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.
Lawmakers will have a more accurate picture of just how big of a budget deficit they will need to close when the state’s Revenue Estimating Conference (REC) updates its forecast Thursday.
By law, the REC prediction determines how much the legislature can spend in a given year. Going into the session, the state faced an estimated $1 billion budget gap. But following several steps taken this session — an executive order signed by Gov. Chet Culver that implemented numerous cost-saving suggestions from a private consultant, an early retirement package for state employees and a government reorganization bill — most expect lawmakers to be left with $200 million to fill during budget deliberations.
State budget director Dick Oshlo, who is one of the three REC members, told The Des Moines Register last week that lawmakers shouldn’t get their hopes up that revenue projections will shrink the budget hole, saying if there was any improvement, “it’s not going to be major.”
Legislative leaders and the governor have repeatedly ruled out any tax increase to help offset falling revenues, leaving cuts as the only way forward to balance the budget for FY2011, which starts July 1. Several economic analysts told The Iowa Independent that relying on cuts would balance the budget but could actually do long-term harm to the state’s economy and delay recovery.
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