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.
The National Journal has released its 2007 Vote Ratings for members of Congress.Sen. Tom Harkin is the most liberal member of Iowa’s congressional delegation and Rep. Steve King is the most conservative, according to ratings by The National Journal, a nonpartisan publisher of magazines, newsletters, books and directories for political professionals.
The ratings, which are also used to determine national rankings, have been criticized for not accurately reflecting the ideological leanings of members of Congress, but they still tend to find their way into campaign mailings and advertisements.
According to The National Journal, Harkin was more liberal than approximately 85 percent of his colleagues in the Senate. Among Iowa’s Democratic representatives, Dave Loebsack had the highest liberal voting rating, followed by Bruce Braley.
Rep. Leonard Boswell, who has been attacked by his primary challenger, former State Rep. Ed Fallon, for being too conservative, received the lowest liberal vote rating — and the highest conservative rating — of any Democrat in Iowa’s delegation.
Rep. Steve King was more conservative than about 91 percent of his fellow members of the House, according to the ratings. Sen. Chuck Grassley and Rep. Tom Latham voted more conservative than about three-fourths of their colleagues.
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