SARL Members and Alumni

Niles officials awarded a contract for textile recycling, such as used clothing and rags, to a company last month which will begin pick up services in late June. Village trustees signed a contract with Great Lakes Recycling, which runs Simple Recycling, at their April 24 board meeting. The contract is expected to earn the village $900 in direct revenue and save Niles taxpayers nearly $28,000 by diverting nearly 600 tons of trash from landfills each year. [node:read-more:link]

Three new goals to enhance the circular economy for plastics and reduce packaging waste have been announced by leading U.S. plastic producers including BASF, Dow, DuPont and Braskem. Together as part of the American Chemistry Council (ACC)’s Plastics Division, 15 leading resin manufacturers and an affiliated trade association have strengthened their commitments to capturing, recycling and recovering plastics. [node:read-more:link]

A new land bill introduced in Congress Wednesday seeks to set aside more than a half-million acres of wilderness in Utah’s Emery County.Backed by Utah Rep. John Curtis and Sen. [node:read-more:link]

Mark Christensen, a county commissioner from northeast Wyoming, traveled to the nation’s capital last month to ask for more money from production of federal minerals in his county. Christensen testified in support of the proposed POWER Counties Act, which would amend the 1920 Mineral Leasing Act to funnel federal royalties on oil and gas extraction back to the counties in which they were produced. “Even though we have these great mineral resources, 88 percent of them are controlled by the federal government (in Campbell County),” he said. Discussion of the bill at a U.S. [node:read-more:link]

More than 30,000 Medicaid recipients in Louisiana, many in nursing or group homes, could lose their benefits due to proposed state cuts -- a situation that could force thousands to move.Louisiana Department of Health Deputy Secretary Michelle Alletto said the agency will notify about 37,000 Medicaid recipients, whose eligibility to receive the benefit could end on July 1, they may have to move out of the nursing and group home facilities because of the lack of state funding.The letters, which will be mailed out Thursday, also will go to Medicaid patients with developmental disabilities and [node:read-more:link]

Republican Governor Phil Scott plans to study a bill passed by the Vermont Legislature that would set up a first-in-the-nation system to allow the state to import prescription drugs from Canada before deciding whether he will sign it. Scott spokeswoman Rebecca Kelley said Wednesday the governor supports the goal of making prescription drugs more affordable, but he has questions about the implementation of the bill.The National Academy for State Health Policy says Vermont is the first state in the nation to approve the importation of less costly prescription drugs from Canada. [node:read-more:link]

Iowa Secretary of Agriculture Mike Naig today highlighted key agriculture provisions passed by the Iowa Legislature during the 2018 legislative session. This includes long-term funding for water quality efforts, additional funding for foreign animal disease response preparations, continued funding for the Renewable Fuels Infrastructure Program and updates to the Iowa noxious weed law. [node:read-more:link]

When Fairbanks was founded in the early 1900s, it wasn’t possible to run down to the supermarket to purchase a dozen eggs or fresh produce. If you wanted eggs or produce, it was likely that you or someone you knew grew or raised the food. Obviously, the Fairbanks community has changed quite a bit in the last century with the establishment of multiple large supermarkets, but the local food movement is strong and growing in Fairbanks, as well as nationally, as people strive to produce more food themselves and to purchase from local vendors. [node:read-more:link]

Proposal would provide eligible landowners $50 per acre, each year, for farmland converted to water quality buffers.  Governor Mark Dayton today thanked Republican legislators for supporting a tax credit to help alleviate the cost of compliance with state water quality requirements. The tax credit would provide eligible landowners $50 per acre, each year, for farmland converted to water quality buffers. [node:read-more:link]

Several rural Illinois counties have taken a stand for gun rights by co-opting a word that conservatives associate with a liberal policy to skirt the law: sanctuary. At least five counties recently passed resolutions declaring themselves sanctuary counties for gun owners — a reference to so-called sanctuary cities such as Chicago that don't cooperate with aspects of federal immigration enforcement. [node:read-more:link]