The Gazette offers audio versions of articles using Instaread. Some words may be mispronounced.

A new legal challenge in Iowa argues that the Iowa Department of Natural Resources and a Postville meatpacking company coordinated behind the scenes to keep details of a “ sweetheart deal ” settlement from the public. The settlement between the state and meatpacker Agri Star Meat and Poultry LLC included an agreement by the company to pay a $50,000 fine for around 60 water pollution violations — an amount equivalent to one day of intentional Clean Water Act violations.

The environmental group Driftless Water Defenders filed the motion Oct. 21, submitting newly produced documents previously classified as confidential. These documents “reveal a concerted effort to rush the Consent Decree’s a

See Full Page