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.
A joint study of earmarks from the 110th Congress shows Iowa State University receiving the fifth highest benefit from lawmakers, trailing four institutions of higher learning in Alabama and Mississippi.
According to data from Taxpayers for Common Sense, Ames-based Iowa State garnered $4.5 million in earmarks during fiscal year 2009. Data from the Center for Responsive Politics shows the university spent $213,408 on lobbying efforts, and that an additional $76,621 was contributed by individuals associated with the school during that same time period.
While this ranking and the amount provided to ISU appears high, keep in mind that the organizations compiling the lists have yet to filter through defense earmarks for FY 2009. During fiscal year 2008, for instance, which was the most recent year when defense appropriations have been added to the database, ISU garnered nearly $9 million in Congressional earmarks — not enough to earn the university a slot in the top 35 recipients. In fact, all the earmarks collected by Iowa’s institutions of higher learning in 2008 add up to roughly $24.5 million, a figure well below what was distributed by Congress to defense contractors L-3 Communications ($44.4 million) and Northrop Grumman ($37.3 million), which hold the number one and two slots for that time period.
Much of the earmark monies that flowed into ISU were made possible by the agriculture appropriations bill. For instance, the Iowa Community Vitality Center at ISU, which facilitates networking between small- and medium-sized rural communities on key issues, was provided $250,000 (despite the fact that Arizona Sen. John McCain specifically targeted this program in his floor objections). The Food and Agriculture Policy Research Institute was granted roughly $1.5 million, while about $300,000 went to New Century Farm, and an additional $1 million was provided to the Food Safety Consortium.
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