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.
IowaPolitics.com’s Lynn Campbell is reporting that state Sen. Kim Reynolds, R-Osceola, will be announced as Terry Branstad’s running mate Thursday morning.
Reynolds could not be reached for comment, and Branstad spokesman Tim Albrecht told Campbell, “I would be extremely careful on jumping to conclusions.”
Conservative blogger Craig Robinson wrote earlier this week that picking Reynolds would “remove one of the few building blocks that already exists for Republicans in the state Senate.” Currently, the GOP has only 18 seats in the Senate. If a Branstad-Reynolds ticket were to win this November, it would mean a special election would need to be called. Democrats have dominated the past few legislative special elections.
Longtime Branstad critic and Christian radio host Steve Deace was less than excited about Reynolds on Tuesday, saying that several residents of Reynolds’ district were on his show “complaining that she wouldn’t protect their private property from local government trying to confiscate” under the U.S. Supreme Court’s landmark decision, Kelo vs. the City of New London.
Branstad’s campaign announced Wednesday that it would release the name of his choice for lieutenant governor Thursday at 9 a.m. in Ankeny. The location immediately sparked rumblings that Branstad had chosen former state Sen. Jeff Lamberti, who represented Ankeny before stepping down for an unsuccessful bid to unseat U.S. Rep. Leonard Boswell.
Other names that have surfaced include former Iowa State University wrestling coach Jim Gibbons, former gubernatorial hopeful Christian Fong, state Rep. Rod Roberts and Republican Party of Iowa Chairman Matt Strawn.
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