KWIT: Regional News for 8/29 (2008-08-29)

In Iowa...

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) - The Iowa Supreme Court is expected to
file its ruling today in a lawsuit over whether automated traffic
cameras used in the city of Davenport are legal.
The justices reviewed the case of Thomas Seymour. He challenged
the use of the cameras after his vehicle was photographed going 49
mph in a 35 mph zone in March 2006. Seymour, who received the $60
ticket in the mail, claimed he was denied his rights to due
process.
At issue is whether the city has the authority to implement such
an ordinance, which penalizes the owner of the vehicle, not
necessarily the driver.
The American Civil Liberties Union of Iowa filed a motion to
dismiss the ticket.
A Scott County Judge rejected the group's arguments and so did
an appeals court judge. That prompted the ACLU to request that the
Supreme Court review the case.
The high court's ruling will likely influence the use of similar
automated traffic camera systems in other Iowa cities.

CORALVILLE, Iowa (AP) - An eastern Iowa bank is seeking more
than $556,000 from the estate of man who was accused of embezzling
before he killed his family and then himself in March.
According to a claim filed this week in Johnson County District
Court, Hills Bank & Trust is seeking the money from the estate of
Steven Sueppel.
The claim says the bank is also asking for more than $32,000 in
loans Sueppel owed it.
Sueppel was accused of embezzling more than $559,000 from the
bank from July 26, 2000, to Sept. 12, 2007. He was a former vice
president and controller at the bank.
Police say the 42-year-old Iowa City man beat to death his wife
and their four children before killing himself.

In Nebraska...

LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) - Supporters of Ralph Nader say they're
confident they have enough petition signatures to have him listed
as a presidential candidate on Nebraska's election ballot.
They say they'll hand over more than 5,000 signatures to
Secretary of State John Gale today.
About half that many signatures are needed to get a candidate on
the ballot, but they must meet specific criteria to be valid.
Signatures from voters who registered as members of political
parties and who cast ballots in the last presidential primary won't
count, but signatures from independents who voted in the primary
will.
Aaron Lotz of Nader's Nebraska campaign says he doesn't know how
many signatures pass muster, but he's confident Nader will be on
the ballot.
Nader is a consumer advocate and political activist.

FREMONT, Neb. (AP) - Some residents in Fremont are moving ahead
with a plan for a special election on a proposal targeting illegal
immigrants.
Residents have gotten approval from City Clerk Kim Volk to
circulate a petition to force a special election on a proposal to
prohibit the harboring of - including renting to - and hiring
illegal immigrants.
City Attorney Dean Skokan says the petition is similar to a
proposed ordinance that failed to win City Council approval last
month.
Petition organizers had to get approval from the city clerk
before circulating the petition.

In South Dakota...

SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (AP) - South Dakota is among 32 states to
report a drop in alcohol-related traffic deaths last year.
Nationally, nearly 13,000 people were killed in crashes in which
the driver had a blood alcohol content at or above the legal limit
of 0.08. That's down nearly 4 percent from 2006.
The government says alcohol-related traffic deaths in South
Dakota last year totaled 45, down from 67 in 2006.
The state's fatality count from all accidents last year was 146,
down from 191 the previous year.

PIERRE, S.D. (AP) - The judge has set aside six weeks to hear
arguments in a lawsuit over South Dakota's method of funding public
education.
The trial in Pierre is scheduled to begin Tuesday before Circuit
Judge Lori Wilbur. She'll make a ruling in the case, not a jury.
The lawsuit alleges the state's school funding system
substantially underfunds schools and violates a constitutional
provision guaranteeing all children access to a free, adequate and
quality education.
The school funding system was last challenged in 1994, when a
circuit judge ruled the system in use then was constitutional. An
appeal to the South Dakota Supreme Court was declared moot when the
1995 Legislature changed the school funding formula as part of an
effort to cut property taxes.

WASHINGTON (AP) - Traffic accidents and liver disease are the
two leading causes of alcohol-related deaths among American Indians
and Alaska Natives.
A report by the federal Centers for Disease Control and
Prevention concludes that almost 12 percent of the deaths among
Indians and Alaska Natives are alcohol-related. That's more than
three times the percentage in the general population.
More than a quarter of the 1,514 alcohol-related deaths over a
four-year period were from traffic accidents or liver disease.
Other causes of death were homicide, suicide and falls.

HURON, S.D. (AP) - The South Dakota State Fair is operating this
year with a special appropriation of $768,000 from the Legislature.
The fair has been subsidized with state money for several years.
Fair Manager Jerome Hertel (hur-Tell') says lawmakers next year
will be asked to make the funding permanent by putting the fair in
the annual state budget.
He says giving the fair an annual appropriation will remove some
of the uncertainty about its future.