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.
Rod Roberts
Republican gubernatorial candidate Rod Roberts was the guest of the Clay County Tea Party Patriots Thursday night, and he used the opportunity to draw distinctions between himself and former Gov. Terry Branstad.
Roberts focuses his remarks on his fiscal record and ideas such as eliminating the corporate income tax and his proposed constitutional amendment limit state spending to 99 percent of projected revenue. When the forum was turned over to public questions, it offered Roberts to opportunity to look back at Branstad’s 16 years in office and explain what he’d do differently.
From the Spencer Daily Reporter:
He stated he would not have expanded legalized gambling, nor would he have diverted dollars from the road use tax fund to pay the Iowa State Patrol, a practice current Gov. Chet Culver wants to reinstate.
Roberts also hit the conservative high points: he will fight to overturn an Iowa Supreme Court ruling legalizing same-sex marriage and protect Iowans’ right to carry a firearm. The Carroll Republican even advocated for an expansion of nuclear power in Iowa, as well as the expansion of coal-fire plants, ethanol and biodiesel.
Though most observers believe the GOP primary is really a two-man race — between Branstad and Sioux City businessman Bob Vander Plaats — the increasingly heated battle between those two chief rivals has some convinced Roberts could become the surprise candidate of 2010.
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