The Obama administration will announce measures that further ease travel and trade restrictions on Cuba later this month. Ahead of his visit to Cuba, President Obama is slated to make the announcement March 17th. The new rules will mark his latest effort to use executive powers to sidestep Congress and chip away at the U.S. embargo against Cuba, according to Reuters. The measures are expected to make travel easier for Americans and further loosen trade and banking rules. However, a ban on general tourism to Cuba will remain in force. It is part of the broader U.S. embargo and can only be lifted by Congress. The embargo also places stiff restrictions on trade and financing of agricultural products. The President will travel to Cuba on March 21st, the first visit to Cuba by a sitting president since the 1920’s.

The Humane Society of the United States says they have not engaged in new talks with USDA regarding a lawsuit against the sale of intellection property within the pork industry. Politico reports special counsel for the Humane Society, Matt Penzer, says his group has not engaged in further settlement talks with USDA since December. At that time, USDA agreed to review the contract requiring the National Pork Board to pay the National Pork Producers Council $3 million per year to use its “Pork: The Other White Meat” slogan. USDA has until early May to complete the review per a joint document signed with HSUS. At the Pork Industry Forum over the weekend, the Pork Board and Pork Producers Council both voted to urge USDA Secretary Tom Vilsack to fight, not settle, the lawsuit brought against the USDA in 2012 by HSUS. At a House Agriculture hearing last month, Vilsack told lawmakers the settlement talks were being held and initiated in “concert with industry.” However, neither the Pork Board nor Pork Producers Council approve of the settlement negotiations.

The Senate may be settling for pushing through a mandatory GMO labeling bill, but in the form of “mandatory disclosure.” Industry lobbyist told the Hagstrom Report that Senate Agriculture Leaders are moving towards a proposal favored by USDA Secretary Tom Vilsack, requiring the use of “smart labels” and banning state labeling laws. The lobbyists referred to this system as “mandatory disclosure,” rather than “mandatory labeling.” Secretary Vilsack called for the system in two separate speeches within the last week, at Commodity Classic and the National Farmers Union annual convention. The lobbyists say it appears that the food companies lobbying against mandatory labeling are more comfortable with that term, “mandatory disclosure.” Vilsack has said that President Barack Obama would sign such a bill. The Senate appears likely to attempt passing the measure before the Easter Recess that begins March 18th.

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — A Missouri group is suing the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, accusing it of shirking its responsibility for regulating nutrient levels in the state’s lakes.

The Missouri Coalition for the Environment Foundation has filed the lawsuit in Kansas City against the EPA and its administrator, Gina McCarthy.

The lawsuit claims that the EPA violated its mandatory duty to issue effective standards for nitrogen and phosphorus levels in Missouri lakes.

The group says such nutrients are among the biggest U.S. water pollutants, contributing to fish kills, algal blooms and the oxygen-depleted Gulf of Mexico water commonly called the “dead zone” off the coasts of Louisiana and Texas.

A regional EPA spokesman, Chris Whitley, says the agency has no comment, citing the pending litigation.