Many schools across the country are struggling with a crippling teacher shortage. The number of students entering university-based teacher preparation programs has steadily declined and the number of teachers retiring or getting ready to retire is increasing; adding to this, current working conditions and public perceptions of the teaching profession have led to increased turnover rates — and according to some organizations, this growing shortage of teachers is at crisis level.This is especially true for rural communities, including in Colorado. [node:read-more:link]

Water, water everywhere—but not necessarily in the places it used to be. Even just in the past two decades, freshwater has been on the move in what scientists are now realizing represents "major hydrologic change." That's according to a new study published in the journal Nature. [node:read-more:link]

Bayer has agreed to sell agricultural businesses and assets worth about $9 billion to chemical company BASF. The divestiture is the large antitrust-related divestiture ever, according to the Justice Department. The sell-off will allow Bayer to proceed with a proposed $66 billion of Monsanto. [node:read-more:link]

State Rep. Tim Sneller, D-Burton, has owned dogs all his life, including his current rescue pet Oscar, a miniature Dachsund whose woof is always welcome. He wants to make sure that other pet owners appreciate that a dog’s bark is an essential multi-purpose signal —that they need to go out, eat or provide a warning of impending danger — and prohibit veterinarians from performing debarking procedures.He’s introduced a bill that bans the procedure of removing tissue from a pet’s vocal cords in order to reduce or soften a dog’s bark.“That’s the way the dog communicates with us,” he said. [node:read-more:link]

The Python Elimination Program, run by the South Florida Water Management District, recently celebrated a milestone: the 1,000th Burmese python has been captured. “We’ve got the best hunters this state has ever seen,” Mike Kirkland, the program’s project manager, said. “We also have a great team of district staff too and together we’ve formed this cohesive unit working together and that’s why this program has been such a success.”Experts say there are between 10,000 and 100,000 pythons in the Everglades. It is difficult to tell because the snakes are experts at hiding. [node:read-more:link]

Fewer cows have been breeding on the range since wolves migrated to northeast Washington, an economic loss little known outside the cattle industry, according to the owners of the region’s largest ranch. The Diamond M ranch estimates that the rate of “open cows” — females that didn’t become pregnant — has increased to about 20 percent from the historic rate of 5 percent.“If wolves were attacking people night and day, I don’t think you’d have too many people pregnant,” said Len McIrvin, the patriarch of the family-owned and -operated ranch. [node:read-more:link]

Shutting down power plants that burn fossil fuels can almost immediately reduce the risk of premature birth in pregnant women living nearby, according to research published Tuesday. [node:read-more:link]

A new bill has been introduced that would permit state-inspected meat and poultry to be shipped anywhere in the country. Twenty-seven states have inspection programs that have been judged ‘equal to’ the federal inspection program run by FSIS.  Generally, however, meat and poultry produced in a plant under a state program can be sold in-state only. [node:read-more:link]

People in the dairy business say they're quite certain the state will be changing to a federal milk pricing system this fall, but they're holding out on making any long-term business decisions in anticipation of this move. In a producer referendum that ended earlier this month, California dairy farmers voted whether to join a federal milk marketing order for the state. Though the U.S. [node:read-more:link]

The Arizona Department of Education hopes to make changes to science standards, which will affect K-12 districts and charter schools. The changes include removing the word "evolution" in some areas and describing it as a "theory" in others. Some educators and scientists are outraged by the change. According to the department, the standards are not curriculum or instructional practices. The standards focus on 14 core ideas regarding science and engineering that teachers use to create their curriculum. [node:read-more:link]