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.
Matt Strawn, a former congressional aide and co-owner of the Iowa Barnstormers Arena Football team, has been elected chair of the Republican Party of Iowa.
Matt Strawn
Strawn, 35, also served for a time as director of John McCain’s Iowa presidential campaign. His selection as leader of Iowa’s GOP follows a long, and occasionally ugly, few weeks of positioning and deal making that at one time involved eight men.
Ten members of the State Central Committee voted for Strawn while 7 voted for former state Rep. Danny Carroll. Jim Kurtenbach was elected co-chair and Matt Randall was picked to be treasurer.
Strawn now takes over leadership of a party that has suffered a tough string of defeats in the past few years, including the governor’s mansion, both houses of the state legislature and two U.S. House seats in 2006, and an easy victory for President-elect Barack Obama in November. Registered Republicans are also outnumbered by Democrats by more than 110,000.
Additionally, Strawn must heal a party plagued by infighting.
Over the course of his campaign, Strawn has emphasised improving the way the party uses technology, rebuilding the GOP infrastructure and enhancing communication.
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