Former Ag secretary: Obama using food safety as sequester ‘pawn’

By   /  March 14, 2013  /  Agriculture, Nebraska WatchBlog, Public Safety  /  1 Comment

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By Joe Jordan | Nebraska Watchdog
Nebraska Sen. Mike Johanns, a former Secretary of Agriculture in the Bush Administration, isn’t done pushing food safety sequester questions at the country’s current top farm hand.

In his latest letter to Sec. Tom Vilsack, Johanns, who is concerned that the lack of federal funds could result in furloughs for meat and poultry [...]

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Lawmakers in a pickle: Property rights or ‘mini-Walmarts’?

By   /  February 12, 2013  /  Agriculture, Featured, Legislature, News, Power Abuse, State House, State Senate, Virginia  /  No Comments

PITCHFORK PROTEST: Tea party groups and others rallied in support of farmer Martha Boneta in her battle against Fauquier County last fall.

A battle between a small farmer and a local government has state lawmakers in the crossfire.

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‘Tell me why’ TN’s tax records are so shoddy, tax break benefiting Wynonna Judd open to abuse

By   /  January 22, 2013  /  Agriculture, Featured, News, Public records, Tax Reform, Taxes, Tennessee  /  No Comments

TAX BREAKS: A law aimed at helping farmers hold on to their cotton is subject to abuse because of poor record keeping, state auditors found.

By Christopher Butler | Tennessee Watchdog
NASHVILLE – A state tax break that lawmakers designed to preserve farmland and other green spaces is open to abuse because of spotty reporting and poor record keeping, according to a review of recent state audits.
Property appraisers in four Tennessee counties failed to notice that many properties subject to the [...]

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WI: Happy subsidized Thanksgiving —Taxpayers pick up the tab on side dishes

By   /  November 19, 2012  /  Agriculture, Economy, Energy, Featured, Federal Government, Free Market, News, Taxes, Wisconsin  /  No Comments

HAPPY THANKSGIVING: Here's our annual look at subsidies paid by taxpayers for that spread coming to your table on Thursday.

By M.D. Kittle | Wisconsin Reporter
MADISON – Mmm! Mmm! You can almost smell that Thanksgiving feast cooking.
The breads. The scalloped corn. That funky green bean casserole with the French fried onions Great Aunt Beryl has been serving since the first Truman administration.
And don’t forget the turkey, that 60-pound monster that could serve an army but will [...]

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KS: Free market, not feds, will save prairie chickens

By   /  November 14, 2012  /  Agriculture, Featured, Federal Government, Free Market, Kansas, News  /  1 Comment

GOT CHICKEN? Kansans generally agree the lesser prairie chicken needs protection. They disagree on who should be responsible: the federal government or local interests.

By Gene Meyer | Kansas Reporter
FAIRWAY — Save the lesser prairie chicken!
That’s what farmers, ranchers, conservationists and many power companies in Kansas want to do.
They worry that if they don’t, the federal government will.
And no one will fare as well if that happens, they say.
U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service officials are scheduled this month to decide [...]

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