An ag policy analyst says it’s only a matter of time before drought forces food prices to go up. Pat Westhoff of the University of Missouri says market prices for corn and soybeans have reached record levels, and retail prices for meat will follow.
Westhoff says products made directly from commodities will rise first, even though the market price received by producers is only a small part of the retail price. He says consumer prices for chicken, pork, and beef will start going up later this summer.
House Ag Committee Chairman Frank Lucas hasn’t been willing to talk about floor time for the farm bill as an “if” – just as a “when.” But when that time comes – he wants a rule that requires a filing requirement the day before so Ag Committee lawyers, economists and members can see what is going to come up on the floor. If House leadership is going to allow an unlimited number of amendments – he wants to know there will be time to understand what’s in the amendments so they can be explained on the floor of the House. Ranking Member Collin Peterson would prefer a modified closed rule that would limit the number of amendments. He notes nearly 100 amendments were considered by the Agriculture Committee – some of which were redundant. If the House leadership insists on a wide-open rule – Peterson says people will offer the same amendment over and over. He says that doesn’t accomplish anything.
Peterson is optimistic he and Lucas can get the farm bill through the House, move on to conference with the Senate and get the bill done by September 30th – but Lucas has still been willing to acknowledge the possibility that an extension of existing policy might be necessary.
U.S. Ag Secretary Tom Vilsack is using the circumstances surrounding the drought – which he says is the most serious situation we’ve had probably in a quarter century – to call for passage of a new farm bill that includes disaster assistance. The Secretary has noted several times that USDA is using all its administrative powers to help the farmers and ranchers impacted by the drought – but that it’s limited because the disaster programs included in the 2008 Farm Bill have already expired. National Corn Growers Association Vice President Pam Johnson says the drought is a wake-up call and a visible reminder of why the farm bill is written. She says it just needs to be done. American Farm Bureau Federation President Bob Stallman agrees. He says providing farmers with improved risk management tools is a core principle in the House and Senate versions of the pending farm bill. Stallman says both contain new tools that will assist farmers – but also restore several expired provisions that would help livestock producers manage weather-related risks.
Stallman says the widespread drought has imposed stress on people, crops and livestock – but the full impact on the nation won’t be known for several months. He says the impact on the food supply and food prices aren’t yet known. The true extent of the damage to the corn crop won’t be known until harvest is completed. Stallman says the August crop report from USDA – which will include actual in-the-field surveys – will provide a clearer picture. Yet if conditions don’t improve – he says the biggest impact will come in the next crop year. While data suggests most of the corn and other row crops in the drought-stricken regions are covered by crop insurance – Stallman says it’s often a different story for producers of other crops. He says that’s why Farm Bureau called for a strengthened federal crop insurance program. According to Stallman – Farm Bureau remains hopeful congressional leaders will expedite their work on the vital legislation called the farm bill.
At least four hundred people turned up to line Frank Street in Edgerton, Missouri Friday night. Many of them would rather have been a quarter mile up the road, inside the Mount Zion Baptist Church, remembering their friends and neighbors, Britny Haarup and Ashley Key.
The sisters were killed a week ago, and the church was offering a celebration of life in their honor.
Trouble is, another church announced it would bring picketers from Topeka to protest at the funeral. You know which church. You may not know their reason for returning to Platte County. THEY may not know their reason for returning to Platte County. Their stated reason for returning to Platte County was to protest the way they were treated by law enforcement the last time they were in Platte County.
They did manage to say something about the subjects of the celebration inside the church in Edgerton Friday.
According to their picket schedule, “God sent the drugged, raping, murdering thug to execute his judgment upon MO, and specifically upon Platte County.”
That didn’t sit very well with the folks along Frank Street outside the church in Edgerton. Many rode motorcycles to get there, some from as far away as Clay County, others from across Northwest Missouri. One family from Trimble, Missouri cruised back and forth along Frank Street and offered free water to any and all takers. By the time the services inside the church began, the folks from Trimble had given away more than 350 bottles of water.
By one estimation, it was the biggest traffic tie-up to hit Frank Street in decades.
Dozens of law officers were on the scene, including Edgerton police, Platte County Sheriff Richard Anderson along with members of his top brass, road patrol, and special operations team, and several troopers and officers from the Missouri State Highway Patrol, Troop A.
Captain Erik Holland of the Platte County Sheriff’s Office says they were in Edgerton to preserve the peace.
“Under the Constitution, people have the right to assemble peacefully, and they have the right to say whatever’s on their mind because of freedom of speech,” Holland said. “We’re here to make sure we don’t have any fights, pushing, shoving or any violations or breach of the peace.”
There were ongoing rumors about the location and plans of the contingent from the church from Topeka, if there was one. Many were shared via social media, and others moved through the crowd by word of mouth. The details varied each of three times we heard the rumor repeated. In the end, many among the crowd outside the church in Edgerton concluded that those folks from the Church in Topeka never showed up.
Radio station K-Jo 105.5 has received word of a silent counter protest being organized for the funeral of Britny Haarup and Ashley Key in Edgerton Friday evening.
A “Celebration of Life” is scheduled beginning at 7:30 p.m. at the Mount Zion Baptist Church in Edgerton for the two women.
They were killed a week ago by a man who allegedly told police he was smoking methamphetamine and wanted to rape one of them.
None of those involved have any known connection to Topeka’s Westboro Baptist Church, which announced on its web site that it would picket the funeral. Their reason for protesting appears to center on some perceived mistreatment by the Platte County Sheriff’s Office the last time they were in the area.
On the church’es “picket schedule” was an item that asserted “God sent the drugged, raping, murdering thug to execute his judgment upon MO, and specifically upon Platte County.”
Clifford D. Miller of Trimble, Missouri is due back in court on Tuesday after he was charged with two counts of first degree murder. He’s being held under $500 thousand cash bond.
An unidentified listener posted the following:
“The Westboro Baptist Church has posted on their picket schedule that they will picket the memorial service of Britny Haarup and Ashley Key in Edgerton tonight!
“They are organizing a group to head up there to keep these monsters away from the church and the family! Mt. Zion Baptist Church 5705 hwy Z in Edgerton,Mo”
“Their schedule says they will be there from 6:30-7:45pm, but we should allow for plenty of time to get organized!”
“Also,please remember 2 things: Wear bright colors in honor of the girls and this is a silent counter protest. Do not speak to these monsters,or engage them in any way. We are here just to serve as a shield between them and the family and friends of Britny and Ashley!”
A spokeswoman for the Mount Zion Baptist Church said they are telling protesters on either side to stay off of church property.
“We’re here to wrap arms of love around the family, and that’s it.”
A coalition of livestock and poultry groups is urging Congress to reform the Renewable Fuel Standard. They say the call for change is supported by a new economic study conducted by Dr. Thomas Elam – President of Farm Econ LLC. Elam’s study found that federal ethanol policy has increased and destabilized corn, soybean and wheat prices to the detriment of food and fuel producers and consumers. According to Elam – the increases seen in commodity prices are strongly associated with the RFS mandate. He adds that because the promised benefits on oil imports and gasoline prices haven’t been seen – Americans are paying more for food without seeing lower prices at the pump. Elam calls it a lose-lose situation.
As several aspects of the Renewable Fuel Standard are examined by a Senate Biofuels Investment and RFS Market Congressional Study Group – the coalition says the study will provide critical facts needed to reform the standard. Among the results – the study found that the higher energy cost of ethanol and its negative effect on fuel mileage added about 14.5-billion dollars – or 10-cents per gallon – to motorists’ fuel costs in 2011. It also shows that the rate of change for the Consumer Price Index for meats, poultry, fish and eggs increased by 79-percent – while it decreased by 41-percent for non-food items since the RFS was revised in 2007. Other findings highlighted by the coalition include the rise in corn prices to more than six-dollars a bushel in 2011 from two-dollars in 2005, U.S. exports of 1.2-billion gallons of ethanol in 2011 and the increase in corn used for ethanol production from 1.6-billion bushels in 2005 to five-billion in 2011.
In urging RFS reform – the coalition cited the Elam study’s conclusion that the mandate should be revised to allow automatic adjustments to reduce incentives for ethanol production when corn stocks are forecast to reach critically low levels. The coalition supports legislation sponsored by Representative Bob Goodlatte of Virginia and California Representative Jim Costa that would require a biannual review of ending corn stocks relative to their total use. The RFS could be reduced by different percentages when the ratio falls to certain percentages. According to the coalition – such relief is extremely urgent because of the recent spike in corn prices brought on by predictions the U.S. will run short of corn this summer as a result of the drought conditions. They say another short corn crop would be extremely devastating to the animal agriculture industry, food makers and foodservice providers – as well as consumers.
The Elam study was funded by the American Meat Institute, California Dairy Inc., the Milk Producers Cooperative, the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association, the National Chicken Council, the National Pork Producers Council and the National Turkey Federation. A full copy of the study is available through the National Chicken Council website at www dot nationalchickencouncil dot org (www.nationalchickencouncil.org).
An inmate in the Livingston County Jail is now being held in maximum security after he tried to make a weapon out of a toothbrush.
A Sheriff dispatcher monitoring closed-circuit surveillance observed the male. He allegedly had a tooth brush with a partially sharpened end. The tooth brush resembled a weapon.
For safety concerns, Sheriff Steve Cox says he’s being held in what’s described as maximum security.
After a very public, ten-day dispute over carriage fees, Hearst TV’s Kansas City television stations are back on the air on Time/Warner Cable. The companies announced a long-term transmission deal Thursday night.
Hearst Television Inc. announced on the stations’ web site that it has reached a retransmission consent agreement with Time Warner Cable covering carriage of KMBC and KCWE.
“We appreciate the support and patience of our viewers, advertisers and local communities served by our stations, and we regret the inconvenience they’ve experienced over the past 10 days,” said Hearst Television President & CEO David Barrett.
“This process has been an important step to insure the ongoing vitality of our local TV service in communities across the country.”
Harry MacLean is the author of the book “In Broad Daylight.” Click the image to view his website.
It’s been 31 years this month since a small Northwest Missouri town went silent. On July 10th of 1981, Ken Rex McElroy, known as the town bully, was killed after leaving a bar in Skidmore. And even with around 50 witnesses that day, no one was speaking. Harry MacLean was a lawyer before he turned to writing. But after researching the story of McElroy, he started his journey of trying to tell the story. So came his book “In Broad Daylight.”
Listen to the story as heard on 680-KFEQ[audio:http://www.stjosephpost.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/07/072012.mp3|titles=KFEQ Journal]
“The first book came out in 1988, almost 1989. And it was a ‘New York Times’ bestseller and was made into a movie by the same name,” MacLean said. “And it won an Edgar award, which is the highest award a True Crime book can win.”
More recently, on the 25th anniversary, MacLean released an updated version of the book in 2007. MacLean had received more investigative files that he couldn’t get his hands on before the original book was released. So the 2007 version contained a 25 page epilogue.
Then, this month, he released that updated version of the book for the first time as an eBook on www.Amazon.com. And he’s enjoyed the success. The book was rated as a top ten seller in the true crimes category just a week after it was released.
But that’s not all. This fall will bring another eBook. MacLean will release his newest book, titled “About in Broad Daylight.” It’s the story behind the story. There’s plenty of drama that went on while working on the original book, MacLean said.
“Over the years, As I traveled and talked about this book, I received almost as many questions about how I managed to get the story as about the story itself,” he said. “I had a gun drawn on me, I was bitten by a dog, I had my tires slashed. What I ended up doing was living there for almost three years and becoming a part of the community and many people became good friends on mine.”
MacLean keeps in contact with that community. He says he tries to catch and and visit Skidmore almost every year.
Ken Rex McElroy was known as a town bully in Skidmore. He robbed, rapped, burned and assaulted almost at-will, according to the book “In Broad Daylight.”
“I became very close to them when I lived there and I developed a great affection for many of them and the town itself.” MacLean said. “And I made certain assurances to them that I wouldn’t name the killer and I would try and tell the towns story and so forth. And a lot of them opened up, they trusted me, we became friends and I maintained that relationship with them. It’s quite important to me.”
Meanwhile, it’s been 21 years since the made for TV move debuted. About a month ago, MacLean says he was contacted by a well known, highly respected producer who became obsessed by the story. While he can’t name the producer, he did say he should provide an interesting aspect on the story.
The producer-director is more focused on the atmosphere of the story, including the feeling around the town. It should different and very interesting, according to McLean.
There’s no confirmation the movie will happen or any sort of time-line yet, but they are working on legal issues right now. As for the story, he says it’s slowing down and many of those involved have passed away, including who was widely identified as the killer and McElroy’s wife Trina.
It’s also taking on this kind of mythical folklore tone to it and I think what I’m starting to realize, and frankly, I didn’t realize when I wrote the book that this story is going to be a part of American history.”
MacLean, who resides in Denver now, says he’ll be back to Skidmore hopefully this September, the same time the new eBook comes out.
AURORA, Colo. (AP) — Police say at least 12 people are dead and 50 injured following a shooting at a movie theater in Aurora, Colo.
The death toll was reduced later Friday morning by authorities in Colorado, which initially reported as many as 15 deaths.
Federal law enforcement officials tell the Associated Press the suspect is James Holmes, a 24-year-old American male from Colorado.
Officials now say Holmes was wearing a gas mask and set off an unknown gas in the theater before silently opening fire.
Theater No. 9 at the Century multiplex in Aurora was packed for a midnight screening of the newest Batman film when a man clad in black and wearing a gas mask burst through the door.
According to witness reports the man threw a canister which erupted in smoke before silently opening fire indiscriminately on the crowd.
Patrons in an adjacent theater say the bullets pierced the walls. Some believed the gunfire was part of the movie. One man in the theater says when he heard moaning and knew people were in pain. Video showed people being carried away.
Officials say police, ambulances and emergency crews swarmed on the scene after frantic calls started flooding the 911 switchboard.
Police found the gunman near a car behind the theater and took him into custody. Aurora Police Chief Dan Oates says a gas mask, rifle, handgun at least one additional weapon were found inside the theater.
Oats says the man taken into custody also mentioned possible explosives in his residence. His neighborhood was evacuated, but after a search, authorities did not say whether they found any explosives.
