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.
Democrats continue to outnumber Republicans by more than 100,000 voters in Iowa, according to figures released this week by the Iowa Secretary of State.
As of Aug. 3, there were 683,117 active Democrats compared to 577,223. The largest group of voters, however, was registered as “no party” and totaled 697,512.
The more than 106,000 voter advantage held by Democrats is up from this time last year, when the party held a 91,000 voters advantage. However, it is down from the more than 111,000 voter advantage the party held in March.
The most lopsided congressional district for the Democrats was the Second, represented by Dave Loebsack, where Democrats have a 60,000-voter edge. For Republicans, only western Iowa’s Fifth District gives the GOP an edge, with more than 41,000 more registered voters. However, it is also the district with the fewest registered voters. There were 391,775 voters registered in the Fifth, more than 20,000 fewer than the next smallest, the First District.
The most lopsided counties appear to be Johnson in eastern Iowa and Sioux in western Iowa.
In Johnson County, home of the University of Iowa, Republicans make up only 16 percent of the more than 100,000 registered voters.
In Sioux County, located in the conservative northwesternern section of Iowa known to many as “Iowa’s Bible Belt,” Democrats make up only 9 percent of the nearly 20,000 registered voters.
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