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.
Shaw Newspapers, which owns the Newton Daily News, Creston News Advertiser and Osceola Sentinel-Tribune along with nine papers in northwest Illinois, is suing a blogger for defamatory comments he posted about the company’s business practices.
On his blog, McHenry County, Illinois-resident Cal Skinner Jr. alleged that Shaw’s largest newspaper, The Northwest Herald, received a multimillion dollar-loan from McHenry County government at sub-market rates to prevent it from moving outside the county. The company also challenges a comment that the loan was made “to put the paper in the back pocket of the Republican Party.”
The lawsuit says Shaw never received a loan from any public body and denies ever considering moving the Northwest Herald from McHenry County.
Over at the Newton Independent (no affiliation with this site), former Newton Daily News Editor Peter Hussmann points out that Shaw Newspapers “knows a little about defamatory lawsuits.”
A few years back, an Illinois judge and former Chicago Bears football player won a $7 million judgment against Shaw and the Kane County Chronicle, another of its suburban Chicago newspapers, over a column that ran in the paper. The judgment was subsequently reduced to $4 million. You can read about that issue here.
Shaw Newspapers is asking a judge to award the company at least $50,000 in each of three counts alleging defamation, false light and commercial disparagement.
Follow Jason Hancock on Twitter
Do you know where to vote on Election Day? Do you know what to bring with you? Get comprehensive voter information for your state here.
Sign up for our email newsletter