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 Obama administration explained its case Monday against a nationwide foreclosure moratorium. In the Huffington Post, Shaun Donovan, the Secretary of Housing and Urban Development, argues that the government is investigating the foreclosure fraud crisis and that a moratorium would prove counterproductive in terms of helping homeowners in the meantime — only driving down home values in areas hit hard by foreclosure.
RealtyTrac reported Thursday foreclosure and home-sale information for September and the third quarter of the year, showing an extraordinarily weak housing market. Here are just a few data points:
The U.S. Department of Labor announced Thursday that initial unemployment insurance claims rose to 462,000, an increase of 13,000 from last week’s 449,000, itself revised up from 445,000. The four-week moving average, which smooths out the jumpy weekly data, rose to 459,000.
A group representing all 50 state attorneys general announced Wednesday an investigation into the foreclosure fraud crisis. Iowa Attorney General Tom Miller will lead the effort. Here is the release:
Here is David Axelrod (PDF), speaking with CBS’s Bob Shieffer this weekend:
Thursday, Iowa Attorney General Tom Miller asked three major mortgage companies to immediately stop pending foreclosure proceedings in the Hawkeye State. “Media reports continue to emerge with troubling information about how several mortgage companies handled foreclosure cases here in Iowa,” Miller said. “There appears to be an emerging pattern of careless and perhaps cavalier attitudes [...]
Friday morning, the Labor Department announced that the U.S. unemployment rate remained at 9.6 percent in September, reflecting a continued stall-out in the recovery. This is the last major jobs report before the November midterm elections. The unemployment rate has held between 9.5 and 9.7 percent since April. And it has remained at or above [...]
The number of people filing new claims for jobless benefits fell to 11,000 to 445,000 this week, the Labor Department reported this morning. Economists had expected claims to remain around 455,000. But, alas, it is not all sunshine and roses in the labor market.
The federal government’s single biggest source of revenue is income tax, but cities and towns are primarily funded by sales and property taxes. That means Washington’s revenue took a huge hit in 2008 and 2009, as payrolls declined. But for local government, the bust of housing market is just catching up with them. That’s the [...]
Northwestern economist Robert Gordon brings the gloom by predicting that the United States will likely face sluggish economic growth not only for the next few years, but for the next few decades.
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