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.
Layoffs, as well as cuts to Democratic priorities like education, health care and renewable energy, are all on the table as Gov. Chet Culver looks to cut $60 million from the state budget.
“We’re going to go through this process this week and take the important steps we need to take to reduce spending,” Culver said. “Obviously we’d like to protect our priorities in health care, renewable energy and education, but we’ll just have to see how this shakes out.”
Culver said an announcement should come by the end of the week on the steps he will be asking government to take in the wake of dire revenue projections showing a widening budget gap. The first steps could include an across the board freeze on hiring, travel and equipment purchases, followed by looking for “other areas where we’ll have to dig deeper.”
That could include layoffs, although Culver said he is hesitant to go down that path.
“Most economists will tell you this is not the time where you want to lay people off or see a significant reduction in their salaries.” he said. “So that’s sort of a last resort, especially knowing that in 2010 the fiscal year could be even more challenging.”
Iowa’s Revenue Estimating Conference predicted last week that the state would have nearly $100 million less than previously expected. Culver has already laid out $77 million in budget cuts, which includes retracting a $37 million appropriation for a new state office building in Des Moines.
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