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.
Des Moines’ economy was among among the best-performing cities in the country during the first quarter of 2010, according to a report last week from the Brookings Institute.
The study compared the 100 largest metro areas in the U.S. according to employment, unemployment, output, home price and foreclosure rates. According to the researchers, Des Moines falls into the top group, along with cities like Madison, Wisc., Dallas, Texas, and Rochester, N.Y.
No other Iowa cities areas were included in the study, but the Omaha, Neb. metro area — also in the group of top economic performing cities — encompasses some Iowa communities.
Earlier this year, Forbes Magazine called Des Moines the country’s best place for business and careers.
Howard Wial, a fellow at the Brookings Institute, said government centers — state capitals like Des Moines, for instance — have durable economies and are generally recovering quickly.
The report indicates economic indicators country’s major cities are improving, but many ratings haven’t returned to where they were before the recession.
According to the report:
The U.S. economy’s performance is driven largely by that of its major metropolitan economies. All of those economies saw some economic growth in the first quarter of 2010, and some returned to their pre-recession levels of output, but none recovered its pre-recession employment level.
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