Opening Cuba & Broadband Push

Opening Cuba & Broadband Push plus Food Forethought. I’m Greg Martin with today’s Northwest Report.

When it was all said and done the Department of Agriculture prevailed in getting part of the $7.2 billion in the stimulus bill to help expand broadband into rural areas. Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack talks about the push to get broadband moving immediately.

VILSACK: We’ve got to get that help to places that don’t have broadband access. Not a situation where we’re going to put it in a suburb where there may be two or three provides already, this is about smaller communities that need help, that need access to worldwide markets because we’ve got to get this resource into the economy as quickly as we can to stimulate the economy.

A report written by minority committee staffers calls for lifting Bush administration restrictions on travel and remittances to Cuba, reinstituting formal bilateral cooperation on drug interdiction and migration, and allowing Cuba to buy U.S. agricultural products on credit. The report stops short of proposing the 47-year-old U.S. trade embargo against Cuba be lifted. The Republican call for review runs parallel with Obama Administration statements. U.S. trading partners such as Latin America and Europe maintain diplomatic and trade relations with Cuba.

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

Today is a good day. We had sunshine for the first time in I don’t know how long and gardening catalogs arrived in the mail! WaHoo! Now I just have to set down and devise my planting strategy. Am I going to plant annuals, perennials, or a combination of both? Do I want to plant a full blown vegetable garden and if so, when is the best time to get started. So many questions, so many catalogs to peruse. And then of course I will need to consult my “Old Farmer’s Almanac”; an old family tradition from way back. My Grandfather was the green thumb of our family and he passed the love of gardening on to me. Granted I don’t do it with the same amount of flare as Grandpa, and sometimes that’s a good thing if gardening in mixed company, but I did listen when he passed along gardening advice.  Your geographic location may determine what signs point to the right time to plant and sow seeds for you; whether it is birds heading north or south, or the bull frogs serenading. But one thing is certain, the sign are all starting to point in the right direction, spring!

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