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DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — An animal welfare group intent on sending a message in support of veganism hid until closing time then poured red paint over the Iowa State Fair's butter cow. But the damage was quickly scraped away and visitors never knew the iconic sculpture had been damaged. Iowans for Animal Liberation claimed responsibility for the attack in a news release emailed Sunday night, saying members hid in the cavernous Agriculture Building on Saturday night and emerged after the fair closed for the day. They then broke into a refrigerated room where the sculpted cow and other butter...

There are no polls showing Ted Cruz leading the 2016 Republican presidential field in the Iowa. A PPP survey last month found Cruz in sixth place in the state, behind Rand Paul, Chris Christie, Paul Ryan, Jeb Bush, and Marco Rubio. But after a particularly well-received appearance at a conservative event in Ames, Iowa over the weekend, there seems little doubt that Cruz, who has been in the U.S. Senate all of eight months, is zooming toward the front of the GOP pack in the nation’s first-voting state. The gathering, sponsored by the social conservative organization Family Leader, featured appearances...

Donald Trump 'This Week' Interview

The Talk Shows August 11th, 2013 Guests to be interviewed today on major television talk shows: FOX NEWS SUNDAY (Fox Network): Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz.MEET THE PRESS (NBC): Reps. Michael McCaul, R-Texas, and Steve King, R-Iowa; Sen. Claire McCaskill, D-Mo.; Anu Bhagwati, executive director, Service Women's Action Network.FACE THE NATION (CBS): Reps. C.A. Dutch Ruppersberger, D-Md., and Peter King, R-N.Y.; Michael Hayden, a former head of the CIA and the National Security Agency.THIS WEEK (ABC): Edward Snowden's father, Lon; Sen. Robert Menendez, D-N.J.; Reps. Ed Royce, R-Calif., Joaquin Castro, D-Texas, and Louie Gohmert, R-Texas; Donald Trump.STATE OF THE UNION (CNN):...

Well. So Ron Paul is picking up steam in Iowa. May even be a frontrunner. And here he is (beginning at 4:06 in the video) saying of Bradley Manning, the U.S. soldier who leaked thousands of pages of classified U.S. government documents to Wikileaks, that Manning is a "true patriot" and a "political hero." I kid you not. Here’s the link to the video. Wait 'til Newt, Mitt, Rick, Rick, Michele, and Jon hear about this.

In an interview you will only see on The Brody File, influential Iowa evangelical leader Bob Vander Plaats, head of, “The Family Leader” organization says that Rand Paul could be a, “force to be reckoned with” in 2016 if he is able to fuse both the evangelical and liberty movements.” This weekend, Vander Plaats group hosts a big weekend conference that includes speakers Rick Santorum, Ted Cruz and Donald Trump. Rand Paul will not be there. Vander Plaats, who is well liked and respected by Iowa’s evangelical community, played a huge role in helping determine Iowa’s Republican Caucus winner in...

FAYETTE COUNTY, Iowa – A Guatemalan man living illegally in Iowa under an assumed identity has been accused of kidnapping and sexually abusing a 13-year-old girl. Police said 23-year-old Rodrigo Sandoval Estrada – who had been living in Ossian as 20-year-old Ramon Marcus Perez – has four more victims in neighboring Winneshiek County. Fayette County Sheriff Marty Fisher said their investigation began August 1 when officials with the Department of Human Services contacted the sheriff’s office as part of a sexual abuse inquiry that had originated in Winneshiek County. “DHS knew about one incident and it led to more,” Fisher...

President Obama was described as “exotic” by one senator from a Southern state during a closed-door meeting, Sen. Tom Harkin (D-Iowa) claimed Wednesday. Harkin said the remark was made at a private event attended by nearly the entire Senate on filibuster reform. “I'm not naming any names, but one senator got up from a Southern state and said, ‘Well, you've got to understand that to my people down here, Obama seems like he's exotic,’ ” Harkin told the Des Moines Register’s editorial board on Wednesday. “That he's just exotic, he doesn't share our values.” Harkin spoke in response to a...

A Chicago civil rights organization is investigating claims that a mother was unjustly beaten by police officers in Davenport Iowa after she was caught shoplifting. The incident was captured on camera. . . While store security has Redell turn over the things she’s taken, two Davenport police officers walk in. Redell calls her boyfriend telling him to pick up their daughter. When one of the officer’s hears Redell’s boyfriend’s name, he tells Redell, “This is going to get ugly, real quick.” Redell’s boyfriend, James Gibson, is a community activist who had done some sensitivity training with the department when it...

Iowa law is preventing state health officials from releasing the name or names of salad brand mixtures implicated in a widespread cyclospora case that has sickened dozens across Iowa. The law states officials can only release the identity of businesses if the problem persists, which officials don't believe is happening because of a drop in cases, officials said in a release on Wednesday.

Folks looking for work in the Des Moines metro will have a chance to meet up with potential employers Wednesday. The Des Moines NAACP is holding a job fair from 10:00 a.m. until 3:00 p.m. at Wellmark at 1331 Grand Avenue. Forty employers will be represented at the fair including Wellmark, Wells Fargo, Iowa DOT, Mercy, DART and many others. Help will also be on hand for job seekers to write cover letters and resumes, to set up mock interviews and more.

A pro-gun control group of mayors started by New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg has scheduled an event in Fargo on Monday, but Bloomberg himself is not expected to attend. Neither is Fargo Mayor Dennis Walaker, who said he’s gotten nothing but flak from the tri-state area since announcing his membership in Bloomberg’s Mayors Against Illegal Guns group years ago. “I’ve never resigned, but I’m not an active member either. So I don’t plan on attending,” Walaker said, adding that he hadn’t heard of the event until he was contacted by a reporter. Walaker is the only North Dakota mayor...

Sioux City Mayor Bob Scott is among a growing number of city leaders across the nation pulling out of a group call Mayors Against Illegal Guns. The group, spearheaded by New York City Michael Bloomberg and Boston Mayor Thomas Menino, has been an active advocate for gun control measures. Scott, who joined the group after taking office last year, said he unsubscribed because their political views have exceeded his. ... “They’re not just against illegal guns, they’re against all guns.” Both Buzzfeed and the New York Post have reported that Mayors Against Illegal Guns has lost nearly 50 members since...

MADISON, Wis. -- The civil unrest that filled the streets of Wisconsin's Capitol Square two years ago has long since dissipated. The roads are quieter, no longer littered with signs and bumper stickers and angry petitioners trying to oust the governor. Midwest manners have returned to once bitterly divided neighborhoods. The furor over Gov. Scott Walker's decision to curb the collective bargaining powers of most public employee unions culminated in 2011 in a massive, extended protest by workers and their allies, the spectacle of Democratic lawmakers fleeing the Capitol to prevent the proposal's passage and a recall election that ultimately...

There will be fewer of them and they’re not likely to attract the media attention their major political party counterparts get, but Holly Hart believes the national convention of the Green Party will be groundbreaking in its own way.“I don’t think any major party has had a national convention in Iowa. So we’re the first,” the secretary of the Iowa Green Party said Wednesday.The Green Party of the United States convention will get underway July 25 at the University of Iowa Memorial Union. The schedule will include workshops on running for public office and racial equality, a peace vigil and...

The next presidential election is more than three years away, but early polling shows Hillary Rodham Clinton leading the Democratic pack by a landslide margin, with a whopping 63 per cent of Democrats telling pollsters that they would vote for the former first lady and Secretary of State. Vice President Joe Biden came in second with 13 per cent support - barely one-fifth of Clinton's showing. The GOP field is anyone's game, however, with New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie only garnering 15 per cent support among Republicans to narrowly lead the pack. He's followed by Wisconsin Rep. Paul Ryan, Florida...

"He started off his remarks saying a lot of you don't agree with my position on immigration but I did what I thought was right for the country," Niger Innis, chief strategist of TheTeaParty.net, told the Tampa Bay Times. "He only spent about 30 seconds on it. He knows most people in the room disagree with him but it was respectful. No eggs were thrown at him. "He spent much more time — a good 10 minutes — talking about Obamacare and the moral and practical and economic responsibility that tea party members and conservatives have to derail Obamacare." Rubio...

President Barack Obama’s White House Press Secretary Jay Carney joined House Majority Leader Eric Cantor and Speaker John Boehner in making an inaccurate attack on Rep. Steve King (R-IA) over comments he made about efforts to grant amnesty to illegal aliens who entered America illegally while they were still minors. . . . Excerpt only.

The White House on Wednesday condemned a Republican congressman’s assertion that many immigrants brought illegally to the U.S. as kids are actually running drugs. White House press secretary Jay Carney said the comments from Rep. Steve King, R-Iowa, “were extremely unfortunate, and I think a number of people have pointed out that they were offensive.” “They certainly don’t help any efforts by Republicans to improve their standing among Hispanic Americans, I would assume,” Carney told reporters aboard Air Force One as the president traveled to deliver an economic speech in Galesburg, Ill. …

Just a week after the Senate hashed out a compromise for approving seven of President Barack Obama’s nominees to run government departments, agencies and boards, Republicans on Wednesday signaled their opposition to Obama’s plan for filling vacancies on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia. The Senate Judiciary Committee heard testimony Wednesday from law professor and former senior Justice Department official Cornelia “Nina” Pillard, one of three Obama nominees to the D.C. circuit, often viewed as the second most influential court in the country after the Supreme Court. Iowa Sen. Charles Grassley, the top Republican on the...

Des Moines, Iowa, July 24, 2013 (OperationRescue.org) — A group of Iowa physicians and health care professionals have petitioned the Iowa Board of Medicine to begin making rules changes to halt the practice of dispensing abortion pills via webcam outside the physical presence of a doctor. The Board voted 8-2 to in June to begin the process. If the Board decides to approve the changes, it would overturn a Board ruling in 2011 that deemed the risky webcam abortions acceptable over the protests of pro-life groups, including Operation Rescue. As expected, Planned Parenthood, which began the experimental webcam abortions in...

Updated 7:26 p.m. | Republicans and Democrats slammed Rep. Steve King Tuesday for saying last week that children who were brought to the U.S. illegally don’t deserve “amnesty” because they’re not “all valedictorians.” South Carolina GOP Rep. Trey Gowdy called the remarks “reprehensible,” while Florida Democrat Joe Garcia argued they were “beneath the dignity” of a member of Congress. The Iowa Republican told the conservative website NewsMax that he is sympathetic to the situation in which many undocumented children find themselves. But he said those so-called DREAMers are not all created equal. “Some of them are valedictorians — and their...

Iowa’s talk-radio hosts have been particularly brutal. Steve Deace, an influential Christian conservative, has warned Rubio not to even show up, and has often taunted him during broadcasts. “Zip, zilch, nada — he’s got no support, he would be dead on arrival,” Deace tells me. “He may end up running for president, but he can’t win here.” Rubio’s latest Iowa headache is Sam Clovis, a charismatic, suspenders-wearing Republican running for U.S. Senate. On the campaign trail, Clovis frequently uses Rubio as a target. Rather than hit President Obama, the usual rhetorical punching bag, he slams Rubio on immigration to score...

Texas Senator Ted Cruz might only be in the first year of his first term in U.S. Senate, but he is already igniting the imaginations of Iowa Republicans who view him as strong presidential candidate in 2016 should he choose to run. Cruz was in Des Moines on Friday to address the Iowa Renewal Project, an annual weekend gathering of Iowa pastors and religious leaders. Cruz also attended a picnic fundraiser for the Republican Party of Iowa, and met with Republican activists and operatives during his first foray into Iowa. Cruz downplayed the significance of his trip to Iowa in...

Hillary Clinton and New Jersey Governor Chris Christie are running neck-and-neck in a potential 2016 presidential match-up in Iowa, according to a new poll Monday. Each was supported by 41 percent of voters in Iowa surveyed in the Quinnipiac poll. In a match-up with Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker, Clinton was on top, 46 percent to 39 percent. Vice President Joe Biden trailed both Christie and Walker, 32 percent to 49 percent for Christie and 39 percent to 42 percent for Walker. The poll also found that President Barack Obama’s disapproval rating was at 55 percent, and only 40 percent of...

Des Moines, Iowa — On Thursday night, the last direct flight from Washington, D.C., to Iowa’s capital was delayed. Most of the weary travelers idled by the gate. But two passengers, Senator Ted Cruz of Texas and Senator Rand Paul of Kentucky, left to get dinner. Together, they stumbled upon a sushi bar. They took seats, and for about 30 minutes, they talked over fish and rice. In separate interviews, both senators declined to discuss the content of their conversation, but they assured me it was amicable. “We don’t arm wrestle, or anything like that,” Paul says. Cruz concurs: “We’re...

It was a sight to behold inside a conference ballroom at the downtown Marriott hotel in Des Moines, Iowa, as hundreds of Iowa pastors called out to God and prayed over two U.S. senators, both of whom seem interested in running for president of the United States. Sen. Ted Cruz and Sen. Rand Paul came to Iowa Friday to speak at this Pastors and Pews event, organized by influential evangelical political operative David Lane. The Brody File got an up close look and access to the private event. We will be posting compelling video early next week. For now, we...

Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) told Breitbart News he is hosting an event on Friday in Iowa, bringing black and Hispanic Evangelical leaders and Republican Party leaders like Republican National Committee (RNC) chairman Reince Priebus to foster a conversation about how the GOP can win the votes of those communities. “The chairman is here, and the vice chairman is here,” Paul said in a phone interview. “I’ve organized a meeting because I want them to hear directly from African American ministers and Hispanic ministers on what they think is the best way for the Republican Party to extend their vote in...

Gov. Terry Branstad is ordering transportation officials to cut the number of special license plates issued to government vehicles that exempt them from traffic cameras. Branstad said Thursday it's unacceptable that 3,218 plates given to local, state and federal agencies have a designation that keeps them out of computerized databases. The designation is meant for those doing undercover work. Cities with red light and speed cameras typically let those with the plates out of tickets that would cost ordinary drivers $75 to $200. Branstad also said the review should look at how many tickets the cameras have issued and how...

Des Moines, Iowa — Paul Ryan, the 2012 Republican vice-presidential nominee, will headline a prominent Republican dinner in Iowa this fall, a visit that is sure to stoke talk of a potential presidential bid. According to Iowa governor Terry Branstad, Ryan will deliver the keynote speech at the governor’s birthday party in November. Last year, Senator Marco Rubio of Florida spoke at the event. Branstad, in an interview at his capitol office, says he’s excited to welcome back Ryan to the Hawkeye State. “He’s a key player in the House and I like him a lot,” he says. “I enjoyed...

The Governor of Iowa's SUV was clocked at 84 MPH. A senior member of Iowa's police force called it in, but the SUV wasn't pulled over. He complained about the incident. He's now been fired.P Special Agent in Charge Larry Hedlund observed the SUV of Governor Terry Branstad going nearly 90 MPH on the highway. He was in a state owned vehicle, but called for an on-duty officer to pursue. Another officer clocked the SUV at 84 MPH, but didn't pull them over once he saw that another trooper was driving.P Hedlund complained to superiors about the incident and how...

Hands down, the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act has been one of the most controversial pieces of national legislation ever passed by Congress.The nation was told that health care had become unaffordable. Too many Americans lacked access to affordable health care and, thus, either did without or went bankrupt when faced with significant medical expenses. Many Americans were also considered “uninsurable” due to pre-existing conditions. The solution, we were told, was to overhaul the way health care was paid for and to bring the entire operation under the wing of the all-knowing, all-seeing federal government.Between the Senate and the...

Grassroots Americans from across the political spectrum will march in Washington, D.C., from Freedom Plaza to Capitol Hill on Monday from 9:30 AM until the early afternoon. Breitbart News will be broadcasting the event live online at Breitbart.com, starting when speeches from members of Congress and leaders in the activist community begin on Capitol Hill at 11 AM EDT and continuing until 4 PM EDT. Confirmed speakers at the event include Sens. Jeff Sessions (R-AL) and Ted Cruz (R-TX), Reps. Steve King (R-IA) and Mo Brooks (R-AL), former Florida Republican Congressman Col. Allen West, conservative activist Wayne Dupree, the Rev....

The criminal trial of George Zimmerman ended with a jury finding him not guilty in the death of Trayvon Martin. Throughout the trial, “stand your ground” was mentioned several times. While the rules of “stand your ground” vary state-to-state, this particular law allows deadly force in self-defense situations. According to Cedar Rapids attorney Sara Riley, Iowa does not currently have a “stand your ground” law. Riley said so-called this type of law allows citizens in some states to take deadly action toward anyone they deem a threat. “If somebody hits you, and you’re fearful of your life, you could kill...

Meet & greet & general fundraiser for U.S. Senate candidate, Dr. Sam Clovis at Pizza Ranch located at 1505 8th Street, Orange City, Iowa. I've known Dr Sam since we were Majors together in the Pentagon. You will not find a more constitutional conservative in the Nation.

The House Republican leadership is reaching out to top House Democrats to assess their support for a piecemeal approach to immigration reform, according to sources involved in the discussions. The House’s immigration gameplan is to pass individual bills rather than take the comprehensive approach advocated by the Senate. -snip- The meeting, and the lack of progress made, is sure to frustrate the corporate interests who are dropping millions of dollars into the effort to reform immigration. There was no real sense about whether the GOP will try to reform the high-skilled and low-skilled visa process, providing a new pathway to...

Acting IRS commissioner Danny Werfel’s promise to suspend taxpayer-funded bonuses to IRS officials might not be fully realized because it will violate a contract between the scandal-plagued agency and a public-employee labor union.“In this unprecedented budget situation, I do not believe the IRS should pay performance awards this year to employees, managers or executives,” Werfel wrote in an email to IRS employees this week.“This is not a reflection of the quality or performance of the work done by you and your colleagues, but rather an unfortunate byproduct of the difficult budgetary situation we find ourselves in,” Werfel wrote. The IRS...

TRENTON — Gov. Chris Christie gives the GOP the best chance to defeat Hillary Clinton in a presidential faceoff, but Iowa’s Republicans view him least favorably among the field of possible nominees, according to a poll out today. The split has dogged Christie since he antagonized conservatives by praising President Obama’s leadership during Hurricane Sandy. The bipartisan tone Christie struck with the Democratic White House endeared him to New Jersey's liberal electorate, but he will need to woo Iowa’s first-in-the nation caucus-goers should he seek his party’s nomination in 2016. “There’s absolutely no doubt that Governor Christie would be the...

Iowa state Sen. Joni Ernst (R) will run for retiring Sen. Tom Harkin's (D-Iowa) seat, she announced Wednesday afternoon. "As a mother, soldier, and a conservative, the values I hold dear, and have fought more than 20 years to protect, are being threatened by the failed policies of this president," she said in a statement on her new campaign website. "Washington has failed us. We need and deserve better leadership. And that's why I am running for U.S. Senate." Ernst, a lieutenant colonel in Iowa's national guard and first-term state lawmaker, has received encouragement from Iowa Gov. Terry Branstad (R)...

Kuemper Catholic High School alum Scott Schaben of Ames says he plans to run for the U.S. Senate in the November 2014 election. … Schaben said he is a different variety of conservative. “I am not your far-right candidate,” Schaben said. For example, he supports gay marriage. He’s opposed to abortion, but says the party needs to be smart about managing the issue. “I would vote to make it illegal, but I wouldn’t expect it to pass,” Schaben said. Schaben’s own family would bring racial diversity to the GOP, he said, noting that his wife, Latoja, an assistant coach for...

Council Bluffs, IA -- It's a few seconds clip of Chrisshaun Moten. Perhaps too fast to show what his friends say was a passion for music. "Yeah, he was super-super talented," said Jade Jerkovich. She sang with the 17-year old and learned through social media Friday morning that the unthinkable had happened to her friend. "It was really-really surprising. You never think that that's going to happen to someone your so close to."

Tuesday, dash cam video surfaced of an Iowa State Trooper pursuing a speeding black Chevy SUV on Highway 20 between Cedar Falls and Fort Dodge, back in April. In an audio recording, you can hear DCI Special Agent Larry Hedlund call a state dispatcher for help in pulling over the SUV that he was going a "hard 90." State Patrol started a pursuit, but backed off when they learned the SUV was being driven by a fellow officer and Governor Terry Branstad was a passenger. Five days later the DCI put Hedlund on administrative leave after he complained to his...

A federal judge in Des Moines has ordered for the second time a 3-year-old girl at the center of an international custody dispute between divorced parents to be returned to Sweden. The girl's mother, Raina Anderung, must fly her daughter to Sweden where the girl's father, Magnus Anderung lives within two weeks.

[The Occupant] The President today declared a major disaster exists in the State of Iowa and ordered Federal aid to supplement state and local recovery efforts in the area affected by severe storms, tornadoes, and flooding during the period of May 19 to June 14, 2013. Federal funding is available to state and eligible local governments and certain private nonprofit organizations on a cost-sharing basis for emergency work and the repair or replacement of facilities damaged by the severe storms, tornadoes, and floodng i

General Dynamics Information Technology has received a federal contract to provide customer support services for the federal Affordable Care Act that will add about 120 jobs at the company’s Coralville call center. Rep. Dave Loebsack, D-Iowa, joined company representatives Monday to announce the contract from the federal Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services. The contract also will add “several thousand” jobs at General Dynamics Information Technology call centers in other states, according to an aide to Loebsack. Mark Meudt, vice president of General Dynamics Information Technology, said the Coralville call center at 2450 Oakdale Blvd. employs about 600. He said...

DES MOINES — The Iowa Board of Medicine pushed ahead with a new rule that would end so-called telemedicine abortions despite the objections of its legal director and representatives from the Iowa Attorney General’s office. “There’s been no investigation, no research,” board legal director Kent Nebel told board members shortly before they voted 8-2 Friday afternoon to accept a petition to outlaw the practice. “In my 15 years in serving the board, this is unprecedented.” At issue are state regulations that allow doctors to prescribe Mifenpristone, also known as RU-486 or the “morning-after pill,” to women via a remote-controlled system...

DES MOINES – Gov. Terry Branstad said Monday he was raising “a cautionary flag” about over-building at university campuses at a time when more learning is going online when he vetoed planning money for big-ticket capital projects at state college campuses last week. With college credits increasingly available through Internet-based options, the governor said he did not think it was wise to charge into a new wave of building projects at the University of Iowa in Iowa City, Iowa State University in Ames and the University of Northern Iowa in Cedar Falls without first embarking on a comprehensive, long-range look...

Conservative members of Congress gathered for a six-hour press conference last week outside of the Capitol before a large crowd to speak out against granting any “amnesty” to illegal immigrants before the nation’s borders are secure. “If we see them pass amnesty, then it’s amnesty forever and you can never restore the rule of law again at least with regard to immigration – that’s the central piece of this thing,” Iowa Republican Rep. Steve King, who sponsored the event, told PJ Media. “It was a mistake for Reagan to sign amnesty in ’86. He didn’t let me down very often...

On first appraisal, the amnesty/immigration bill before the Senate looks pretty bad. On a more careful comb-through, clause by clause, it looks much worse - like a complete disaster. It also looks like a massive venture in deception. Consider the oft-repeated claim that, under the bill, 11 million plus illegal immigrants now in the U.S. won't get legal status unless and until the border with Mexico is secure. This claim has been incessantly made by backers of the measure who call it "tough, conservative" legislation. Thus, a former official in the second Bush administration flatly tells us, "The bill's path...

As Hillary Clinton prepares for a possible presidential run in 2016, it appears that she could have knocked then-candidate Barack Obama off the 2008 primary ballot in Indiana. If anyone, including her campaign, had challenged the names and signatures on the presidential petitions that put Obama on the ballot, election fraud would have been detected during the race. But at the time, no one did. On Monday, there was some closure to the case, though, as the four defendants who were convicted or pleaded guilty in the state's presidential petition fraud scandal were sentenced. Only one received prison time for...