Sequestration Problems & Fisheries Ruling

Sequestration Problems & Fisheries Ruling

Sequestration Problems & Fisheries Ruling plus Food Forethought. I’m Greg Martin with today’s Northwest Report.

The nation's top agricultural official says he's getting ready for what he hopes never comes---the budget sequester on March first. Ag Secretary Tom Vilsack

VILSACK: Some are 30 days. Some are 60 days. I think some are 120 days so whatever the labor agreement and whatever the union is that we’re dealing with that will dictate when notices will be sent and when actions will be implemented. When it was passed the assumption was it was so bad folks would be reasonable and would reach a consensus on and alternative and that’s what they should do.

In a stunning win for sound science over political science, a panel of Fourth Circuit judges ruled that the National Marine Fisheries Service must rewrite a Biological Opinion it released in November 2008 to protect endangered salmon from diazinon, chlorpyrifos, and malathion. The appeals court found that the BiOp was arbitrary and capricious and that their recommendations to protect salmon from the pesticides were based "on a selection of data, tests and standards that did not always appear logical, obvious or even rational."

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

My husband and I were bemoaning the fact the other day that our city is not “walkable”. Our city planners would probably ruffle their “feathers” over that statement, but bottom line is you cannot safely walk from one end of this city to the other. Not because of outside threats revolving around crime, but because of the lack of continual sidewalks along busy thoroughfares. For this very same reason Adam Davies has founded Walkonomics.com, which is the rating of street walkability by combining the views of large groups of people, local communities and public data, along with the “art of creating streets and urban areas that are pedestrian friendly”. Walkonomics has taken on the great task of “rating the pedestrian friendliness of every street in the world”. Streets are rated on 8 main criteria - road safety, easy cross-ability, the presence of well maintained sidewalks, incline, signage, good lighting, cleanliness, and relaxing as opposed to noisy or stressful. While the Walkonomics website is still in its infancy, and looks like what it is, a work in progress, it is still has the potential to prod cities into doing a better job of creating walk friendly neighborhoods and business centers in the future. Until that time, it is still just wishful thinking.

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

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