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.
U.S. Sen. Tom Harkin (D-Iowa) is set to take over the chairmanship of the Senate’s powerful Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP) Committee, the Washington Post reports. The position was held by former Sen. Ted Kennedy until his death last month.
Harkin, who currently chairs the Agriculture Committee, is second in seniority behind U.S. Sen. Chris Dodd (D-Connecticut) on the HELP Committee, but Dodd has reportedly decided hold on to his chairmanship of the Banking Committee rather than taking over Kennedy’s old seat.
As its name implies, the HELP Committee’s jurisdiction spans a wide swath of domestic policy, including health care reform. Dodd’s decision elevates Harkin to a position of considerable power in both symbolic and practical terms.
An outspoken, politically secure liberal who will not face re-election until 2014, Harkin’s most significant legislative achievement is the Americans with Disabilities Act, which he spearheaded in 1990 at the end of his first Senate term. In 1992, he unsuccessfully ran for the Democratic presidential nomination. He is the longest-serving Democratic senator in Iowa history.
Harkin’s move would likely make U.S. Sen. Blanche Lincoln (D-Arkansas) chair of the Agriculture Committee, according to the Post.
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