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.
Outside of the Council Bluffs airport, C.J. King (left) and Ron Hug of Omaha, Neb., challenge U.S. Rep. Steve King, R-Iowa, to debate his Democratic opponent Rob Hubler.
In a display of what might be called hubris, U.S. Rep. Steve King, R-Kiron, who has declined to debate his Democratic opponent, asked a reporter to contact U.S. Sen. Barack Obama and set up a debate between himself and the Democratic presidential candidate.
In Denison, following a town-hall meeting this week, I asked King for some of his insights on the presidential race, and whether he planned to use his considerable resources for GOP White House aspirant John McCain in western Iowa. King responded by saying he would be willing to debate Obama, the Democratic standard-bearer.
“Why don’t you ask Obama to come out to western Iowa and he and I will have a debate,†King said. “I think that would be a good idea.â€
Earlier, outside the Council Bluffs airport where King held a town hall meeting this week, two men, one dressed in a chicken suit, brandished signs challenging King to debate his Democratic challenger Rob Hubler of Council Bluffs.
King has declined to participate in a forum sponsored by The Sioux City Journal and League of Women Voters because he is upset with a story The Journal published about the level of his effectiveness in Congress.
“We just believe in open politics,” said the man in the chicken suit, Ron Hug of Omaha, Neb. “We just believe the public has a right to know.”
Hug identified himself as a factory worker on leave.
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