Florida homeowners with citrus trees on their property now have a new tool to fight off deadly citrus greening disease: parasitic wasps. The Gainesville Sun reports that the Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services will provide residents who apply with small vials of the wasp called tamarixia, which hunt the invasive Asian citrus psyllid that spreads the fatal disease.The state provides more than 1 million tamarixia each year to commercial growers, but this is the first year homeowners have been eligible to receive them. [node:read-more:link]

Hundreds of millions of dollars are set to flow to three regions in Louisiana devastated by flooding in 2016, with an emphasis on establishing coordinated, regional planning to mitigate future flood events. Gov. [node:read-more:link]

Rosanne Rust, a registered dietitian nutritionist and author from Northwest, Pennsylvania, had this to say about the definition of GMOs. “GMOs come from modifying the genes of a plant or animal by inserting one targeted gene that possesses a desired trait into the other organism.” She added, “This highly specific process can help an organism stay healthy by preventing disease or malformation, or it may enhance the organism’s positive traits.” Some say that the debate still lingers on, but for many, the debate is over when people are dealing with the facts and not belief systems. [node:read-more:link]

Instead of throwing studies and statistics at each other in a battle of the riders, we actually need to speak to each other's elephants. Or, more precisely, we need to listen and try to understand the other's elephant. Only then can we find real common ground that we can build upon. Only then can we change minds. Last week someone shared an article with me about the Foxconn deal that was announced by the Trump administration. When I read it, my elephant started to charge and my rider had no problem justifying it. [node:read-more:link]

On November 9, 2012, Mayor Jim Cahill led a ribbon-cutting at the Fresh Grocer, a 50,000 square foot supermarket in downtown New Brunswick, New Jersey. It was the city’s first new full-service supermarket in a generation, the latest nine-figure project spearheaded by the New Brunswick Development Corporation.“We’re not just a supermarket. It’s some ways, we’re a community center,” explained the Fresh Grocer CEO Pat Burns, taking pride in his company’s ability to work with low-income residents in urban communities to help create a supermarket that best serves their needs. [node:read-more:link]

Many rural veterans rely on a combination of VA health insurance and other forms of insurance, such as private insurance, Medicaid (the joint federal-state health insurance program for the poor and disabled), or Medicare (federal health program for the elderly), according to census data. The number of veterans enrolled in Medicaid increased by about 340,000 under the Affordable Care Act, according to an analysis by Families USA, a nonprofit that advocates for high-quality, affordable health care. [node:read-more:link]

 Focusing on the Newark, NJ, area and looking to expand to the New York City suburbs on Long Island, PETA has begun a new campaign near fast-food restaurants that reads “I’m ME, Not MEAT. See the individual. Go Vegan.” Known for its stunts like lettuce-bikini models and celebrity protests, PETA is perhaps the most well-known animal rights organization in the world. [node:read-more:link]

The prospect of ICE leasing space at a county jail in the heart of Idaho dairy country is creating fear among Hispanic workers and worry among dairymen and processors. [node:read-more:link]

Two of the nation’s sugar companies will launch a $4 million online campaign this fall aimed at educating consumers about GMO crops and changing their perceptions of the technology. [node:read-more:link]

Unit sales of larger tractors and combines have dropped at a slower rate in 2017 compared to last year, when they plunged more than 20 percent. [node:read-more:link]