KWIT: Regional News for 8/28 (2008-08-28)

In Iowa...

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) - A second supervisor arrested after a
massive immigration raid at the Agriprocessors Inc. plant in
Postville has pleaded guilty to aiding and abetting the harboring
of undocumented immigrants.
Martin De La Rosa-Loera appeared in federal court on Wednesday
in Cedar Rapids. He was arrested in July following a raid at the
kosher meatpacking plant two months earlier.
Federal officials say that 43-year-old De La Rosa-Loera assisted
others in harboring illegal immigrants.
Last week, another supervisor at the plant, Juan Carlos
Guerrero-Espinoza, pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to
hire illegal immigrants and one count of aiding and abetting the
hiring of illegal immigrants.
A sentencing date for De La Rosa-Loera wasn't immediately
scheduled. He faces a maximum of five years in prison and a
$250,000 fine.
Nearly 400 people were arrested at the Agriprocessors raid.

DENVER (AP) - Democratic lawmakers say they believe Congress can
pass a package of financial flood aid by the end of September.
U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Majority Whip Dick
Durbin told the Des Moines Register on Wednesday that they are
committed to taking up disaster relief when Congress reconvenes
after the August recess.
Durbin, an Illinois Democratic, declined to estimate the amount
of money Iowa could expect in aid for housing, roads, levees and
agriculture. Iowa Gov. Chet Culver has put the figure as perhaps
exceeding $5 billion.
Pelosi is scheduled to tour flood damage in Iowa on Sept. 8,
with visits to visit Des Moines, Waterloo and Cedar Falls.

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) - A group of GOP house members from areas
wracked by severe weather this summer say a special session of the
Legislature is necessary to help spur recovery.
The lawmakers are also sharply criticizing Gov. Chet Culver.
Rep. Kraig Paulsen, the House minority whip, says Culver is
forcing the state to play a "guessing game" about the status of a
special session.
He says constituents need help now and can't afford to wait.
Culver and other Democrats have said a special session wouldn't
be held until mid-September at the earliest, after a panel
appointed by Culver issues recommendations for flood relief
legislation. That would mean a session less than four months before
the regular session is scheduled to convene.

FORT DODGE, Iowa (AP) - Police could begin to use a breath test
to enforce a new measure that would punish underage drinkers for
having alcohol in their bodies.
The measure won preliminary City Council approval Monday. It
says that any underage person who registers a .02 blood alcohol
content in a breath test is deemed to be in possession of alcohol.
The measure passed the City Council unanimously. It must be
approved twice more to become law.
Those convicted of possession of alcohol by a minor face a fine
of up to $500.
The Fort Dodge assistant police chief had previously told the
council that police had no authority over an underage person who
appeared to have been drinking but wasn't holding a container of
alcohol.

In Nebraska...

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) - Attorneys for one of the Norfolk bank killers
will argue next week that he shouldn't be sentenced to death
because Nebraska didn't have a valid death penalty law at the time
of the crime.
In September 2002, Erick Vela, Jorge Galindo and Jose Sandoval
killed five people in a Norfolk U.S. Bank branch.
At the time, the U.S. Supreme Court had ruled that a jury, not a
judge, must weigh whether a killing merits a death sentence or life
in prison. In Nebraska, judges had handed down death sentences
since the 1970s.
Nebraska's death penalty law was changed months later, and Vela,
Galindo and Sandoval were sentenced to death.
Attorneys appealed, arguing that the new method of sentencing
couldn't apply retroactively.
The Nebraska Supreme Court will hear arguments in the case
September 5th.

McCOOK, Neb. (AP) - Red Willow County commissioners are
expecting a repayment plan next month from a McCook helicopter
company.
Commissioners have decided to wait until Sept. 8th for Pawnee
Aviation's final proposal.
The company borrowed $200,000 from the county and got a $100,000
grant to further develop and sell its helicopter kits.
So far the company has repaid just a little over $4,400 on the
loan in nearly four years. The grant has to be repaid because
promised jobs were not created and sustained.
In 2004, Pawnee Aviation was recruited from Colorado by the
McCook Economic Development Corp.

In South Dakota...

SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (AP) - A report from the Census Bureau finds
that about one in 10 South Dakotans didn't have health insurance
last year. The report puts the number of uninsured in the state at
80,000.
The state's uninsured rate of 10.1 percent is below the national
rate of 15.3 percent.
Nationally, the number of people without health insurance fell
by more than 1 million last year, largely because more people were
covered through government programs.

SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (AP) - The Bureau of Indian Affairs director
says the Oglala Sioux Tribe can keep its own police department by
showing it can reduce lawlessness on the Pine Ridge Indian
Reservation.
But Pat Ragsdale also says the tribe could lose control to the
BIA.
He says he'll evaluate the situation when a month-long plan to
provide extra officers ends in a couple of weeks.
BIA sent in about 25 officers from several states after an Aug.
12 confrontation between some tribal police officers and council
members, which prompted several officers to resign.
Results of a probe were turned over to U.S. Attorney Marty
Jackley, whose office concluded there wasn't enough evidence to
charge someone with a federal offense, so the matter was referred
to tribal prosecutors.

PIERRE, S.D. (AP) - Another seven human cases of West Nile virus
have been reported in South Dakota the past week, raising the total
statewide to 22.
The state Health Department reports six of the cases are in
Brown County. No other county has more than one human case.
South Dakota had 208 human infections and six deaths last year.
No deaths have been reported this year.

SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (AP) - Revenue to South Dakota's American
Indian casinos fell last year, but Deadwood casinos and the state
lottery report steady revenue.
An Indian Gaming Industry Report shows Indian gambling revenue
in South Dakota decreased by 3 percent in 2007. It was the second
straight year for a decline. Nine tribes operated 12 casinos in the
state.
Meanwhile, data from the South Dakota Gaming Commission and
Lottery Office show that gambling revenue in Deadwood and from
state-run games like video lottery and scratch ticket lottery has
continued to increase in the face of higher costs for fuel, food
and utilities.