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.
A YouTube video blogger from Iowa covering the Democratic National Convention said prospective First Lady Michelle Obama connected with women during her keynote speech Monday night.
Rich Peters, a recent University of Iowa Law School graduate who grew up in Carroll, shot video for YouTube, the popular video sharing Web site, during the convention. He earned access to the Pepsi Center in Denver by winning a video contest.
Peters told Iowa Independent in a phone interview that he was surrounded by women in the Pepsi Center who responded to Michelle Obama’s family themed keynote pitch for her presidential candidate husband, U.S. Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill. He watched the audience intently and talked to a number of women in attendance about their impressions.
“What cameras aren’t going to pick up are the words people used to agree with Michelle,†Peters said.
He added, “The neatest thing was being amongst the crowd. Every couple of seconds there would be someone yelling something positive.â€
With memories of a hard-fought primary and caucus season looming in the minds of many activists, there is concern from the Obama camp about reaching supporters of his chief rival in that process, U.S. Sen. Hillary Clinton, D-N.Y. — particularly women.
“I did not know going in whether there would be unity,†said Peters, an Obama supporter. “But as soon as I got boots on the ground, I can’t tell you how much energy there was, and it was all positive.â€
Earlier Monday, Peters appeared for a segment on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe†with host Joe Scarborough, a former conservative congressman from Florida.
Peters brought along a bag of Cheetos as a joke related to Scarborough’s references to bloggers as Cheeto eaters.
For YouTube, Peters interviewed New York Times columnist Paul Krugman. Peters also talked with environmental activist Robert Kennedy Jr., among other people Monday.
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