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.
Democratic legislative leaders refused to speculate today on the possible implications of the same-sex marriage decision scheduled to be handed down by the Iowa Supreme Court tomorrow. They said they plan to wait to see what the ruling says before making any decisions. Republican leaders said they expect other priorities to supersede this one as the 2009 legislative session winds down.
“We’re going to encourage everybody to take a deep breath and analyze the decision,” House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy, D-Des Moines, said. “The first thing we’re going to do is read the legal decision to see what it says and after that, we’ll make an intelligent determination on where we go from there.”
But with the plan being to adjourn in the next week or two, crafting a bill dealing with the decision seems unlikely, Senate Majority Leader Mike Gronstal, D-Council Bluffs, said.
“You have to suspend the joint rules and it’s exceedingly unlikely that we will pursue legislation this session on that subject,” he said.
Republican legislative leaders also indicated they expect that the 2009 session will conclude without any discussion of same-sex marriage.
“We have two jobs — help put Iowans back to work and pass a balanced budget,” House Minority Leader Kraig Paulsen, R-Hiawatha, said. “To the extent we can get something else done, I’m fine with that, but that’s what we should be focusing our attention on.”
Senate Minority Leader Paul McKinley, R-Chariton, said legislation to ban same-sex marriage would get broad support if introduced in the Senate.
“I do believe that if Mike Gronstal would allow a bill to come forward, we’d see at least 26 votes to pass it,” he said.
Republicans have pushed for a Constitutional ban on same-sex marriage for many years. Democrats have countered that any legislative action should wait until the Supreme Court issues a ruling. Amendments to the state Constitution must be passed by two separate legislative sessions, then approved by voters before going into effect.
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