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.
Former Republican Congressman Jim Leach and former Secretary of State Madelein Albright have been tapped by President-elect Barack Obama to meet with delegations at the G-20 summit this weekend on behalf of the future administration.
But the inclusion of Leach, who represented Iowa in congress for 30 years and at one point served as chairman of the House Banking Committee, has caused concern from some on the left. Leach oversaw the deregulation that many blame for today’s financial crisis, critics say, and giving him such a prominent job does not represent a change from the policies of the past.
Linda Thieman at Blog for Iowa puts it this way:
Whereas I am glad that Obama seems to suddenly be remembering to include WOMEN in his all-inclusive team, I’ll admit I about gagged to see that he is asking Iowa’s Jim Leach to represent him at this summit. Jim Leach? The guy who chaired the House banking [deregulatory] committee before Iowa citizens ousted him from office? Come on, Obama. Give us a break. I guess that’s Leach’s reward for endorsing Obama once the inevitable became clear. But as a point in his favor, I guess I can say he’s a far better choice than if Obama had chosen some neocon fox to guard the hen house.
Leach bucked his party to endorse Obama in August, even speaking at the Democratic National Convention. In 1999, he co-sponsored the the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act, which repealed a Depression-era banking regulation law and paved the way for a number of mergers in the financial industry. Many, including Obama, have said the bill contributed significantly to today’s economic turmoil.
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