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.
A plan to tackle some of the daunting problems facing African-Americans in Iowa has garnered unanimous support by black leaders, business owners and residents who gathered in Des Moines to learn more about the “Ongoing Covenant with Black Iowa.”
“African-Americans must take control of their lives if they are to be taken seriously by the system and by the government,” said Hilton Bostick, one of 26 meeting-goers. “For that reason I think that the covenant is essential. We ought to get started on this project right away.”
The Iowa Commission on the Status of African-Americans developed the five-year plan to study and improve the lives of blacks in 10 cities, which include Des Moines, Cedar Rapids, Waterloo, Davenport, Dubuque, Sioux City, Fort Madison, Burlington, Iowa City and Fort Dodge. The project is centered on education, youth, economic development, political involvement, spirituality, justice issues, housing and health care.
Abraham Funchess, the commission’s division administrator, told participants Tuesday night at the Fort Des Moines Museum and Education Center that the plan is about finding workable resolutions to the problems that blacks face in the state.
“Iowa has now emerged as the No. 1 state in the nation in terms of black incarceration,” Funchess said. “HIV/AIDS, we need to talk about that more. And the education achievement gap; we’ve talked about that for a long time.”
Now is the time is for action, he said. “We have to shift from talking about our pain to talking about the plan.”
According to statistics from the State Data Center of Iowa and the commission, about 70,000 blacks live in Iowa, which is 2.3 percent of the state’s population. The number is predicted to grow to more than 117,000 people by 2030.
Troubling statistics confront blacks in the state, including these:
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