Iowa

Judge Upholds Ag-Gag Charge Brought Against Animal Rights Activist

January 21, 2022 Kevin Gosztola, The Dissenter. Educate! Activism, Animal Rights, Criminal Justice and Prisons, Iowa

An Iowa judge upheld one of the state’s “ag-gag” laws in a case brought against an animal rights activist, hours before dismissing all charges. In Iowa, a person may be criminalized for “food operation trespass” if they enter or remain on the property of a factory farm “without the consent of a person who has real or apparent authority to allow the person to enter or remain on the property.” Matt Johnson, an investigator with the grassroots animal rights network Direct Action Everywhere (DxE), was charged with violating the ag-gag law after he exposed the extermination of pigs by Iowa Select Farms. He argued the law is “actually intended to punish individuals for expressing viewpoints disfavored by the Iowa legislature” and reminded the court that a similar Iowa ag-gag law was previously ruled unconstitutional by a federal court.

Given Recent Innovations, Maybe We Don’t Need To Eat Or Use Animals At All

March 2, 2021 Matt Johnson, DesMoines Register. Create! Factory Farming, Food and Agriculture, Iowa

I’m currently facing a felony prosecution in Wright County after exposing Iowa Select Farms killing thousands of pigs via “ventilation shutdown," which involves shutting down a building’s vents as heat and steam are pumped in. The practice was so egregious that employees at the company sought the support of Direct Action Everywhere, the animal rights group I organize with, in exposing and ultimately stopping it. As recently reported by the Intercept, a high-level executive at the company was fired for raising his concerns, and FBI agents were called in to try to flip a whistleblower into becoming an informant against us. It’s all part of a long-term pattern: government support for an abusive and environmentally destructive industry, even to the point of intimidating and silencing its critics.

Iowa Farm Bankruptcies Continue To Rise, Despite Aid

January 6, 2021 Erin Jordan, The Gazette. Educate! Bankruptcy, Farmers, Iowa, Recession

There were 27 farm bankruptcies in Iowa in 2019 — more than double the 13 bankruptcies in 2018, the American Farm Bureau Federation reported. This was despite the $1.58 billion the federal government paid Iowa farmers in Market Facilitation Program payments to ease losses because of the trade dispute with China. Later this month, we’ll know how many Iowa farms went bankrupt in 2020, but Iowa State University economics professor and crop markets specialist Chad Hart said to expect another increase. “The government has provided a lot of short-term funding to help farmers get through the year,” Hart said, referring to market facilitation and coronavirus food assistance programs, which funneled two rounds of aid to farmers in 2020.

Iowa Is What Happens When Government Does Nothing

December 5, 2020 Elaine Godfrey, The Atlantic. Educate! COVID-19, Health Care, Iowa, Public Health

Iowa City, IA — Nick Klein knew the man wasn’t going to make it through the night. So the 31-year-old nurse at the University of Iowa ICU put on his gown, his gloves, his mask, and his face shield. He went into the patient’s room, held a phone to his ear, and tried hard not to cry while he listened to the man’s loved ones take turns saying goodbye. When they were finished, Klein put on some music, a muted melody like you might hear in an elevator. He pulled up a chair and took the man’s hand. For two hours that summer night, there were no sounds but soft piano and the gentle beep beep beep of the monitors.

Demonstrators Deliver 800 ‘Failing Report Cards’ To Iowa Governor

November 23, 2020 Andrea May Sahouri, Des Moines Register. Resist! COVID-19, Governance, Iowa, PPE

As confirmed coronavirus cases and hospitalizations continue to increase in Iowa, activists and community members sent Gov. Kim Reynolds nearly a thousand "failing report cards" during a Friday afternoon demonstration to speak out against the governor's response to the pandemic. Over a dozen demonstrators gathered in front of the Governor's Terrace Hill mansion for a planned action by community organization Iowa CCI demanding a statewide mask mandate and more leadership from the governor.

Iowa Nurses Win Fair Contract At MercyOne Hospital

February 7, 2020 Mike Kuhlenbeck, Workers.org Organize! Class Struggle, Iowa, Nurses, Unions

The union nurses of MercyOne Siouxland Medical Center ratified a new contract Jan. 29. After rejecting the hospital’s original offer and threatening to strike, they won a fair contract and scored a victory for nurse and patient safety. The nurses, represented by Food and Commercial Workers (UFCW) Local 222, fought during seven months of intense negotiations for a contract with competitive wages and benefits, improved workplace safety and safe nurse-to-patient ratios.

Iowa Crops Look Like Food — But No One’s Eating

July 26, 2019 Mark Bittman, Portside.org Educate! Commodification, Farming, Food and Agriculture, Iowa

Iowa is unrecognizable from centuries ago, when Europeans took the land for themselves. What were prairie and wetlands are now neatly partitioned grids of intensely cultivated land: the model for the farm as factory. I was in Iowa last week shooting for the PBS NewsHour Weekend “Future of Food” series. There are some good things going on — and you’ll see them in the segment, which will run later this summer or fall — but I left feeling depressed as hell.

Why I’m On Climate Strike In Iowa

May 20, 2019 By Massimo Paciotto Biggers, Smirkingchimp.com Strategize! Climate Change, Iowa, Strikes

IOWA CITY — The flash flood alarm signaled again last night. This is the 9th week of my climate strike in Iowa City. That’s nine weeks of not going to school on Friday from 11:50-4:05. I have been striking for real climate action at the Iowa City Public School Building because I wanted to start at the place where I spend eight hours a day of my life. All of my life I have heard and talked about climate change. When I was a little kid I was always hearing about coal mining, the reason coal mining is so bad, and how the coal companies strip-mined my family’s 200-year-old farm.

Resistance In The Heartland: Fighting ICE In Small-Town Iowa And Nebraska

November 8, 2018 Paul Street and Chaumtoli Huq, Lawatthemargins.com Resist! ICE, Iowa, Nebraska

“You have to leave the country now that Trump is president.” That’s what Latinx children heard from some white schoolmates in the small southeastern Iowa town of Mount Pleasant in the days after Donald Trump was elected. Eighteen months later, the threat of deportation seemed much more real than a schoolyard taunt. On May 9, Immigrations and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents detained 32 men—22 from Guatemala and the rest from Mexico, El Salvador and Honduras—at Mount Pleasant’s Midwest Precast Concrete (MPC) plant. A concrete mixing plant that started up more than a decade ago, MPC owes its building and success largely to migrant Latino labor, including that of some highly valued supervisors who were swept up.

Landowners Oppose Oil Pipeline Before Iowa Supreme Court

September 15, 2018 David Pitt, Apnews.com Resist! Iowa, Land, Pipelines, Supreme Court

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — A group of Iowa landowners and an environmental group asked the Iowa Supreme Court Wednesday to declare a crude oil pipeline permit illegal under the Iowa Constitution, a decision that could force the pipeline in operation for more than a year to be turned off. The attorney for a group of landowners who opposed construction of the Dakota Access oil pipeline through their property told the court since the pipeline provides no direct use to Iowans the decision of the Iowa Utilities Board to grant a permit should be reversed. “The pipeline crosses the state with no oil wells, no refineries, this pipeline has no onramps and no offramps,” said Bill Hannigan. “Iowans have no direct use.”

Crude Oil Leaks Into Floodwaters After Train Derails In Iowa

June 23, 2018 Staff, Apnews.com Educate! Iowa, Leak, Oil, Oil Spill

DOON, Iowa (AP) — A freight train derailed in northwest Iowa on Friday, leaking crude oil from into flooded fields flanking the tracks and raising concerns about the possible contamination of residential water supplies downstream, officials said. BNSF railroad spokesman Andy Williams said no one was injured when 33 oil tanker cars from Alberta, Canada, derailed around 4:30 a.m. Friday just south of Doon in Lyon County. Some of the tankers were compromised, causing the oil to leak into floodwaters and eventually into the rain-swollen Little Rock River, but officials didn’t have an exact number of tankers that leaked oil by late Friday afternoon, Williams said. BNSF had hazardous materials and environmental experts on the scene and had begun cleanup within hours of the derailment, Williams said.

Iowans Fight Back Against Factory Farms–So Can You

February 8, 2018 Staff, Organicconsumers.org Create! Class Struggle, Factory Farming, Iowa

“We are pro agriculture. We support responsible, respectful and regenerative livestock production that poses no harm to communities and the environment. And we call for a moratorium on new and expanding CAFOs until there are less than 100 water impairments in Iowa. We are here today to support and announce a slate of bills introduced by Sen. David Johnson to close many of the loopholes that weaken protections for people and the environment from factory farms.” After Rosenberg spoke, a local farmer whose family farm is under threat thanks to two new CAFOs in her neighborhood, explained how her community did everything to stop these factory farms, but “the system in Iowa failed us. The DNR regulations failed us. All we want is clean air and water. We want to continue to live on our family farms.”

As Trump Unfurls Infrastructure Plan, Iowa Bill Seeks To Criminalize Pipeline Protests

February 2, 2018 By Steve Horn, Desmogblog.com Resist! Infrastructure, Iowa, Legislation, Pipelines, Protests, Trump Administration

The Iowa Senate has advanced a bill which critics say could lead to the criminalization of pipeline protests, which are being cast as “terrorist activities.” Dakota Access pipeline owner Energy Transfer Partners and other companies have lobbied for the bill, Senate Study Bill 3062, which opens up the possibility of prison time and a hefty fine for those who commit “sabotage” of critical infrastructure, such as oil and gas pipelines. This bill, carrying a criminal punishment of up to 25 years in prison and $100,000 in fines, resembles the Critical Infrastructure Protection Act, a “model” bill recently passed by the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC). That ALECbill, intended as a template for state and federal legislation, was based on Oklahoma's HB 1123...

Iowa Fast-Food, Hospital Workers Protest Gov. Reynolds

January 12, 2018 Staff, Fightfor15.org Resist! Fast Food, Fight for 15, Iowa, Labor, New Economy, Protests, Workers Rights and Jobs

Gov. Reynolds and Republican state lawmakers have waged a string of attacks on workers’ unions in recent years. Last February, then-Gov. Terry Branstad signed into law a bill endorsed by then-Lt. Gov. Kim Reynolds curbing collective bargaining rights for thousands of public sector workers in the state. The law strips workers of the right to bargain over healthcare and other benefits and forces workers to recertify their union before each bargaining session. In March, Branstad signed into law a bill passed by the Republican legislature blocking all localities from raising their minimum wage, nullifying local wage increases that had been passed in Polk, Johnson, Linn and Wapello Counties.

In Chicago And Iowa, Contrasting Tales Of Building A Clean Energy Economy

August 9, 2017 Yana Kunichoff, www.inthesetimes.com Create! Chicago, Clean Energy, Iowa, New Economy

By Yana Kunichoff for Midwest Energy News - As former industrial communities seek to rebuild their economies around clean energy, two cities in the Midwest provide examples with starkly different outcomes. Chicago’s Southeast Side and Newton, Iowa both used to house thriving industries, keeping residents with a solid toe in the middle class through well-paid and steady factory work. In Chicago it was steel, while Newton boomed under the all-encompassing attentions of the Maytag family and their washing machine factories. Thirty years later, those core industries have left both areas and a handful of different businesses have taken their place. In Newton, the Maytag sites have been reborn to manufacture wind turbine bodies and blades. But in Chicago, the jutting land formerly housing U.S. Steel remains empty. While urban Chicago and rural Iowa are different in obvious ways, experts say there are still common factors that influence how a green economic development transition takes place. Greg Carlock, a climate researcher with the World Resources Institute, says that sustainable development is a wide-ranging and complicated process, but he has seen some essentials emerge.

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