KWIT: Regional News for 9/16 (2008-09-16)

In Iowa...

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) - A Democratic lawmaker says a small group
of state legislators is quietly assembling a compromise to allow
gambling devices in adult-only establishments as a way to ease bar
owners' concerns about the state's new smoking ban.
Rep. Brian Quirk, of New Hampton, says allowing limited and
heavily regulated gambling machines in bars could help offset a
decline in business that some bar owners complain is a direct
result of the smoking ban.
He declined to identify the other lawmakers he's working with on
the plan.
Quirk says they are suggesting games such as video Keno. He
notes that the devices would be available only in adult
establishments.

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) - Lawmakers are beginning talks about
creating an aid package to help victims of this year's record
flooding.
Lawmakers say they must begin planning for the session that
begins in January after Gov. Culver announced a $40 million flood
recovery package. The governor also announced last week that he
would not call legislators back for a special session.
Democratic Sen. Tom Courtney of Burlington is a floor leader in
the Senate. He says lawmakers need to talk about tax breaks to help
flood victims.
Senate Minority Leader Ron Wieck of Sioux City says lawmakers
should look at property taxes.
Courtney says lawmakers also are going to have to look at levee
repairs and helping cities and counties pay for repairs to roads
damaged by the flooding.

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) - The state auditor recommends stronger
controls and procedures for the Sigourney (SIG-ohr-nee) Community
School District in eastern Iowa.
Auditor David Vaudt's office conducted a review of the
district's finances for the period from July 2006, to February
2008.
Vaudt's office says the review came after the superintendent
raised concerns over the district's financial position.
State officials, in a report released this week, concluded that
there are weakenesses in the district's financial management that
resulted in inaccurate reports. That included listing bank
transactions that had not yet occurred in monthly reports to the
district's board.
Vaudt's office says there were no improper or unauthorized
disbursements identified during the review.

In Nebraska...

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) - Eighty-eight potential jurors were
interviewed for the trial of a 19-year-old man charged with fatally
shooting an Omaha college student.
Defense attorney Tom Riley says jury selection in the case of
Kyle Bormann should be finished today.
Brittany Williams, a 21-year-old University of Nebraska at Omaha
student, was hit by a rifle bullet on Jan. 20 as she sat in the
drive-through lane of a fast-food restaurant in north Omaha.
Investigators have said Bormann was sitting in his car 100 to
200 yards away from the restaurant when he fired.
Police say that while he was sitting in the back of the police
cruiser, Bormann complained about referee calls during that night's
NFL game, saying "You know how blacks are."

CARTER LAKE, Iowa (AP) - A federal judge has combined lawsuits
filed by Nebraska and Iowa opposing the Ponca Tribe's plans to
build a casino in Carter Lake.
Iowa claimed in its lawsuit that the tribe shouldn't be allowed
to build the casino because it deceived the federal government to
get land in Carter Lake placed in a trust. The tribe had said it
planned to use the land to provide health care services.
Nebraska claimed in its lawsuit that it has an interest in the
case because of Carter Lake's proximity to Omaha, Neb.
Yesterday, a judge denied the federal government's motion to
dismiss Nebraska from the complaint and consolidated the two
states' lawsuits.
The federal court also granted the city of Council Bluffs'
motion to join in the case.

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) - A 15-year-old boy left at a Lincoln hospital
apparently wasn't the only child left over the weekend under the
protection of the state's new safe haven law.
Another child was left Saturday at Immanuel Medical Center in
Omaha. A hospital spokeswoman declined to discuss details of the
case, including the child's age or gender. She says the hospital
followed procedure.
A spokeswoman with the state Department of Health and Human
Services says the two cases are the first since the new law came
into effect in July.
The law allows anyone to drop off a child at a state-licensed
hospital, but does not specify what ages constitute a child. The
law protects the person dropping off a child from abandonment
charges.

LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) - An agricultural economist predicts farmers'
profits will jump in 2008, but many Nebraska ranchers may lose
money.
Bruce Johnson's forecast for a 21 percent jump overall in
Nebraska's agricultural income depends on continued good weather
and strong grain prices. Johnson works for the University of
Nebraska-Lincoln's Institute for Agriculture and Natural Resources.
Johnson says he expects farmers and ranchers to report $4.25
billion in net income this year. That's up from $3.5 billion profit
last year.
But Johnson says the high corn and soybean prices that boosted
farmers' income have hurt ranchers' profits because their feed
costs are higher. Ranchers may see $750 million less profits while
farmers report a $1.5 billion income jump.

In South Dakota...

PIERRE, S.D. (AP) - A former member of the Rapid City School
Board says the district is not providing an adequate education to
many of its students.
Testifying in a legal challenge of South Dakota's education
funding system yesterday, Eric Abrahamson said test results show
the Rapid City School District is not making the required progress
in raising achievement by American Indian and economically
disadvantaged students.
Abrahamson says a lack of state funding has led to budget cuts
in key areas.
But in questioning by a state lawyer, Abrahamson acknowledged
the school district is offering students all required courses and
many elective classes. Assistant Attorney General Diane Best also
suggested that most budget cuts in Rapid City did not involve
sports or other extracurricular activities.

LEAD, S.D. (AP) - More water from precipitation and more iron
than expected in the underground water has delayed the opening of
the state lab at the former Homestake Gold Mine in Lead (LEED).
But director Ron Wheeler of the South Dakota Science and
Technology Authority says it won't delay or change design plans for
a national underground science lab.
He says they should be ready as scheduled by December 2010.
Wheeler says the iron discovery has increased the cost of
pumping out the water that had seeped into the mine since it closed
in 2003 -- but it's a problem workers are dealing with.
Although the National Science Foundation picked Homestake as its
preferred site for the deep lab last year, construction won't start
until 2012 at the earliest.

SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (AP) - The Corps of Engineers is finishing
work on sandbars that two endangered species will use for nesting
in southeast South Dakota.
The manmade sandbars are on the Missouri River in the Vermillion
area. Two birds -- the piping plover (Ploh'-ver) and the least tern
-- build nests on the sandbars.
Before dams were built, the natural rise and fall of the river
would create sandbars. Now the corps hires contractors who use
dredges and bulldozers to build sandbars of 40 to 70 acres each.
Corps' specialist Galen Jons says crews will try to finish up
three sandbar projects before the river freezes, now that the birds
have migrated south.

SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (AP) - Republican U.S. Senate candidate Joel
Dykstra has begun advertising on television and radio stations
across South Dakota.
The 30-second television ad features Dykstra with his family,
including wife, Vicki, three daughters, and an infant
granddaughter.
With just two months remaining until the Nov. 4 election,
Dykstra says time is getting short for voters to compare the two
Senate candidates.
Dykstra is trying to unseat Democratic Sen. Tim Johnson.

SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (AP) - The weekly South Dakota crop report
says last week's cool, wet weather again delayed crop progress but
had little effect on fall planting or on the silage (SY'-lihj)
harvest.
The report says the winter wheat crop was 18 percent seeded as
of Sunday and that 7 percent of the state's corn crop was listed as
mature. Both percentages are considerably behind the five-year
average.
According to the report, one-third of the silage harvest is
done.
Topsoil moisture improved a bit last week, with 62 percent in
the adequate to surplus categories.