This Day in Labor History: January 16, 1865
On January 16, 1865, General William Tecumseh Sherman issued Special Field Order No. 15, granting coastal plantation properties from Savannah, Georgia to the St. John's River in Florida to ex-slaves.
Category Archives: Science
GEDA wants financing requirement waived for GMH ward
Unsettling negotiations have forced the government take a new route in an effort to improve the facilities at the Guam Memorial Hospital. The Guam Economic Development Agency is asking the U.S. Department of Agriculture to waive the requirement for interim financing for the Guam Memorial Hospital Labor & Delivery.
Obama’s politicization of the Human Trafficking report shut the door on Cuban victims
The Obama White House politicized the Trafficking in Persons Report of the State Department, undermining the credibility of the report, and months later on January 12, 2017 shut the door on Cuban refugees and migrants in third countries, victims of trafficking, for the Administration's political agenda. This was part of an overall pattern, that began years earlier, of paying lip service to human rights but in practice marginalizing them to advance other interests.
Is our growing season changing?
Weather events have been making springs more difficult for producers because of variable weather patterns. The growing season also appears to be getting longer and more rainfall events have been occuring.
In praise of the Trump-appointed regulators who saved us from Rick Perry’s disastrous coal plan
Energy Secretary Rick Perry's plan to bolster coal-fired and nuclear power plants was rejected by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission on Jan. 8. Energy Secretary Rick Perry's plan to bolster coal-fired and nuclear power plants was rejected by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission on Jan. 8. Perry, more famously known for his appearance on "Dancing With the Stars" and for saying, "Oops," during a GOP presidential candidate debate in 2011 when he couldn't name the third federal agency he would shut down, made an absurd pitch to revive coal usage despite the cost his plan would have imposed on utility ratepayers and the potential devastation to the environment.
Farmers named to California, Arizona FSA committees
U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Sonny Perdue recently appointed a slate of farmers and ranchers to the Arizona and California state Farm Service Agency committees. Those committee members are responsible for carrying out FSA farm programs.
Arizona man turned camera on injustices of Native Americans
An Arizona man celebrated for the humanity that was showcased in his photographs of people across the Colorado Plateau and the world has died. John Running died Sunday of complications from a brain tumor at his Flagstaff home, said his daughter, Raechel Running.
Interagency Task Force report addresses opioid abuse
USDA's National Institute of Food and Agriculture in November awarded $2.8 million in grants to support rural health. Of the nine awards funded by NIFA's Rural Health and Safety Education Competitive Grant Program, six were designed specifically to prevent and reduce opioid abuse.
Lawsuit Says Wal-Mart Mislabeled Organic Eggs
Wal-Mart Stores Inc. misled U.S. shoppers by selling organic eggs laid by hens raised in enclosed structures under package labels that said the birds had access to the outdoors, a federal lawsuit alleged on Monday. The suit highlights uncertainty among consumers about production practices in the $500 million organic egg industry, farmers said, after the U.S. Department of Agriculture last month shelved plans to spell out for the first time what it means for birds to have access to the outdoors.
Farmers voted for Trump. Now he’s trying to assure them they made the right call.
Farmers have grown increasingly anxious with President Donald Trump, who wooed them with promises of deregulation and then threatened to upend programs on which many depend. In the year since rural America voted him into office, the president has proposed deep cuts to crop insurance subsidies, reductions in the number of immigrants entering the United States and withdrawal from the North American Free Trade Agreement - all of which have rattled farmers.
Secretary Perdue Presents Agriculture And Rural Prosperity Task Force Report To President Trump
SECRETARY PERDUE PRESENTS AGRICULTURE AND RURAL PROSPERITY TASK FORCE REPORT TO PRESIDENT TRUMP Jan. 9, 2018 Source: USDA news release U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Sonny Perdue will ceremonially present today the findings of the Interagency Task Force on Agriculture and Rural Prosperity to President Donald J. Trump at the 2018 American Farm Bureau Annual Convention in Nashville, Tennessee. On April 25, 2017, President Trump signed an Executive Order establishing the task force "to ensure the informed exercise of regulatory authority that impacts agriculture and rural communities."
Ag Sec’y Perdue Highlights Priorities, Accomplishments In New Administration And USDA
AG SEC'Y PERDUE HIGHLIGHTS PRIORITIES, ACCOMPLISHMENTS IN NEW ADMINISTRATION AND USDA Jan. 9, 2018 Source: American Farm Bureau news release The Agriculture Department is being reoriented with a new focus on farmers, its customers, and has already built a record of success, Secretary of Agriculture Sonny Perdue said today. He made his comments at the American Farm Bureau Federation's 2018 Annual Convention & IDEAg Trade Show in Nashville.
USDA to invest $2.9 million in 7 new forest projects
USDA will invest nearly $32 million this year to mitigate wildfire risk, improve water quality and restore healthy forest ecosystems in 24 states and Puerto Rico. Since 2014, USDA has invested $176 million in 56 Joint Chiefs' Landscape Restoration Partnership Projects, which focus on areas where public forests and grasslands intersect with privately-owned lands.
President Trump delivers farm speech with input from Senator Hoeven
The president began his week putting farmers at the forefront. Speaking in front of the annual American Farm Bureau Federation Convention, President Trump assured attendees a new age of prosperity is coming.
Fact check: Trump’s claims over airline safety, veterans and pollution
US president Donald Trump and members of his administration have taken unearned credit for airline safety, pollution clean-ups and major advances in care for veterans. The president ignored fatality-free years in aviation during the Obama administration when he declared 2017 the safest year on record and suggested that was because he has kept a sharp eye on airlines.
Live Videos | LIVE: Environmentalist Spalding on EPA, Climate Change, Budgets and More
Longtime environmentalist Curtis Spalding, currently a professor of the practice of environment and society at the Institute at Brown for Environment and Society , talked about concerns with the direction of the United States Environmental Protection Agency on GoLocal LIVE. "At a national level, it's a very sad story.
Superfund work touted by Trump EPA was completed years ago
Graphic shows number of sites removed from EPAA a a s National Priorities List of contaminated sites since 2001; 2c x 5 1/2 inches; 96.3 mm x 139 mm; FILE - In this June 2, 2017, file photo, EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt speaks to the media during the daily briefing in the Brady Press Briefing Room of the White House in Washington. The Environmental Protection Agency is touting cleanups finalized at seven of the nation's most polluted places as a signature accomplishment in its effort to reduce the number of Superfund sites.
How to Curb Silicon Valley Power—Even With Weak Antitrust Laws
The concentration of wealth and influence among tech giants has been building for years-90 percent of new online-ad dollars went to either Google or Facebook in 2016; Amazon is by far the largest online retailer, the third-largest streaming media company, and largest cloud-computing provider. Silicon Valley titans coasted to the top of the economy with little government oversight on the backs of incredibly convenient products, a killer backstory, shrewd lobbying, and our personal data.
DPAs and NPAs Down, but Don’t Get Your Corporate Hopes Up
Last year saw federal prosecutors' use of deferred and nonprosecution agreements with companies drop to their lowest level since 2009, according to a new report from Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher.
Hempler Foods Group, LLC Recalls Pepperoni Products due to Possible Extraneous Material Contamination
WASHINGTON, Jan. 4, 2018 Hempler Foods Group, LLC, a Ferndale, Wash. establishment, is recalling approximately 4,068 pounds of pepperoni sticks products that may be contaminated with extraneous material, specifically metal, the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Food Safety and Inspection Service announced today.