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.
As of 2 a.m. Thursday, the Iowa House was still debating proposed new guidelines for collective bargaining with public employees. Although the original bill, HF 2645 sponsored by Rep. Todd Taylor, was seen as relatively uncontroversial, Rep. Rick Olson filed an amendment late Tuesday that Republicans felt threatened Iowa’s current “Right to Work” laws.
Olson’s proposed amendment would increase the number of items on the table during collective bargaining, taking some control away from local officials.
Rep. Chris Rants and other Republicans filed more than 40 amendments to Olson’s amendment in an attempt to delay its likely passage in the Democrat-controlled chamber. Democratic and Republican legislators settled in for a long night in the chamber, each side perhaps hoping the other would back down first.
By 2:40 a.m., the chamber had agreed to defer the bill and end debate for the night. It will be picked up again during Thursday’s (daytime) session.
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