Wednesday was a difficult day for The American Independent News Network, which is the larger entity that operates The Iowa Independent. Our chief executive and founder announced two of our sister sites would close and their content would be moved to The American Independent.
A recently introduced bill could have far-reaching impact on the U.S. sugar industry, including American Crystal Sugar, a farmer-owned cooperative that locked out 1,300 Midwest workers on Aug. 1.
The chairman for Herman Cain’s Iowa effort says the campaign “relied more on the word of farmers than Washington regulators” in deciding to run an ad containing claims the Environmental Protection Agency says are false.
The Iowa Senate will remain under the control of a slim 26-25 Democratic majority when it reconvenes in January 2012.
A Cedar Rapids chiropractor will be spending the next seven years behind bars for using the stolen identities of minors in a scheme to bilk Medicaid.
Douglas P. Dvorak, 46, received the prison term Thursday after an April jury verdict found him guilty of 22 counts of mail fraud, 11 counts of aggravated identity theft and six counts of money laundering.
Evidence presented at trial showed that between late 2005 and early 2007, Dvorak defrauded the Medicaid health insurance program by submitting claims for services he never provided. He used the identities of more than 30 under-aged Medicaid beneficiaries in executing the scheme, and engaged in financial transactions with the proceeds that were designed to conceal the location and control of the money. His intention, according to trial evidence, was to defraud Medicaid, a government program designed to help individuals and families with low income access health care, for more than $120,000.
Dvorak was sentenced to 85 months in prison — 37 for the mail fraud and money laundering, and 48 for aggravated identity theft. He was also ordered to pay $71,375.82 in restitution to Iowa Medicaid Enterprise, and a special assessment of $3,900. He will serve a three-year period of supervised release after his prison term.
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