KWIT: Regional News for 8/18 (2008-08-18)

In Iowa...

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) - With winter still being months away,
some Iowa cities and counties are already worrying they won't have
enough road salt for next winter.
The Iowa Department of Transportation is reporting far tighter
supplies than usual heading into fall. While the state agency
expects to get enough salt from its suppliers, officials worry that
won't be the case for some cities and counties.
Max Liby of the Hutchinson Salt Co., in Hutchinson, Kan., says
it's a simple matter of supply and demand, and a reflection of last
winter's harsh weather that used up vast quantities of salt.
While Des Moines officials say the city and its suburbs have
locked up enough salt to get them through the winter, officials in
other cities are less optimistic.
Fort Dodge, which needs about 1,500 tons of road salt for a
normal winter, has only about 600 tons in stock, and in Muscatine
County, officials say they will start the winter with a smaller
supply than last year.

POSTVILLE, Iowa (AP) - Three months after the nation's largest
immigration raid, chickens and beef carcasses are again moving down
the line at Agriprocessors' kosher meatpacking plant in Postville.
But managers say business isn't back to normal and the plant is
operating at about half capacity.
Managers told The Associated Press that the biggest problem is
hiring people to replace the 389 workers arrested by immigration
agents. More than 1,000 people worked at the plant before the May
12 raid.
And then there's the possibility that the state attorney general
could file charges against the company following an Iowa Labor
Commission investigation that alleged 57 cases of child labor law
violations.
Getzel Rubashkin is an employee of the plant and a grandson of
its owner. He says the plant can recover but it will have to work
to repair its image.

CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa (AP) - More buildings in downtown Cedar
Rapids that have been closed since the June floods are expected to
begin reopening to workers this week.
Several building managers say they will begin allowing tenants
to return to the upper floors of buildings starting Monday and
Tuesday.
Joan Benda of Armstrong Development Co. says as many as 100
people will be back in the Armstrong Centre by Wednesday.
Connie Chapman, director of management for Ryan Companies, said
employees of Alliant Energy will begin returning to the
GreatAmerica Building.
In all, as many as 300 displaced workers are expected to return
to buildings in downtown Cedar Rapids over the next few weeks.

COUNCIL BLUFFS, Iowa (AP) - Pottawattamie County officials may
take legal action to stop the construction of a casino in Carter
Lake.
County officials say they will consider joining an existing
lawsuit, or filing their own lawsuit, to stop the Ponca Tribe of
Nebraska from building a casino in Carter Lake.
The county board of supervisors plans discuss its options on
Monday.
Officials say the county could join an existing Nebraska lawsuit
or join a lawsuit that Iowa might file, or file its own lawsuit.
Nebraska does not permit gambling, but Iowa does, and under
federal law Native American tribes may offer gambling that is legal
in a state where the tribe owns land.
Nebraska officials contend that Carter Lake is a geographic
oddity because it is on the Nebraska side of the Missouri River and
that Nebraska has the legal right to sue.
Iowa officials are worried that the Ponca tribe won't be
required to pay gambling taxes.

PARKERSBURG, Iowa (AP) - The lost-and-found in Parkersburg has
become a trove of items that were blown away by the May 25 tornado.
The mementos began arriving at City Hall a couple of days after
an EF5 tornado destroyed nearly a third of the town, killed eight
people and swept away items of daily life. Three months later, the
items continue to pour in daily.
There are wedding albums, baby pictures, a wedding dress, a
football and baseball card collection and a signed certificate of
training from the Air Force.
Police Chief Chris Luhring says many of the items are
irreplaceable and priceless.
There's a family Bible containing a family history that dates
back generations.
Doreen Thorne's house was destroyed in the storm and quilts she
thought were lost forever were returned to the make-shift City
Hall.
One was found on top of a house in Denver, Iowa, about 35 miles
from Parkersburg. Another was found in a cornfield about 60 miles
away.

In Nebraska...

LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) - The University of Nebraska-Lincoln may have
already lined up the first tenant for the land that has been home
to the State Fair for 107 years.
A state law authorizes moving the fair from Lincoln to Grand
Island by 2010, with the university taking over the land for a
research park.
UNL chancellor Harvey Perlman says a federal research facility
focused on renewable energy could be the first building to go up
once the fair leaves.
A spokesman for U.S. Senator Ben Nelson says 1.4 million dollars
in federal money has already been pledged toward the 50 million
dollar facility, with more funding awaiting approval.
Spokesman Clay Westrope says there's a commitment to build the
facility, it's just a matter of when.

DENVER (AP) - Contract talks between Qwest Communications and
its largest labor union may continue even though the old contract
expired.
Workers represented by the Communications Workers of America had
voted to authorize a strike if needed. But CWA organizing
coordinator Al Kogler says no strike had been called when the
contract expired after 11:59 p.m. Saturday.
Kogler says the union will continue pursuing a new contract as
long as negotiations continue.
Qwest spokesman Bob Toevs said Saturday night that company
officials were hopeful the sides would reach a tentative agreement
this weekend.
The union represents about 20,000 Qwest workers in 13 states.
The CWA organizes Qwest workers in Colorado, Arizona, Iowa,
Idaho, Minnesota, Nebraska, New Mexico, North Dakota, Oregon, South
Dakota, Utah, Washington and Wyoming.

LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) - Nebraska head coach Bo Pelini says his team
has improved in the first half of fall camp, but the team is not
yet ready for a game.
Pelini says there is still a lot of learning to do before the
first game against Western Michigan.
Pelini says he feels pretty good about the starters on offense
and defense, but he's trying to build more depth on the team.

In South Dakota...

SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (AP) - The state is working on a management
plan to deal with exotic plants, mussels and fish that could invade
South Dakota's lakes and streams.
A few of them have already been found in the state. Others are
in neighboring states.
Andy Burgess is an aquatic biologist with the state Department
of Game, Fish and Parks.
He says the nuisance species can get a foothold in a lake
because they don't have natural predators and disease that can keep
them under control.
Burgess says a big part of the overall plan is to educate
boaters and others about the exotic species because they can be
spread among lakes through boats, boat trailers, bait buckets and
other ways.

PIERRE, S.D. (AP) - Combining wind turbines and hydroelectricity
could help increase home-produced power.
That's according to South Dakota Senator John Thune.
He says hydropower could make up for the drawbacks of wind power
if the turbines are built near hydroelectric plants. The thinking
is -- the water flow could be increased when the wind dies down,
keeping energy production stable.
Thune says he's waiting for results from a Western Area Power
Administration study on the feasibility of wind-hydro integration.
One expert says the idea has promise -- but that adjusting the
water flow at dams to compensate for the changing wind would affect
other uses of the river, such as irrigation, navigation, recreation
and wildlife issues.

ABERDEEN, S.D. (AP) - The Aberdeen School Board has voted to
join a legal tussle that seeks to determine if school districts can
use taxpayer revenues to sue the state for more education money.
School districts and a coalition they formed are seeking a court
order that would establish their right to fund a lawsuit that
challenges the state's school financing system.
The request was prompted by Attorney General Larry Long's
argument that the South Dakota Coalition of Schools and dozens of
school districts have no legal standing to challenge the state's
system of funding education.
A lawsuit supported by the school districts contends that the
state substantially underfunds schools.
A ruling on the use of taxpayer funds to sue for more money
could come as early as Tuesday.

PIERRE, S.D. (AP) - A free mobile dental care program now can
serve more children in rural areas.
Delta Dental is adding a new bus to its program that offers free
dental care to children in hard-to-reach areas across the state.
The Smile Mobile joins the Ronald McDonald Care Mobile, which
has provided almost $3 million worth of dental work to 6,500
children in four years and is booked until 2010.
Delta Dental President Scott Jones says the need for dental care
exceeded Delta Dental's ability with one vehicle -- so a second one
needed to be dispatched to keep up.
Both vehicles provide space and equipment for everything short
of a root canal.