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.
Four conservative House Democrats confirmed to The Iowa Independent Wednesday that they are a “no” vote on a bill eliminating federal deductibility.
State Reps. Geri Huser, Doris Kelley, Brian Quirk and Dolores Mertz said they do not support eliminating a portion of the tax code that allows state residents to write off their federal taxes on state returns.
As part of a survey in the River Cities Reader published last week, a fifth House Democrat, Rep. Elesha Gayman, said she would not support the proposed tax change either. But Wednesday on her personal Web site, Gayman contradicts that by saying the legislation will “attract more good-paying jobs to Iowa and strengthen our business climate by reducing Iowa’s income tax rates to make them more competitive with neighboring states.”
““This plan will make our tax system fair and simple while raising the same amount of revenue for the state,” she said. “It will not increase state revenues.”
Gayman could not be reached for comment.
The legislation was expected to go before the full House Thursday, but several legislators indicated debate will be pushed back in order to ensure enough Democrats are on board.
Democrats hold a 56-44 advantage in the House, which means six Democratic legislators vote against the measure it will fail. Huser, Kelley, Quirk and Mertz joined with fellow Democratic Reps. McKinley Bailey and Larry Merek to kill the labor-backed prevailing wage bill last month (Huser missed the vote but said she would have been a “no” vote). Gayman voted for prevailing wage.
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