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 Des Moines Register’s Jennifer Jacobs reports Thursday morning about a public hearing on the state’s tentative budget that was missing one important piece: the public.
Apparently, the only public notice for the hearing was tacked up on a bulletin board inside the State Capitol, and the only person who noticed and actually showed up was a nonpartisan capitol staffer. The method used to advertise the meeting does meet the minimum standards under state law, which only calls for the public notice to be tacked up 24 hours in advance.
Dick Oshlo, the state’s budget director, said he didn’t expect many people to turn out anyway.
From The Register:
Oshlo said Wednesday’s hearing was meant “to take public comments.” It’s required by the Iowa Code, but it’s usually considered a formality, he said. “Historically, few people have ever come,” he said. “We followed the same process as we have in the past.”
Asked how notice of the hearing was published in previous years, Oshlo said: “The type of structure for the hearing and the notice have been the same for the last four, five, six years.”
A new meeting has been scheduled for Monday.
Iowa’s track record in government openness has been less than stellar over the years, to say the least. One study backed by the American Society of Newspaper Editors, Freedom of Information Committee and Society of Professional Journalists ranked Iowa 31st in government openness nationally. The 2009 General Assembly considered a bill to bolster Iowa’s open-meetings and open-records laws, but after several re-writes it still sits in committee.
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