Renewable fuels on the line

It's his first week on the job. -Messenger photo by Hans Madsen Don Heck, director of the Iowa Central Biofuels Testing Laboratory, talks about their services during a meeting with Iowa Secretary of Agriculture Mike Naig and a group of producers concerned about changes to the renewable fuels standards in the Iowa Central Community College Board Room.

US govt to California: You can never leave

The Trump administration on Wednesday came down hard against California, suing the Golden State over its immigration policy that it said is obstructing federal officers from enforcing laws relating to illegal immigrants. WASHINGTON: In a country whose name is prefaced with United and whose pledge of allegiance speaks of "one nation under God, indivisible," secession is a no-go area.

State’s Barely Market Experiences Increased Productivity

The state's barley growers experienced their most productive year last year within the past ten years, as reported by the Fairbanks Daily News-Miner. According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, Alaskan barley farmers planted 5,500 acres of grain last year, while harvesting 239,000 bushels, marking the largest crop this decade, valued from $600,000 to $1.2-million-dollars.

More than One Thousand Women Take Over Suzano Pulp & Paper Mill to…

More than one thousand women from the Rural Landless Workers Movement took over a pulp mill owned by Suzano Paper company in Murcuri, in Bahia, Brazil [1] to protest the company's large-scale, industrial eucalyptus plantions and future plans for genetically engineered trees. The women cited the impacts on water caused by the plantations, including depletion of critical fresh water resources and contamination of water by aerial spraying of toxic agrochemicals on the plantations as reasons for the protest.

Dems: Did EPA security staffer steer contract to associate? Source: AP

Senate Democrats are pressing Environmental Protection Agency chief Scott Pruitt on whether a key member of his taxpayer-funded security team improperly steered a government contract to a personal business associate. The Associated Press reported in December that EPA paid $3,000 to Edwin Steinmetz Associates to have Pruitt's office swept for hidden listening devices.

Child marriages decline, led by big fall in South Asia

Setting up a likely legal fight with the Trump administration, Washington has become the first state to enact its own net-neutrality requirements. Rats, mold and fists: Education Secretary Betsy DeVos gives state education chiefs some "tough love" as she pushes them to innovate.

South Korea meeting thrusts North’s Kim into the limelight

In this Monday, March 5, 2018 photo, provided by the North Korean government on March 6, North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, front right, meets South Korean National Security Director Chung Eui-yong,... . In this Monday, March 5, 2018 photo, provided by the North Korean government on March 6, North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, front right, shakes hands with South Korean National Security Director Chu... .

A Promising Backup to the Honeybee Is Shut Down

The almond industry contributes an estimated $21 billion annually to California's economy and it is completely dependent on honeybees for its existence. For eight years the Wonderful Company, the world's largest almond grower, had been funding a large research project to breed another commercial pollinator - Osmia lignaria, aka the blue orchard bee, or BOB - to help the beleaguered honeybee in their vast orchards.

Ancient artifacts seized from Hobby Lobby returned to Iraq updated

Thousands of ancient clay tablets, seals and other Iraqi archaeological objects that were smuggled into the U.S. and shipped to the head of arts and crafts chain Hobby Lobby were returned to the Iraqi government on Wednesday. The Oklahoma City-based private company, whose devout Christian owners won a 2014 U.S. Supreme Court ruling exempting them from providing certain contraceptive coverage for employees, agreed to pay a $3 million fine last year to settle a lawsuit over the company's role in the smuggling of the artifacts, which authorities say were looted from the war-torn country.

Low interest emergency physical loss loans available for three new counties

U.S. Department of Agriculture Farm Service Agency Acting Administrator Steve Peterson today announced that physical loss loans are available for Chautauqua, Jefferson and Lewis counties in New York. Farm operators who have suffered major physical losses caused by excessive snow and cold that occurred Dec. 20 to Dec. 22, 2017, may be eligible for emergency loans.

With top-of-the-ticket races all but decided, lesser-known GOP races benefiting from media boost

Without much action at the top of the Republican primary ticket, much of the media and voter attention this election season has focused on races to decide the leaders of lesser-known statewide offices -- the General Land Office and the Texas Department of Agriculture. "It's heated, they're spending money, it's competitive," said Jim Henson, the director of the Texas Politics Project at the University of Texas.