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.
Hundreds of billions of dollars will be sent out by the federal government over the next few years as part of the stimulus plan passed by Congress a few weeks ago, and some question how well it will be spent. ProPublica’s Michael Grabell has an eye-opening story up today detailing the hurdles faced by regulators and watchdog groups who are tasked with preventing fraud and abuse:
Though most of the money will flow through states, some of the projects will be managed by local and regional authorities that have proliferated in recent decades but get little scrutiny. Obscure federal agencies that have mismanaged funds in the past will now have billions to spend. And relentlessly, fraud experts say, the common huckster will try to make a buck by rigging a bid or overbilling the government.
Grabell’s main example is a shopping mall complex in New Jersey called Xanadu, but he names several others, including a somewhat obscure USDA program designed to expand broadband access to rural parts of the country. In 2005, a report by the inspector general found that the program had been abused, paying for broadband lines in affulent suburbs near Houston, Texas. The broadband program’s budget will be increased from $300 million to $2.5 billion next year.
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