(AP ) Authorities say a car has struck and killed a man as he attempted to walk across Interstate 44 in southwest Missouri.

The Missouri State Highway Patrol says the accident happened Friday night east of Springfield. Forty-six-year-old Ronald D. Remling of Strafford was pronounced dead at the scene.

CONCORD, N.H. (AP) — Vending machines will display calorie counts for each item along with the cost under new labeling regulations required under the federal health care overhaul law.

The Food and Drug Administration is expected to release final rules early next year. It says that requiring calorie information to be displayed on roughly 5 million vending machines nationwide will help consumers make healthier choices.

As proposed, the rules would give companies with 20 or more machines a year to comply. But an industry group representing vending machine operators has suggested a two-year deadline and is urging the government to allow as much flexibility as possible.

The National Automatic Merchandising Association says complying with the law will be expensive for small companies with few employees and low profit margins.

NEW YORK (AP) — The debate over the National Security Agency’s bulk collection of millions of Americans’ telephone records has fallen squarely into the courts.

A federal judge in Manhattan on Friday upheld the legality of the program and cited its need in the fight against terrorism just days after another federal judge concluded it was likely not constitutional.

The latest ruling and the opposing decision earlier set the stage for federal appeals courts to find the delicate balance between individual rights set out in the Constitution and the need to protect national security.

The judge Friday concluded the program was a necessary extension of steps taken after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. The earlier ruling granted a preliminary injunction against collecting the phone records of two people who had challenged the program.

This year has been monumental for Kansas Wheat organizations. The Kansas Wheat Commission and Kansas Association of Wheat Growers leadership came together to begin industry changing endeavors. Looking back at 2013, it will be remembered as one of the first steps taken in positioning Kansas as a national leader in the wheat industry. Here is the Kansas Wheat Year in Review.

The Kansas Wheat Innovation Center: Construction ended just over a year ago on the Kansas Wheat Innovation Center and the hardhats are back to add more. The building has become a hub for wheat research and soon will play host to more tenants. Two areas are under construction to be finished into a molecular lab and genetics lab. The new space will be used by Wheat Genetic Resource Center and Kansas State University scientists. Throughout the year, the Center has also garnered visitors from all around the world, to see firsthand wheat farmers investing in their future.

Ohio Woman Wins National Festival of Breads: Rosemary Leicht, Bethel, Ohio, won the $2000 Grand Prize at the 2013 National Festival of Breads bread-baking competition in Manhattan June 22. Leicht’s recipe, “Onion Parmesan Cracker Bread” was selected from among eight finalist recipes baked and judged at the public competition. The first ever youth category winner was Mardi Traskowsky from Herington, Kansas with her recipe “Family Italian Bread.” Finalists traveled to Manhattan from across the country to learn more about wheat production and compete in the contest. Meanwhile, hundreds of Kansans came to the National Festival of Breads to attend baking demonstrations.

Wheat Crop Grades Well: Quality of the 2013 Kansas winter wheat crop varied across the state along with production and dramatically differing growing conditions. The crop was most hard-hit by the drought in the western third where it produced lower yields and smaller kernels but noticeably higher proteins. The crop benefited from timely rains in the central and eastern portions of the state producing higher than average yields, with slightly lower proteins but good kernel milling characteristics. Overall, the National Agricultural Statistics Service reported 85 percent of the crop graded #1.

World’s First National Science Foundation Center for Wheat: The National Science Foundation named Kansas State University as the lead institution for the world’s first Industry/University Cooperative Research Center focused on wheat. The NSF I/UCRC Wheat Genetics Resource Center will be housed at the Kansas Wheat Innovation Center where scientists will conduct research on wheat germplasm improvement, using the gene bank of the Wheat Genetics Resource Center. The center is the first National Science Foundation established research center for any crop plant and will focus on improving the production and disease resistance of wheat and serve as a training hub for graduate students and young researchers.

Brazil Becomes Major HRW Customer: The U.S. wheat industry’s biggest hard red winter 2013 year to date customer came as a pleasant surprise to Kansas wheat farmers. Due to a temporary tariff change, Brazil, one of the world’s leading wheat importers, leaned on the U.S. in 2013 to feed their need for wheat purchasing 3.15 million metric tons or 115.6 million bushels. Brazil is South America’s largest wheat importing market, but typically only purchases about 400,000 MT per year from the U.S., instead relying on fellow Mercosur member Argentina for the bulk of its wheat imports. This year, however, both Brazil and Argentina’s wheat crops fell short. That supply situation, combined with concerns of inflation in Brazil, caused exports to South America to skyrocket, up 863 percent from last year’s sales. The next biggest hard red winter purchaser is the traditional customer, Nigeria, at over 1.5 MMT purchased this marketing year.

25 Billionth Bushel State Fair Booth Wins Champion Award: Kansas Wheat’s 25 Billionth Bushel themed booth at the Kansas State Fair took home a champion ribbon for the best inside exhibit. It centered on the growth of the Kansas wheat industry and the productivity of farmers. The booth featured the actual 25 billionth bushel of wheat harvested in the past 100 years of Kansas farming by Mike and Tanner Brown in Colby, Kansas. Located in the Pride of Kansas Building, the Kansas Wheat Booth was a main attraction with a timeline of the progression of wheat farming in the state of Kansas.

(AP) — Federal and state authorities are investigating the abduction of a 6-year-old Jefferson City boy found shot to death Tuesday in Cape Girardeau in an apparent murder-suicide.

Police found 6-year-old Markell Beasley and 40-year-old Demetrius Beasley, of St. Louis, dead of gunshot wounds in a house after someone flagged down officers.

Capt. Doug Shoemaker of the Jefferson City Police Department said the FBI, state and local law enforcement agencies are assisting in the investigation. He declined further comment.

Cole County authorities issued a warrant Tuesday for Demetrius Beasley and charged him with kidnapping Markell. Jefferson City police earlier issued an endangered child advisory for Markell and said they were seeking Demetrius Beasley, who had a previous relationship with the child’s mother but isn’t the child’s biological father.

Authorities in Kansas City say two children were home alone when their house caught fire, leaving both badly injured.

A 14-year-old girl called 911 just before midnight Thursday saying she was having trouble breathing, but didn’t mention the fire. Firefighters only learned about the fire when they arrived.

Both girls were unresponsive, but first responders revived them on the way to a hospital where both remained in critical condition Friday afternoon. Investigators traced the fire’s origin to the kitchen, where food had been left on a stove.

by Mary Soukup, Drovers Cattle Network

From California to Virginia, ask someone involved in the cattle business for one word or phrase to describe the industry in 2013. My guess is that a popular response would have something to do with record prices as both cattle and beef prices set records over the past 12 months. While that is definitely an adequate description of the year, I would tend more to use the word “momentum” to describe 2013 because as we prepare to ring in the New Year next week, potential for more record setting in the cattle business is great.

When you combine tight beef supplies with growing global beef demand, more favorable input costs and improved forage conditions and hay supplies, you have the recipe for an optimistic outlook for 2014’s cattle industry.
After multiple years of herd downsizing, 2014 also holds potential to be the year when that trend changes. CattleFax CEO Randy Blach recently said U.S. cow and bull slaughter are down more than 3 percent year-to-date. He predicts further slaughter rate declines of about 8 percent in 2014 and 9 percent in 2015. In addition to reducing slaughter rates, Blach also said he expects producers to begin holding back more heifers, forecasting heifer retention of about 140,000 head in 2014. Herd expansion will be a slow, gradual process, but signs are pointing toward stabilization and expansion in the coming years.

The high prices experienced in 2013 will not go away when the clock strikes midnight on December 31. In fact, steers, which averaged around $165 per hundredweight in 2013, are expected to average around $185 in 2014. Cow calf producers who earned about $250 per head in 2013 are predicted to earn about $280 per head next year. Fed cattle, which averaged around $126 per hundredweight this year, are forecast to average around $130 in 2014.
Other things to watch for in 2014:
Farm Bill – Congress is more than a year late in passing a new Farm Bill. The four principle negotiators, Senate Agriculture Committee Chairwoman Debbie Stabenow (D-Mich.), House Agriculture Committee Chairman Frank Lucas (R-Okla.), Senate Agriculture Committee Ranking Member Thad Cochran (R-Miss.) and House Agriculture Ranking Member Collin Peterson (D-Minn.), are working out final details related to Title I commodity programs and funding reductions to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (food stamps). Early passage in 2014 means the committees would go to work with USDA to begin implementing changes immediately.

COOL – Whether resolved through the Farm Bill of by the World Trade Organization, mandatory country-of-origin-labeling will continue to be a contentious topic for the cattle industry in 2014.
Midterm Elections – November 2014 brings the next midterm congressional elections. With all 435 members of the House of Representatives and one third of the Senate up for re-election, by late summer, most legislative work will take a break while members return home to campaign for re-election. Wherever your political allegiances lie, as the number of members elected who have a background in or understanding of the cattle industry (and agriculture as a whole), drops with each election, it is increasingly important to get involved in the process. Attend townhall meetings and candidate debates, introduce yourself to the candidates and talk about your operation, and most importantly, show up on November 4, 2014, and vote.

Exports – It is expected that 2013 beef exports will surpass the 2012 record of 5.51 billion pounds. With demand increasing around the globe for beef, there is potential for increased export opportunities in 2014. Key areas to watch include the ongoing Trans-Pacific Partnership negotiations between the United States and 11 other nations.
Sustainability – “Selfie” may have been Oxford Dictionary’s word of the year in 2013, but in the cattle industry, sustainability will be a topic to watch in the coming year. From large multi-national corporations to small family farms, finding ways to be more economically, environmentally and socially sustainable will be a trending topic in 2014.

Millennials – The millennial generation of Americans, those born between the early 1980s and early 2000s, has topped Baby Boomers in number and will be a force for the next 40-plus years when it comes to consumer beef trends. Learning how to communicate with them, about their beef preferences and educating them about beef will serve the beef industry well in 2014 and beyond.
This list is by no means exhaustive, and could have easily continued. As you prepare for the New Year, let us know what issues are affecting you the most and how we can better provide you the information you need to be successful. We look forward to working with many of you in 2014 and for years to come.