Globe-Gazette from Mason City, Iowa • 14

A14 FRIDAY, SEPT. 2, 2005 IowaNationWorld Page Editor. Tom Thoma GLOBE GAZETTE pi a Briefing WfiiiraeOoir Polk County jail may be full on first day DES MOINES (AP) Some officials are worried that the growing number of inmates in Polk County could mean a new jail set to open in 2008 could be full its first day. The number of Polk County jail inmates recently topped 1,100 for the first time. The new $68 million jail's inmate capacity will be 1,500, officials said.

S5 iaft Mmm BASEMENT WALLS CRACKED OR BOWED? WET BASEMENTS! WATERWORKS Basement Systems Specializing In: ill Straightening Floor Repair Footing Repair Wet Basements Cracked Walls Foundation Piercing Foundation Lifting GAMBLING Vander Plaats said he opposes further gambling expansion. He also would take the current $60 million share of gaming proceeds that flow into the state's general fund and redistribute it to counties with no gambling facilities. DEATH PENALTY Reinstatement of the death penalty in Iowa for murders involving multiple felonies would be among his top crime-fighting priorities, Vander Plaats said. ABORTION Vander Plaats said he would revisit restrictions vetoed by Gov. Tom Vilsack, including a bill requiring a 24-hour waiting period for women seeking an abortion in Iowa.

ETHANOL Vander Plaats said he would prefer using more aggressive incentives to spur ethanol use rather than mandating its sale at Iowa fuel pumps. TAKE AN SELECTED CLEARANCE -JOTAL SAVINGS OUR LOSS SO LOOK FOR THE JUNIOR, MISSES, PLUS -NAME BRAND JEANS 4iMiimy Hilfiger, Silver, Mavi, Calvin Klein, Pol koxv, tacky, lei, Mudd, squeeze, Pscrgs, union Br l. -'a NOW -INCLUDING ONE -NAME BRAND JEANS AT AN INCREDIBLE CLEARANCE PRICE OF $9S tax rate. There would be no exemptions. State Sen.

Joe Bolkcom, D-Iowa City, co-chairman of the tax-writing Ways and Means Committee, criticized the plan. "I think it's regressive. It's obviously going to hit low-income people harder," Bolkcom said. "Iowa has long had a progressive tax structure based on ability to pay. We ought to continue to have a progressive tax structure." Iowa's nine income tax brackets range from less than 1 percent to as high as 8.9 percent.

But Iowans are also allowed to deduct federal taxes from what they owe the state, slicing the actual top tax rate to around 7 percent. Personal income taxes in Iowa add up to $2.8 billion annually. The Iowa Department of Revenue, which collects those taxes and monitors taxpayer compliance, has a yearly budget of $26.6 million Vander Plaats argues a bureaucracy of that size would not be needed under his plan. And he contends a upro50 OFF CHILDREN'S COATS Size 2 to 20 STARTING AT s39.97 LADIES' COATS Size Sm to XL STARTING AT s54.97 ENTIRE STOCK OF MEN'S, WOMEN'S, CHILDREN'S ATHLETIC SHOES Adidas, Skechers, Nike, New Balance NOW ON SALE LOOK FOR LADIES GIRL'S 12 PRICE ATHLETIC SHOES wages barely moving forward Al-Qaida claims responsibility for London bombings CAIRO, Egypt (AP) Al- Qaida's No. 2 made the terror group's first direct claim of responsibility for the July 7 bombings in London in a tape broadcast Thursday that also included a farewell warning to the West from a man identified as one of the four suicide attackers.

Speaking English, the bomber identified as Mohammad Sidique Khan said he had forsaken "everything for what we believe" and went on to accuse Western civilians of being directly responsible for the terror attacks that befall them. "Your democratically elected governments continuously perpetuate injustice against my people all over the world, and your support of them makes you directly responsible, just as I am directly responsible for protecting and avenging my Muslim brothers and sisters," said Khan, wearing a red-and-white checked keffiyeh and a dark jacket and apparently sitting against a wall lined with an ornate carpet. Thousands at funerals of stampede victims BAGHDAD, Iraq (AP) Wailing over the coffins of loved ones Thursday, Shiites buried the nearly 1,000 victims of a stampede on a bridge while politicians and ordinary Iraqis demanded the government explain whether botched security controls may have played a part in the tragedy. Tension and confusion persisted one day after the biggest loss of life in a single event in Iraq since the 2003 fall of Saddam Hussein. Gunfire erupted at the bridge during a protest march, killing a 12-year-old girl and wounding four other people.

Meanwhile, U.S. jets launched airstrikes for the third time in a week near the Syrian border, destroying a train station the U.S. command said was used by al-Qaida in Iraq to store weapons. In the Shiite holy city of Najaf, women wept and embraced the simple wooden coffins of the victims of Wednesday's stampede and pounded their chests in a traditional gesture of mourning. Men carried the coffins, some draped with Iraqi flags, to the Valley of Peace, where many Iraqis prefer to be buried.

Theory: mad cow may be from humans LONDON (AP) Anew theory proposes that mad cow disease may have come from feeding British cattle meal contaminated with human remains infected with a variation of the disease. The hypothesis, outlined in The Lancet medical journal, suggests the infected cattle feed came from the Indian subcontinent, where bodies sometimes are ceremonially thrown into the Ganges River. Indian experts not connected with the research pointed out weaknesses in the theory but agreed it should be investigated. The cause of the original case or cases of mad cow disease is unknown. Judge orders release of Dutch teen in Aruba ORANJESTAD, Aruba (AP) A judge on Thursday ordered the release of a Dutch teenager who has been jailed for nearly three months in the disappearance of an Alabama honors student and said he would be freed this weekend, the youth's father and attorney said.

Paul van der Sloot said the judge ruled there was no reason to hold his son, Joran, any longer on suspicion of murder, but the youth remained a suspect in the sexual assault of 18-year-old Natalee Holloway. Defense attorney Antonio Carlo said van der Sloot, 18, remains a suspect in Hol-loway's murder but will be released Saturday pending the outcome of the investigation. The decision to release van der Sloot "only has to do with the pretrial detention. The primary condition is he has to remain available to police," Carlo said. Republican candidate for governor says plan would yield bureaucratic savings, spark economy By TODD DORM AN Globe Des Moines Bureau DES MOINES Republican candidate for governor Bob Vander Plaats said Thursday he favors creating a simplified 5 percent "flat" income tax that would be paid by all Iowa workers, including low-income earners.

That would be a dramatic departure Vander Plaats from Iowa's current nine-bracket income tax structure, which collects no taxes from workers making less than $13,500 annual- ly- Vander Plaats also argued his plan would yield enough bureaucratic savings and spark enough economic growth to cover the cost of property tax cuts. "Our founding fathers never intended for the huge complexities we have today in order to tax our citizens," said Vander Plaats, a Sioux City businessman, in an interview with Lee Enterprises Des Moines Bureau reporters. "I think we need to get government extremely simplified," Vander Plaats said. He said specific figures to back up his plan would be announced later. Under Vander Plaats' proposal, taxpayers earning $100,000 or $12,000 annually would pay the same 5 percent Liberal group: By DAN GEARINO Globe Des Moines Bureau DES MOINES Iowa has prolonged hangover from the 2001 recession, with job growth and wages barely moving forward, said a report released Thursday by the Iowa Policy Project, a liberal-leaning think tank.

"This slow job growth, focused in lower-wage sectors such as leisure and hospitality and other service industries, has hurt Iowans' pock-etbooks," said Elaine Ditsler, co-author of the report, at a news conference. The study is a stark counterpoint to recent federal reports that Iowa led the 7. SATURDAY 1 Mohawks open season against Des Moines Lincoln SPORTS 7 WW 'J ir.iun ir. a I i. i a less burdensome tax system would leave more money in Iowans' pockets and spur growth.

Those savings and growth, he argues, could be used to help the state pay for education and mental health treatment costs currently covered by property taxpayers. He rejects the notion his plan would hurt low-income workers. "Say for a person who makes $100 a month, we ask them to pay $5. To me, that's dignity for them," Vander Plaats said. "To me, in America, when you make $12,000, you have the possibility of making $50,000, the possibility to make $100,000.

It's called incentives." Bolkcom insists that the plan would break the state budget and grab scarce resources away from local schools, community colleges and universities. "Unless this proposal raises revenues, his plan is going to struggle to fund a first-class education system," Bolkcom said. been able to overcome the real problems that were brought about in 2001, and we're not out of it," he said. According to the report, there has only been a net gain of 4,600 nonfarm jobs since March 2001. But the real problem, the authors contend, is the quality of the new jobs.

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Gov. Tom Vilsack has greeted the federal reports as evidence that his policies are working. But David Osterberg, executive director of the think tank, said recent economic gains have been mostly restricted to the farm sector and people who already had high incomes. "No governor has probably "IF i 1 mm Internet safeguards for parents PAGE ONE mmmm myuiiiDiiyiuim jmt sn OFFERS END OCT. 28 SEE YOUR JOHN DEERE ATV DEALER NOW! t-mss St www.Jotin08Cr.comATV HOUSE OF SPORTS ACROSS FROM SUPER TARGET MASON CITY, IA 50401 (641)424-2861 HOURS SAT.8-1 suBisvfimKvmmsmtmi 19 fa I The status of labor unions in North Iowa PAGE ONE.