Cell Phone Ban & Broadband Push

Cell Phone Ban & Broadband Push plus Food Forethought. I'm Greg Martin with today's Northwest Report. Ag Secretary Tom Vilsack talked with reporters on Friday to update them on the latest broadband push in rural areas including the northwest states. He says the push to fund broadband projects will not stop on September first when the Recovery Act money stops. VILSACK: We now know what the significant need and demand is and we will obviously be able to look at our regular program which we are in the process of ramping up as September 30th comes in to play and the recovery monies are gone we still have our regular loan program for applications and projects. Hope you had a good holiday weekend free of any incidents. A lot of folks were travelling and more than a few were pulled over and ticketed due to cellphone use. Washington States new cellphone ban has led to about 670 citations since it began about a month ago. It is now a primary offense which allows law enforcement to pull you over if they see you using a phone without a handsfree device or texting. Get caught...it's a $124 ticket. Now with today's Food Forethought, here's Lacy Gray. We are heading into one of my favorite times of year, summer. Having grown up in a small farming community in Kansas memories of childhood summers generally include long lines at the grain elevator and detasseling corn. My sister, five years my senior and much braver and adventurous as a teen, earned her summer spending money driving a wheat truck for a local farmer. I however, being far less daring, decided to earn my keep by detasseling corn. Little did I realize that meant getting up before the crack of dawn in order to get out to the field before the Kansas humidity set in. Occasionally, a farmer would forget to turn off his irrigation system for the detasseling crew. Nothing quite like getting hit square in the back with an icy cold jet of water at five in the morning! My husband says he has had showers worse than that, but I doubt it. One thing is for certain, I wouldn't trade those Kansas summers and "farm work" experience for anything. In fact, I'm thinking it's just about time for my son to get some of that "experience" for himself! Thanks Lacy. That's today's Northwest Report. I'm Greg Martin on the Ag Information Network.