Carrying On Campus & Immigration Reform

Carrying On Campus & Immigration Reform plus Food Forethought. I'm Greg Martin with today's Northwest Report.

About a month ago, Idaho Governor Butch Otter signed into law a controversial measure allowing retired law enforcement officers and people with concealed-carry permits to bring firearms onto public college and university campuses. Now a task force at the University of Idaho is trying to determine just what a new law allowing concealed weapons on campus means for the school. Task force members are getting a lot of questions like whether a faculty member can ask classes to identify who is carrying a concealed weapon.

Immigration reform has been a hot topic all across the U.S. Here in Washington one of the most labor intensive crops are apples. Phil Glaize, Virginia apple grower,says the biggest threat to the U.S. apple industry is lack of a dependable supply of workers.

GLAIZE: An insufficient supply of harvest labor is the biggest issue facing apple growers in Virginia and all across the country. It is critical that willing and able workers be available in a timely fashion. Virginia is in a situation right now of steady apple production at around five-million bushels.This is down from ten-million bushels ten years ago. The inability of Congress to pass laws which will ensure a willing and able workforce is putting the Virginia and the entire U.S. apple industry in jeopardy.

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

Congress returned to work this week from their congressional "spring break" with a mountain of things to get done over the summer. Interestingly, there isn't quite as much time as one would think for Congress to get done what they need to by September. Remember, spring break was just the beginning of numerous breaks they take throughout the remaining spring and summer months,which include a week off for Memorial Day, another week off for the 4th of July, then the whole month of August off, so you get the idea. It certainly appears to all intents and purposes that Congress embraces that old saying, "all work and no play makes Jack a dull boy". Of course the looming midterm elections in November will also slow down work on any major pieces of legislation, but work they need to do with a list that includes immigration reform (still), raising the federal minimum wage, the Highway Trust Fund, and of course funding to keep the government operating past the end of the fiscal year.

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