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.
People who want to apply for marriage licenses in Iowa would need to meet residency requirements under a new law being proposed by state Rep. Dwayne Alons, R-Hull.
Under Alons’ proposal, at least one of the two people applying for a marriage license would need to live in the state for one year before becoming eligible. The bill is part of a simmering debate at the statehouse this year over whether same-sex marriage should be allowed to take place in the state.
The issue of gay marriage became a hot-button issue last August, when Judge Robert Hanson ruled that the state’s marriage law is unconstitutional and ordered Polk County to issue licenses to same-sex couples. The decision is awaiting appeal at the Iowa Supreme Court. Most Republican lawmakers want to give voters statewide a chance to go to the polls and decide whether to alter the state Constitution to define a legal marriage as a union between a man and a woman.
Chuck Hurley, president of the Iowa Family Policy Center, told opponents of gay marriage at a rally last week that Hanson’s ruling, if affirmed by the state Supreme Court, would allow homosexual couples from around the United States to come to Iowa, get married, and then return to their own state and sue to get the union recognized.
Alons said his proposal would make such a move by gay couples more difficult.“It would help to alleviate the de facto gay marriage situation,” Alons said.
Although most Republican lawmakers favor continuing a ban of same-sex marriage, both chambers of the Legislature are controlled by Democrats, who hold a majority. House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy, D-Des Moines, and Senate Majority Leader Michael Gronstal, D-Council Bluffs, have both said they don’t want to let the issue be debated until the state Supreme Court issues an opinion on Hanson’s ruling later this year.
The Iowa Family Policy Council is in the process of asking lawmakers from both political parties to sign a petition urging the Democratic leadership to allow the issue to be debated and say they are hopeful that a majority of legislators will agree that the issue is important enough to receive an up-or-down vote.
Amendments to the Iowa Constitution need to be approved by simple majorities in both chambers in two consecutive general assemblies and then be approved by voters in the next general election. The earliest a final vote could be taken on a constitutional amendment is 2010.
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