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.
Minnesota should consider making English its official language, Gov. Tim Pawlenty said Tuesday, in the latest of a spate of moves that appear to be brandishing his conservative image in anticipation of a run for president.
Pawlenty, who was just in Iowa over the weekend, floated the idea, but gave no new proposals, The Minneapolis Star Tribune reported.
At a news conference outside the governor’s residence, Pawlenty said that as the country becomes more diverse, some people might question which language to use in official documents. He said it might be helpful to clarify that the official language is English.
Immigrants-rights advocates in the state told the Star Tribune that making English the state’s official language would penalize legal residents who do not speak English, and could harm public safety if the government could not communicate to non-English speakers during emergencies. A recent move to English-only in a Twin Cities suburb has been called hostile to immigrants, as our sister publication, The Minnesota Independent, reported Monday.
Pawlenty will leave his post before the state legislature comes back into session, so any push for legislation would come under the next governor. Still, his statement seems to be a useful way to cement his conservative image without actually enacting a law. English-only measures seem to have at least theoretical support: 87 percent of Americans said they think English should be the official language of the U.S, according to a Rasmussen poll in May.
Former Democratic Gov. Tom Vilsack signed Iowa’s English-only bill into law back in 2002. He later expressed regret for signing the bill, and it was viewed by many as a possible liability to his chances of being selected by Democratic presidential hopeful John Kerry as his running mate in 2004.
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