ROE VS WADE
Friday’s U-S Supreme Court decision on the landmark Roe-V-Wade case doesn’t change Iowa state laws. Abortions are still legal in this state. What the six-to-three ruling does is open the door for the Iowa Legislature to pass additional restrictions on the procedure. The justices determined the 1973 ruling on abortions was wrong when it established a constitutional right to abortions. The individual states will now have the authority to determine what is legal and what isn’t. Iowa already has restrictions in place – abortions here are forbidden after 20 weeks of pregnancy.
FRANKEN ROE REACT
Mike Franken, the Democratic challenger to Republican Senator Chuck Grassley, says Friday’s U.S. Supreme Court ruling may prompt more Iowa independents and Republicans to say it’s time for a change.
Franken notes Grassley played a role in blocking President Obama’s nominee to the Supreme Court and, as chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, confirming some of the justices who issues today’s ruling that struck down Roe v Wade.
Franken describes the opinion as pushing the abortion issue to the state level.
Franken made his comments during a taping of Iowa Press which aired last night on Iowa P-B-S. A spokeswoman for Grassley’s re-election campaign says Franken ought to know better than to politicize the court and its rulings. Michaela Sundermann, the Grassley campaign’s communications director, says the judiciary is an independent branch of government that makes its own decisions.
MELTON FOR CONGRESS
The Democratic candidate for the US House of Representatives says he is Pro-Farmer. Ryan Melton of Nevada wants the farm bill to help farmers create sustainable operations and clean up waterways.
Melton says policy is needed to curb corporate agriculture’s domination, and reduce farmers’ debt.
GUN BILL
Melton’s election opponent, US Representative Randy Feenstra, Friday voted against a bipartisan gun bill. The bill passed 234-193, after passing by a two to one margin in the Senate late Thursday. Feenstra says the proposal contains measures which raise constitutional concerns that he cannot support. President Biden will sign the bill today before departing for Europe.
LAKE RESTORATION – Saturday
After several delays due to the weather, work is nearly complete on the restoration project at Little Swan Lake in northwest Iowa’s Dickinson County. Mike Hawkins is a fisheries biologist with the Iowa Department of Natural Resources.
The project began seven years ago, during extremely wet conditions and will conclude during a drought.
Hawkins says they were finally able to get the levels low enough to kill all the carp in the lake and reset the fishery in late 2020.
Little Swan Lake covers 371 acres and is near the small town of Superior.
WIND ORDINANCE
The Palo Alto County Board of Supervisors has approved changes to the county’s wind energy ordinance. The ordinance now sets a 600-megawatt limit to wind energy production in the county and turbines must be at least half a mile from the shores of some local lakes. There are around 200 wind turbines currently operating in Palo Alto County. Some residents and landowners had asked that turbines either be banned or more distance be required from residences and lakes. Other members of the community expressed support for the wind industry — one man said he’s aggravated that he’s being limited on where he can put a windmill on his property.
