Topic - Department Of Agriculture

• Taste test taps virtues of rural water systems

  Boasting no color, no taste and no smell, the tap water from the Mount View-Edgewood Water Co. in Edgewood, Wash. (pop. 9,387) made a big splash, taking top honors Wednesday at the 13th annual national taste-test competition sponsored by the National Rural Water Association.

• 35 cases of illness tied to Pa. farm's raw milk

  Pennsylvania health officials say the number of people stricken with illness after consuming raw milk from the same dairy has risen to 35 in four states.

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  EDITORIAL: Another million dead

  Jan. 22 marked the 39th anniversary of the Supreme Court's decision in Roe v. Wade and corresponding abdication of social responsibility. The March for Life and other pro-woman and pro-life groups commemorated the day as they have every year since 1974, with vigils and gatherings across the country and a march from downtown Washington, D.C., to the Supreme Court.

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  School lunches to have more veggies, whole grains

  Schoolchildren's favorite lunch — the ubiquitous frozen pizza — is about to get healthier.

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  More tiny, but harmful, frogs showing up in Hawaii

  The coqui is a tiny, coin-sized frog whose distinctive nightly mating calls are a beloved sound in Puerto Rico and other Caribbean islands. But people in Hawaii don't share the same sentiment.

• Stenholm lobbying records erased after Open Range filing

  Senate disclosures show that former Rep. Charles W. Stenholm lobbied as recently as this summer for Open Range Communications, the now-bankrupt wireless company that owes U.S. taxpayers more than $70 million.

• Government fighting food stamp fraud

  Thinking of selling your federally subsidized food stamps on Craigslist? Uncle Sam says that's a big no-no, and anyone who advertises their "intent to sell" these benefits risks getting kicked off the nation's largest feeding program for the poor.

• American Scene

  More than 15 million children lived in poverty in 2010, about 1 million more than in 2009, the U.S. Census Bureau said Thursday.

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  MILLER: Trimming the welfare state

  Seventy-seven different federal government programs simultaneously attempt to address the needs of the poor. The cost of these programs is climbing faster than Social Security, Medicare or defense. The welfare issue hasn't been touched in over 15 years, so it's past time to streamline this overlapping and wasteful mess.

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  For Congress, school lunch rules are no small potatoes

  Congress is fighting to keep pizza and french fries on school lunch lines, picking apart an Obama administration proposal to make school lunches healthier.

• Congress pushes back on healthier school lunches

  Who needs leafy greens and carrots when pizza and french fries will do?

• Christmas trees won't raise a taxing issue for the White House

  Is the Obama administration really taxing Christmas trees?

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  Zoo to keep owner's exotic animals for now

  The six surviving exotic animals freed by their suicidal owner in Ohio will be kept under quarantine at a zoo for now instead of going to the man's widow, the state Agriculture Department decided Thursday.

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  GUNLOCK: Get ready for Uncle Sam's assault on salt

  Do you have a favorite snack food? Is it potato chips or cheese and crackers? Maybe you go for a candy bar, a protein bar or some salted peanuts to make it through the afternoon until dinner.

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  Senate votes for unlimited potatoes in schools

  The Senate threw its support behind the potato Tuesday, voting to block an Obama administration proposal to limit the vegetable on school lunch lines.

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