Wednesday was a difficult day for The American Independent News Network, which is the larger entity that operates The Iowa Independent. Our chief executive and founder announced two of our sister sites would close and their content would be moved to The American Independent.
A recently introduced bill could have far-reaching impact on the U.S. sugar industry, including American Crystal Sugar, a farmer-owned cooperative that locked out 1,300 Midwest workers on Aug. 1.
The chairman for Herman Cain’s Iowa effort says the campaign “relied more on the word of farmers than Washington regulators” in deciding to run an ad containing claims the Environmental Protection Agency says are false.
The Iowa Senate will remain under the control of a slim 26-25 Democratic majority when it reconvenes in January 2012.
Helping minority adolescents learn more effective ways to deal with law enforcement and criminal justice officials is the subject of an upcoming forum hosted by a group of African-American law students at Drake University.
“We felt a lot of minority people in general, not just youth, don’t know how to interact with the police when they get confronted on the street,” said Lauren Yates, 23, a second-year law student. “We want to show them how to de-escalate the situation so you don’t go to jail for mouthing off to an officer.”
The Drake Black Law Students Association will host the second annual “411 on the 5-0″ panel discussion at 4:30 p.m. Thursday, Nov. 8, at Drake University’s Law School in Room 206. The term 5-0 is a slang name for police officers. The goal of the panel discussion is to improve how juveniles interact with law enforcement officials and promote interest in legal and law enforcement careers.
Speakers include Polk County District Court Judge Don Nickerson; Des Moines Police Sgt. Joe Gonzalez; Romonda Belcher Ford, a prosecutor; Tim Ross Boon of the federal public defender’s office and Mike Harris, a 2007 law school graduate. A question and answer session will follow the panel discussion.
Yates, who serves as event chair and hopes to work one day as an adoption lawyer, said organizers are targeting black and Latino adolescents ages 12-18. A recent conference on the needs of girls in Iowa’s juvenile justice system found that a disproportionate number of minority girls — 25 percent — were arrested, compared with whites. Between January 2006 and December 2006, 6,788 female juveniles were arrested, including 5,058 whites, 1,188 blacks, 303 Latinos, 51 Asian-Americans, 124 Native Americans and 54 classified as other.
The data show that black females are arrested at a rate that is five times that of whites. Other racial disparities are found throughout the system and in the adult correctional system.
Panelists at Drake will discuss ways to prevent the verbal confrontations that can lead to an arrest and unnecessary contact with the criminal justice system, Yates said. Those who work with juveniles call it felony mouth.
“We want them to realize that you don’t have the power in this situation,” Yates said. Police “have the power and you’re only making it worse by mouthing off, digging in your pockets or making other confrontational actions.”
Youths must learn to maintain a “respectful manner” with officials, she said. If police abuse their power during interactions with youth “that’s where the legal system can come in to protect” them, she said.
Yates hopes that community and youth organizations will bring teens to the “kid-friendly event,” which includes a demonstration and refreshments.
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