IOWA CITY, Iowa -- A national civil rights organization is calling on U.S. authorities to explain their investigation of a leading maker of food for observant Muslims, saying it is concerned about the secrecy surrounding the seizure of the company's bank account and records.
The Council on American-Islamic Relations, the nation's largest Muslim civil liberties group, says it wants more information about the Oct. 16 raid of the Midamar Corp. and the related investigation.
Spokesman Ibrahim Hooper says it isn't fair for the Cedar Rapids-based company to be crippled by the seizure of its funds when it hasn't been charged with a crime or even formally told what the government is investigating.
The U.S. Attorney's Office in Cedar Rapids is overseeing the investigation. Spokesman Peter Deegan says he cannot comment on sealed search warrants.
Texas will try to seize Warren Jeffs' ranch
AUSTIN, Texas -- Texas wants ownership of Warren Jeffs' massive polygamist ranch where prosecutors say the convicted sect leader and his followers sexually assaulted dozens of children, the state attorney general's office said Wednesday.
A judge will determine whether to grant the state control of the 1,600-acre property owned by the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
The sect bought the land for more than $1.1 million in 2003, according to court records. The affidavit, filed Wednesday, does not provide a current value for the Yearning for Zion Ranch. Texas has spent more than $4.5 million in prosecuting the cases against Jeffs and 10 of his followers.
Jerry Strickland, a spokesman for the attorney general's office, said the warrant begins the final chapter in the state's 5-year-old case against Jeffs.
Texas Rangers raided the ranch in April 2008 and took 439 children into state custody. Jeffs last year was convicted of sexually assaulting two minors whom he described as his spiritual wives.
Jeffs, 56, is serving a life prison term in Texas. He has continued to try to lead his roughly 10,000 followers from behind bars. The sect is a radical offshoot of mainstream Mormonism whose members believe polygamy brings exaltation in heaven.
Pope John Paul II's artifacts to be displayed
LUBBOCK, Texas -- Artifacts and memorabilia of Pope John Paul II are coming to Lubbock and two other U.S. cities next year.
A Lubbock-based organization managing the U.S. stops says the exhibit will have items from throughout the popular pope's life, from his childhood in Poland through his death in 2005.
The nonprofit National Exhibits Association is to announce the other cities and ticket information at a news conference Thursday.
The exhibit called "I Have Come to You Again" opens in Lubbock March 15.
It's to have about 130 items, including historic documents, personal belongings, artwork John Paul collected, gifts and art objects given to him.
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