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.
The Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund and the American Civil Liberties Union are suing Fremont, Neb., to challenge the city’s recently-approved anti-illegal immigrant ordinance.
A month ago, Fremont residents voted to block illegal immigrants from obtaining jobs or rental properties. Employers are required to use E-Verify to check a potential worker’s immigration status and renters are required to get a license from the city before leasing property.
Those who oppose the ordinance present similar arguments to those presented by the federal government against Arizona‘s controversial immigration enforcement law.
The lawsuit also seeks to have the ordinance declared void because it violates numerous provisions of the U.S. Constitution and other federal laws as well as plaintiffs’ costs and attorneys’ fees.
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“The ordinance violates the Supremacy Clause, Article VI Clause 2 of the U.S. Constitution, because it attempts to regulate matters that are exclusively reserved to the federal government, because it operates in a field over which Congress has exercised exclusive authority, and because it conflicts and interferes with the federal laws and regulations,” the complaint states.
But the ordinance’s backers say it reinforces existing federal law and point out that a majority — 57 percent — of Fremont residents cast ballots in favor of the law.
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