A multiyear investigation by NPR and the PBS program Frontline found that Smith and Kelly are part of a tragic and recently discovered outbreak of the advanced stage of black lung disease, known as complicated black lung or progressive massive fibrosis. A federal monitoring program reported just 99 cases of advanced black lung disease nationwide from 2011-2016. [node:read-more:link]

The three red states — Idaho, Nebraska and Utah — that bucked their own Republican legislatures last month and approved Medicaid expansion under the Affordable Care Act are likely to proceed, despite Friday’s ruling by a federal judge in Texas that the entire federal health care law is unconstitutional. [node:read-more:link]

Gov. Andrew Cuomo on Monday offered his most forceful support to date for legalizing recreational marijuana , marking the culmination of a dramatic shift for the governor who called it a "gateway drug" as recently as last year. Cuomo, a Democrat, vowed in a speech in Manhattan to push for legalization within the first 100 days of 2019, saying it was beyond time for the state to deal with the "debilitating criminal stigma" of prior convictions related to the drug. [node:read-more:link]

A couple of weeks ago, a reader from Iowa wrote us, “I stopped into the Farm Service Agency office today…to see if there would be any farm subsidies this year, (as I hadn’t received any yet). They said there would be none for my county and most other counties [in Iowa].  “So, your predictions about ARC [Agricultural Risk Coverage] have come true, a bit more dramatically than I expected.”He then asked, “I wonder what it’s like in other states?”That piqued our interest, so we decided to look up the numbers and share with all of our readers what we found. First, let’s start with Iowa. [node:read-more:link]

The horses stood chest-deep in the river, pulling up long strands of eelgrass with their teeth. There must have been 20 of them, in colors ranging from nearly white to ruddy brown. The babies stood wobbly in the current. My partner and I floated quietly past in our kayak, trying not to spook them. But it was a sweltering Friday in July, and we were followed by hollering college students in rented innertubes. Beer coolers floated along behind them, and music reverberated off the canyon walls. Uninterested and used to the party, the horses barely looked up. [node:read-more:link]

An ad hoc coalition of more than 50 food and agriculture organizations is insisting that any trade deal between the United States and the European Union include agriculture and that it address the EU’s restrictive tariff and non-tariff barriers to U.S. farm products. In a letter sent to the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative, 53 organizations, led by the National Pork Producers Council, urged the Trump administration “to continue stressing to [the EU] that only a truly comprehensive agreement will be acceptable to the Administration and, ultimately, to the U.S. [node:read-more:link]

A group of food companies, livestock producers, trade associations and retailers has released what they call a comprehensive framework to strengthen oversight of the use of antibiotics in food animals. The goal is to more carefully manage the use of medically important antibiotics to slow down the emergence of resistant bacteria and maintain the effectiveness of the drugs. [node:read-more:link]

In a revelation of wolf behavior from Minnesota’s Voyageurs National Park, researchers announced they have confirmed park wolves hunting for and eating fish out of streams as a regular part of their diet. The researchers released the first-ever video of wolves eating freshwater fish, and said GPS data shows one pack spent about half its time during several weeks in April and May “hunting” in creeks for  suckers and northern pike. [node:read-more:link]

The Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency (TWRA) is enacting the Chronic Wasting Disease (CWD) Response plan, following a preliminary positive detection of CWD in white-tailed deer in Hardeman County and Fayette County. The response plan involves a coordinated effort between TWRA, Tennessee Department of Agriculture, and other partners. “Hunters are our biggest ally in managing chronic wasting disease in Tennessee if it is confirmed here,” said Dr. Dan Grove, Wildlife Veterinarian, University of Tennessee Extension. [node:read-more:link]

Domestic sales and distribution of all medically important antibiotics for use in food-producing animals dropped 33 percent between 2016 and 2017, the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) said in its “2017 Summary Report on Antimicrobials Sold or Distributed for Use in Food-Producing Animals.” Additionally, domestic sales and distribution of all medically important antibiotics fell 41 percent since 2015, a peak year of sales and distribution, and declined 28 percent since 2009, the first year of reported sales. [node:read-more:link]