There are two big stories connected to the immigration investigation of Postville’s Agriprocessors kosher meatpacking operation emerging today.

First, former Agriprocessors CEO Sholom Rubashkin was granted bail and released from the Dubuque County detention facility where he was being held pending trial.  Federal prosecutors argued that Rubashkin was a flight risk.  A federal court judge disagreed and released Rubashkin on $500,000 bond.  At least one person connected to the Agriprocessors investigation has already fled to Israel.

And second, on the state level, the AP reports that Jeffrey Heasley, a beef production supervisor at the Agriprocessors plant, was charged Jan. 16 with nearly 1,000 labor violations, including “alleged child labor violations of employing minors in a meatpacking establishment and for exposing minors to dangerous or poisonous chemicals.”