Voters to decide constitutional ‘right to food’ in Maine
Maine enacted the country's first food sovereignty law in 2017 to encourage food self-sufficiency. Now, its voters will decide whether to declare a first-in-the-nation constitutional right to food "including the right to save and exchange seeds and the right to grow, raise, harvest, produce and consume the food of their own choosing."
Roberts warns against contrary views from USDA nominee Clovis on crop insurance
At the same hearing where he said President Trump promised not to cut crop insurance funding in 2018, Senate Agriculture chairman Pat Roberts confronted statements by Trump nominee Sam Clovis, questioning whether it was a valid federal function. "If there is some nominee coming before this committee who says crop insurance is unconstitutional, they might as well not show up," said Roberts, arguably the strongest congressional advocate of the risk management tool.
Private firm infiltrated and tracked Standing Rock protestors
A private security firm used to hunting militants in Afghanistan and Iraq was hired by the Texas-based pipeline developer Energy Transfer Partners to track protestors at Standing Rock, South Dakota.