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.
Recession has driven Americans to their local libraries in record numbers, and throughout the nation more citizens believe their library improves the community’s quality of life. Yet, even while patron numbers soar and more people seek the free resources offered by local libraries, funding continues to lag.
The 2010 State of America’s Libraries Report notes that the lack of funding for libraries and the state agencies that support them combined with increased demands on library services are unsustainable.
For many states, including Iowa, the new cuts come on top of state funding cuts previously made. In total, 41 percent of the states that responded in Jaunary 2009 reported declining state funding for public libraries. Georgia, for instance, has seen state funding reductions of more than 7 percent each year for the past three fiscal years.
In addition, cuts at the state level were often compounded by local level funding cuts, and decreased budgets for the state library agencies. The public Library in Washoe County, Nev., reported that it lost nearly 40 percent of its operating budget over the past two fiscal years. The county is reporting declines in property and sales taxes, and the Nevada State Library and Archives saw a more than 11 percent decrease in state funding during each of the past two fiscal years. As a result, Washoe County Public Library has cut its operating hours by 25 percent, and staffing by 30 percent.
Such funding cuts, and the reductions they dictate, are taking place against a back-drop of increase interest in library services, especially services geared toward employment. Two-thirds of public libraries help patrons complete online job applications, provide access to job databases and other online resources (88 percent) and civil service exam materials (75 percent), and offer software or other resources (69 percent) to help patrons create resumes and other employment materials.
In addition to highlighting the discrepancies between funding and library use, the report also mentions two events in Iowa that impacted local libraries. The decision of the Ames Public Library trustees to continue offering a magazine for teens that provides medically-correct sexual education materials, as was the legislative decision to bar all registered sex offenders from public libraries without written permission were both included in the year-end round-up of library news.
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