AgClips
Recent AgClips
Zika virus 'not controllable': CDC director's grim warning
USA Today | Posted onNovember 2, 2016 in Rural NewsThe director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention delivered a grim assessment Tuesday of the government's ability to contain Zika, saying it's too late to stop the dangerous virus from spreading throughout the United States. "Zika and other diseases spread by (the Aedes aegypti mosquito) are really not controllable with current technologies," CDC Director Thomas Frieden said. "We will see this become endemic in the hemisphere."
Michigan schedules hearing to delay increased animal space requirements
Michigan Legislature | Posted onNovember 2, 2016 in SARL Members and Alumni NewsMichigan State Rep. Dan Lauwers, Chair of Ag Committee, will hold a hearing on HB 5987 concerning delaying the requirements to provide space for animals’ certain movements (including egg laying chickens). The hearing will be Wednesday, November 9, 10:30 am in Rm 519 House Office Building in Lansing
Potentially tainted rabbit feed prompts feed investigation
Idaho State Journal | Posted onNovember 2, 2016 in Agriculture NewsThe Utah Department of Agriculture and Food (UDAF) is cautioning commercial and backyard rabbit producers to refrain from feeding their animals feed manufactured by Cache Commodities of Ogden, sold under the brand name “Commercial Rabbit”, until sampling and testing is complete. If tainted feed is found, contaminated lot numbers will be confirmed and published by the department. More than 500 commercially grown rabbits in Utah which consumed the product have died since May.
Barn Raisers doc explores history of classic American buildings
Curbed | Posted onNovember 2, 2016 in Rural NewsNew film looks at rural American landmarks, and why they’re disappearing. According to filmmaker Kelly Rundle, few things symbolize the country’s nostalgia for its rural roots more than historic barns. That’s why the new documentary he’s making with his wife, Tammy, Barn Raisers, explores the importance of these humble structures, and raises concern about their rapid disappearance from the landscape.
FL:Down in the polls, utilities pump another $3.5 million into Amendment 1 campaign
Miami Herald | Posted onNovember 2, 2016 in Energy NewsFlorida's largest utilities decided last week that $22 million wasn't enough to spend on Amendment 1, so they pumped in another $3.5 million into the effort, according new campaign finance reports. Amendment 1, which has been dubbed a "pro solar" amendment by the political committee financed by the utility giants, would inject language into the state Constitution that could be used to keep solar competition out of Florida, making it easier for the utilities to control the solar market and preserve their utility monopolies.
Rocky Mountain Power's Subscriber Solar program nearly sold out
Deseret News | Posted onNovember 2, 2016 in Energy NewsNearly 20 megawatts of solar energy due to come online in Utah in early 2017 has been sold to residential and business consumers who want to cut their monthly utility bills or become more reliant on clean energy. Rocky Mountain Power's Subscriber Solar program is 95 percent sold out, and officials anticipate the last few blocks of power will be sold by this week or next.
Scientists just completed a census of the creepy crawlies that live in our homes
The Washington Post | Posted onNovember 2, 2016 in Rural NewsDo you know the bugs that share your home? No? Well, pull up a chair and get acquainted. Researchers from North Carolina State University and the University of Colorado Boulder just completed a census of creepy crawlies from hundreds of households across the country and found that creatures from more than 600 genera of arthropods live alongside us in our homes.
Before protest conflict, pipeline builder found artifacts
The Gazette | Posted onNovember 2, 2016 in Rural NewsThe company building a controversial oil pipeline north of the Standing Rock Sioux Reservation failed to immediately notify regulators after finding four stone cairns and other artifacts during construction in Morton County as tensions grew among pipeline opponents, documents show. Dakota Access, a subsidiary of Dallas-based Energy Transfer Partners, waited at least 10 days to notify the North Dakota Public Service Commission about an unanticipated discovery in mid-October, a potential violation of the state permit for construction. The company formally notified regulators Oct.
Rural and urban residents have seen this happen time and time again. A building that originally may have been built for a general mercantile store has often housed a restaurant, insurance agency, hardware store, and clothing store over a century of use. I
Toledo Blade | Posted onNovember 2, 2016 in Energy NewsA judge in Columbus is preparing to hear arguments in a dispute over Ohio’s authority to regulate oil-and-gas operations, including wells disposing of fracking wastewater. Attorneys for the Ohio Department of Natural Resources and the operator of a Youngstown-area wastewater injection well address Judge Kimberly Cocroft. At issue is the department’s power to take action against the well, which disposes of wastewater from hydraulic fracturing and sits nearby at least 20 small seismic events that occurred in 2014.
Ag production vs widget production
Daily Yonder | Posted onNovember 2, 2016 in Rural NewsIn a theoretical world, one place is as good as another for producing goods. But agriculture is where you find it, and for good reason. That’s just one of the factors that makes the ag market behave differently from the widget market. It’s also why some form of risk-mitigation through government farm programs are a good idea, say two ag-policy analysts. Rural and urban residents have seen this happen time and time again.