06/14/07 Not Gun Control & Immigration Raid

Not Gun Control & Immigration Raid plus Food Forethought. I'm Greg Martin with today's Northwest Report. Gun control lobbyists are cheering today after the House passed a bill that would improve state reporting to the National Instant Criminal Background Check System to stop gun purchases by people, including criminals and those determined as mentally ill, who are prohibited from possessing firearms. The legislation was driven by the recent Virginia Tech killings. But Wayne LaPierre, President of the NRA says this is not a gun control law. LAPIERRE: Gun owners lose nothing in the bill as it's currently written, and in fact the bill improves the system for those who've been caught in the bureaucratic red tape. If this bill turns into a piece of gun-control legislation, the NRA will withdraw its support. While the President and the Senate prepare for round two in the immigration ring, Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials raided three businesses in North Portland yesterday. It was the culmination of a 6-month investigation of illegal workers and identification fraud. Two offices of American Staffing Resources and a Fresh Del Monte Produce plant were the center of the raid. Three arrests and more than 165 workers were detained. According to federal officials, at least 90 percent of the workers at the plants had false identification. Some had criminal records and had been deported in the past. Now with today's Food Forethought, here's Susan Allen. As the great carbon credit hoax continues to gain steam cleansing the consciousness of urbanite Al Gore groupies, some farmers are reaping financial benefits from this latest global warming frenzy. North Dakota farmers must be chuckling all the way to the bank for being paid thousands of dollars to do what most do anyway, leave some land untilled. Purportedly 8 million acres of the 30 million acres of Dakota cropland fits the no-till guidelines and of the 8 million 830,000 acres are enrolled in the states innovative carbon credit program. The group brokering the carbon credits, Chicago Climate Exchange is made up of corporations, communities and universities that want to buy away their emissions problems through purchasing carbon credits that typically sell for $3.70 cents a metric ton. The 630 North Dakota farmers who had the foresight to sign up for novel carbon credit program offered through the North Dakota Farmers Union last year banked some big "green" bucks that should more than cover their "green" fees at sunny resorts down south this winter Thanks Susan. That's today's Northwest Report. I'm Greg Martin on the Northwest Ag Information Network.