A landmark $240 million verdict against a Texas company who employed mentally disabled workers at an Iowa turkey processing plant will be reduced to about $1.6 million because of a law capping their damages. The 32 men faced decades of verbal and physical abuse at work and at home.
The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission and Henry's Turkey Service have agreed in legal briefs that each plaintiff can recover $50,000 - compared to the $7.5 million a jury awarded them on May 1st.
Juveniles in Iowa who've committed first degree murder could be eligible for parole after serving 45 years in prison. That’s according to a bill discussed at the statehouse Thursday. As Iowa Public Radio’s Clay Masters reports, it’s in reaction with a recent U.S. Supreme Court decision.
Iowa Chief Justice Mark Cady delivered his State of the Judiciary speech to a joint session of the Iowa Legislature Wednesday. He's calling for increased staffing in the court system, which has taken a hit in budget cuts in recent years.
Cady wants court offices around the state to stay open all week. Right now they close in the afternoons twice a week. He also tells lawmakers the state doesn’t have enough juvenile officers to reach all of Iowa’s children in need.
Beginning Tuesday, January 15, Iowa will issue driver’s licenses and state IDs that comply with a new federal program called REAL ID. The program is being phased in as part of legislation passed by Congress in 2005. It's aimed at streamlining security at federal facilities and for air travel.
Mark Lowe of the Iowa Department of Transportation visited our Des Moines studio to explain what changes are coming.
Two young Mexican immigrants living in a small northeast Iowa town are defying the odds by pursuing degrees from the University of Northern Iowa. Because they are undocumented they are working their way through college without the help of student loans or other benefits of citizenship. A new Obama administration order granting them temporary work permits is helping to ease the way.
The Director of the Iowa Department of Transportation was in the hot seat at the statehouse. Critics turned out to rally against the DOT’s recent policy decision denying driver’s licenses for young undocumented immigrants in Iowa. That’s even though the Obama administration recently approved work permits for immigrants who were brought into the U.S. as children years ago.
Sandhya Dirks reports the Iowa DOT won't give driver's licenses to unauthorized immigrants granted deferred action by the federal government
The Iowa Department of Transportation says it will not issue driver's licenses or state identification cards to undocumented immigrants who have been granted deferred action by the Obama administration because they came to the United States as kids.
In Iowa almost 5,000 young immigrants—mostly of Mexican descent—have been granted temporary deferred action by the Obama administration. This means they can stay in the country, but after this ruling from the DOT, they can’t drive or receive a state ID in Iowa.
The Branstad administration as well as school districts all over the state are reacting to Friday’s school shootings in Connecticut. One official is encouraging schools to review their security procedures. But the governor and key lawmakers aren’t jumping to any conclusions about needed legislation to prevent such a tragedy here.
Heather and Drew Collins, the parents of slain Evansdale girl Elizabeth Collins, met with Governor Branstad Monday to talk about getting the death penalty reinstated in Iowa.
In the wake of the discovery the bodies of two northeastern Iowa girls earlier this month, the talk of reinstating the death penalty is back at the state capitol. But proponents of capital punishment know they face a tough fight.
Iowa parents who have lost children due to kidnapping and murder met with Governor Branstad Monday morning to talk about reinstating the death penalty. Afterwards at a press conference, the parents told their stories.
The Iowa Supreme Court heard oral arguments Tuesday in a lawsuit over whether a same-sex Des Moines married couple should BOTH stay on their daughter’s birth certificate. The Polk county district court already ruled in favor of the couple.
Representing the Iowa Department of Health was Deputy Attorney General Julie Pottorff. She argued opposite-sex couples and same-sex couples remain different in one immutable way. Only opposite sex couples can conceive a child.
The Black Hawk County Sheriff's Department says they're confident that two bodies discovered Wednesday by hunters in a Bremer County wildlife area are those of Elizabeth Collins and her cousin Lyric Cook-Morrissey.
"We have no one else that’s missing in this area, we have two bodies that were found, smaller in stature, so we have nothing to think other than that at this time," Sheriff’s Captain Rick Abben said.
