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.
With so much attention paid to academic achievement gaps, lagging test scores and graduation rates, one might think all African-American students in Des Moines were struggling. But that is far from accurate.
Nearly 50 of Des Moines’ highest achieving, gifted and brilliant black students on Saturday participated in an academic competition at Corinthian Baptist Church. The competition is called ACT-SO. It stands for Afro-Academic, Cultural, Technological and Scientific Olympics and is part activities for youth by the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP).
Students, who came from all Des Moines high schools and schools in Urbandale and West Des Moines, competed in five areas: the sciences, humanities, performing arts, visual arts and business. I had the honor of helping judge the students’ essays, poetry and plays.
Students wrote and performed their own musical compositions. One sang in Italian. They penned poetry, plays and even business plans. They performed science experiments and math projects.
A core group of dedicated volunteers spent months organizing the event. Others served as mentors and judges.
Some of the students will advance to the national competition held in July in Orlando Fla. Some will not. Only the best go on from here.
These students — and this academic competition – help remind us all that there are high achieving black students in our midst — despite the headlines we read nearly every day.
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