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.
State Rep. Rick Olson (D-Des Moines) has spent the better part of the last three hours being grilled by Republican lawmakers about his ‘compromise amendment’ to House File 333, a bill that would require state-funded public works projects to pay ‘prevailing wages’ to workers. The amendment was adopted on a voice vote moments ago as lawmakers moved on to other amendments to amendments.
Republican objections so far seem mostly focused on how the bill would impact municipal budgets. Under the provisions of Olson’s amendment, cities would still be forced to pay prevailing wage rates for many of their infrastructure projects, and everyone seems to have a city, county, school board, or community college in their district with infrastructure projects planned.
Although the bill is ultimately expected to pass, State Rep. McKinley Bailey (D-Webster City), who was thought to be one of the possible ’51st votes’ for the labor-backed bill, just announced that he opposed the bill even after Olson’s amendment. He said the bill would have to treat community colleges and school districts more similarly to counties and cities for the purposes of applying prevailing wage requirements before he could vote in favor of it.
While the debate lasts, you can listen to live audio from the House chamber here. But don’t expect it to last all night. Under a bipartisan agreement reached earlier, debate will end no later than 5:20 p.m.
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