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.
Gov. Terry Branstad has named Edward Mansfield, Thomas Waterman and Bruce Zager to the Iowa Supreme Court, replacing three justices voted off the bench in November’s retention election.
Mansfield, who was named to the Iowa Court of Appeals in 2009, is from Des Moines and graduated from Yale University in 1982. Waterman, an attorney from Pleasant Valley who graduated from the University of Iowa in 1984, was a finalist in 2008 for a position on the Iowa Supreme Court. Zager, who was appointed to the First Judicial District in 1999, is from Waterloo.
All three are registered Republicans, and Watterman donated $7,500 to Branstad and $250 to Brenna Findley, who ran unsuccessfully for attorney general and is now Branstad’s legal adviser. Branstad said previously that the donations would not influence his selection.
“It is the role of the judiciary in the state of Iowa to say what the law is, as applied to cases before the courts, rather than saying what the law should be,” Branstad said in statements announcing his pick. “The separation of powers is central to our Iowa Constitution.”
In November, three judges were removed from the court by voters due to their participating in the unanimous 2009 decision that legalized same-sex marriage in Iowa.
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