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.
A vote in the Senate Transportation Committee on an 8-cent increase to Iowa’s fuel tax could take place Thursday, the committeee’s chairman told the Cedar Rapids Gazette.
The bill would raise Iowa’s 21-cent fuel tax by 4 cents now and another 4 cents in 2010. It would eventually raise nearly $170 million annually for road and bridge construction projects. A similar bill has also been introduced in the Iowa House.
The state hasn’t raised its gas tax since 1989. Iowa’s gas tax ranks 32nd nationally.
Democratic legislative leaders have been joined by a broad coalition of interest groups, including the Iowa Farm Bureau and local chambers of commerce, in advocating for a gas tax increase. Democratic Gov. Chet Culver and Republican legislative leaders have said they don’t want to raise any taxes during a recession, with Culver favoring his $700 million bonding plan to fix Iowa’s crumbling infrastructure.
Culver has not yet gone so far as to say he would veto the measure if it is passed.
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