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News Flash: 92% of Iowans Say Gay Marriage Has Had No Impact on Their Lives
Despite Iowa's legalization of same-sex marriage earlier this year, 92 percent of people there say life has continued as normal. Surprise! Apparently allowing gay people to participate in an institution designed to stabilize society hasn't caused all hell to break loose or threatened anyone's "traditional" marriage (or divorce).
This is "Irritable and Sarcastic?" McCain at Des Moines Paper
If I had a dollar for every time my mom said to me, "it's not what you say, it's how you say it," I'd be able to finance the bailout all by myself. That in mind, the coverage of John McCain's appearance in front of the Des Moines Register editorial board flummoxes me. The AP I mean god bless 'em, they're quick and fair — but the headline, "McCain turns irritable, sarcastic in interview" set my expectations high.
Should the Law Consider a Striptease Performance Art?
The future of (public) nude dancing in Iowa depends on the legal answer to one question: is stripping art? Iowa's strip clubs performing arts centers are under legal attack, after an underage patron's performance sparked a court battle. Iowa's public indecent exposure laws forbid all-nude strip clubs, but artists still dance naked at "performing art centers."
Iowa's Citizens Tell Congressmen to Lay Off Immigration Raids
About 1,000 Iowans marched in protest yesterday over working conditions at the same meatpacking plant in Iowa where an immigration raid this Spring that led to the arrest of almost 400 people. The incident has left local residents pleading with their congressmen to stop with the raids. This weekend residents told their representatives that the sweep damaged the small town more than it helped, and tore families apart.
Think Food's Spendy Now? The Flood Just Made It Worse. . .
Although help to those affected by the horrible damage in the heartland will most likely be forthcoming, relief to the rest of the country due to skyrocketing food prices may not. Sixteen percent of Iowa farms have been destroyed and their entire crops demolished following the severe flooding.
The devastation has in turn caused record high market prices of corn and soybean products.
Mighty Mississippi River Bursts Its Banks Forcing Rescues
Despite backbreaking teamwork to sandbag the riverbanks, the Mississippi River broke through an Illinois levee forcing nearly half a dozen people to be rescued by helicopter. However, because the federal government learned from a 1993 flood in the same area and planned for a repeat, the damage could have actually been much worse.
After the 1993 Mississippi flood, President Clinton purchased much of the low-lying land buying out more than 9,000 homeowners.
Front Page: Gaza Blast Kills 5, US/Iraq Talks Stall, Midwest Pounded
- Gaza Blast Kills 5: A large explosion in Gaza yesterday killed at least five Palestinians, including several Hamas militants and a baby girl. Despite the death and destruction of a residential building, responsibility is unclear. Hamas, the Islamist group that controls Gaza, first blamed the blast on an Israeli air strike, causing them to fire rockets and mortar rounds at Israeli towns and villages around Gaza.
Front Page: Tornado Kills Boy Scouts, US Releases Tape of Strike, Toddlers Starve in Indonesia
- Tornado Kills Boy Scouts: Four people were killed and 48 injured after a tornado tore through a Boy Scout camp in western Iowa last night. The victims included three 13-year-old scouts and one 14-year-old scout according to an executive with the Mid America Council of the Boy Scouts of America. The scouts at the devastated camp, aged 13 to 18 were participating in a leadership training course at the camp and "were some of the top scouts in the area,” according to a Homeland Security spokeswoman.
Record Flooding Puts Mississippi River on Lock Down
As all three of the Midwest's major rivers — the Missouri, Illinois, and Mississippi — rise above flood level, residents face record flooding and mandatory evacuations. Today the US Army Corps of Engineers plans to close nine locks and dams on the upper Mississippi River.
Closing the locks means that the economic repercussions of the flooding will rise along with the rivers — the decision will halt traffic on 200 miles of prime commercial waterway.
Huge Storms Swipe Iowa and Minnesota Killing Eight
Storms brought huge hail, heavy rain and tornadoes to Iowa and Minnesota this weekend, killing at least seven people in Iowa and one 2-year-old in Minnesota.
The raging storms left parts of towns reduced to rubble and heavy rain and lightning continued with wind gusts of 70 mph. The National Weather Service pegs the storms to a massive warm system that had been centered over the southern and western great Plains several days ago.
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