Democrats and Republicans in the state capitol have drawn a line in the sand this summer over whether Gov. Chet Culver should call a special session of the legislature to balance Iowa’s budget, and the debate shows no signs of quieting down. Continue reading »
Considering changes to Iowa’s HIV transmission law may make sense, but hesitation persists
An Iowa man, whose only previous encounter with the law was a 2006 operating-while-intoxicated conviction, was sentenced to the maximum allowed by state law for failing to disclose to a one-time intimate partner that he was HIV-positive. The case, which has not resulted in the one-time partner actually contracting HIV, has been used as evidence by some who say it’s time that state criminal transmission laws should be re-evaluated.
Iowa News Feed:
Adele Stan: Sarah Palin Will Be Back
7/3/09 5:41 PM Huffington PostGlynnis MacNicol: Live from Twitter! The Media Reacts to Sarah Palin’s Resignation
7/3/09 5:24 PM Huffington PostThey’re dropping like flies
7/3/09 3:14 PM Bleeding HeartlandNews of the Weird (i.e. Palin)
7/3/09 3:10 PM The PlankPalin resigning as Alaska governor, stirring 2012 campaign buzz
7/3/09 3:07 PM Des Moines RegisterRants says property taxes a drain in border areas
7/3/09 3:00 PM Radio IowaFarm Bureau confident climate change bill going nowhere
7/3/09 12:07 PM Bleeding HeartlandPalin quits
7/3/09 10:35 AM John Deeth BlogFewer state monitors for large-scale confinements
7/3/09 9:00 AM Radio IowaOpen thread on July 4 activism
7/3/09 8:00 AM Bleeding HeartlandGrassley sees critical need for bipartisan health-care reform
7/3/09 6:14 AM WCF CourierCulver Deceives Iowans by Rejecting LSA Numbers
7/3/09 5:54 AM The Iowa RepublicanAnti-spending Tea Parties gear up for July 4
7/3/09 4:00 AM Cedar Rapids GazetteAnti-spending Tea Parties gear up for July 4
7/3/09 4:00 AM Cedar Rapids GazetteCourt reporters, judges say cuts will hurt efficiency
7/3/09 4:00 AM Cedar Rapids Gazette
Center for Independent Media:
- Sympathy for Sarah Palin
- Palin to Resign
- ICE Targets Employers Who Follow the Law
- Tea Party Movement Loses Steam
- Bennet engages religious leaders in health-care debate
- Tweet of the week: “Gov Ritter hates your car!”
- McInnis warned Schaffer against misplacing mountains last year
- Candidate McInnis moves mountains — from Canadian Rockies to Colorado
- Detroit City Council moves toward closing trash incinerator
- 6 Detroit mayoral hopefuls back-seated by hundreds running for city council, charter revision seats
- Lansing’s protocol gray area raises concerns of ‘councilmanic interference’
- Granholm signs Cobo Hall legislation
- Palin does Pawlenty one better: She’ll quit now
- Franken: My Tuesday swearing-in will feature Biden, Mondale, Klobuchar
- Dem oppo-research firm fills in Bachmann’s U.S. Census form for her
- A chapter closes for the Coleman-Franken chattering classes
Top stories:
Culver: GOP misleading Iowans on budget
Republicans are not being honest with Iowans about the state of the budget and have chosen to play politics instead of working to overcome challenging economic realities, Gov. Chet Culver said Thursday.
Iowa sisterhood helps new moms get (and count) their kicks
An Iowa sisterhood that developed out of shared grief has no interest in increasing its numbers. In fact, the five founding Iowa women are hard at work to decrease their prospective membership pool.
Tiffan Yamen, Kate Safris, Janet Petersen, Jan Caruthers and Kerry Biondi-Morlan discovered one another in 2003 after each had experienced the death of an infant daughter, and their shared experiences sparked a new mission.
Revenue estimates spark debate over depth of shortfall
Iowa could end the 2009 fiscal year with $161 million less in net revenues than expected, according to estimates by the Legislative Services Agency. That could force Gov. Chet Culver to call a special session to balance the budget.
Iowa courts stand firm on HIV transmission law
In a previous report, The Iowa Independent detailed the criminal case of a Bremer County man who was charged and convicted to 25 years in prison under the state’s criminal HIV transmission law. Although this case was by no means the first to be prosecuted under provisions of the statute some consider archaic, its details have provided a springboard for Iowa’s launch into a larger national debate regarding whether criminal prosecutions for diseases are appropriate or constitutional.
Democrats gear up early for another crack at Latham
“We haven’t had this type of work being done this early in the last three cycles,” said Tom Harrington, who chairs the Democrats’ 4th District Central Committee. “We’re hoping that by organizing early, helping find good candidates and having this infrastructure in place for them that it will be a big leg up over what past candidates have had.”
HIV-positive man’s prison sentence shines light on Iowa law
An examination of the state’s HIV transmission law and related court cases by the Iowa Independent has found that certain provisions may have unintended consequences, for instance, that despite its name, actual transmission of the virus is not required for a person to be subject to prosecution under it.
Barbour: GOP must resist quest for purity
Wading into a contentious debate being waged within the Republican Party of Iowa, Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour told a crowd of GOP activists and elected officials Thursday night that the only way back into the majority is to resist demands for ideological purity.
Culver: Budget questions are ‘nothing we can’t deal with’
The 2009 budget will be balanced without a special session, and when previous budget cuts are coupled with a $440 cash reserve, the outlook for the 2010 budget is positive as well, Gov. Chet Culver said Wednesday.
Culver tours western Iowa to promote passenger rail
The casual observer couldn’t be faulted for seeing Gov. Chet Culver’s itinerary and thinking the 2010 campaign was already underway, but the governor insisted that his 13-city whistlestop tour across Western Iowa was “about getting things done and setting the politics aside.”
Agriprocessors sale could finally come together
More than three months have passed since two companies holding millions of debt for Postville’s kosher meatpacking plant declined to accept the bids that were submitted during a court-allotted bidding process. Now, however, it looks as if there is an interested buyer who may have the blessing of key creditors.
As climate change bill moves forward, Boswell remains skeptical
Democrats are pushing for a vote on federal climate change legislation, perhaps as early as Friday, despite continued misgivings from farm-state Democrats like U.S. Rep. Leonard Boswell.
Iowa schools’ ‘Disasters Toolkit’ presented to national audience
Even the worst of times can be teaching moments. That’s the thinking behind a collection of advice and best practices developed and distributed by the Iowa Association of School Boards.
Raids on Swift, Agriprocessors highlighted in immigration policy critique
A national commission investigating immigration enforcement under the Bush administration has released a comprehensive new report documenting the impact immigration raids have had on families, workplaces and communities across the country, drawing on information from raids in Postville and Marshalltown.
Blog:
Blasting the budget blame game
Vander Plaats calls on South Carolina governor to resign
Embattled South Carolina Gov. Mark Sanford should resign, not only for the sake of his state but for his family, GOP gubernatorial hopeful Bob Vander Plaats said in an interview with the Carroll Daily Times Herald. Sanford confessed last week to secretly traveling to Argentina to carry on an extramarital affair.
“I think what it is is a compromise of his leadership and I think honestly he has a family in crisis,” Vander Plaats said. “I think he needs to put his attention on the family right now. If I was counseling him I would say, ‘Governor Sanford, not only for your state but I believe for you and your family I’d resign.’”
Blog posts offer window into Fong’s political beliefs
In announcing his candidacy for governor, 32-year-old Christian Fong has managed to shake up an already contentious Republican battle to unseat Gov. Chet Culver.
With no formal political experience, Fong’s positions on the issues are still a mystery to most voters. Unlike his GOP competition, who have endured numerous campaigns and been thoroughly vetted, Fong is a virtual unknown to those living outside his hometown of Cedar Rapids.
But over a series of months, Fong has repeatedly posted on Hawkeye Review, a blog run by Linn County GOP chair Tim Palmer. His posts there may represent the only window currently available into Fong’s political thinking, and some of his thoughts may be controversial to Iowa’s conservative Republican base. Continue reading »
WSJ: Gannett to cut more than 1,000 jobs
Gannett Co. Inc., parent company of The Des Moines Register, will eliminate between 1,000 and 2,000 jobs in the coming weeks, according to a report by the Wall Street Journal. Continue reading »
Fong enters GOP race for governor
Christian Fong, a 32-year-old Cedar Rapids resident, announced Tuesday via Twitter that he will be a candidate for governor in 2010.
ABI scoring rewards GOP legislators (again)
The Iowa Association of Business and Industry has released its 2009 legislative scorecard, with 27 Republicans in the House and three in the Senate receiving perfect scores.
The grades were based on legislator’s votes on nine bills in each chamber. In the Senate, they ranged from a bill that “streamlines the Iowa Values Fund” to bills altering the state’s workers compensation system. Continue reading »
Corn prices plummet after USDA predicts huge supply
Corn prices on the Chicago Board of Trade dropped significantly this morning after a report (pdf) from USDA predicted that this year’s crop will be much larger than investors and analysts expected: Continue reading »
Green Party sues Davenport
The Green Party of the United States filed a lawsuit against the City of Davenport and the local chamber of commerce alleging its members were prevented from collecting petitions for a presidential candidate at a street festival last year, the Quad-City Times reports. Continue reading »
New laws take effect Wednesday
An expansion of the state’s children health insurance program, changes to sex offender registry and tougher restrictions on pseudoephedrine sales are just a few of the new laws set to go into effect on Wednesday.
Most legislation that was passed during the 2009 General Assembly takes effect July 1, at the start of the 2010 fiscal year. Continue reading »
A glimpse of 2010: Nascent GOP stump speeches
The Sac County Republican Party hosted what was probably the first cattle-call of 2010 Republican candidates for governor over the weekend, and four men delivered stump speeches as candidates (or potential candidates).
To hear what State Rep. Christopher Rants (R-Sioux City), State Rep. Rod Roberts (R-Carroll), State Sen. Jerry Behn (R-Boone), and Bob Vander Plaats (R-Sioux City) had to say, head over to Kay Henderson’s blog.
I-JOBS board approves first grants
The first $45.5 million in grants associated with Gov. Chet Culver’s I-JOBS infrastructure plan were handed out Monday morning by the program’s governing board.
The money, part of the $830 million program designed to help the state rebuild after last year’s tornado and flooding disaster, includes $20 million for projects in Cedar Rapids, one of the cities that was hit hardest by the 2008 floods. Continue reading »
More blog posts »
