03/27/07 Shipping Out & Disaster Assistance

Shipping out & Disaster Assistance plus Food Forethought. I'm Greg Martin with today's Northwest Report. Even though it was an extremely close vote - but the Democratic leadership got the support needed to push the emergency supplemental bill through the House Friday. That means the House has finally approved disaster assistance for America's farmers. National Farmers Union President Tom Buis says the bill's passage is an important step toward securing the aid so badly needed in the countryside. BIUS: The House of Representatives just approved the supplemental appropriations bill which contains nearly 4 billion dollars in disaster assistance for our nations farmers and ranchers who have lost a tremendous of amount of their crops and livestock over the past 2 ½ years due to adverse weather related disasters. This vote was very important in advancing this issue which this is the first time the House of Representatives has voted since the weather related disasters have occurred going back to 2005. Idaho state officials are planning to ship another 100 of Idaho`s prison inmates out of state by June although the destination of the medium security inmates hasn`t been decided. Idaho already has about 430 inmates being held in private prisons in Texas. The state wants to send an additional 600 inmates out of the state by 2010. According to one state official any private prisons that want to house the medium security inmates have until April 12th to submit bids. Now with today's Food Forethought, here's Susan Allen. It is apparent when it is not supposed to be, that the aroma our homes can reveal things we would rather disguise, like the smell of kitty litter, stinky shoes or burned pop corn. A 1.9 billion dollar industry and bevy of new professions with names like Aroma-Chology have been spawned to help us enhance the fragrance in our homes. As one who's signature scent happens to be fresh cut grass, yes, (you can get that at Target) I find it interesting that what I deem the "agricultural scents" say MacIntosh Apples, lemons, limes and even grasses also happen to be top picks by others because they make a home feel more spacious and clean. According to researchers what we smell lingers in our memory long after our other senses, like sight and touch are forgotten. There is a happy medium, because home fragrance is personal. While I would love it if my home smelled like a barn; fresh shavings, hay and saddle leather, it would just never work, because those same scents would evoke in my husband memories of hay fever and horse manure. Thanks Susan. That's today's Northwest Report. I'm Greg Martin on the Northwest Ag Information Network.