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.
The Iowa Pharmacy Board held its final hearing on the idea of legalizing medical marijuana on Wednesday, and the board’s vice chair expects a decision before the legislature reconvenes in January.
Susan Frey, vice chair of the board, told Radio Iowa’s O.Kay Henderson that the decision won’t be rushed.
“We have received copious amounts of information and each board member will receive all of that information and they will go through it,” she says. “We take this very, very seriously and it will be something that we spend a lot of time on and analyze thoroughly in order to make a good decision.”
In April, a Polk County judge ordered the Board of Pharmacy to at least consider whether marijuana has any acceptable medical uses. In July, the board decided to hold hearings on the issue and offer a recommendation to the legislature. Four hearings were held.
A state Senate subcommittee held a hearing in March on a bill sponsored by Sen. Joe Bolkcom of Iowa City that would have created the Medical Marijuana Act, allowing the possession and use of marijuana for therapeutic purposes. The bill, Senate File 293, never made it out of subcommittee.
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