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.
Americans United for Change is launching a $118,000 television campaign, attacking U.S. Sen. Chuck Grassley for supporting what the group calls a “big oil bailout.” The group says oil companies have contributed $213,000 to the Republican’s campaign.
The ad aims to tie the on-going oil spill crisis in the Gulf of Mexico to a recently-defeated proposal in the Senate which would disallow the Environmental Protection Agency to regulate greenhouse gas emissions. Proponents of the bill — including Grassley — said EPA regulation would hinder job creation.
U.S. Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa (Lauren Victoria Burke/WDCPIX.COM)
Environmental advocates criticized the move, saying the EPA is best-fit to regulate greenhouse gas emissions. However, it isn’t immediately clear what effect the resolution — sponsored by U.S. Sen. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska — would have had on oil companies or the Gulf oil spill crisis, despite the connection drawn in Americans United for Change’s commercial.
“Grassley also has a lot of explaining to do to the people of Iowa on why he would support something that would actually worsen our nation’s dependence on Mid-East oil by millions of barrels a day and put more money into the hands of our enemies,” Tom McMahon, Executive Director of Americans United for Change, said in a press release.
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