KWIT: Regional News for 7/29 (2008-07-29)

In Iowa...

IOWA CITY, Iowa (AP) - The Iowa Board of Regents has hired a St.
Louis law firm to investigate the University of Iowa's handling of
an alleged sexual assault by two former football players.
Representatives from The Stolar Partnership say they will begin
their investigation from scratch and send weekly updates to the
regents.
Regent Bonnie Campbell says the board wants to assure Iowans
that its top priority is to get to the truth of what happened and
how the allegations were handled by the university.
The regents will pay the cost of the law firm's investigation.
The regents voted last week to reopen their investigation after
they learned they were not given letters sent to the university by
the alleged victim's mother.

POSTVILLE, Iowa (AP) - Scores of Somali immigrants are taking
jobs at the Agriprocessors kosher meatpacking plant in Postville.
They are replacing Hispanic workers arrested in a huge
immigration raid on May 12.
Before the raid, hundreds of Mexican and Guatemalan immigrants
maintained a vibrant community in Postville, a largely white
community of 2,200 people in northeast Iowa.
The influx of Somalis has been met with some surprise in a
community still bewildered by the Agriprocessors raid.
It's not the first cultural change in Postville. The
slaughterhouse attracted eastern Europeans in the 1990s, including
immigrants from Bosnia, Poland, Russia and former Soviet Republics.
Hispanics became the majority in the last decade.
The result is that a town that is home to people from 24
nationalities speaking 17 languages.

CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa (AP) - Mental health professionals in
flood-damaged areas such as Cedar Rapids say they're seeing flood
victims who are suffering from stress and insomnia, but they warn
that some psychological problems may not be seen for many more
months.
Alan Whitters, the director of the Iowa Disaster Response Team
of the Iowa Psychiatry Society, says symptoms being seen now are
just the beginning.
Experts says some flood victims are still numb from the
disaster.
After being surrounded by the community in a common effort to
save their homes, flood victims are now alone. Experts say that
once the shock of the flood wears off post-traumatic stress
disorder can set in.

In Nebraska...

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) - Fremont business leaders say they worry a new
ordinance targeting illegal immigration could hurt the community
more than help.
Fremont Area Chamber of Commerce Director Allan Hale and Greater
Fremont Development Council Director Kevin Wilkins say they don't
condone illegal activity but believe the proposed law's newly added
hiring provisions could hit small businesses the hardest.
The Fremont City Council will consider the proposal Tuesday. A
final vote is set for next month.
If approved, employers would have to use a federal
Internet-based employment verification system.
Hale and Wilkins say larger employers already use the system.
Hale says small businesses not using the Internet could encounter
more problems.

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) - A new study from a major accounting firm says
Omaha offers businesses a lower tax burden than other mid-sized
cities in America.
The study from KPMG International says Omaha's total tax index
is 5.8 percent lower than the national average. That was the best
rating for cities with populations between 500,000 and 2 million in
their metropolitan areas.
The study released Monday examined corporate income taxes,
capital taxes, sales taxes, property taxes, miscellaneous local
business taxes and statutory labor costs.
Among larger cities, KPMG says San Juan, Puerto Rico; Baltimore;
and Atlanta had the most favorable business tax structures.

In South Dakota...

VERMILLION, S.D. (AP) - A state health official says South
Dakotans shouldn't be complacent just because there have been only
a few cases of West Nile virus so far this summer.
Lon Kightlinger says the peak period for the disease is just a
few weeks ago.
So far there have been only four human cases of West Nile, which
is transmitted by mosquitoes and can be fatal.
The state had 208 human cases and six deaths last year.
Kightlinger says people should continue to use a repellant and
wear long sleeves and long pants outdoors to prevent mosquito
bites.

SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (AP) - Widespread rain slowed hay cutting and
the small grain harvest across South Dakota the past week.
Seven locations had more than 2 inches of rain, topped by 2.96
inches at Armour.
The Agricultural Statistics Service says only a few areas in the
northeast part of the state and along the Missouri River border
with Nebraska show some dryness. Eighty-two percent of the state
reports enough topsoil moisture.
The winter wheat harvest is 22 percent complete, well below the
five-year average of 83 percent by this date. The service said 44
percent of the corn has tasseled and 67 percent of the soybeans are
blooming, also below average.

HURON, S.D. (AP) - The Huron Convention and Visitors Bureau says
all onsite camping spaces for the South Dakota State Fair are
reserved and it's looking for housing opportunities for those who
still need a place to stay or a place to park a camper.
Executive Director Peggy Woolridge said having 1,200 campsites
reserved is a reflection of the fair's popularity and a good
indicator of what's to come at this year's fair.
Fair Manager Jerome Hertel said ticket sales for grandstand
shows are double what they were through the same time last year.
The State Fair runs from Aug. 28 through Labor Day. Attendance
last year was 151,000.

WASHINGTON (AP) - South Dakota Senator Tim Johnson discusses his
health in the first television ad of his November re-election
campaign.
The 30-second ad began running statewide Monday. It features the
Democratic senator and his wife sitting at a kitchen table. Barb
Johnson says her husband is headstrong and wanted to get back to
the Senate after he had a brain hemorrhage in December 2006.
Johnson's words are still slurred after his illness and he says
he is getting better but his speech needs work. He says the illness
has given him a unique view on life.
Johnson running against Republican Joel Dykstra.