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.
Former Iowa Gov. Tom Vilsack may be on his way to Washington as President-elect Barack Obama’s secretary of Agriculture, but his wife Christie Vilsack plans to continue as the executive director of The Iowa Initiative, a group she founded a year ago with the mission of reducing unplanned pregnancy.
In announcing an across-the-board budget cut of 1.5 percent on Thursday, Gov. Chet Culver sent a letter to every state employee laying out his plan and explaining that there was no other recourse under the current economic situation. Staff reductions and employee furloughs are likely under the new proposal, Culver said, although that will ultimately [...]
Barb Finch, a former legislator from Story County, died Wednesday in a car crash on Interstate 35 near Albert Lea, Minn. “Former Rep. Barb Finch was a remarkable public servant, leader and friend,” said House Minority Leader Kraig Paulsen in a prepared statement. “Her passion for making this state a better place to live will [...]
State Senator-elect Swati Dandekar, who served in the Iowa House before winning a seat in the Senate, has been named Person of the Year by AsianWeek. The publication, the nation’s oldest and largest English newspaper serving the Asian/Pacific Islander American community, cited Dandekar’s courage in not sitting back and relaxing in the Iowa House seat [...]
Gov. Chet Culver will sign an executive order making an across-the-board reduction in state’s General Fund, a move expected to save Iowa $91.4 million, he announced this afternoon. Only corrections officers and state troopers will remain unscathed, with layoffs likely and cuts affecting education and Medicaid. “We are in the midst of an economic challenge [...]
Although former Gov. Tom Vilsack is likely to be confirmed by the Senate as secretary of agriculture after President-elect Barack Obama takes office, the Organic Consumers Association continues to hold out hope that they can derail the nomination before that happens. While Vilsack has promoted respectable policies with respect to restraining livestock monopolies, his overall [...]
The City of Ames has decided to institute national background checks for all participants in its Section 8 housing assistance program. The new background checks are an expansion of those currently utilized which only use state data. The decision comes after an Ames resident filed a Freedom of Information Act request with the city, asking [...]
State Auditor David Vaudt, in interviews with the Associated Press and The Des Moines Register, said the state will be forced to make cuts in education funding and Medicaid in order to balance the budget. Many observers are predicting a budget deficit of more than $500 milllion, but Vaudt said he expects the shortfall to [...]
A new report ranks Iowa fifth among all states for voter turnout during the 2008 general election. The study by George Mason University’s U.S. Elections Project gave top billing to Minnesota. It was followed by Wisconsin, Maine, New Hampshire and Iowa. In the Hawkeye State more people voted in this election than in any in [...]
Shane Goodman, publisher of the Des Moines alternative newsweekly Cityview, announced this week that what was thought to be a one time arrangement for fired Des Moines Register editorial cartoonist Brian Duffy to publish his parting shot at his former employer has become a regular feature in the paper.
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