Civil Rights
As Postville implodes, hostility to Rubashkin grows
People in and around the small northern Iowa community of Postville have been gathering donations to help care for former Agriprocessors employees left in the lurch by the mass arrest, deportations of immigrant workers, and layoffs resulting from the firm’s legal problems, and the tempers of those cast out are beginning to flare.
What the Bible tells us about Sarah Palin’s future
How can evangelicals support a woman for president at the same time they worry about women as pastors? By reading the Bible very selectively.
Iowa Fusion Center director given international civil rights award
Russell Porter, director of Iowa’s Intelligence Fusion Center, received the 2008 Civil Rights Award for individual achievement from the International Association of Chiefs of Police.
Iowa’s graying population makes same-sex marriage battle more likely
Nate Silver, who’s Web site FiveThirtyEight.com became mandatory reading during this year’s election, has an interesting take on the success of California’s Proposition 8, a ballot initiative to amend the state’s Constitution to restrict the definition of marriage to a union between a man and a woman (the measure passed, but is being challenged by [...]
Round three in House District 75
Eric Palmer and Danny Carroll have been running against each other for Iowa House since 2004. Carroll, former Speaker Pro Tem, bested Palmer in 2004, but Palmer won in 2006. Both elections came down to a handful of votes, and it’s likely to be just as close again this year.
Iowa could be next in same-sex marriage battle
Gay-rights activists in Iowa applauded the ruling by the Connecticut Supreme Court Friday that the state’s constitution does not permit barring gay and lesbian couples the same rights accorded to heterosexuals. Their hope is that Iowa will be next.
John McCain: Davenport Liveblog
Why is John McCain in Iowa when polls show him trailing? Will he again defend his opponent Barack Obama from personal attacks as he did Friday? What is his response to an Alaska legislative report charging his running mate Sarah Palin with abuse of power?
Iowa Independent’s John Deeth was live at McCain’s Saturday morning event [...]
Palauan Minister: Postville workers are benefit to Palau’s economy
Temmy Shmull, the Republic of Palau’s minister of state, is in favor of sending an additional 150 of his countrymen to work at Agriprocessors in Postville, but says the final decision has yet to be made.
Schmull, who represented the country’s outgoing president at the United Nations in New York, took an alternative path back to [...]
Judge agrees Labor Department should depose former Agriprocessors employees
Nine former Agriprocessors employees that were swept up during a massive May immigration raid at the plant and are now in a federal penitentiary will be interviewed by the U.S. Department of Labor prior to their deportation.
Fate of Agriprocessors detainees to be debated tomorrow
Documents filed with the court indicate that U.S. Secretary of Labor Elaine Chao and the federal agency are “currently investigating the pay practices at Agriprocessors, Inc.” and expect to file “an action against Agriprocessors, Inc.”