04/29/08 Agreement & Norovirus Outbreak

Agreement & Norovirus Outbreak plus Food Forethought. I'm Greg Martin with today's Northwest Report. It has been a long time coming and may still come up short but it appears that after the President signed a one week extension on the farm bill, an agreement may be just around the corner. American Farm Bureau's Tara Smith. SMITH: I think the hope is that they will make all of the conferee level decisions this week and that by next week they will have all the logistical issues worked out in terms of getting the bill written and pulled together so that it can go to the house and the senate floor for a vote. I think it's likely that the house and senate will both approve whatever the conferees come up with and then of course the next question after that is whether or not the president will actually sign the bill. The administration has not come out and said that they will veto this bill as it stands in the framework today. So we take that as a pretty optimistic signal. An outbreak of Norovirus has sickened more than 500 residents and staff of nursing homes across Spokane and North Idaho. So far, no one has been hospitalized in Spokane County, but doctors are watching older patients closely for dehydration. Approximately 300 people are sick with the virus in Spokane County and another 275 people in North Idaho. Norovirus is highly contagious and spreads easily from person to person. Now with today's Food Forethought, here's Lacy Gray. With the all the upheaval in the world today over rising gas and food prices, the housing slump, and a plethora of other less than encouraging world topics I find myself on numerous occasions reminiscing and longing for the simpler times of my youth. With May 1st quickly approaching my thoughts return to my grammar school days when all we children in my small Midwestern town would make May Day baskets. They were always simple in design, made of either construction paper or left over scraps of our mother's wallpaper and filled with candies, flowers; lilacs being my favorite, and possibly small tokens of affection; such as the plastic toys from the Cracker Jack box. As children we weren't concerned with the medieval origins of the holiday, for us it was all about leaving the basket of goodies on the doorstep, ringing the doorbell, and then running as fast as our little legs would carry us to hide and watch the recipients. Happily, May Day baskets are seeing a resurgence with youth again and perhaps for just a brief moment we adults can enjoy the fun and simplicity of May Day baskets and making someone smile. Thanks Lacy. That's today's Northwest Report. I'm Greg Martin on the Northwest Ag Information Network.