Tidbits

This is weird, but probably just a function of division of government powers. I’ve seen local office holder doing battle before, but typically not with firearms:

A judge has begun carrying a gun at work after ordering a court employee to stay away from him. Miami County [Ohio] Municipal Court Judge Mel Kemmer filed an order last month banning bailiff Scott Niesley from his courtroom and chambers, his assistant’s office or anywhere else the judge is in the courthouse.

Mysterious death of starlings reported in February in Randolph County near the Union-Go Dairy was instigated by the dairy, and was completely “legal:”

The use of starlicide on a flock of 20,000 starlings infesting Union-Go Dairy followed label instructions and did not violate the Indiana pesticide use and application law, the state chemist’s office has ruled. On Feb. 14, dozens of dead starlings dropped out of trees at the residence of Allen Hutchison, a neighbor of the dairy. The U.S. Department of Agriculture had applied starlicide at Union-Go, a concentrated animal feeding operation, the day before.

The Bush administration is fighting against a natural beef producer’s plan to test all of their cows for mad cow disease - instead of the 1% of cows tested under USDA guidelines:

The Bush administration on Friday urged a federal appeals court to stop meatpackers from testing all their animals for mad cow disease, but a skeptical judge questioned whether the government has that authority.

Link. The government says that there is no science showing additional testing assures that the meat is any safer, and may generate false positives that would scare consumers. The real issue is that other producers don’t want a specialty label like Creekstone Farms Premium Beef to be able to advertise 100% testing - giving it a market edge.

Maxwell Farms’ trouble with transmissible gastroenteritis (TGE) infections at one of its Randolph County pig facilities hit the news this week, prompting a post, Maxwell’s Silver Hammer, from Karen Myers on WAHM.

Bike commuting gets noticed on the eve of Bike to Work Day (I bike in most days, but not Fridays - have to get the kids to school): Muncie’s Star Press: Biking to Work and the front page of the Indy Star: A New Spin on Commuting. Video:

This entry was posted on Thursday, May 15th, 2008 at 2:14 pm and is filed under CAFOs!, Local. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.