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.
Three new members of the Iowa Supreme Court joined with the four remaining justices Thursday to re-elect Mark Cady as chief justice.
Cady is the most senior member of the court, having served as a judge for 28 years, and was appointed by Gov. Terry Branstad to the Iowa Supreme Court 13 years ago. He began serving as chief justice in January following the ouster of three of his former colleagues — including former Chief Justice Marsha Ternus — by voters in November.
“I am honored by my colleagues’ confidence in me,” Cady said in a statement. “I pledge to do everything in my power to ensure that Iowans continue to have a high-caliber court system that provides fair and impartial justice, according to law, and equally to all.”
Cady wrote the landmark decision in Varnum v. Brien, which concluded that the state’s defense of marriage act violated the equal protection clause of the constitution. The unanimous ruling legalized same-sex marriage in Iowa. Cady defended the decision during the annual State of the Judiciary address to legislators earlier this year, saying the court was obligated to serve the law, “not the electorate’s reaction to a particular decision. By serving the rule of law, courts protect the civil, political, economic and social rights of all citizens.”
In addition to judicial duties, the chief justice sets the court’s oral argument schedule, assigns cases and administrative duties to each justice, delivers the State of the Judiciary address to the legislature each January and presides over the judicial council.
Following his re-election as chief justice, Cady said the state must increase the public’s access to justice.
“To increase access to justice we must rebuild the judicial branch workforce so we have enough judges and staff to meet the public’s demand for court services throughout the state,” he said. “To ensure that Iowa continues to have a fair and impartial court system, we must preserve Iowa’s merit system for selecting judges. Merit selection is the best way to provide citizens with a fair and highly competent judiciary. Merit selection has served Iowans well for nearly 50 years.”
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