Immigration Reform & El Nino Watch
Immigration Reform & El Nino Watch plus Food Forethought. I’m Greg Martin with today’s Northwest Report.
The weather in the northwest has been pleasant for the most part this spring with a few hot days but according to meteorologist Brad Rippey, they are keeping their eyes open for an El Nino pattern.
RIPPEY: One would be to suppress the Atlantic tropical season so we may see fewer tropical storms, fewer hurricanes in the vicinity of the
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid says passing a comprehensive immigration bill this session is one of his top priorities. His other two priorities are health care and energy. Reid’s comments seemed to give new life to the immigration issue. But, Congress and the White House are preoccupied with a packed legislative calendar and immigration reform looks unlikely to pass this year. Senator Charles Schumer plans to draft and introduce a new immigration measure later this year. That could result in Congressional movement on the issue. The administration continues to say that Obama wants to start the debate this year, but the President has not asked for a bill to sign in 2009.
Now with today’s Food Forethought, here’s Lacy Gray.
Here we go again. The World Health Organization is debating whether to declare a pandemic regarding the H1N1 virus; originally misnamed the swine flu. The assistant director of WHO has stated, “It does not mean the severity of the situation has increased or people are getting seriously sick at higher numbers”. Sadly, that statement will be ignored by most of the world’s population once the WHO declares a pandemic situation simply because it’s human nature to panic. They won’t take into account that the current assessment is still at a moderate level or that the H1N1 virus, while reportedly infecting over 26,000 people in 73 different countries and causing 140 deaths; is low in comparison to the common flu season worldwide which is known to have a far greater number of reported cases and fatalities. Hopefully the WHO will think long and hard before declaring a pandemic with the H1N1 virus because the panic that will probably ensue, overrunning hospitals and putting businesses in jeopardy, is a very real danger indeed.
Thanks Lacy. That’s today’s Northwest Report. I’m Greg Martin on the Northwest Ag Information Network.
