That’s a quote about housing Guantanamo Bay detainees at the Thomson Correctional Center in Illinois, courtesy of a statement from Tom Parker of Amnesty International. Judging from my inbox, the longer civil libertarians look at the Obama administration’s plans for Thomson, the less they like it.
A measured [...]
On a conference call just now, senior administration officials provided some details about their plan for detaining Guantanamo detainees at Illinois’ Thomson Correction Center, just across the Mississippi River from Iowa. The facility will be for a “limited number” of detainees, a senior administration official told reporters, for those [...]
A vote on the medical use of marijuana has been delayed until February, the Iowa Board of Pharmacy announced Monday.
The delay allows the board to read the 12,000 pages of written comments submitted in regards to the plan, which if approved would recommend that the state legislature legalize marijuana [...]
Even if a version of health care reform legislation in the U.S. Senate does not include a public option or a Medicare expansion, U.S. Sen. Tom Harkin, D-Iowa, said it still has enough positive attributes to garner his support.
Liberal blog Talking Points Memo caught Harkin on his [...]
President Barack Obama and key Illinois elected officials will announce Tuesday that roughly 100 detainees from Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, will soon be housed at a revamped Thomson Correctional Facility just across the Mississippi River from Iowa.
The plan, which was floated as a possibility in late fall, has already drawn [...]
While there are marginal cost savings to the state of Iowa in connection with the possible closing of the Mount Pleasant Mental Health Institute (MHI), there are also impacts to the local economy related to the loss of jobs and the added expense for patients and their families.
[...] Even though it took a week of pressure to convince him, U.S. Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, deserves praise for finally doing the right thing and speaking out against proposed legislation in Uganda that would sentence those found to be homosexual to death, the state’s largest gay-rights group said Monday.
“He [...]
Members of Zion Lutheran Church in Clear Lake voted to withdraw from the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America on Sunday because of the organization’s decision to allow homosexuals in committed relationship to serve as pastors, the Mason City Globe Gazette reports.
From the Globe Gazette:
The vote was 238 to [...]
Iowa’s labor unions have stepped up and made sacrifices in order to help the state get past record deficits, and now it’s time for lawmakers to look at the tax code, two prominent labor leaders said.
During a taping of Iowa Public Television’s “Iowa Press,” the American Federation of State, [...]
Incumbent U.S. Rep. Leonard Boswell, D-Des Moines, has yet another Republican challenger, as retired architect Mark Rees has officially joined the 2010 3rd District GOP primary.
Rees formed a campaign committee with the Federal Election Commission last week. His campaign Web site, www.markreesforcongress.com, will go live next week [...]
A panel of experts announced Friday that Iowa’s revenue would once again shrink this fiscal year, but additional layoffs, furloughs or program cuts will not be needed.
The Revenue Estimating Conference, a three-member panel of experts whose revenue predictions are used to guide the governor and state legislature in setting [...]
Recommendations issued by a consulting firm that promise to save the state $341 million could be authorized by an executive order in the coming days, a spokesman for Gov. Chet Culver said Friday.
Public Works LLC issued their recommendations Tuesday. Among the 90 ideas, the firm’s report advocates [...]
Democrat Mark Seidl of Cedar Rapids has announced he’ll challenge incumbent Republican state Rep. Renee Schulte in Iowa House District 37.
Schulte won the district, which encompasses primarily northeastern Cedar Rapids, by defeating incumbent Democrat Art Staed in 2008 by only 13 votes. According to the Iowa Secretary [...]
The National Journal asked Republicans which member of their party they would “most like to mute,” and Iowa’s own U.S. Rep. Steve King earned high marks.
The magazine’s Hotline On Call blog gave a sneak peak of the survey, and coming in first place at 16 percent was “no one.” [...]
After two and a half years at the helm of The Iowa Independent, Friday is my last day. The site will continue, but I’m moving on.
Editing this site has been both rewarding and humbling. The Hawkeye State has seen its share of excitement since this site was founded in April [...]
Calling recent Republican attacks against her record an unnecessary distraction, Democratic candidate for U.S. Senate Tom Fiegen called on rival Roxanne Conlin to end her Senate campaign for the sake of “working Iowa families.”
On Tuesday, the Republican Party of Iowa and conservative group American Future Fund [...]
Despite being pressed by reporters on his weekly conference call to offer more insights into a compromise plan under consideration regarding health care reform, U.S. Sen. Tom Harkin, D-Iowa, would say only that he is one of 10 senators working to broker the deal and that he is [...]
Stricter state regulations on coal ash could create added costs to state government, and during a recession, that is not a viable idea, Iowa Environmental Protection Commission (EPC) Chairwoman Charlotte Hubbell said in a letter to an environmental watchdog.
Hubbell was responding to a request from Cedar Rapids-based Plains [...]
Iowa and New Hampshire should keep their position in presidential politics going into 2012, according to officials close to discussions.
The Associated Press reports that commissions set up by the Democratic and Republican parties to study the presidential election calendar agree that states like Iowa, New Hampshire, Nevada and South [...]
Even though the U.S. economy is believed to have begun rebounding sometime in the third quarter of 2009, state finances are not expected to recover for at least two years, according to a report released Wednesday.
Research by the National Conference of State Legislatures (NCSL) found that nationally, state [...]
U.S. Rep. Steve King, R-Kiron, used his Twitter account to report that he has discovered evidence from a White House party that reveals a connection between the Association for Community Organizations for Reform Now (ACORN) and President Barack Obama.
At the WH Christmas Ball Monday night, they served ACORN [...]
An Iowa health care provider is one of 85 community health centers nationwide to receive a significant monetary boost from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, President Barack Obama announced Wednesday.
“… Funding for construction, technology and a medical home demonstration project won’t just save more money, and create [...]
The Iowa Family Policy Center’s action arm is noting in an e-mail to supporters Wednesday that the blizzard impacting Iowa and other parts of the Midwest is evidence of God’s sense of humor since it coincides with the United Nations Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen, Denmark.
Divine Sense [...]
While most Americans continue to believe the economy is in rough shape, Democrats are far more likely than Republicans or independents to believe things will improve significantly in 2010, according University of Iowa Hawkeye Poll results released Tuesday.
Seventy percent of Democrats believe the economy will be good or very [...]
The National Republican Congressional Committee has compiled a list of 17 incumbent Democrats they hope to pressure into retirement before the 2010 elections, and Iowa 3rd District Rep. Leonard Boswell is one of them.
According to the National Journal, the informal list, called the “Dem Retirement Assault List,” includes [...]
U.S. Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, has signed on to an amendment to health reform legislation that would make it legal for U.S. consumers to buy prescription drugs from other countries.
U.S. Sen. Charles Grassley, R-Iowa (Lauren Victoria Burke/WDCPIX.COM)
“I’ve always considered [...]
The National Weather Service is predicting a potentially historic snowstorm across the state Tuesday night, leading to a run on snow blowers, gasoline, bread and milk from local retailers as Iowans prepare to hunker down for snowfalls ranging somewhere between six to 15 inches (depending on the meteorologist).
The magnitude [...]
More than 30,000 Iowans are at risk of losing their unemployment benefits early next year unless Congress intervenes, according to a new study by the National Employment Law Project.
The study found that 10,716 Iowans will exhaust their state unemployment benefits in the first quarter of 2010. Another 19,561 [...]
Yesterday, it was Sen. Jim Inhofe, R-Okla., citing “Climategate” as reason to doubt the legitimacy of the EPA’s recent finding that greenhouse emissions threaten public health. Today it’s Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, offering the same critique. In a call with reporters, Grassley said Congress never intended for the [...]
This year marks the 125th anniversary of a partnership between the University of Iowa Libraries and the Government Printing Office that has provided Iowans with access to a multitude of federal government information.
[...] More than $60 million will be given to Iowa schools for the purchase of new technology, thanks to a 2007 settlement to an anti-trust lawsuit against Microsoft Corp.
In April 2007, a Polk County judge approved a settlement where the software giant agreed to pay Iowa consumers $179.95 million. Attorneys [...]
A Rasmussen poll released Monday found that while the GOP has been trending ahead of the Democratic Party of late in generic head-to-head matchups, if voters are given the option to vote for a Tea Party, the Republicans drop to fourth place.
The poll found that 36 percent favor a [...]
Former U.S. Sen. Rick Santorum, R-Penn., says he is “absolutely taking a look” at running for president in 2012, and even manages to take a shot at one of his potential rivals.
In an interview with ABC News, Santorum said he is seriously considering a run for the White [...]
Readers of British newspaper The Observer were given a glimpse this weekend into Sarah Palin’s massive book tour, the increasingly contentious state of American political discourse and Iowa’s upcoming role in shaping the future Republican Party. At least two Iowans, each known for different world views, contributed to the [...]
On the heels of a national study showing the human toll that will be experienced if key provisions within the federal stimulus package are allowed to end, Iowa Workforce Development Deputy Director Joseph Walsh is calling for Congress to renew unemployment and COBRA benefits.
Joseph Walsh
“The unemployment [...]Peter Hussman of the Newton Independent (no affiliation with this site) has the scoop on a proposed plan to reorganize the state Department of Human Services in light of current and future state budget shortfalls.
According to a memo to the Iowa Council on Human Services by DHS director Charles [...]
Four Iowa legislators and the state’s Public Safety Commissioner will receive Gold Star awards tomorrow from the Iowa State Sheriffs’ and Deputies’ Association for “excellence in leadership on public safety and law enforcement issues” in Iowa.
Public Safety Commission Gene Meyer is being recognized by the organization for his dedication [...]
It’s no surprise that former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin’s visit to Sioux City Sunday generated a lot of media attention. In addition to fueling speculation that the 2008 vice presidential nominee is laying the groundwork for a 2012 run for the White House, it also reminded observers of her popularity [...]
Four local U.S. Department of Justice officials were recognized nationally at the annual Executive Office for United States Attorneys Director’s Awards ceremony today for their work in relation to an Internet pharmacy case.
Those honored were First Assistant U.S. Attorney Richard Murphy, paralegal specialist Brenda Nietert, Drug Enforcement Administration investigator Sarah [...]
Jim Gibbons, the former wrestling coach at Iowa State University who hopes to unseat Democratic incumbent Rep. Leonard Boswell in Iowa’s 3rd Congressional District, issued a release Thursday criticizing Democratic leadership for a what he considers a light workload in 2010.
On the same day that the Republican primary field grew [...]
Republican accusations that the Senate health reform bill will hurt Medicare recipients by making drastic cuts to the program are “fear tactics,” U.S. Sen. Tom Harkin, D-Iowa, said Thursday.
“I’m sad to see that our Republican colleagues have resorted to fear tactics in a desperate attempt to preserve the dysfunctional, costly [...]
U.S. Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) is no stranger to unwanted attention, and he has just earned himself another round of it.
After admitting on live television that he has “lived off the public tit” for decades as a member of congress, he attracted the attention of several satirical Web sites.
In an interview with the Dubuque Telegraph Herald, former Gov. Terry Branstad said those who say he’s not conservative enough for the Republican Party “don’t know me.”
One of Branstad’s rivals for the 2010 GOP gubernatorial nomination was quick to respond, saying the former governor’s critics know him all too [...]
Mercy Medical Center in Sioux City has agreed to pay the federal government $400,000 to settle allegations that it violated the False Claims Act by inflating charges for heart patients’ care.
The settlement resolves allegations that Mercy inflated charges for Medicare, Medicaid, Tricare and Federal Employees Health Benefits Program heart patients [...]
A Democratic tax reform proposal that failed to pass during the 2009 session is supported by a majority of Iowans, according to a poll conducted by Selzer and Associates.
The poll, commissioned by the non-partisan Iowa Fiscal Partnership (IFP), found that 63 percent of those polled favored changes to Iowa’s [...]
Story County Treasurer Dave Jamison and Dyersville Mayor Jim Heavens have announced plans to challenge Democratic state Treasurer Mike Fitzgerald.
The pair of Republicans will face off in a primary for the chance to take on the 28-year incumbent.
Jamison lives in Ames and was first elected as Story County [...]
A spokesman for Democratic U.S. Senate candidate Roxanne Conlin said accusations that the campaign is strong-arming elected officials for their endorsement are ridiculous.
“We expect ludicrous allegations from Republicans, but not Democrats,” Conlin spokesman Mark Daley said.
The claims were made Monday by Democrat Tom Fiegen of Clarence, who joins Conlin and [...]
Employees of The Des Moines Register must take a mandatory one-week furlough during the first quarter of 2010, according to a memo sent to staff by Register Publisher and President Laura Hollingsworth and obtained by the Iowa Independent.
The furloughs were ordered by the Register’s parent company, Gannett Co. Inc. They [...]
Although it might be difficult to imagine talk of potential health care reform and climate change legislation getting bumped from the nation’s front pages, the foundation for the next partisan cage match is already being built — and Iowa’s own U.S. Sen. Chuck Grassley is getting in on the ground [...]
State Sen. David Hartsuch, R-Bettendorf, will potentially face off against two challengers in 2010 — one in a primary and one in the general election — the Quad-City Times reported Tuesday.
Dave Thede, whose wife, state Rep. Phyllis Thede, lost to Hartsuch in the 2006, said he has changed his [...]
The ceremony most likely won’t take place at the fabled Little Brown Church in Nashua, but will have Iowa ties just the same.
Friends of Chelsea Clinton received some happy news via e-mail this holiday weekend. The daughter of former President Bill Clinton and current Secretary of State Hillary Clinton [...]
Producers who received letter from bankruptcy court urged to contact Iowa Cattlemen’s Association
Some Iowa cattle producers that sold livestock to the now-defunct Agriprocessors meatpacking operation in Postville have received an unexpected and unwanted piece of holiday mail from the federal bankruptcy court.
Court officials, in an effort to ensure that none [...]
Former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee told Fox News Sunday that another presidential run in 2012 is “less than likely.”
Huckabee, who won the 2008 Iowa Caucuses and remains popular among Hawkeye State Republicans, said he would rather continue doing his Fox News program as opposed to re-entering the political [...]
Members of Iowa largest labor union have approved contract concessions that will avoid nearly 500 layoffs.
Fifty-nine percent of American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees Iowa Council 61 members voted t0 approve the concessions, with 41 percent voting against, according to figures on the union’s Web site. The [...]
The Iowa Department of Public Health announced Wednesday that three more adult Iowans have died as a result of the H1N1 influenza virus.
The three adults were from Carroll, Des Moines and Webster counties, and all had additional risk factors that increased the chance of complications from the virus.
Since Sept. 1, [...]
Smoldering culture clashes reignite in Postville
Defense attorneys for Sholom Rubashkin continue to assert that their client, despite being recently convicted on 86 fraud-related charges, is not a flight risk and should be granted bail pending sentencing.
Late last week U.S. District Chief Judge Linda R. Reade ruled that Rubashkin, who served [...]
An Iowa District Court has reversed a $10 million verdict from 2007 against West Des Moines businessman Gary Kirke and his casino company, Wild Rose Entertainment LLC, saying they did not breach a contract with a consulting company.
One of the six attorneys representing Kirke in the case was [...]
Saying that the past three years have been “an honor” and “a wonderful privilege,” the man tasked with leading the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of Iowa resigned Tuesday so that the office could be led by Stephanie Rose, an office veteran and career prosecutor who was recently [...]
Former Des Moines school board member Jonathan Narcisse criticized Gov. Chet Culver and the Republicans hoping to unseat him in 2010, but remained coy about whether he will challenge the governor in a Democratic primary.
Jonathan Narcisse
Narcisse was speaking to Dave Price, reporter for Des Moines [...]
At least two Iowans will be dining at the White House tonight as Pres. Barack Obama celebrates the visit of Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh with his administration’s first state dinner.
Iowa Sen. Swati Dandekar, a Democrat from Marion, and her husband, Arvind, a prominent local businessman, traveled to Washington, D.C. [...]
The National Republican Senatorial Committee is calling foul on Democrat Roxanne Conlin, saying she is trying to have it both ways on the issue of taking donations from lobbyists and political action committees.
Conlin has repeatedly said she will not accept donations from lobbyists or PACs, and Tuesday called on the [...]
As more American families question their ability to put food on their tables, there are actions that all of us can take to combat food insecurity.
“I believe hunger is one of the great challenges that confronts us today in a tough and difficult economy, and I think we have an [...]
It was inevitable that conservatives would attack the Senate health care reform legislation over the proposed 0.5 percent hike in Medicare’s payroll tax for the country’s highest earners. Now they’re drilling down into the specifics.
Sen. Chuck Grassley, senior Republican on the Senate Finance Committee, has asked the Joint [...]
One of three Democrats vying to unseat Republican U.S. Sen. Chuck Grassley is calling on the veteran lawmaker to decline all contributions from federal lobbyists and political action committees (PACs).
Des Moines attorney Roxanne Conlin said in an e-mail to Grassley that the senior senator has accepted millions from “the [...]
Iowa Christian Alliance President and Republican National Committee member Steve Scheffler is among 10 co-sponsors of a resolution being circulated that aims to impose a conservative litmus test on potential GOP candidates.
The resolution, dubbed a “purity test” by the media, became public Monday. It lists 10 positions Republican candidates should [...]
UPDATED: Nine Iowa congregations have joined a new sect of Lutheran churches, signaling that they could leave the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA), the largest Lutheran denomination in the world.
The moves come after the ELCA voted this summer to allow gay and lesbian pastors in committed relationships to [...]
Former Gov. Terry Branstad’s endorsement of Democratic Sen. Ben Nelson, D-Neb., in 2000 helped him win his seat and eventually allowed him to join fellow Democrats in moving their health care reform bill forward, GOP gubernatorial hopeful Bob Vander Plaats said Monday.
“Ben Nelson gave Senate Democratic Leader Harry Reid [...]
Iowa estimated to recover millions now spent on care for uninsured
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services has released new state-by-state projections of the impacts of passage or failure of the Democrats’ sweeping health care reform package.
According to HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius, the projections demonstrate that “the health care [...]
Although a local medical examiner may be right that the number of deaths from the H1N1 influenza virus in Iowa is greater than official statistics would indicate, Iowans should not be concerned that this is because the virus has mutated as some rumors have suggested.
Instead, the disparity is caused by [...]
Liberal blog Bleeding Heartland reports that former Butler County Democratic Party Chairman Bill Maske has announced he will challenge Fourth Distict U.S. Rep. Tom Latham, R-Ames, in 2010.
Maske, who has launched a Web site, is a veteran school administrator with no previous electoral experience.
The Fourth District Democratic Central [...]
Iowa conservatives give former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee the highest favorability rating among potential 2012 presidential candidates, according to the most recent Des Moines Register Iowa Poll.
Former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee in Des Moines [...]
Government asserts that Rubashkin aided flight of Agriprocessors co-worker to Israel
U.S. District Court Chief Judge Linda R. Reade has ordered that the Iowa meatpacking manager found guilty on 86 counts of fraud and money laundering will remain behind bars.
Sholom M. Rubashkin, who served as the day-to-day manager at Agriprocessors [...]
A TV and film star is throwing a $100,000+ fundraiser for a candidate for Iowa governor tonight, but the beneficiary isn’t the bleeding-heart Hollywood liberal you might expect.
The Iowa Republican reports that Sioux City businessman and social conservative leader Bob Vander Plaats could raise $200,000 for his gubernatorial campaign [...]
Instead of asking conservatives to call home-state senators with pleas for votes against health care reform, the Republican National Committee is asking its membership to contact the offices of two Democratic senators deemed “critically important” to squashing any up-or-down vote on the reform bill.
U.S. Sens. Blanche Lincoln of Arkansas and [...]
The Register’s Kathie Obradovich reports that U.S. Sen. Tom Harkin will not make it to the Iowa Democratic Party’s Jefferson-Jackson dinner in person tomorrow night because he’ll be busy trying to pass health care reform in Washington, D.C. In his absence, the party will play a video greeting from [...]
Former Iowa State University wrestling coach Jim Gibbons and state Sen. Brad Zaun, R-Urbandale, both announced intentions Thursday to challenge Democratic U.S. Rep. Leonard Boswell in 2010.
Gibbons, who coached ISU to an NCAA championship in 1987, said he will leave his job at Wells Fargo Advisers to [...]
Iowa Democratic Party Chairman Michael Kiernan’s attacks against U.S. Sen. Chuck Grassley are simply “insulting Iowans who disagree with the [Obama] administration’s political decision to bring terrorists to the United States,” an aide to the senator told the Iowa Independent Thursday.
Jill Kozeny, communications director for Grassley, was responding to an [...]
U.S. Sen. Chuck Grassley’s comparison of civilian trials for terrorists to the murder trial of O.J. Simpson is “false and disrespectful,” Iowa Democratic Party Chairman Michael Kiernan said Thursday.
While questioning Attorney General Eric Holder about the idea of prosecuting five men accused as co-conspirators in the Sept. 11 attacks [...]
Now that Democratic leaders in the Senate have unveiled their health care reform plan, Democrats have “rounded third [base] and we’re heading to home,” U.S. Sen. Tom Harkin, D-Cumming, said Wednesday night.
During an interview with MSNBC host Rachel Maddow, Harkin said no one in the Democratic caucus wants to [...]
The question of possibly housing Guantanamo Bay detainees at a prison facility on the Iowa-Illinois border isn’t something that deserves consideration, according to U.S. Sen. Chuck Grassley, who said today that he opposes such individuals ever entering the country.
When asked if the detainees would put Iowa residents in danger, Grassley [...]
A little more than half of Americans believe health care reform would do more harm than good, according to a University of Iowa Hawkeye Poll released Wednesday.
The national phone survey of 772 adults, with a margin of error of plus or minus 3.5 percent, found that 52 percent believe [...]
Those who immediately voiced opposition to a possible plan to move detainees currently housed at a military prison in Guantanamo Bay into a revamped facility on the Illinois-Iowa border should take time to research instead of offering knee-jerk reactions, U.S. Rep. Bruce Braley said today.
“I’m not going to engage in [...]
Critics of the massive immigration raid in Postville and the subsequent judicial fast-tracking of detained immigrants on criminal charges have been widely expressing their concerns about Stephanie Rose, the U.S. Attorney nominee for the Northern District of Iowa who took part in the legal proceedings. While U.S. Sen. [...]
The union representing state troopers and game wardens has reached an agreement with the state aimed at saving 43 jobs, Gov. Chet Culver announced Tuesday.
The State Police Officers Council (SPOC) has agreed that its 640 members will take five furlough days during the remaining 7 months of [...]
The Iowa Independent has been tracking the nomination of Stephanie Rose for U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Iowa for months, but now national media outlets have jumped into the act.
The New York Times reported Sunday that Rose’s confirmation has been the subject of growing controversy:
Eleventh-hour criticism [...]
U.S. Rep. Tom Latham has pledged to introduce legislation that would prevent the Obama administration from further considering a prison just across the Mississippi River from Clinton as a possible future home for detainees currently housed at a military prison at Guantanamo Bay.
“I have heard from so many Iowans over [...]
A Polk County Judge has ruled the Iowa Department of Economic Development should pay a Canadian filmmaker $6.5 million in tax credits.
The ruling could have bigger ramifications down the road, as several filmmakers who have been denied tax credits weigh legal action against the state.
As GOP gubernatorial hopefuls try to draw distinctions from their Republican rivals, the Iowa Democratic Party continues to co-opt their critiques with the hope of weakening potential challengers to incumbent Gov. Chet Culver.
The latest attack was delivered in Dubuque by state Rep. Chris Rants against former Gov. Terry Branstad. Rants [...]
The Des Moines Register showered more poll numbers on readers today, and the news is better for Democrats than it was over the weekend.
Though each Iowan seems to have his or her own ideas for how money should be cut from the budget, few blame the Democrats for overspending on [...]
A spokeswoman for U.S. Rep. Bruce Braley, D-Waterloo, responded Monday to attacks from Iowa Republicans who say transferring Guantanamo detainees to U.S. soil is a “clear threat to national security.”
President Barack Obama has said he wants Guantanamo Bay facility by January. A nearly-empty Illinois prison near the Mississippi River on [...]
The push is on to dilute the climate change bills moving through Congress, and it’s not coming only from conservatives. Mother Jones’ Kate Sheppard reports today that 14 Senate Democrats, including U.S. Sen. Tom Harkin, are urging their leadership to amend the proposal to grant more free polluting permits [...]
Allowing military service for those with “different beliefs and different religious structure” is a “recipe for disaster,” a West Des Moines pastor told controversial Christian radio host Steve Deace Friday.
Deace was discussing the shootings at the Ft. Hood military base in Texas with Bob Deever, pastor at [...]
A group of midwestern states, including Iowa, is exploring the potential of a college-credit exchange to help defray the costs of earning a degree, AP reports.
The project would create a central location for people to store the college credits they have received from multiple institutions. Colleges and universities then [...]
Calling it a “clear threat to national security,” Republican Party of Iowa Chairman Matt Strawn called on U.S. Rep. Bruce Braley, D-Waterloo, to oppose a plan to house transferred Guantanamo detainees in Illinois.
A nearly-empty Illinois prison near the Mississippi River on the border with Braley’s Iowa district is among U.S. [...]
The latest Iowa Poll by The Des Moines Register finds Gov. Chet Culver losing to both former Gov. Terry Branstad and Sioux City businessman Bob Vander Plaats in hypothetical head-to-head campaigns.
Culver’s job approval rating, at 40 percent, has hit the lowest point since taking office and has dropped 20-percentage-points since [...]
Rep. Steve King (R-Iowa), who seems to have made a second career in this sort of thing, is accusing the White House of promoting Democratic power lawyer Bob Bauer in order to cover up an ACORN scandal.
Bob Bauer has a public record of defending Barack Obama’s relationship with ACORN. [...]
Despite strict laws banning the possession and use of marijuana, some Iowa patients are turning to the drug to ease their symptoms.
Marijuana (Photo: Wikipedia)
Several states have legalized the use of marijuana for medical purposes, and other states, including Iowa, are considering it.
Prompted by a court [...]
The nascent campaign of former Iowa Gov. Terry Branstad, who is campaigning for the Republican gubernatorial nomination in 2010, has taken to the Internet in an attempt to counteract an attack from Democrats that has gone unanswered for weeks.
The Iowa Democratic Party launched a Web site over the summer to [...]
The vast majority of Democratic opposition to the final health reform bill in the U.S. House came from members whose districts are more rural than the nation as a whole.
“Of the 39 Democrats who voted against the bill, 33 represent districts with higher-than-average rural populations,” report Julie Ardery and [...]
More than 100 employees within the Iowa Judicial Branch will soon be without employment, and an additional 100 currently vacant positions will not be filled, as the department makes deeper cuts in an attempt to reduce its operating expenses for the current fiscal year.
The actions, announced today, also include reducing [...]
Jason Hancock, Lynda Waddington, Chase Martyn, Mike Lillis, David Weigel, Spencer Ackerman
