Gerawan's UFW election results may not be known for weeks [Fresno Bee]
The
results of a heated election to decide if the United Farm Workers union will
continue to represent field workers at Gerawan Farming may not be known for
weeks, or longer. Voting took place all day Tuesday at several of Gerawan's job
sites in Fresno County. At stake is the representation of nearly 3,000
farmworkers. But the state's Agriculture Labor Relations Board is impounding
the ballots at its office in Visalia, pending the investigation of unfair labor
practices against Gerawan, one of the largest fruit growers in the San Joaquin
Valley.
River
issues eyed by board [Imperial Valley Press]
It
will take communication, cooperation and collaboration among the many water
interests on the Colorado River to meet ever increasing water demand while
dealing with the effects of the worst drought of the last 100 years. This was
the message that Bureau of Reclamation Regional Director Terry Fulp delivered
to the Imperial Irrigation District Board of Directors on Tuesday….Although the
Law of the River provides a framework with which to manage water supplies and
meet demand, it isn’t static, Fulp noted….Future demand could outstrip water
supplies by 3 million acre-feet per year, necessitating water conservation,
reuse and possible augmentation of systems, Fulp said. He praised the IID for
its commitment to pay back its last two years of water overruns, and for
adopting a water apportionment plan to help the district stay within its
allocation of water.
After
string of huge wildfires, 'saner approach' to prevention sought [Los Angeles
Times]
On
the heels of a fire season that burned more than 4,000 homes and killed 34
people across the country, Sen. Michael Bennet (D-Colo.) on Tuesday called for
a "saner approach" to preventing wildfires while budgets are strained
as a result of fighting them. "It's hard to believe that while damages
have soared, we're also spending more than ever to fight fires," Bennet
said at a Senate Conservation, Forestry and Natural Resources subcommittee
hearing….Better cooperation between state and local governments and more money
from Congress could help communities and the Forest Service set controlled
burns and remove timber that poses the greatest risk. Prevention is
"critical," said Tom Troxel, executive director of the Intermountain
Forest Assn., an industry group in Rapid City, S.D. "It really doesn't
make sense to just fix the funding piece without trying to incorporate a
package of proactive forest management steps so we have a chance to get ahead
of the fire problems that we have," Troxel said.
Some
food companies ditch 'natural' label [Wall Street Journal]
Now
you see them. Now you don't. Food products labeled as "natural" are
starting to disappear….A growing number of food and drink companies including
PepsiCo Inc. PEP +1.76% and Campbell Soup Co. CPB +0.87% are quietly removing
these claims from packages amid lawsuits challenging the
"naturalness" of everything from potato chips to ice cream to granola
bars.…The Food and Drug Administration has no definition, says a spokeswoman,
but rather a long-standing policy that it considers "natural'' to mean
that "nothing artificial or synthetic (including all color additives
regardless of source) has been included in, or has been added to, a food that
would not normally be expected to be in the food.''…A "food labeling
modernization'' bill, introduced in September in Congress, would force the FDA
to establish a single, standard nutrition labeling system, including new
guidelines for the use of "natural.''
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After
public outcry, Cargill says it will label products made with a beef binder [New
York Times]
On
a day when consumers in Washington State were voting on whether to require food
companies to label products containing genetically engineered ingredients,
Cargill announced that it would begin labeling packages of ground beef
containing what is colloquially known as pink slime. Pink slime, or what the
beef industry prefers to call “finely textured beef,” is made from beef
trimmings left over after the processing of higher-quality cuts of meat that is
washed in citric acid or ammonia to kill contaminates. It became the stuff of
consumer nightmares last year after an ABC News report exposed its widespread use
as a binder in ground beef, and companies from Kroger and Safeway to McDonald’s
scrambled to drop it from their shelves and products.…Cargill said it had spent
18 months researching consumer attitudes toward pink slime. The company has
created a website, groundbeefanswers.com, with information for consumers about
its contents, how it is made and what products it can be found in.
I-522
trails in all but 4 counties [Seattle Times]
Washington
voters Tuesday were rejecting a measure that would have made the state the
first in the nation to require labeling of genetically engineered foods. The
measure trailed 45 to 55 percent — a margin that appeared impossible to
overcome. It was a stunning reversal for an initiative that two-thirds of
voters supported in early polls.
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