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.
Fifty-two percent of Iowans think same-sex marriage should not be legal, with only 41 percent supporting marriage equity, a new poll from Public Policy Polling found.
However, with conservative Republican lawmakers planning to work to impeach the four remaining justices on the Iowa Supreme Court, the poll found 55 percent of Iowans oppose the idea. Sixty percent of Republicans polled favor impeachment, compared to only 34 percent of independents and 16 percent of Democrats.
“This is one of those classic issues where voters agree with Republicans but don’t want the party to overplay its hand,” said Dean Debnam, president of North Carolina-based Public Policy Polling. “They’re on the same page with wanting same sex marriage to be illegal, but they think it’s going too far to impeach the judges who made the ruling to legalize it.”
The poll also found that as Gov. Terry Branstad takes office only 40 percent of Iowans hold a favorable opinion of him, despite cruising to victory over Democratic Gov. Chet Culver in November. Only 35 percent of independents say they have a favorable opinion of Branstad, compared to 18 percent of Democrats and 64 percent of Republicans.
“So if voters don’t like Branstad that much, you might ask, how did he still win by such a healthy margin?” asked Tom Jenson, director of Public Policy Polling. “Well they certainly don’t think much of outgoing Democrat Chet Culver either. Only 41 percnet of voters approve of the work he did as governor to 46 percent who disapprove. Voters who didn’t like either Branstad or Culver likely went overwhelmingly for the challenger on the premise that he would at least take things in a different and possibly better direction.”
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