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.
There is no need for legislators to get involved in the investigation into allegations of misconduct surrounding the state’s film tax credit program, Democratic leaders in the state House and Senate said Wednesday.
In a letter to their Republican counterparts, House Speaker Pat Murphy of Dubuque and Senate President Jack Kibbie of Emmetsburg said with the attorney general and auditor already conducting an investigation, there is no reason for the matter to go before the Legislative Oversight Committee.
“At this time, however, we believe that it would be imprudent for the Oversight Committee to bring officials from the Department of Economic Development/Film Office, state auditor’s office, attorney general’s office or Department of Revenue before the committee because it could impede or interrupt this joint investigation,” the letter said. “We are especially concerned about the effect of such testimony on any potential criminal proceedings in light of Chief Deputy Auditor Warren Jenkins’s statement that criminal charges against some individuals are possible.”
Jenkins told the Iowa Independent that any time the auditor’s office conducts an investigation that criminal charges are possible, although the likelihood of that happening in this investigation is small.
Murphy and Kibbie were responding to a request by Senate Minority Leader Paul McKinley and House Minority Leader Kraig Paulsen requesting the Oversight Committee look into the film credit allegations when the meet on Thursday.
Democratic Sen. Rich Olive of Story City, who chairs the Oversight Committee, said Tuesday that the committee would discuss the issue Thursday, saying the investigation could expand to all the state’s tax credit programs.
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