Politics

He claimed hundreds of undocumented immigrants from Mexico have “calves the size of cantaloupes because they’re hauling 75 pounds of marijuana across the desert.” He advocated for an electrified fence along the United States-Mexico border to discourage crossings, adding, “We do that with livestock all the time.”

It was a busy week at the state capitol in Des Moines. Four hearings were held on issues including minimum wage and worker’s compensation, as well as a voter ID bill and a plan to do away with a local water authority in Des Moines.  Hundreds of constituents showed up the hearings, mostly to voice their opposition.

House File 516 would require Iowa voters to present ID’s at the polls. It would also change some of the voter registration requirements.

One of the nation’s leading sources of nonpartisan political information is moving its headquarters to Drake University in Des Moines in January.  Siouxland Public Media’s Mary Hartnett has this report.

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Mike Pence has been a radio host, an attorney, a lawmaker and a governor.  Longtime journalist, public radio host and Franklin College journalism professor John Krull, has watched Pence’s career for years.  He says Pence lost twice before being elected to the House of Representatives for 12 years.

“In the year 2000, he stepped in, and by then, the district had been pretty safely gerrymandered so that it was easy for him to win the congressional seat and he stayed there for twelve years . . . till he was elected governor of Indiana.”

Caucuses are raucous, and it's been a long season of politicking. Jessica Wheeler, whom you may know from the Buddha Cheese Band or Lamb Theatre, but whom we know as Siouxland Public Media's official meditation guide, brings us to an enlightened place, if only for a moment.