ICE Raid in Iowa leads to arrest of 300 illegal immigrants 

The largest workplace raid in Iowa history Monday resulted in the arrest of more than 300 people at Agriprocessors Inc., the nation's largest kosher slaughterhouse.  The raid involved 16 local, state and federal agencies and was led by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).

Federal officials claimed that up to three-fourths of the company's workers at the end of last year were using fraudulent Social Security numbers.  Accounts from plant employees indicated that some employees were running a methamphetamine lab in the plant and were bringing weapons to work.  Others stated some workers were being abused physically and paid below the Iowa minimum wage. 

Alaska becomes first state with average gas prices at $4

Alaska became the first state where gas prices are averaging more than $4 a gallon. On Wednesday, regular gasoline averaged $4.006 a gallon, up from $3.983 the day before.  According to AAA, the national average price per gallon has reached an all-time high today at $3.794. 

California approves gay marriage

California's Supreme Court decided that gay couples were entitled to marriage rights in a monumental decision.  California joins Massachusetts as the only states that fully allow gay marriage.  (Vermont allows civil unions.)

Same-sex couples would be able to begin marrying in less than a month, although there is a chance the court decision may be overturned if a constitutional amendment is added to the ballot and passed in November that would ban gay marriage.

Chicago lifts ban on foie gras 

For two years, foie gras, a delicacy of duck and goose liver, was banned from being served at restaurants in Chicago.  The ban was inspired by horrid descriptions of caged ducks and geese being force fed using pipes to enlarge their livers, making the liver harvest per bird more economical.  

Force-feeding birds has been banned in 15 countries, but Chicago was the only governmental body in the world to impose a ban on the actual sale of foie gras.  Now that the ban has been overturned, many chefs in the Windy City are breaking out the champagne.

City governments suing banks over foreclosures

Cities have joined the tens of thousands of homeowners in claiming they were victimized by the subprime foreclosure debacle sweeping the nation and have begun suing banks to recoup their losses.

The lawsuits are designed to recoup the city's lost property taxes as well as the cost of fire departments, police, code enforcement or even demolition needed to clean up or deal with foreclosed properties. Cleveland; Baltimore; Buffalo, N.Y.; and Minneapolis, Minn., have all filed lawsuits against lenders or developers based on the devastating effects foreclosures have wreaked on their communities.

Ohio refuses federal money 

When the federal government offered Chardon Township in Ohio $10,000 in disaster aid for a snowstorm in March, the locals said no thanks.

Township Trustee Chuck Strazinsky told The Plain Dealer for a story published Friday that it was a typical snowstorm unworthy of federal aid. He says the money should be reserved for true emergencies.