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.
Budget cuts and cash reserves will be enough to balance the state’s budget, leaving no reason to call legislators back into session, Gov. Chet Culver said Tuesday.
Gov. Chet Culver announcing the state's AAA bond rating in July, responding to GOP accusations about the state budget.
The three-member Revenue Estimating Conference will meet next month to revise the state’s economic outlook. Culver said he has the constitutional authority to transfer money from the state’s $400 million cash reserve and to make the needed cuts in order to balance the FY2009 budget without calling legislators back into session.
Iowa Republicans have called on Culver to bring legislators back to Des Moines to make the budget decisions necessary to balance the state’s finances. In July, GOP leadership pointed to figures released by the nonpartisan Legislative Services Agency that said the state would face a $161 million shortfall this year.
Culver’s office disagreed, saying the shortfall would be much smaller, likely around $58 million. Culver said at the time that Republicans, especially those running for governor, were simply trying to scare Iowans.
As for the FY2010 budget, Culver said Tuesday that state agencies should expect further cuts, although he did not want to speculate about how deep those cuts might be.
Last year, Culver issued an executive order cutting the state’s budget across-the-board by 1.5 percent. Several weeks prior to that move, Culver ordered a $77 million reduction in state spending.
“Just like we’ve done in the past, we will balance this budget,” he said. “We will find ways to do more with less and we’ll continue to deliver services.”
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