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.
The U.S. House Judiciary Committee’s Subcommittee on Commercial and Administrative Law held a hearing Wednesday to examine the impact and possible remedies for midnight rules, which is the term given to last-minute regulations forged by an outgoing administration.
According to Politico, the highlight of the day took place when Iowa’s own Rep. Steve King went head-to-head with Robert F. Kennedy Jr. who was there discussing the environmental regulations enacted by the Bush Administration in its final days.
After Kennedy questioned King’s ties to corporate agriculture, King recalled Kennedy’s well-publicized battle with drugs when he asked if his interest in the environment was inspired by a mandatory community service sentence.
Here’s a very, very rough transcript from the Politico:
We don’t have the exact transcript yet, but here’s the exchange as it was Blackberried to us:
King — you said hog farmers more dangerous than bin laden
Kennedy — yeah, and its true
Kennedy — how much did you get from farm industry King?
King. — how did you get involved in enviro issues, sentenced to community service?
Update: Here is the video, courtesy of King himself. Politico’s transcript is a little off but hits all the major points (the most heated exchange takes place at the end of the video).
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