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.
Provisions of the federal economic recovery legislation passed earlier this year are protecting an estimated 40,000 Iowans from living in poverty, according to a new report by the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities.
The nonpartisan Washington, D.C.,-based research and policy institute found that the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) is “softening the recession’s impact on poverty by directly lifting family incomes.”
David Osterberg, executive director of the nonpartisan Iowa Policy Project, called the report confirmation of how bad the recession could be if not for federal action.
“As we have stated since Congress was first considering the recovery legislation timely, targeted and temporary measures can make a difference in both boosting the economy and helping those most affected by a severe recession,” he said.
The report points to seven specific provisions having the most impact: three tax credits for working families, two unemployment insurance expansions, an increase in food assistance, and a one-time payment for retirees, veterans and people with disabilities.
For Iowa, the report found that besides the roughly 40,000 in Iowa kept out of poverty by the seven provisions, another 201,000 Iowans have had the severity of their poverty reduced by those benefits.
The analysis projects that about 6.2 million people are lifted above the poverty line nationally by ARRA benefits, and another 33 million Americans who are poor in 2009 will have their incomes boosted by the benefits, typically by more than $700.
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