Winners

It’s not surprising that a bi-partisan group of senators and the Bush administration drew criticism last week after announcing an immigration reform plan that would give millions of undocumented immigrants a chance to become citizens, strengthen borders and create a merit-based “guest worker” program. But credit both parties for finally coming together to start solving one of America’s most divisive issues. There’s plenty of fallout to come in the weeks ahead, but hopefully it will spark intelligent debate and meaningful legislation.

The Iowa Commission on Volunteer Service last week awarded more than $3.1 million in AmeriCorps grants and AmeriCorps Education Awards to support the placement of 467 AmeriCorps members within community-based organizations across Iowa. Since 1994, more than 4,000 Iowa residents have provided more than 5.2 million hours to local communities through AmeriCorps. Members receive a modest living allowance and education award of $4,725 that they can use to pay for college or to pay back qualified student loans after completing a year of service. It’s a win-win situation for students who struggle to pay tuition and for non-profit groups who rely on AmeriCorps for the manpower to strengthen communities through their work with programs like Habitat For Humanity and Keepers of the Land.

City slickers might not understand or care, but anytime our rural brothers and sisters profit, we should take note. Last week, a 22-member delegation from the People’s Republic of China signed 10 agreements in Des Moines to purchase 2.2 million tons of Iowa soybeans, providing Iowa farmers with $1 billion in sales. Iowa legislators negotiated a deal in which Iowa soybean farmers are assured of $700 million in sales and a portion of $2 billion in sales in Chicago, where many Iowa farmers sell their wares.

Eight local wealthy families put their money where their mouth is by pledging a minimum of $2 million each for a total of $20 million in community endowments through the Greater Des Moines Community Foundation, reports The Des Moines Register. The families, which include names like Griswell, Oman, Knapp, Cownie, Krause, Brooks, Richer and Weitz, will have some say in how their philanthropic dollars will be spent.

Losers

Talk about your classic flip flop. It seems members of the Des Moines school board now want to keep Edmunds Academy of Fine Arts open after voting in 2005 to close it. Though members still have to vote on the matter and want assurances that the school will thrive before they do so, they listened to the demands of citizens who have fought to preserve the school. Guess the need to “right size” the district isn’t so strong after all.

The Moral Majority lost their leader when the Rev. Jerry Falwell, 73, died last week. For the rest of us, it means we’re spared from having to listen to Falwell’s controversial remarks like the time he warned parents that one of the “Teletubbies” promoted a gay lifestyle or how three days after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks he blamed “the pagans, and the abortionists, and the feminists, and the gays and lesbians… the ACLU and People for the American Way” for the terrorist acts.

Talk about setting a dangerous precedent for government interference into private business deals, it looks like American consumers and companies are about to get the short end of a forced sale provision expected to go before the U.S. Senate. The Senate is considering whether Americans should be able to purchase medicines originally manufactured in the U.S., exported overseas, then re-imported back to the U.S. But experts say a hidden, forced sales provision — in which the government forces American companies to sell its drugs and sets the terms of the sale to any foreign firm planning to export those drugs back to the U.S. — is bad for business and the country’s health care system. American drug companies that refuse to comply with the government’s intrusion into their ability to make money face prosecution. And before you chock up such legislation to “the good of the people,” it’s likely such government-managed trade practices won’t benefit consumers because the reseller will absorb most of the difference between the prices of foreign and domestic drugs.

There’s an old saying in the newspaper business: don’t screw with those who buy ink by the barrel. But in the case of two Centerville men, Wade Adams and Jeffery Horn, they found that a judge’s gavel is more powerful after being sentenced to five years in prison for beating Daily Iowegian managing editor Dan Ehl last September. Ehl’s leg was broken and he suffered injuries to his face. The attack was retaliation for a small story Ehl wrote about the Centerville City Council’s refusal to renew Adams’ liquor license. Ehl later wrote a follow-up story when the council renewed Adams’ liquor license. But Adams and Horn won’t be throwing back beers together any time soon. Both men are required to spend at least 18 months in prison. CV

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