Iowa | October 12, 2021
Grassley’s embrace of Trump shakes GOP landscape
Iowa | October 12, 2021
Sen. Chuck Grassley’s (R-Iowa) enthusiastic appearance at a Trump event in Iowa over the weekend shows that the former president has further strengthened his grip on the GOP following the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol. The Iowa senator’s eagerness to stand next to Trump at a boisterous rally in Des Moines only days after Trump repeatedly trashed Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) — a friend and ally of Grassley — served as a wake-up call to some Republicans that Trump is back and very much in charge of the party. Grassley, 88, has worked carefully over his four decades in the Senate to cultivate a reputation as a politician completely in step with Iowans who cherish family values, hard work, ethical behavior and integrity. … (Excerpts from The Hill)
Iowa | September 22, 2021
Russian hackers target Iowa grain co-op in $5.9 million ransomware attack
Iowa | September 22, 2021
Russian hackers leveled a ransomware attack on an Iowa farming co-op and demanded $5.9 million to unlock the computer networks used to keep food supply chains and feeding schedules on track for millions of chickens, hogs and cattle. Fort Dodge-based New Cooperative, a member-owned alliance of farmers that sells corn and soy products, contained the breach and developed a workaround to continue accepting grain shipments and distributing feed, a person close to the company told The Washington Post, speaking on the condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive information. But the cooperative took its computer network offline to isolate the incursion, the person said, and shuttered its soil-mapping software — a master-control system that optimizes irrigation and fertilization — as a precaution. Farmers, meanwhile, have taken to using paper scale tickets to log their grain hauls as they drop them off at the cooperative, said Tim Luginsland, Wells Fargo’s food and agribusiness sector manager…. (Excerpts from the Washington Post)
Iowa | September 21, 2021
Iowa Grain Cooperative Hit by Cyberattack Linked to Ransomware Group
Iowa | September 21, 2021
Georgia, Iowa | September 8, 2021
Trump announces rallies in Georgia, Iowa as 2024 speculation mounts
Georgia, Iowa | September 8, 2021
Former President Donald Trump will hold two more campaign-style rallies in the coming weeks — one in Georgia and one in Iowa — as speculation continues to grow that he will make yet another run for the White House in 2024. Trump’s Save America PAC announced Tuesday night that the 45th president will hold a rally in Perry, Ga., approximately 100 miles south of Atlanta, on Sept. 25. A few minutes later, the organization announced that Trump would speak in Des Moines, Iowa on Oct. 9. The events will be the fourth and fifth rallies Trump has held since leaving office in January. He previously drew crowds in Ohio, Florida and Alabama. Trump’s visit to Georgia will mark his first appearance there since Republicans lost both of the state’s US Senate seats in a pair of special elections in January, handing Democrats full control of Congress and the White House…(Excerpts from the New York Post)
Iowa | August 18, 2021
Election officials call for audit guidelines after Trump-fueled surge
Iowa | August 18, 2021
The nation’s top election officials are calling for more stringent guidelines for post-election audits, as supporters of former President Donald Trump continue to relitigate his defeat in 2020.
At the summer meeting of the National Association of Secretaries of State, secretaries voted nearly unanimously on Monday to approve a series of recommendations for post-election audits on everything from a timeline, to chain of custody of election materials. The guidelines were shared first with POLITICO… (Excerpts from Politico)
Alabama, Arizona, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Iowa, Missouri, Montana, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Texas | July 29, 2021
A dozen GOP governors urge Supreme Court to let states regulate abortion
Alabama, Arizona, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Iowa, Missouri, Montana, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Texas | July 29, 2021
A dozen Republican governors on Thursday urged the Supreme Court to eliminate federal protections for abortion and instead allow states to regulate abortion.
Led by South Carolina Gov. Henry McMaster, the group argued in a legal filing that the court’s landmark 1973 decision in Roe v. Wade, which established the constitutional right to abortion, and subsequent rulings unlawfully encroach on states’ rights.
“The judicial constitutionalization of abortion represents an unwarranted intrusion into the sovereign sphere of the States,” they wrote. “Returning to the States the plenary authority to regulate abortion without federal interference would restore the proper (i.e., constitutional) relationship between the States and the Federal Government.”
The amicus brief endorsed Mississippi’s effort to have Roe v. Wade overruled next term, and was signed by the Republican governors of Alabama, Arizona, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Iowa, Missouri, Montana, Oklahoma, South Carolina and Texas….(Excerpts from The Hill)