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 wrestler representing Linn-Mar High School cited his religious belief and his conscience in making a decision not to compete against a female who also qualified for the state tournament. This year marks the first time in the tournament’s history that female and male athletes have both qualified to compete for state titles.
As expected, Johnson County has joined with Iowa City to ban weapons from county-owned property. The move follows a 2010 state decision, intended to standardize the state’s weapon permitting process, that has removed most discretionary authority from county sheriffs.
An editorial in the Sioux City Journal argues that Gov. Terry Branstad should “forego or reduce” his pension while he continues to serve the state. “The smart move for Branstad would be to give up the pension or voluntarily reduce it until his term as governor is over and work aggressively to close the loophole that allows elected officials to essentially double dip.”
A Waterloo man was arrested this week by a drug enforcement task force, which suspected his involvement in a scheme to ship marijuana in teddy bears.
Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker has called on 16 senators (14 of them Democrats) to return to the state and take a vote on legislation that would strip teachers and other public workers of most collective bargaining rights. Walker, a Republican, says the change is needed in order for the state to overcome budget shortfalls, which the state’s Legislative Fiscal Bureau indicates were aggravated by tax cuts and business incentives passed by the newly-elected and Republican-led state legislature.
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