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.
Iowa House Republicans’ new budget plan calls for cuts to Iowa’s public universities which higher education officials in the state have already taken issue with.
Parts of the budget plan, via The Des Moines Register:
• Reduce funding for library acquisitions at Regents universities by 50 percent of unencumbered appropriation
• Direct the Education Appropriations budget subcommittee to combine the administrative functions at the Regents universities to find efficiencies
• Cancel all Regents university sabbaticals for 18 months
All three cuts have been proposed by Republicans before. The third plan in particular has garnered severe criticism from the Board of Regents and administrators at Iowa’s three public colleges.
Regents discussed cutting sabbaticals — or professional development assignments — at their meeting last month. The presidents at Iowa State University, the University of Iowa, and the University of Northern Iowa all fiercely defended the practice, saying they are vital to attracting and retaining quality faculty members.
Additionally, while Republicans say the cut would save $6 million annually, faculty say they often use paid time away from teaching to apply for grants which more than offset the cost of sabbaticals. According to the Board of Regents, 95 sabbaticals this year will cost universities around $442,000, but last year’s sabbaticals generated $5.2 million in grants for the schools.
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