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.
Officials in flood ravaged counties around the state would be allowed to impose a local-option sales tax to help pay for disaster relief in April instead of June thanks to a bill expected to be passed by House and Senate committees today.
House Study Bill 54 will go before the House Rebuild Iowa Committee and Senate Study Bill 1065 will go before the Senate Ways and Means Committee this afternoon. Both bodies are expected to approve the bills which allow officials in counties that received a presidential disaster declaration in 2008 to impose a local-option sales tax using an expedited process. That includes 80 of Iowa’s 99 counties.
If passed, a referendum on the tax would go before voters March 3, with the tax taking effect April 1.
The bill must move quickly through the legislature as it calls for counties to issue a notice of election Feb. 3.
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