KWIT: Regional News for 6/3 (2008-06-03)

In Iowa...

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) - Fewer than 200,000 voters are expected
to cast ballots today in a primary election that will winnow the
field in several U.S. House and Senate races.
Secretary of State Michael Mauro estimated turnout of about 15
percent.
If Mauro is accurate, about 185,000 would take part in the
primary. That's about 20,000 more than cast ballots in the last
comparable primary election in 2004.
The election will mark the first held under a new state law
allowing voters to register on election day or change their party
preference.
Contested primaries include the 3rd Congressional District race
between Democratic challenger Ed Fallon and incumbent Leonard
Boswell. There also are three Republicans vying for the opportunity
to run against first-term Democratic Congressman Dave Loebsack in
eastern Iowa's 2nd District. And four Democrats are competing to
run against Republican Congressman Tom Latham in northern Iowa's
4th District.
Three Republicans are seeking the GOP nomination to face
Democratic U.S. Senator Tom Harkin.

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) - Motor home manufacturer Winnebago
Industries says it will close a factory, eliminating 270 employees.
The Charles City plant that makes class C motor homes will close
in August. The work will be transferred to a plant in Forest City.
Winnebago will continue to employ 190 workers in Charles City
and other plants.
The Charles City Manufacturing Facility opened in spring 2004, a
year of record-breaking sales. However, motor homes sales
industrywide are expected to be 42 percent lower this year than in
2004.
Company officials blamed a declining economy, high fuel prices
and decreasing consumer confidence.
The shuttered plant could reopen later if demand increases.

CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa (AP) - Alliant Energy says it has agreed to
buy 303 wind turbines from Vestas-American Wind Technology in a
deal valued at 817 million dollars.
The agreement provides 1.65-megawatt wind turbines for Alliant
subsidiaries Interstate Power and Light in Iowa and Wisconsin Power
and Light. The turbines will be used for wind farm projects in
Iowa, Wisconsin and Minnesota.
The turbines will have a total installed capacity of 500
megawatts and will be delivered in three groups, beginning with the
initial delivery next year. Delivery for the final two groups will
begin in 2010.
Alliant says it is important to contract for the equipment under
a master agreement that provides on-time delivery at a reasonable
cost to customers.
Madison, Wisconsin-based Alliant has about 1 million electric
and more than 400,000 natural gas customers in the Midwest.

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) - Best Buy is testing a free program that
will offer consumers an easy way to keep old TVs, computers and
other unwanted gadgets out of the nation's dumps.
The trial covers 117 Best Buy stores in eight states, including
Iowa.
Under the test, Best Buy will collect a wide variety of
electronic waste at no charge -- even if it didn't originally sell
the merchandise.
Depending on how the test goes, the nation's largest electronics
retailer may expand the recycling program to all of its 922 stores
in the U.S.
The pilot stores are in Best Buy's Northern California,
Minnesota and Baltimore markets, as well as parts of North Dakota,
South Dakota, Iowa, Wisconsin, Virginia and Washington, D.C.

In Nebraska...

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) - Information businesses in Nebraska -- such as
publishing companies -- struggled in May and inflation continued to
be a concern.
That's according to a new survey of supply managers and business
leaders in the state. Creighton University economics professor
Ernie Goss oversees the monthly survey.
The problems for information companies in the state offset
strong performances other businesses reported.
Durable goods producers in the state -- especially ones with
strong ties to the farming -- reported strong growth for May.
The state's overall economic index slipped in May to 50.3. The
rating was 51 in April.
Any score greater than 50 on the index indicates an expanding
economy over the next three to six months.

LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) - The Nebraska Green Party is upset that its
candidate for U.S. Senate is being excluded from an upcoming
political debate.
The party says in a news release that inviting only Democrat
Scott Kleeb and Republican Mike Johanns to Thursday's debate leaves
out half of the candidates vying for U.S. Sen. Chuck Hagel's seat.
Also running are Green Party candidate Steve Larrick and
Nebraska Party candidate Kelly Renee Rosberg.
The debate in Lincoln is being organized by the American Legion
Cornhusker Boys State, a weeklong government leadership program for
about 400 high school boys.
Organizer Aaron Zabawa has said that under the format chosen by
the American Legion, Larrick and Rosberg will not be invited to
participate.

LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) - Emergency management officials toured
Nebraska yesterday to survey damage from last week's storms.
Al Berndt is the assistant director of the Nebraska Emergency
Management Agency. He flew around the state with a Federal
Emergency Management Agency coordinator to assess damages in
McCook, Lexington, Kearney, Columbus, Schuyler and the Gage County
area.
Meanwhile, cleanup continues in Platte Center and Schuyler.
More than 250 homes and buildings in Schuyler were damaged,
mostly by flood waters.
In Platte Center, public buildings and two local parks were
damaged. Nearly 50 homes also had some damage.

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) - Physicians at the University of Nebraska
Medical Center have opened a new care center specifically for
patients with HIV and AIDS.
The facility in midtown Omaha allows the medical center entire
HIV team to work under one roof.
Susan Swindells, medical director of the HIV clinic, says the
new space is bigger than the previous location in the Lied
Transplant Center and it has more parking.
Staff at the center will monitor blood and drug levels and offer
patients advice on how to manage their disease.

In South Dakota...

PIERRE, S.D. (AP) - Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama campaigned
down to the wire for votes in today's South Dakota Democratic
presidential primary.
It's one of the two last stops on the road to the nomination --
and one so late that observers once considered it meaningless.
That's until it became clear the two-way race would go on longer
than many thought or anticipated.
At stake in the primary are 15 Democratic delegates.
Obama is close to the number needed to win the party's
nomination.
But Clinton has been fighting hard in South Dakota after winning
in states with similar demographics, most recently Kentucky and
West Virginia.
Obama had an advantage by winning the endorsements of South
Dakota's top Democrats.
But political observers and both campaigns say the race is
close.

SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (AP) - As her husband did in 1996, Hillary
Rodham Clinton used a rally in South Dakota's largest city last
evening as the last stop in her campaign.
But the former first lady gave no inkling she would yield the
Democratic race for president to Barack Obama before the last
primary votes are tallied tonight in South Dakota and neighboring
Montana.
Clinton told a crowd in Sioux Falls that by voting today,
they'll show they really want to be included in picking the next
president.
Clinton was joined on stage by her daughter, Chelsea, and her
husband, former President Bill Clinton.
While running for re-election in November 1996, Clinton rallied
about 3,500 people in Sioux Falls past midnight on the Election Day
that he defeated Republican Bob Dole.

ELK POINT, S.D. (AP) - While the nation's focus today is on the
state Democratic presidential primary, many South Dakotans' eyes
are on the results of an election in one county.
Union County residents decide whether to endorse their county
commission's rezoning of almost 3,300 acres north of Elk Point for
what would be the first new U.S. oil refinery in more than 30
years.
Hyperion Resources of Texas says it would leave Union County
without a fight if voters rejected the rezoning. Company officials
say the project would mean 1,800 permanent jobs and another 4,500
construction jobs over four years.
Critics of the proposal hit hard on the quality of life issue,
saying an oil refinery would produce millions of pounds of toxins
during its lifetime.

SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (AP) - South Dakota Republicans decide today
which of three candidates will challenge two-term Democratic Sen.
Tim Johnson in the November general election.
The primary features state Rep. Joel Dykstra of Canton,
Spearfish businessman Sam Kephart and Charles Lyonel Gonyo
(GAHN'-yoh) of Trent.
Dykstra is a self-employed business consultant. Kephart provides
video and digital services for businesses. Gonyo is a retired
veterinarian.

CRAZY HORSE, S.D. (AP) - The Crazy Horse Memorial near Custer
marks an anniversary today. It was 60 years ago on this date that
the first dynamite blast was made on the mountain carving that
honors Lakota warrior Crazy Horse.
When completed, it will be the world's largest mountain carving.
Plans are for the complex to also have a university and medical
training center for American Indian students.
Two dynamite blasts on the mountain will mark the 60th
anniversary. The first will duplicate the first 10 tons of rock
thhat were broken off. The second will be larger to show the size
of the blasting being done now.