The New York Times has responded to Iowa Attorney General Brenna Bird’s Dec. 4 letter to Times Publisher A.G. Sulzberger and the top executives at the Associated Press, CNN and Reuters, accusing the news outlets of possibly violating federal and state law and providing “material support to terrorists.” In her letter, which was signed by […]
first amendment
Posted inCommunity/News
AG Bird threatens news organizations, claims they might be providing ‘material support for terrorism’
Iowa Attorney General Brenna Bird has threatened five news outlets with the possibility of prosecution over their coverage of the war between Israel and Hamas. Bird is the leader of a group of 14 Republican state attorneys general who allege some of the reporting on the conflict by the New York Times, Associated Press, CNN […]
Posted inCommunity/News
Teachers union joins lawsuit with bestselling authors, largest U.S. publisher to challenge Iowa book restrictions
The Iowa State Education Association and Penguin Random House filed a lawsuit in federal court Thursday challenging parts of a state law prohibiting books that depict sex acts from being available in Iowa K-12 school libraries. It’s the second lawsuit filed against Senate File 496 this week. On Tuesday, the American Civil Liberties Union of […]
Posted inStatewide
Contact Buzz: The right to read we will maintain
“Don’t join the book burners. Don’t think you’re going to conceal faults by concealing evidence that they ever existed. Don’t be afraid to go in your library and read every book …” ―Dwight D. Eisenhower In its current, divisive state, Americans are doing a lot of talking at one another and very little listening on […]
Posted inEastern Iowa
Jury finds man who drove pick-up through a crowd of protesters in Cedar Rapids not guilty
On Thursday, a Linn County jury found David Alan Huston not guilty on two charges stemming from a June 24, 2022 incident in which he drove his pick-up truck through a crowd of pro-abortion protesters in Cedar Rapids. Huston had been charged with assault by use of a dangerous weapon — vehicle, an aggravated misdemeanor, […]
Posted inStatewide
Judge says Iowa’s third ag-gag law is unconstitutional, like previous versions
For the third time in five years, a judge has struck down the Iowa Legislature’s efforts to criminalize the use of cameras in agriculture facilities and other businesses. “The United States Constitution does not allow such a singling out of the exercise of a constitutional right,” U.S. District Judge Stephanie Rose ruled on Monday. She […]
Posted inCommunity/News
Free speech v. industrial farms: Iowa’s ag gag laws go to federal court
The state government’s various attempts over the last nine years to shield industrial animal farms with an ag gag law were spotlighted in court Tuesday. The injunction preventing the first ag gag law, signed into law by Gov. Terry Branstad in 2012, from going into effect was partially upheld by a federal appeal court, while […]
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Report: Arrests of journalists in the U.S. reached an all-time high in 2020
The number of journalists arrested or detained in the United States jumped 1,200 percent in 2020 compared to last year, according to a new report released by the Freedom of the Press Foundation on Monday. The U.S. Press Freedom Tracker was founded in 2017 as a repository of press freedom violations in the U.S. Using […]
Posted inCommunity/News
Federal appeals court rules saying ‘fuck you’ to the police is free speech
Yelling “fuck you” at a police officer is an act of free speech protected by the U.S. Constitution, a federal appeals court ruled on Monday. “As protected speech, it should be free from retaliatory government actions,” the Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals declared in a case from Arkansas.
Posted inCommunity/News
Iowa appeals federal judge’s ruling that its ‘ag gag’ law is unconstitutional
Iowa is appealing a federal district judge’s ruling that it’s “ag gag” law is unconstitutional. On Thursday, Iowa Attorney General Tom Miller filed a notice of appeal and motion asking the district court to allow the law to remain in effect during the appeal. In his Jan. 9 decision striking down the law for violating […]
Posted inCommunity/News
Federal judge strikes down Iowa’s ‘ag gag’ law
A federal judge struck down Iowa’s “ag gag” law on Wednesday. Senior Judge James Gritzner of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Iowa ruled the 2012 Iowa law that made it illegal to gain access to an agricultural production facility under false pretenses with “the intent to commit an act not authorized […]
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Democracy in Crisis: Press Briefs — Sad little scenes from the White House briefing room
1. The White House briefing room feels like a mansion’s pool house, but with the carpet of a church basement. On the eve of the summer solstice, after a week without an on-camera press briefing, the room smells like a grill doused with too much lighter fluid. Cameramen and techies move around in loose clothes […]
