KWIT: Regional News for 7/16 (2008-07-16)

In Iowa...

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) - Some Iowa lawmakers and legal advocates
say state drug laws that include methamphetamine and crack cocaine
penalties need to be revamped.
A legislative study committee agreed yesterday to take steps
that could lead to a major revision to the state's drug laws. Some
say the laws are unfair or racially biased.
Those caught with five or more grams of meth under Iowa law are
sentenced to a mandatory 25-year prison term for drug trafficking.
Advocates for changing Iowa sentencing laws say recreational users
in Iowa are being sentenced to decades of prison time. That's even
though they aren't dealers.
Iowa also has tougher penalties for crimes involving crack
cocaine compared to powdered cocaine. Civil rights advocates say
those laws are racially biased, since African-Americans are more
likely to use crack cocaine than the powder form.

MADISON, Wis. (AP) - Alliant Energy Corp. has lowered its
earnings outlook, blaming last month's flooding in Iowa for lost
sales and heavy cleanup costs.
The Madison-based utility said yesterday it expects annual
earnings per share to drop 20 cents.
The company previously expected yearly earnings to range from
$2.55 to $2.75 per share.
The flooding prompted the evacuation of nine square miles of
Cedar Rapids. Two Alliant power plants that were shut down aren't
expected to reopen until later this year.
A company spokesman says the earnings loss was due to lost sales
from customers who were unable to receive service, and cleanup
costs not covered by insurance.
Shares of Alliant fell 7 cents, or 0.21 percent, to close at
$33.63 Tuesday.

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) - Officials say the state will no longer
pay for advertisements telling Iowans they can use food stamps at
farmer's markets.
Grocery industry lobbyists say Iowa was spending too much money
on the food stamp program. It included about $300,000 for
advertising.
Iowans have received less than $60,000 worth of fresh food by
using food stamps. But the farmer's market food stamp program has
cost taxpayers $883,000 since it began in 2005.
Iowa Department of Human Services director Kevin Concannon says
the farmer's market food stamp program will continue.

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) - A northern Iowa egg farm must pay the
state a $200,000 penalty for violating environmental regulations.
A Winnebago County judge also ordered Golden Oval Eggs to
complete improvements to its wastewater treatment facility at its
farm near Thompson by the end of next April.
The company has the capacity for more than 5 million chickens in
22 barns. It agrees to the fine and judge's order to settle a
lawsuit filed by the Iowa attorney general's office last year.
The lawsuit says the company exceeded numerous wastewater
discharge limits. The wastewater flows into a tributary of the
Winnebago River under a permit from the state that sets limits,
which the lawsuit claims were exceeded. The judge's order was
signed Monday.
Golden Oval Eggs is based in Renville, Minn. Its Thompson farm
is about 30 miles northwest of Mason City.

CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa (AP) - A baby boy has been left in a basket
at a Cedar Rapids hospital under Iowa's "safe haven" law.
The boy was left at St. Luke's Hospital with a note stating,
"safe haven baby." That's a reference to a 2001 law that lets
people leave babies 14 days or younger at any health center with no
questions asked.
Dr. Larry Helvey said the baby was in good condition. His
umbilical cord was still attached.
It's likely the 11th time a baby has been dropped off since the
law was enacted. All those babies were adopted.

In Nebraska...

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) - Some Nebraska couples are paying $50,000 to
visit with Republican presidential contender John McCain today.
People also can pay $1,000 each to attend a reception with the
Arizona senator in Ashland.
For donating or raising $50,000, a couple can attend a more
intimate reception and get a picture with the senator.
McCain's campaign isn't saying how much they hope to bring in.
Former Nebraska Congressman Hal Daub, who's chairman of McCain
Victory 2008 in Nebraska, says he expects the event to be one of
the largest event fund raisers in Nebraska political history.

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) - A hearing-impaired woman says in a federal
lawsuit that she deserves a break.
Karen Tumeh of Lincoln says in the lawsuit that a local
McDonald's refused to let her order food at the drive-thru window,
insisting that she either order at the electronic speaker along the
drive-thru lane or come inside to order.
Tumeh says in the lawsuit that she wears a hearing aid but still
cannot hear while using the drive-thru ordering box at fast-food
restaurants.
Tumeh's lawsuit seeks to force McDonald's to make accommodations
for hearing-impaired people to order food in restaurant
drive-thrus. She is also seeking unspecified damages and attorney's
fees.

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) - A federal judge has ruled an Omaha-based
charity that provides vacations to injured veterans and their
families cannot use the Web address it's had for the past five
years.
Wounded Warriors Inc. of Omaha is a nonprofit that provides
essentially the same service as Florida-based Wounded Warrior
Project Inc. Last year, the Florida-based charity sued Wounded
Warriors for copyright infringement.
On Monday, U.S. District Judge Lyle Strom also ordered the Omaha
group to include a disclaimer on any new Web site to note that it
is separate from the Florida group.
Wounded Warriors board member Matt Butler says the Omaha group
has already changed its Web address to
www.woundedwarriorsfamilysupport.org and plans to insert a
disclaimer soon.

In South Dakota...

RAPID CITY, S.D. (AP) - A Rapid City Stevens High School
football player who collapsed Monday during the first day of
football camp has died.
Sixteen-year-old Ryan Gramberg, who would have been a junior,
had required emergency medical attention after collapsing.
Medics and an ambulance crew were called to the high school
field. Gramberg died at Rapid City Regional Hospital.
A release from the Pennington County Sheriff's Office says
preliminary autopsy results yesterday indicated "some
abnormalities associated with his heart. Authorities say further
tests will be done.

WASHINGTON (AP) - Democratic Senator Tim Johnson continues to
outraise his Republican opponent in the November election.
Johnson reports more than $5.1 million raised since he was last
elected in 2002.
He raised $560,000 between April and the end of June -- ending
that quarter with $2.7 million on hand.
Republican Joel Dykstra raised about $176,000 during those three
months, with $96,000 raised after he won the Republican nomination
June 3rd. He has raised a total of around $380,000.

RAPID CITY, S.D. (AP) - A member of a national panel that
studied highway funding says the nation is facing a crisis in
maintaining and rebuilding its roads and bridges.
Jack Schenendorf (SHEHN'-uhn-dorf) says the U.S. needs to spend
at least $220 billion more each year on highways.
He told the Midwestern Legislative Conference yesterday that
most of the panel's members think the federal gas tax should be
raised 5 cents to 8 cents a gallon to help provide that money.
But David B. Horner, a top U.S Department of Transportation
official, said money can be raised for urban projects by using
private financing for toll roads and charging drivers if they use
highways when traffic is heaviest.
Horner says toll roads likely would not be practical in rural
America. But he says changes in urban highway financing would free
up more money for rural construction.

PIERRE, S.D. (AP) - A new report shows the fatality rate on
South Dakota's highways dropped 24 percent from 2006 to 2007.
According to the 2007 Motor Vehicle Traffic Crash Summary, South
Dakota's rate in 2007 was 1.72, compared to 2.25 a year earlier.
The rate is expressed as the number of deaths per 100 million
vehicle miles traveled.
Office of Highway Safety Director James Carpenter says it's
"the most positive fatality rate statistic South Dakota has seen
in nearly 50 years."
South Dakota had 191 traffic deaths in 2006 and 146 in 2007. And
the number of people killed in alcohol-related crashes dropped 14
percent.

PIERRE, S.D. (AP) - A fall campaign is being planned to honor
the 100th anniversary of the release of Chinese Ring-necked
pheasants in South Dakota.
According to the state Tourism Department's Web site, Chinese
Ring-necked pheasants were released into a field near Redfield in
1908. Since then, the birds have become synonymous with South
Dakota. Each fall, people from across the nation come to the state
to hunt.
Tourism Director Melissa Bump says a promotion called the
Pheasantennial will start next month.
According to Bump, the marketing effort will be conducted in
cooperation with businesses and that people will have a chance to
win a variety of prizes.