When Rebecca Schmaltz found out she was pregnant with her second child, she tried to quit heroin cold turkey. She stopped injecting for a day or two, became sick with withdrawal symptoms, and relapsed. She kept trying, though, to kick the habit on her own. Finally in her fourth month of pregnancy she passed out from severe withdrawal symptoms and ended up in a hospital. When she woke up, she learned a doctor had given her methadone to eliminate her symptoms, which can be life-threatening to the fetus. [node:read-more:link]

In an attempt to position Michigan as the center of research for autonomous vehicles, the Legislature gave final approval Thursday to a package of four bills that allows for the testing of driverless cars in the state.  Without any discussion or debate, the House of Representative passed the package with overwhelming majorities. The Senate concurred this afternoon with technical changes made by the House and sent the bills to Gov. [node:read-more:link]

Chicagoans and other residents of Cook County will see soft-drink prices rise after a new tax on sugary beverages was narrowly approved by county officials on Thursday, aimed at both addressing health issues linked to sugar consumption and trimming a budget shortfall. Cook County, with about 5.2 million residents, is the most populous municipality so far to implement a tax on sugary drinks. Voters in San Francisco and two other northern California cities, Oakland and Albany, approved similar measures on Tuesday. The Cook County tax will be a penny per ounce. [node:read-more:link]

On Tuesday, Massachusetts voters overwhelmingly approved a new law banning farmers from restrictively confining hens, pigs, and calves; 78% of voters said ‘Yes.’ Diemand Farm was prepared for a yes vote and will change with the law. “We will have to work to accommodate the new requirement to enlarge the cages or go with a cage-free system entirely,” said Brian Bailey of Diemand Farm in Wendell. Bailey said they’ve kept their chickens in cages for efficiency and sanitary reasons, and to protect them from hurting each other. [node:read-more:link]

Amid a national push for greater police accountability, voters in several major cities have approved measures to create or strengthen civilian oversight of law enforcement.  The trend reflects growing public demand for independent reviews of misconduct claims after deadly police encounters in cities such as Ferguson, Missouri, Baltimore and New York spotlighted police use-of-force and interaction with minorities. Voters in New Orleans, Honolulu, Miami and San Francisco passed plans Tuesday to bolster existing civilian oversight programs. [node:read-more:link]

Ben and Leticia Ward’s farm in Fountain, Colorado, just outside Colorado Springs, doesn’t look like an army base. But it’s not hard to uncover whiffs of military influence at Little Roman Farm.  A stack of sturdy fiberglass bins next to a greenhouse seem benign, ready to be put to use as brooding bins for chickens or an aquaponics system to grow veggies and fish at the same time. The bins once housed Joint Direct Attack Munition, or part of a system that controls “smart bombs.”  “It was purged courtesy of the U.S. Army,” Ben Ward says. “Thanks, U.S. Army. [node:read-more:link]

Federal regulators made final a rule Thursday overhauling how wind and solar power companies lease public land.  The rule from the Interior Department’s Bureau of Land Management (BLM) creates a competitive bidding process for the first time for renewable energy on federal land for oil, gas and coal companies use.  It also gives incentives for companies to put their wind turbines or solar panels in areas that do not conflict with wildlife, among other changes.  The rule is the first significant overhaul of wind and solar standards for federal land. [node:read-more:link]

The number of midsize growers in the U.S. has dropped slightly but the category hasn’t experienced as much change as other farm sizes, according to USDA.  Farms in the midsize category, with roughly $350,000 to $1 million in annual revenue, declined in number by 5 percent between 1992 and 2012, according to a recent USDA study.  To compare, large farms with more than $1 million in revenue more than doubled in number, while small commercial farms — those with revenues between $10,000 and $350,000 — declined in number by 22 percent. [node:read-more:link]

The latest in a crop of apps designed to address the issue of food waste connects restaurants that have excess & leftover food with people looking to save money on prepared foods. It comes from Food for All, which is currently operating as a pilot project with 30-some restaurants in Cambridge, MA, and which is looking to scale up its venture to both Boston and New York City next year. [node:read-more:link]

The US Dept. of Agriculture announced several meetings to gather feedback from industry on the Livestock Mandatory Reporting (LMR) program in addition to current livestock and meat marketing practices. The first meeting is scheduled for Nov. 15-16 in Washington.  The first informational meeting will include several activities. The Agriculture Marketing Service (AMS) will provide an overview of current LMR reporting and audit processes. Industry stakeholders also will be able to participate in “interest-based problem-solving and training” and identify dates for future meetings. [node:read-more:link]