Out of Water & Fixing the Roads

Out of Water & Fixing the Roads

Out of Water & Fixing the Roads plus Food Forethought. I'm Greg Martin with today's Northwest Report.

Eastern Oregon irrigators are running out of water as the third year of drought heats up. Reservoirs in far Eastern Oregon are low and officials are urging farmers to use their water allotments wisely. There had been hopes that the Owyhee Reservoir would have been able to supply irrigators through August but it is not making it through the middle of July and rains have been non existent over the area.

President Obama visited the Turner-Fairbank Highway Research Center in McLean, Virginia yesterday to talk about manufacturing and our highway system. While driving a simulator, the President got a little queasy but then lowered the boom on Congress for not getting work done on the failing highway infrastructure.

OBAMA: We should have a plan for how we're going to make sure that our roads, our bridges, our airports, our power grid, our water systems -- how all those things are going to be funded, and do it in a responsible way so that people can start planning.  That also means we can save more money -- because we're not doing it in stopgap measures.

Now with today's Food Forethought, here's Lacy Gray.

While going for a walk through my neighborhood the other morning I found myself coveting a neighbor's clothesline. Perhaps a rather strange thing to do, but one of my fondest childhood memories is of my mom hanging fresh laundry on the clothesline to dry in the warm summer breeze; no "fresh linen" room deodorizer can even come close to the real smell. It also prompted me to wonder about legislative approval in my city and state regarding the use of a clothesline. Due to homeowners associations who argue clotheslines are visually unappealing, and lawsuit fearing landlords who are worried about personal injury liability, clotheslines have practically become a thing of the past. The "right to dry" movement sprang up because of people who feel they should have the right to utilize energy efficient, environmentally friendly clotheslines. Thankfully, clotheslines often fit under the umbrella of many states' solar energy rights, so the right to dry using a clothesline can be protected. Are you living in a community with an "unlawful ban" against using the sun to dry your clothes? Perhaps it's time to do some checking on your solar rights.

Thanks Lacy. That's today's Northwest Report. I'm Greg Martin on the Ag Information Network.

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