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.
Gov. Chet Culver is closely studying a $56 million disaster relief package passed Wednesday by the House Rebuild Iowa and Disaster Recovery Committee, according to Troy Price, the governor’s press secretary.
The bill is $13 million larger than what Culver requested in his Condition of the State address and is allocated differently than the governor originally laid out. It includes $22 million for housing assistance, $10 million for individual disaster grants and $22 million for community disaster grants. The bill does not include the $2 million requested by Culver to fund the Rebuild Iowa Office. An amendment was passed that allows the Rebuild Iowa Office to create a 14-member council to help coordinate state agencies.
Price said the governor was pleased with the quick action the committee took in passing the bill but did not comment on any differences between what the governor requested and what the legislature delivered.
Another change in the bill is the income limit for a family of four to be eligible the a share of the $10 million assistance grants. It was originally set at $21,700 but was raised to $65,000, or 300 percent of the federal poverty level. The amount to each household would receive, however, was reduced from $5,000 to $2,500.
“The gap between need and current resources is huge, but we must make progress, and this bill is progress toward getting Iowans back in their homes and businesses back up and running,” said Rep. Tyler Olson, D-Cedar Rapids, who managed the bill.
The bill will be taken up by the House Appropriations Committee at 3:30 p.m. this afternoon and the Senate Rebuild Iowa committee at 3 p.m. Legislative leaders expect it the bill to be on Culver’s desk next week with the hope that it will become law no later than Valentine’s Day.
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