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.
Just days before its planned rally at the state Capitol in opposition to same-sex marriage, the National Organization for Marriage (NOM) is robocalling Iowans soliciting donations.
Peter Hussman of the Newton Independent (no affiliation with this site) reports that the money will be used to help oust lawmakers and judges who do not oppose same-sex marriages.
The pre-recorded message states that NOM has received a challenge grant of up to $2 million and is working to raise matching funds.
The New Jersey-based group is planning to rally from 2 to 3 p.m. at the state Capitol in Des Moines on Sunday. Immediately following the rally, LGBT-rights group One Iowa will also rally just a few blocks away at Western Gateway Park. NOM also plans to hold an event in Sioux City a few days later.
At most of NOM’s stops on its 22-city “Summer for Marriage” tour, protesters have been far outnumbered by counter protesters who support legalized same-sex marriage. At it’s rally in Indianapolis, Ind., a sign proclaiming that the “solution for gay marriage” was gay and lesbian people being put to death garnered a lot of attention, prompting the LGBT-rights group Freedom to Marry to immediately called for NOM to disavow the message.
NOM announced last year that it would launch a new initiative called The Reclaim Iowa Project. The goal is to force Iowans to pass a state constitutional amendment reversing the unanimous ruling of the Iowa Supreme Court that the state’s Defense of Marriage Act was unconstitutional. U.S. Rep. Steve King, R-Iowa, has pledged his support for the initiative and lent his voice to a robocall for the organization.
Later, the organization spent nearly $100,000 into an Iowa House special election in September. It also targeted 33 members of the Iowa House with an e-mail campaign hoping to convince them to allow a vote on a constitutional amendment. The effort failed to garner enough support to force a vote on the issue.
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