Iowa

A group of 31 scientists from universities across Iowa wrote an open letter to political candidates asking them to acknowledge the scientific evidence for human-caused climate change.

“We urge all candidates for public office at national, state, and local levels to acknowledge the overwhelming balance of evidence for the underpinning causes of climate change, to develop appropriate policy responses, and to develop local and statewide strategies to adapt to near-term changes in climate,” the letter states.

Most scientists who study the topic believe that increasing the amount of carbon in the atmosphere, mostly by burning fossil fuels, is causing the earth to get warmer through a “greenhouse effect.” more >>

Republican presidential candidate Michele Bachmann shows no sign of dropping out of the 2012 race despite losing her New Hampshire campaign staff and her low numbers in polls.

The Minnesota congresswoman is reaching deeper into Iowa in the hopes of exciting her base with an early primary win. Jan. 3 is the tentative date for Iowa’s caucus, and Bachmann is preparing by putting campaign staff on the ground and meeting with locals.

Yesterday, her campaign announced Eric Woolson as its Iowa campaign manager. Woolson joined Bachmann’s staff after serving as the communications director for bygone candidate Tim Pawlenty. She also established state Sens. Kent Sorenson and Brad Zaun as her Iowa campaign co-chairmen. more >>

A daycare operating inside a church in Waukee, Iowa, is stirring debate in the local community for requiring employees to reapply and follow new Christian lifestyle guidelines as it closes and reopens next month.

Nearly two dozen teachers who worked at Happy Time Daycare and Preschool have to reapply for their jobs as Point of Grace Church turns the operation into Point of Grace Children’s Academy beginning Sept. 6. Along with short notice, however, employees have voiced concerns over the Christian Lifestyle Commitment that they must agree to.

The agreement states that teachers must abstain from: viewing pornography, drinking an excessive amount of alcohol, homosexual conduct and pre-marital sex, according to an application posted on the church’s website. more >>

A school district in Iowa has approved plans to renovate part of a nearby church for use as preschool classrooms, and one atheist group is protesting the move.

"[T]his plan violates the Iowa Constitution's definition of the separation of church and state!" the Freedom From Religion Foundation complained on Friday.

The board of Cedar Falls Community School District confirmed earlier this month that the district would spend over $61,000 for renovation of classrooms at Kaio Church, located near Southdale Elementary school. more >>

As governor of the state responsible for over 40 percent of the nation's jobs since 2009, Texas Republican Rick Perry is wasting no time explaining why he is better suited to take on President Barack Obama's economic record than frontrunner Mitt Romney.

During Perry's first official day on the campaign trail, he took on the Romney campaign's crown jewel, Mitt's private sector experience.

Romney touts having spent over 25 years in the private sector, building businesses and creating jobs, according to his website. During a Monday speech in Litchfield, N.H., he told voters he understands "how the economy works from having worked in the real economy." more >>

The 2012 presidential campaign took a new turn as Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-Minn.), Texas Governor Rick Perry and President Barack Obama all appeared in Iowa on Monday after Saturday’s GOP Iowa Straw Poll.

Bachmann won Saturday’s poll, the same day that Perry announced his run for the presidency. Obama will travel through three states that he won in 2008 - Illinois, Iowa and Minnesota - in three days, but the tour starts with news that his approval rating hit a new low at 39 percent.

Bachmann, Perry and former Pennsylvania Senator Rick Santorum, who placed fourth in the Iowa straw poll, all appeared at the Black Hawk County Republican Party’s Lincoln Day dinner on Sunday night. more >>