KWIT: Regional News for 6/2 (2008-06-02)

In Iowa...

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) - After the biggest immigration raid in
U.S. history, hundreds of workers have been sentenced but not one
company official as yet faces any charges -- something critics say
is typical of a federal government that is tough on employees but
easy on owners.
Worker advocates and lawmakers say the fact that nearly 400
workers were arrested in the May 12 raid at the Agriprocessors Inc.
plant in Postville -- or more than one-third of the total number of
employees -- proves that company officials must have known they
were hiring illegal immigrants.
Congressman Bruce Braley says immigration will continue to be a
problem until immigration laws apply equally to both employers and
employees who break the law.
The owner of the Postville plant, Aaron Rubashkin, has said that
the company is conducting its own investigation "into the
circumstances which led to the recent work site enforcement action,
and is fully cooperating with the government."
He says the company could not respond to specific allegations
due to pending legal issues.

PARKERSBURG, Iowa (AP) - Coming up the hill was emotional for
Bob Nemeyer.
He had been out of town, in Colorado with his wife when he heard
about a tornado through Parkersburg and other towns in northeast
Iowa.
But Nemeyer's his trademark A-frame home was still standing. It
was one of the few buildings in his neighborhood spared during last
week's E5 tornado.
Within weeks, it could well stand alone.
The house was not damage free. It's windows were all knocked
out, and there was debris inside. A wall attached to Nemeyer's
garage was also knocked out.
But Nemeyer says he was tremendously lucky.

IOWA CITY, Iowa (AP) - The pot is for compost, not consumption.
That was the excuse Matthew Aaron Furnish offered Iowa City
Police early Saturday morning when they caught him with what
officers described as several bags of marijuana - some gallon sized
and some larger.
Furnish's explanation apparently did not pass the smell test for
police. He was arrested and charged with possessing 50 kilograms or
less of marijuana with intent to distribute.
He is being held in Johnson County Jail on a $14,000 cash bond,
and could face up to five years in prison and a fine of $7,500.

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) - Des Moines' Dam to Dam road race drew a
record number of participants.
The road race, which was held Saturday, drew 6,834 runners in
its 20K and 5K races as well as 750 youth participants. Organizers
estimate that 10,000 people participated, either as runners or as
spectators.
The downtown finish line of the race drew hundreds of spectators
and included The Isiserettes Drill and Drum Corps team. Parts of
several downtown streets in Des Moines were blocked off until
Saturday afternoon, when the race was finished.

In Nebraska...

UNDATED (AP) - Many U.S. farmers are switching crops away from
corn because the price of fertilizer has skyrocketed 228 percent
since 2000.
Wholesalers and retailers are scrambling to find and buy enough
fertilizer to meet customers' needs. Between 2001 and 2006, global
demand jumped 14 percent.
That's according to The Fertilizer Institute, a Washington
D.C.-based trade group.
The price increase means the cost of fertilizing an acre of
average-yield U.S. corn rose from about $30 to $160.
That's why Ohio farmer Lyle McKanna switched more than
one-fourth of his corn crop with soybeans this year.
Kansas State professor Kevin Dhuyvetter says the nation can
expect to see more crop-switching if farmers can't get all of the
fertilizer they need.

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) - About 20,000 people joined in a
protest yesterday near the U.S. Embassy to press the South Korean
government to drop a plan to resume American beef imports this
week.
It was the second night in a row of large-scale demonstrations
in Seoul.
Protesters holding candles and carrying banners called for the
plan to be scrapped and for South Korean President Lee Myung-bak to
resign.
Lee showed no signs of dropping the plan, though media reports
said he was considering a shake-up of his Cabinet this week, which
would include replacing the agriculture minister.
South Korea agreed in April to reopen what was formerly the
third-largest overseas market for U.S. beef.
It banned U.S. beef for most of the past four and a half years
after the first U.S. case of mad cow disease was found in
Washington state in 2003.
Before the ban, South Korea was Nebraska's second-largest beef
market, valued at $108 million annually.

LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) - The list of speakers available through the
Nebraska Humanities Council now includes Nebraska state poet
William Kloefkorn.
Kloefkorn wrote the book "Restoring the Burnt Child," which
has been chosen the 2008 selection for One Book One Nebraska Reads.
Kloefkorn has been state poet since 1982. He is an emeritus
professor of English at Nebraska Wesleyan University in Lincoln.

In South Dakota...

ELK POINT, S.D. (AP) - A Texas company wants to make
southeastern South Dakota the site for the first new U.S. oil
refinery in more than 30 years.
But first, the project billed as a potential step toward
national energy independence must clear a local hurdle.
Union County residents vote Tuesday on Hyperion Resources'
request to turn nearly 3,300 acres north of Elk Point into a
planned development district for the $10 billion oil refinery.
The Hyperion Energy Center would process 400,000 barrels of
thick Canadian crude a day, which company executives say would help
the U.S. reduce its dependence on overseas oil.
The refinery has been a contentious issue in the three-state
region, with supporters citing economic development benefits and
opponents voicing environmental and quality-of-life concerns.

ABERDEEN, S.D. (AP) - A plant being built at Aberdeen should be
ready to begin making blades for wind turbines in a month or so.
Molded Fiber Glass of Ohio will lease the $21 million building
from the Aberdeen Development Corporation.
The first 18 workers who were hired are currently training at a
company plant in Texas, and a second group will be sent soon.
Molded Fiber Glass will start with about 50 employees, but hopes
to have 200 by August.
That number could jump to 700 or 750 by late next year.
Blades made at the plant will be 122 and 132 feet long.
They will be fitted on General Electric's 1.5 megawatt wind
turbines, among the most widely used in the world.

MOUNT RUSHMORE NATIONAL MEMORIAL, S.D. (AP) - A 30-year veteran
of the National Park Service who has been chief ranger at Mount
Rushmore National Memorial for 19 years is moving to the park
service's 13-state Midwest Region office in Omaha, Nebraska.
Mike Pflaum (FLAHM) will be the coordinator of the Regional
Partnership Program for the region, which includes 55 parks.
His final day at Mount Rushmore will be Friday.
The partnership program involves working with private
organizations that support national parks, such as the Mount
Rushmore National Memorial Society.
Mark Gorman, chief ranger at Badlands National Park, will be the
acting chief ranger at Mount Rushmore. The National Park Service
plans to seek a replacement for the chief ranger position later
this year.

PIERRE, S.D. (AP) - A 57-year-old Spearfish man who runs his own
advertising agency says he's running for the U.S. Senate because
the Washington political system is broken and Congress is saddling
future generations with a huge debt.
Sam Kephart says he's not experienced in politics. But he calls
that an asset because he can look at issues from a fresh
perspective.
Kephart faces two others for the Republican U-S Senate
nomination in Tuesday's primary.
He first gained notice in the G-O-P when he argued
unsuccessfully at the party's 2006 state convention that its
platform supporting a proposed abortion ban should acknowledge that
some people might want exceptions. Voters defeated that ban.
Kephart says he supports a modified ban on this fall's ballot
that includes exceptions.