Stories

Citing media accounts that prohibit seating of an impartial jury, U.S. District Court Judge Linda R. Reade ruled Tuesday that a trial for four former Agriprocessors supervisors will be moved to Sioux Falls, S.D.

U.S. District Court Judge Linda R. Reade agreed that four former supervisors facing charges stemming from a massive immigration raid at the Agriprocessors meatpacking plan in Postville needed more time to prepare their defense and ordered Monday that the trail be postponed until Oct. 13.

The Chapter 11 bankruptcy sale for Agriprocessors in Postville will be held today as planned. However, the Associated Press is reporting that Gary Lewi, a spokesman for bankruptcy trustee Joseph Sarachek, has said the proceedings will be closed to the media.

Lewi also said that there are multiple bidders for the company, according to the AP report.

The City of Postville will soon have a new mayor.
Three out of the city’s five city council members voted Monday night to accept the resignation of current Mayor Bob Penrod. Penrod, who had made an emotional and seemingly off-the-cuff verbal resignation last week during a discussion about a mobile phone device, had quietly expressed that [...]

A pro-Agriprocessors blog launched “by people who live and work in Postville” has been outed by Nigel Duara of the Associated Press as being at least partly run by Getzel Rubashkin, a member of the family who owns the kosher meatpacking plant. Rubashkin has accused Duara of cherry picking information from their conversation, a move [...]

After nearly four months of searching, the Postville meatpacking plant that was the site of a massive May immigration raid has named a new chief executive officer.

Abraham Aaron Rubashkin, family patriarch and owner of Agriprocessors, Inc., had an angry reaction to the court documents filed by the Iowa Attorney General that linked him, his company, his son and three human resource employees to more than 9,000 counts of believed child labor law violations.
“Baloney!” he exclaimed.
He went on to tell The Jewish [...]

Updated 9/10/2008 @ 10 a.m.

“Within the coming days, or lets say a week or two, we will suspend our supervision unless there’s new management in place,” Rabbi Menachem Genack, the head of kosher supervision for the Orthodox Union, told the Jewish Telegraphic Agency this afternoon.

The Iowa Attorney General’s Office has filed a criminal complaint and affidavit today in Allamakee County District Court listing more than 9,000 alleged violations of Iowa child labor laws at Agriprocessors in Postville.

This is the song that never ends,
As it goes on and on my friend.
Some people started singing it, not knowing what it was,
And they’ll continue singing it forever just because…