KWIT: Regional News for 6/25 (2008-06-25)

In Iowa...

CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa (AP) - As many as half of the 4,000
flood-damaged homes in Cedar Rapids may have to be razed.
City Manager Jim Prosser told the City Council on Tuesday that
it's possible that 2,000 or more homes may have to be demolished
because they would be difficult to rebuild.
Prosser says it a "daunting number."
Prosser says many of the homes are in the 100-year flood plain,
generally the hardest hit part of the June 11-13 flooding.
Floodwaters flowed well past the 100-year flood plain to properties
in the 500-year flood plain and beyond.
Fire Chief Steve Havlik says search and rescue teams visited
4,700 homes in the hours and days after the flooding.
On Monday, the city's assessor's office estimated that 3,894
homes and 818 commercial properties were flooded.

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) - State and federal officials are telling
flood and tornado victims to be careful of scams.
Iowa Attorney General Tom Miller says residents whose homes have
been damaged can be a target for fraud. He says they can be more
vulnerable because they are desperate to get things fixed and their
lives back on track.
Miller says Iowans should report any price-gouging to his
office.
The state's anti-price-gouging rule is in effect for 84 counties
that were issued disaster declarations by Governor Culver.

MASON CITY, Iowa (AP) - Investigators say a person has been
identified as being the individual who sent a copy of a missing
television news anchor's diary to a Mason City newspaper.
The journal belonged to Jodi Huisentruit (HOO'-zen-troot), who
disappeared on her way to work at KIMT-TV in 1995.
The Globe Gazette received a copy of the 84-page journal in a
large envelope with no return address and a June 4th postmark from
Waterloo.
Jeff Jacobson of the Iowa Division of Criminal Investigation
says authorities are not releasing the person's name because the
investigation continues.
Jacobson said Tuesday that officials know why the journal was
mailed but he declined to comment because of the ongoing
investigation.
Huisentruit's diary became evidence in the investigation into
her disappearance.

In Nebraska...

LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) - The state climatologist says parts of
eastern Nebraska may continue to receive above-normal rainfall and
below-normal temperatures in July.
But state climatologist Al Dutcher says the rest of Nebraska
stands an equal chance of current trends continuing or reversing.
Most of the state has seen above-normal rain and below-normal
temperatures this spring. Most of the state has also gone six
straight months with below-normal temperatures and significant
precipitation.
Dutcher says a period of dry weather would be welcomed,
especially in the eastern two-thirds to three-fourths of the state.
Just 25 percent of the corn crop emerged before normal emerging
time.
He says the next 25 percent is one to six days behind normal.

LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) - Lincoln police say a fight among roommates
led a 32-year-old man to attack a pit bull with a machete.
Police cited Leonard Yankton on suspicion of felony cruelty to
animals.
Police say the attack happened Monday after a woman asked
Yankton and another woman to move out of her apartment. The two
women began to fight, and police were called.
About an hour later, Yankton called police to report that the
dog had attacked him, so he struck it several times with the
machete.
The dog later died at a veterinary clinic, and the vet told
police that the dog's injuries didn't match Yankton's story.
The vet says it looked like some tried to chop off the dog's
head as it lay on the floor.

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) - Residents in Omaha and much of eastern
Nebraska are taking a slow ride to work, day care and other places
this morning as thick fog cuts visibility on the road.
The National Weather Service has issued a dense fog advisory for
far eastern areas through 10 o'clock this morning. Patchy fog is
being reported in more central areas of the state.
The weather service says the fog will clear to reveal partly
cloudy skies later this morning, then will become mostly sunny.

In South Dakota...

SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (AP) - A report released yesterday says the
percentage of eighth-grade and 11th-grade students who tested
proficient in reading declined at a moderate to large rate in South
Dakota from 2005 to 2007.
The study says a moderate-to-large decline means an average
decline of 1 or more percentage points per year, while a slight
gain means an average gain of less than 1 percentage point per
year.
The report, from the Center on Education Policy, showed how
students' math and reading scores have fared on state tests and the
federal National Assessment of Educational Progress tests.
The state tests are a key measure for enforcement of the federal
No Child Left Behind law.
The study says the percentage of fourth-grade students
performing at the proficient level in reading increased slightly in
South Dakota.
For math, South Dakota implemented a new test in 2006 -- and too
few years of test data are available to determine trends in overall
math achievement.
The study says gaps in reading proficiency between white and
American Indian students narrowed for fourth-graders but widened
for eighth-grade and 11th-grade students.

SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (AP) - South Dakota, which is one of 28 states
participating in a federal abstinence education program, received
just over $100,000 this year in federal grants.
That's according to figures from the U.S. Department of Health
and Human Services and the Administration for Children and
Families.
A federal tally shows participation in the abstinence education
program is down 40 percent over two years. The program was created
by Congress in 1996 as part of welfare reform.
Two of the 28 states -- Arizona and Iowa -- say they are leaving
the program, which has about $50 million budgeted for this year.
Iowa officials say the congressionally mandated curriculum tells
instructors they must teach that sexual activity outside of
marriage is likely to have harmful psychological and physical
effects.

BROOKINGS, S.D. (AP) - Brookings-based VeraSun Energy has
announced that it will delay startup of a third ethanol plant
because of poor market conditions.
Construction of the 110 million-gallon-per-year plant at
Hankinson, North Dakota, is scheduled to be done this month.
The firm said earlier that it was delaying operations at ethanol
plants in Welcome, Minnesota, and Hartley, Iowa.
VeraSun Chief Executive Don Endres says ethanol is currently
being sold at a deep discount to unleaded gasoline and the three
plants will not open until ethanol prices improve.

(Copyright 2008 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)