KWIT: Regional News for 7/9 (2008-07-09)

In Iowa...

IOWA CITY, Iowa (AP) - University of Iowa officials have more
than tripled their estimated cost for flood damage with the tab now
expected to exceed $231 million.
University officials compiled the estimate at the direction of
the Federal Emergency Management Agency.
Previous estimates from University of Iowa President Sally Mason
had pegged cleanup and repair costs around $75 million, though
school officials had said they expected the figure to increase.
The costs include $136.2 million in damage to 20 campus
buildings and $55.5 million in damage to contents. Other costs
include debris removal and the additional costs for leasing space.
The damage was caused by the Iowa River, one of several rivers
that flooded in the state in June, forcing thousands of people out
of their homes.

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) - Governor Chet Culver says federal
officials have granted a request to extend filing deadlines to
apply for emergency government assistance.
Culver says the Federal Emergency Mangement Agency extended the
deadline for individual assistance by 60 days to September 27th. He
says he sent a letter to the agency last week asking for the
extension.
Culver says it will provide more time for tens of thousands of
Iowans affected by flooding and severe weather to get assistance.
So far, 62 counties have been approved for individual
assistance. It provides help for eligible homeowners, renters and
business owners.

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) - An organization of American Orthodox
Jews has dropped its call for a boycott of Agriprocessors Inc. meat
products.
Last month, Uri L'Tzedek had called for the boycott of any
businesses that sold the company's meat.
Agriprocessors is the nation's largest kosher meatpacking plant
located in Postville.
It was raided last month and nearly 400 workers were detained by
immigration agents. Allegetions arose of unsafe conditions and
low-paid workers who were abused by supervisors.
Uri L'Tzedek says that Agriprocessors' hiring of a former
federal prosecutor and its launch of a compliance office shows the
company intends to take "significant steps" toward fixing its
issues.

ALTOONA, Iowa (AP) - The Des Moines bomb squad has destroyed a
grenade after an Altoona family found the explosive in their front
yard.
Officials say the family was working on a landscaping project on
Monday when they uncovered the grenade. It was tested and was found
to be empty.
Officials say it's the same type of grenade used by police. They
didn't know where it came from.

ELDON, Iowa (AP) - School officials say a student from Cardinal
High School near Eldon has died after collapsing before baseball
practice.
Superintendent Arnie Snook says in a statement that 16-year-old
Jordan Johnson of Eldon died on Monday night. Snook says that
Johnson would have been a junior in the fall.
He says Johnson reported to other players as they gathered for
practice that he felt hot and then the teen collapsed.
Services were scheduled for later this week, including plans for
a funeral on Thursday at the Cardinal football field complex near
Eldon in southeast Iowa.
Snook says the state medical examiner's office is conducting an
investigation to determine the official cause of death.

In Nebraska...

WOLBACH, Neb. (AP) - A man was arrested near Wichita, Kansas,
yesterday in connection with an investigation into possible
explosives at a Nebraska farm.
Jeff Fulton is an assistant special agent with the Bureau of
Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms.
He says more than 50 investigators searched a property north of
Wolbach, which is nearly 40 miles north of Grand Island.
Fulton wouldn't say what investigators found at the property
yesterday. He says he can't identify the man arrested in Kansas, or
say whether he lived at the property or was related to the people
who lived there.
Fulton says his agency will take evidence to the U.S. attorney's
office in Omaha, who will decide if charges will be filed.

SCHUYLER, Neb. (AP) - The U.S. Agriculture Secretary expressed
confidence in the nation's food safety system after getting a close
look at how steaks and Spam are made.
Agriculture Secretary Ed Schafer says the meat processing plants
he visited in Nebraska yesterday all appeared well run and safety
was a priority.
Schafer's tour did not include the Nebraska Beef Ltd. plant in
Omaha, which recalled 5.3 million pounds of meat last week after it
was linked to an E. coli outbreak.
Schafer visited a Hormel pork plant in Fremont where Spam is
made, a Cargill beef plant in Schuyler and an Omaha Steaks
processing plant in Omaha.
Schafer says he wishes everyone would have a chance to see the
process and how much attention safety gets.

LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) - A Nebraska poll says rural communities have
strong and aggressive support for renewable energy.
The Nebraska Rural Poll suggested that 91 percent of rural
Nebraskans polled believe renewable energy can help meet the
nation's energy needs. Respondents also said greater efforts are
needed to further develop alternative sources of fuel, including
ethanol and biodiesel.
The poll says 89 percent of respondents believed wind and solar
energy are the most important. Also, 77 percent acknowledged that
Americans need to change their energy-consuming lifestyles.
Surveys were mailed to 6,200 homes in 84 rural Nebraska
counties. The response rate was 40 percent. The margin of error was
plus or minus 3 percentage points.

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (AP) - Downstream flooding leads to a
record-low amount of water flowing from upper Missouri River dams.
The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers says it drastically reduced the
amount of water let out of its reservoirs in June to help reduce
river stages in downstream states.
Water releases averaged a record low rate of 12,000 cubic feet
per second in June. That's half the normal amount and significantly
less than the previous record of 16,700 cubic feet per second set
in June 1984.
The reduced water releases, combined with normal snow melting
and rain in the upper Missouri River basin have caused reservoirs
to rise 9 to 12 feet since April.
Even so, the corps says the amount of water in the reservoirs
remains lower than normal.

In South Dakota...

ABERDEEN, S.D. (AP) - A farmer has donated 5,000 bushels of corn
to an effort to build a new swimming pool at Groton.
Groton finance officer Anita Lowary says it brought in a lot of
money because corn prices are high.
The donor asked to remain anonymous.
Lowary says other farmers also have donated grain, and other
people have made donations of $25,000 and $30,000.
So far, $446,000 has been raised. Voters approved a $1 million
property tax opt-out this spring, so Lowary said the fund soon
could hit $1.5 million and the project could be ready for bids.
If construction starts this fall, the pool could be done in a
year.

PIERRE, S.D. (AP) - People who repossess cars in South Dakota
are going to get some extra assistance from the long arm of the
law.
A new state law requires police to give repossession companies
the license plate numbers and colors of mortgaged motor vehicles
that owners have failed to make payments on.
But police would first have to be shown contracts to repossess
the vehicles.

SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (AP) - Higher construction costs could push
the price tag for a new minimum-security prison near Rapid City
past $11 million. That from Tim Reisch (RYSH), the state
Corrections secretary.
He says the state plans to buy land for the unit within weeks.
Funding the project would be easier, Reisch says, if Pennington
County moves its work-release operation from downtown to the
prison. The site is south of Rapid City next to the landfill.
The prison has been in the works since 2003 but has been delayed
because of land acquisition problems.
A temporary unit was set up but can house only 100 of the
roughly 300 minimum-security inmates from the Black Hills who are
currently in the system.
Reisch also says the minimum-security prison at Redfield will
close by December first and those inmates will go elsewhere.

PIERRE, S.D. (AP) - South Dakota Education Secretary Rick Melmer
says he is mystified by criticism of a state program that helps
school districts provide laptop computers to high school students.
State lawmakers have criticized the way officials found money to
fund the program. Melmer told a legislative committee in Pierre
that it seems as if some lawmakers do not want students to have the
technological tools that are necessary in today's world.
The Legislature last winter rejected a bill to fund a third year
of the laptop program. But state officials found $780,000 for a
limited program in the next year.

VERMILLION, S.D. (AP) - A lady bug that has not been seen in
three decades has appeared in South Dakota.
The pair of nine-spotted lady beetles, known technically as C9s,
were found in Badlands National Park.
South Dakota State University Entomologist Mike Catangui
(cah-TANG'-ee) says the insect was once plentiful in the state with
a range that covered a good part of North America.
But it all but disappeared by the late 1970s.
Catangui says the nine-spotted lady bug is a beneficial species
that eats aphids and other pests, but without scientist
intervention it won't return to the numbers of three decades ago.
SDSU is partnering with Cornell University and other schools to
determine numbers and look for solutions.