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.
This is just too funny to pass up. The Hill's pseudo-blog, "Under the Dome," reports (in the third story down) that Iowa Sen. Chuck Grassley is lobbying on behalf of former Iowa congressman and failed gubernatorial candidate Jim Nussle in his struggling bid to become White House budget director. Grassley said he considers Nussle as "kind of a little Grassley," though some disputed that notion.
Big Grassley endorses and renames Nussle
Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) may have found the best possible slogan to help former Rep. Jim Nussle win confirmation as President Bush’s next budget director.
Nussle, whose Senate endorsement is far from assured, first met Grassley while enrolled at Luther College, where the student drove the lawmaker around in an “old Ford” as a volunteer for the senator’s 1980 campaign.
Grassley said in his introduction of Nussle at the Tuesday hearing that he was a little disappointed that none of his five children would continue his legacy in politics. And, somehow, the Grassley brood’s distaste for Washington has helped Nussle’s cause.
“I always thought, well, it’d be nice to have somebody like me in the United States Senate, so when he ran for the Congress I backed him,” Grassley said. “And I considered him kind of a little Grassley.”
Maybe if Nussle goes by “Little Grassley,” Democratic senators will forget their qualms with the guy they say is too partisan for the budget job. Or maybe not.
“I cannot help but comment that this little Grassley has grown to be a mighty Nussle,” Sen. Joe Lieberman (I-Conn.) said.
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