217 Today: April 16, 2021
Friday, April 16, 2021 Today’s headlines: Video of the fatal Chicago police shooting of Adam Toledo shows the 13-year-old raising his arms above his head the moment he is shot. COVID-19 is seeing a new resurgence in Region 2 of Illinois. The president of OSF St. Francis Medical Center in Peoria says his hospital is currently at […]
Fifty Years In, Oklahoma-Based River Corridor Faces Millions In Backlogged Repairs
TULSA, Okla. — When countries like China buy soybeans and grain, that journey might start in a port in the land-locked state of Oklahoma. Farmers in states like Kansas, Oklahoma, Missouri, Arkansas and Colorado rely on a 445-mile water highway called the McClellan-Kerr Navigation System to ship their crops like soybeans and grain across the […]
Barge Industry May Be A Mixed Bag For The Green Energy Movement
ALTON — The Biden administration is fighting climate change in part by pushing for cars and trucks to be more fuel efficient and reduce emissions, but so far, that talk hasn’t landed in another mode of transportation: barges. https://cpa.ds.npr.org/kcur2/audio/2021/04/BARGE-WEB.mp3 Listen to this story here. In light of more pressure to advance the cause of green […]
How An Iowa Town Won Its Fight For Better Flood Protection
HAMBURG, Ia. — Levees protect people, towns, and agriculture from flooding. But two years ago, parts of the Missouri River and its tributaries reached record crests, and many levees failed. Now there’s a rare effort to build a levee higher to better defend one southwest Iowa town. https://cpa.ds.npr.org/kcur2/audio/2021/04/0413Leveesweb.mp3 Listen to this story here. Hamburg in […]
Farmers On The Missouri River Sue The Army Corps Of Engineers For Flood Damages
Farmers along the Missouri River won a mass action federal lawsuit last December against the Army Corps of Engineers for land damages they say are traceable to the agency’s management of the river. Plaintiffs alleged the Corps violated the Fifth Amendment by taking measures to protect endangered animals on the river without compensating landowners. The […]
After Decades Of Discrimination Lawmakers Propose Justice For Black Farmers
It’s a cold February afternoon, and Alvin Lee’s cows are hungry. He says he has to put three or four bales of hay out every other day, and he only has…
Midwest Hemp Is Still Getting Its Footing, But Growers Aren’t Giving Up Yet
Hemp is a hard crop to grow — just ask Jay Kata. “We were filthy and we were dirty and we were sweaty and it sucked and it was hot and it was miserable…
Lawsuit Alleges Farmworkers Sickened After Pesticide Exposure
In late July 2019, a group of migrant farmworkers from south Texas was working in a cornfield in DeWitt County, Ill., when suddenly a crop duster flew…
State And Federal Efforts To Help Small Meatpacking Plants May Take Time
A joint effort by federal and state governments to help small meatpacking plants increase their capacity is encountering some bumps. Earlier this year,…
‘Incredibly Unlikely’ China Will Meet Its Trade Targets, Expert Says
It’s been almost ten months since the signing of the first phase of a trade agreement between the United States and China. In the lofty deal, China…
“Lo arriesgo todo o nada”. La necesidad de trabajar supera las COVID preocupaciones para migrantes
En las afueras de Rantoul, en el centro-este de Illinois, unos 100 trabajadores agrícolas migrantes están viviendo en un viejo hotel localizado en una…
‘Either I Risk It All Or Nothing At All’: Migrant Workers’ Need To Work Outweighs COVID-19 Concerns
On the outskirts of Rantoul, in east-central Illinois, about 100 migrant farmworkers are living at an old hotel in a sleepy part of town. Every day at…
Plans For Agriculture Differ, But That Issue Is Unlikely To Sway The Presidential Election
Farmers are looking closely at what they might be able to expect from four more years of Donald Trump versus a Joe Biden administration, but they aren’t…
Gardening Is A ‘Silver Lining’ For Many Weary Of The Coronavirus Pandemic
In the midst of what has otherwise been a heavy, unrelenting year, many Midwesterners have found solace in the dirt. So-called “COVID gardens” have…
In An Autumn Of Uncertainties, More Kids Can Rely On Free School Lunches
As the new school year gets underway, some students are in classrooms and others are at home but one thing is now clear: all kids can get free school…