Fortenberry is indicted on charges of lying about campaign donations
A federal grand jury in Los Angeles charged Nebraska Rep. Jeff Fortenberry, the senior Republican on the House panel that oversees USDA funding, with three counts of concealing information and making false statements during an investigation of an illegal $30,000 campaign contribution, said the Justice Department on Tuesday. In a video recorded in his pickup truck, Fortenberry said, "We will fight these charges."
In agricultural espionage, even the corn has ears
The Justice Department's use of a secretive national-security court to prevent the theft of hybrid corn seed developed by U.S. companies indicates the gravity of Sino-U.S. competition, says the The New Republic.
FBI invoked national-security laws in GE seed theft
The government used national-security laws, commonly employed against spies and terror plots, to nip the theft of genetically engineered hybrid seed from Iowa cornfields, says the Des Moines Register.