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.
An western Iowa county has chosen to provide a monetary settlement to two men convicted of murder as teenagers and wrongly imprisoned for 26 years instead of waiting on a U.S. Supreme Court ruling that could have broken new legal ground for those seeking civil settlements against prosecutors.
Terry Harrington and Curtis McGhee were convicted as teenagers in 1978 for the murder of a retired police man working as a night watchman in Council Bluffs. The two spent nearly three decades in prison for the crime before their legal counsel obtained files indicating a key witness in the case had been coerced by prosecutors Joe Hrvol and Dave Richter. The witness then recanted previous testimony, leading to the convictions being overturned by the Iowa courts five years ago.
Upon their release Harrington and McGhee began a federal lawsuit against Pottawattamie County, prosecutors and police, asserting that those involved with their case purposefully and willfully used fabricated evidence in order to gain their convictions and subsequent incarceration.
The case, which was expected to create legal precedent, was heard before the U.S. Supreme Court with government attorneys arguing that although police could be sued for fabricating evidence, members of the prosecution were immune to such remedies.
The men agreed to settle their case with the county for $12 million. On Monday, the U.S. Supreme Court dismissed the case because of the settlement, and will not issue an official ruling on the immunity of prosecutors and other officials in wrongful conviction cases.
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