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.
U.S. House Subcommittee on the Constitution Chairman Trent Franks, who recently called for the impeachment of President Barack Obama for the decision to no longer defend the constitutionality of the Defense of Marriage Act, scheduled a hearing titled “Defending Marriage.”
An affiliate of Focus on the Family, a national Christian organization that advocates against marriage rights for same-sex couples, has been endorsed in Indiana as a “collaborative partner” in administering a federally-funded marriage program since 2008.
Despite sharing a name, numerous connections and an anti-gay marriage agenda, Iowa Family Policy Center President Chuck Hurley says the new incarnation of his organization — The Family Leader — has no affiliation whatsoever to a national group with the same name and apparent ties to the Mormon church.
DES MOINES — Their organized push to oust three state Supreme Court justices may be coming to a close, but local and national leaders of the campaign said flatly on Thursday that Iowa is simply the first fight of a large-scale battle over gay rights in America.
Mississippi-based American Family Association, Washington, D.C.-based Family Research Council, Arizona-based Alliance Defense Fund, Georgia-based Faith & Freedom Coalition and New Jersey-based National Organization for Marriage all bring direct funding or in-kind legal and promotional support to local organizations looking to oust three Iowa Supreme Court justices.
Even if Iowa Family Policy Center made the decision to relinquish federal funding at a September 2009 board meeting, the group had already received its $550,000 award for 2009-2010.
An obscure branch of the federal government responsible for distributing millions of tax dollars to religious organizations is drawing criticism for poor oversight over how federal grant money is spent and an overall lack of transparency. Good-government advocates warn that without rigorous transparency, the likelihood for corruption, ethics violations and unconstitutional spending of tax dollars is high.
“We have two concerns. One, were there any Establishment Clause violations, and two, was the money spent in the way in which it was supposed to be spent,” by the Iowa Family Policy Center, said Randall Wilson, legal director for the ACLU of Iowa.
Between 2004 and 2009 the politically influential Christian organization Iowa Family Policy Center (IFPC) received more than $3 million in federal grants through subsidiaries of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.
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