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.
University of Iowa officials are asking federal officials to reconsider their decision not to fund the reconstruction of the university’s art museum.
The museum was ravaged two years ago when the Iowa River flooded much of the U of I campus in Iowa City. University officials applied for Federal Emergency Management Agency assistance to rebuild the facility elsewhere, however, federal authorities said the museum hadn’t been 50 percent destroyed — a requirement for federal reconstruction dollars.
However, the company which insures the art collection refuses to cover the collection if its housed in the same location. Therefor, the university contends, the damaged building is useless.
“Returning the museum’s extensive collection to the building — even a repaired building — would not only put it at risk of future flood damage, it would violate FEMA’s own rules, which require insurance for buildings and contents that receive funding from the agency,” UI executive vice president and provost Wallace Loh wrote in a letter to colleagues and friends of the museum.
If the school’s bid for reconsideration is successful, it would add to the already-hefty sum the federal government is paying to rebuild flood-ravaged facilities on the university’s campus.
As of the end of last year, FEMA had committed $477 million to flood projects on campus, according to documents obtained by The Iowa Independent. State bonding accounts for $100 million of the U of I’s flood restoration and protection expenses.
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