Trevor Goggin recognized the boy as soon as he approached the neighborhood street hockey rink. He was the kid who had made his little sister, Taylor, run home from the school bus bawling a few days earlier. So Trevor was not surprised when he heard the boy’s taunt: “Hey, isn’t your sister the bald o
Leaders from the local nonprofit news organization IowaWatch said their new radio program — the IowaWatch Connection — is off to a successful start, an Iowa City Press-Citizen story published July 19 begins. You can read the entire article, by Chastity Dillard, at this link.
At least 80 groups spent more than $50 million lobbying over the Farm Bill overhaul of crop insurance. Yet, crop insurance does not ensure more food, an Iowa State University researcher says in this special report by the Midwest Center for Investigative Reporting and Harvest Public Media.
During the 2013 planting season, U.S. farmers had nearly two dozen different crop insurance policies to sort through when deciding how to best protect themselves from losses caused by bad weather, price drops and other perils. A Midwest Center for Investigative Reporting analysis revealed that two o
Ten years ago, U.S. farmers who chose to insure their crops from weather disasters and market fluctuations received a combined total of about $3.2 billion in insurance payouts in a year. Those payouts have steadily increased by billions of dollars since then, leaving some skeptics arguing that the i
It took two years for the U.S. Congress to come together and pass the Agricultural Act of 2014, a piece of legislation known simply as "the Farm Bill." During that period of heated discussion, at least 80 groups spent millions of dollars lobbying on topics that included the Farm Bill and crop insura
The $956 billion Farm Bill, which set U.S. food policy for the next decade, is no longer the purview solely of agricultural interests. It has evolved from a spotlight on commodities to a focus on consumers, a joint investigation by Harvest Public Media and the Midwest Center for Investigative Report
IowaWatch was featured during a large portion of the Tuesday, July 15, "Your Town" show on KXIC radio, AM 800, in Iowa City. Host Jay Capron interviewed Executive Director-Editor Lyle Muller.
The massive Farm Bill, which will spend $956 billion and set U.S. food policy for the next decade, is no longer the purview solely of agricultural interests. The Farm Bill has evolved from a spotlight on commodities to a focus on consumers, a joint investigation by Harvest Public Media and the Midwe
From major financial institutions (Wells Fargo & Company) to Taco Bell (Yum! Brands) to Midwest farmers (the National Corn Growers Association), outside groups spent big bucks to shape national food and agriculture policy. But thanks to opaque lobbying disclosure laws, it’s nearly impossible to know
As part of a project with Harvest Public Media, the Midwest Center for Investigative Reporting analyzed electronic federal lobbying reports to get a closer look at who lobbied on the 2014 Farm Bill. Access the results and data here.
