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.
Medicine Hat News, a a daily newspaper published in Medicine Hat, Alberta, Canada, reports on a speech potential 2012 candidate and former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin gave in Calgary, where a folksy monologue took a shocking turn — an admission about how her family received health care.
We used to hustle over the border for health care we received in Canada. And I think now, isn’t that ironic.
Palin, born in Idaho, lived in Wasilla, Alaska, for most of her life. The nearest city in Canada is Whitehorse, a 15-hour drive away. I definitely want to hear more about this.
UPDATE: I just checked my copy of “Going Rogue” and recall now that Palin spent the first few years of her life, up to age 6, in Skagway, a remote town in gold rush country only a few rough hours from Whitehorse. But it’s about as far from Skagway to Juneau, so the question remains why the family “hustled” to a country with single-payer coverage.
UPDATE: The Calgary Herald has a fuller, slightly different version of the quote.
My first five years of life we spent in Skagway, Alaska, right there by Whitehorse. Believe it or not – this was in the ‘60s – we used to hustle on over the border for health care that we would receive in Whitehorse. I remember my brother, he burned his ankle in some little kid accident thing and my parents had to put him on a train and rush him over to Whitehorse and I think, isn’t that kind of ironic now. Zooming over the border, getting health care from Canada.
Palin was born in 1964. The Medical Care Act that established the national health care system in Canada was passed in 1966.
UPDATE: The Washington Post points out that Palin told a different version of the same story once before, according to a 2007 report posted by the Skagway News. In that telling, she and her family by ferry to Juneau, Alaska, from Skagway for treatment of her brother’s burned foot.
Do you know where to vote on Election Day? Do you know what to bring with you? Get comprehensive voter information for your state here.
Sign up for our email newsletter