and lobbying laws.
Long's warnings are stated in public explanations that will
accompany each measure that will be on the general election ballot.
The attorney general is required by state law to provide
summaries of ballot measures to educate voters about their purpose
and effect.
On the abortion measure, Long says it could be "declared to be
in violation of the United States Constitution."
However, he does not elaborate -- other than to say the state
may be required to pay attorneys fees and costs in any lawsuit.

PIERRE, S.D. (AP) - Key state lawmakers are upset that Gov. Mike
Rounds has extended a controversial plan to put laptop computers in
schools after the Legislature decided earlier this year not to pay
for the program.
Rounds announced last week that he will use $770,000 left over
from a settlement with Citibank to expand the laptop program to 15
more schools.
Administration officials in January told lawmakers that the
Citibank fund was out of money.
Now lawmakers from both sides of the political aisle want to
know how money is shifting around. They also are disturbed by the
appearance that the governor is ignoring the will of the
Legislature.

SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (AP) - According to the weekly crop report, 85
percent of South Dakota's corn crop and 42 percent of the soybeans
had been planted as of Sunday.
The report says farmers made good progress last week, although
fieldwork remains well behind average.
Parts of the state received heavy rain last week. Rapid City got
4 inches, some southwest reporting points had more than 2 inches.
Temperatures were below normal.
The crop report says 88 percent of the topsoil and 80 percent of
the subsoil had adequate or surplus moisture.

SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (AP) - When it comes to serious health
problems from West Nile virus, South Dakota is tops in the nation.
Lon Kightlinger in the state Health Department says the state's
per-capita rate of encephalitis or meningitis from West Nile is
highest nationally. Wyoming, Nebraska and North Dakota follow.
Kightlinger says that's largely because a major carrier of West
Nile -- the Culex tarsalis mosquito -- is at home in the upper
Great Plains.
And he says after being cooped up all winter, South Dakotans
like to be outdoors in summer at the height of the West Nile
season.