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.
Iowa Rep. Steve King has helped stall a bill granting the District of Columbia full voting rights in the House of Representatives by attaching an amendment gutting the city’s gun laws, the Washington Times reports.
The U.S. Senate passed a version of the bill with a similar amendment, which calls for the elimination of the city’s firearms registration system, the legalization of assault weapons and permission for D.C. residents to buy guns in Maryland and Virginia without local government oversight. It also strips the authority of the D.C. City Council to enact any future gun restrictions.
King, along with Nevada Republican Rep. Dean Heller, attached the amendment to the House version, which has caused the bill to be pulled abruptly from consideration by House Democrats.
The Times reports:
If the House bill is passed with the gun amendments, Democrats would be unable to purge the pro-gun language in conference committee, where members of both houses iron out their differences, because gun rights language would exist in both the House and the Senate versions. …
… Many of the bill’s supporters in Congress are uncertain whether they are willing to give up strict gun laws in the District in exchange for a full D.C. House seat, and may defer to the wishes of the District’s elected representatives.
The House passed a bill granting the nation’s capitol voting rights in 2007 before it was stalled in the Senate. Supports of the measure say the citizens of D.C. deserve to have a voice in Congress. Opponents of the bill have argued that the District is represented by all members of Congress, and any change should be done through an amendment to the Constitution.
Last year, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in a 5-4 decision that the city’s ban on handguns incompatible with gun rights under the Second Amendment. But the ruling left D.C.’s other gun restrictions in place.
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