No Discrimination & Colder Weather Coming

No Discrimination & Colder Weather Coming plus Food Forethought. I’m Greg Martin with today’s Northwest Report.

Well it appears the party is over as USDA meteorologist, Brad Rippey, notes that colder air coming into the West Coast will slow down flooding in Northern California.

RIPPEY: Even though we do see a fairly active storm train continuing as the colder air begins to move into the west towards the end of this week that will first of all cut down on the liquid totals we’ll continue to see precipitation but it will become a little bit lighter and then the snow levels will lower dramatically and that too will cut down on the runoff so I think we’ll get out of the woods on this flood event as this week progresses and as colder air moves into the west. So even though we’ll continue to see a very unsettled pattern in the northwest we will see a diminishing threat of flooding and increasing likelihood of adding to those early season snowpacks in the northwest. Also over time the storm track will shift a bit to the north more out of northern California and into the Pacific Northwest.

Boise now becomes the second city in the state of Idaho to make it illegal to discriminate against someone in housing, employment, and public accommodation just because of their sexual orientation or gender identity. Sandpoint was the first to pass this kind of city law. Mayor Dave Bieter said there are other cities around Idaho that are already contacting his office about how the non-discrimination ordinance was drafted.

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

Grandpa always used to tell me, “Granddaughter, where there’s a will, there’s a way”. Too bad Grandpa isn’t still around to tell Congress that. Time is running out for those hoping that Congress will pass a new farm bill by the end of the year. Many economic experts compare the 2012 Farm Bill discussions to those of the 1991 Farm Bill, and agree that if Congress were willing to compromise, there’d still be time to complete the Farm Bill. Granted it’s going to take some work on their part, and yes I understand that that’s always easier said than done, but the similarities between the Senate and the House farm bill drafts should make it easier to come to an agreement. Both sides want spending cuts, with amounts that are similarly close - $32 billion or $35 billion, with farm subsidies being their main target of choice for such cuts. Most of the bickering continues to be over food stamps, with the White House wanting to cut crop insurance, crop subsidies, and conservation, leaving food stamps for the poor virtually untouched, while the House approved version gets half of its $35 billion in cuts from food stamps, and the remainder from crop subsidies and conservation. So close, but yet so far.

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