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.
Legislators will re-convene in Des Moines at 10 a.m. Monday with the goal of balancing the state’s budget and getting out of town in 80 days.
Normally, the session would run 100 days, but budget constraints forced lawmakers to shorten the session, saving an estimated $40,000 a day.
The Des Moines Register does a good job of sorting through the various extraneous issues facing the legislature this year, ranging from raising the fines for speeding tickets to cracking down on puppy mills.
The Associated Press focused exclusively on how lawmakers plan to fix the budget, with Radio Iowa discussing state government reorganization.
The Iowa Independent also weighed in on the issues facing the 2010 General Assembly, including the role of organized labor, how budget decisions may shortchange the state’s most vulnerable and conservatives conceding that same-sex marriage won’t be an issue this year.
And making it all more complicated, this year’s session takes place in the shadow of the 2010 election, with all 100 House members, 25 senators and Gov. Chet Culver up for re-election.
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