Montana
On state ballots: A soda-tax trifecta and right-to-farm
Voters in three cities in California — San Francisco, Oakland and Albany — will vote on soda tax referendums in the Nov. 8 general election, a potential landmark in the campaign against high-calorie sugary beverages. On the same day, Oklahomans will decide whether to add a right-to-farm amendment to their state constitution, as insulation against "deep-pocketed animal rights groups," according to ag groups.
An ancient ‘dinosaur fish’ faces its last swim in Montana
The fate of a fish as old as the dinosaurs is being decided in Montana, says The New York Times. The Missouri River used to team with pallid sturgeon, but today only 125 of the fish, which can grow up to 6-feet and live as long as the average human, remain. Most environmentalists blame dams built to irrigate farmland for the species’ demise, since they block sturgeon eggs from moving downstream. “The eggs end up trapped in reservoirs like Lake Sakakawea, with a lot of sediment, a lot of bacteria and very little oxygen. There they suffocate and die,” says the Times.
Montana milk law stars in film on food waste
In the state of Montana, milk has to be tossed twelve days after pasteurization even though it can easily last up to 21 days. Storeowners can’t donate the extra gallons to food banks either. In the new film “EXPIRED? Food Waste in America” a team of researchers from Harvard investigate Montana’s spilled milk.