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.
Even though it took a week of pressure to convince him, U.S. Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, deserves praise for finally doing the right thing and speaking out against proposed legislation in Uganda that would sentence those found to be homosexual to death, the state’s largest gay-rights group said Monday.
“He deserves credit for speaking out against this horrific bill,” said Justin Uebelhor, director of communications for One Iowa. “Hopefully, with him adding his voice to the opposition, the Ugandan parliament will reconsider this terrible law.”
One Iowa launched a petition drive last week urging Grassley to speak out against the law and use his influence to stop it. The reason they believe Grassley could have an impact is his association with a group known as “The Family.”
Grassley initially refused to denounce the legislation, saying through a spokeswoman that he is not a member of the Ugandan parliament and is unfamiliar with the particulars of the law. He followed up that statement by telling reporters that he was too busy “reading bills in Congress without reading the bills in another 190 countries.”
However, on Friday Grassley issued a statement calling the law “un-Christian” and asking Ugandan officials to “dismiss it.”
“More than 1,500 individuals took part in our petition drive,” Uebelhor said, adding: “I give them all the credit in the world for turning Sen. Grassley around on this issue.”
One Iowa will continue to monitor the Ugandan law going forward and will urge other Iowa lawmakers to speak out against the bill.
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