Maine Gov. Paul LePage recently said the Humane Society of the United States is cruel to animals because it advocates filming undercover videos of animal suffering rather than taking action to stop the suffering from happening. LePage, who is known nationally for his bombast and bluntness, made one comment that addresses something we should all think about. “(Hillandale) hired a gentleman to come in (and) take care of the chickens. So what did he do? He brought his camera and he was watching chickens doing things where they were being hurt. And he never lifted a finger. [node:read-more:link]

Law enforcement and veterinary officials are planning an outreach campaign to educate veterinarians about a new frontier in the opioid epidemic: people so desperate for drugs that they take medication that had been prescribed to pets. “The misuse of pet medication has serious safety implications — for people and animals,” said Middlesex District Attorney Marian T. Ryan, in a letter that will be printed in the Massachusetts Veterinary Medical Association newsletter this week. [node:read-more:link]

More importantly, the questions facing production agriculture in 2017 seem to be more critical than years earlier. With that said, here is our list of the 16 key questions facing production agriculture in 2017. 1. Are farm financial conditions stabilizing… or just getting serious? 2. Will the jump in producer sentiment meet reality? 3. Another year of above-trend yields? 4. Will La Nina make a splash? 5. Demand and grain exports have been strong. Will it continue? 6. Planting intentions? 7. Is wheat the canary in the coal mine? Or don’t worry about it? 8. [node:read-more:link]

While many U.S. states have mandates and incentives to get more of their electricity from renewable energy, Republican legislators in Wyoming are proposing to cut the state off from its most abundant, clean resource—wind—and ensuring its continued dependence on coal. A new measure submitted to the Wyoming legislature this week would forbid utilities from providing any electricity to the state that comes from large-scale wind or solar energy projects by 2019. It's an unprecedented attack on clean energy in Wyoming, and possibly the nation. [node:read-more:link]

Grid modernization investments are creating a construction boom across America -- largely driven by the deployment of solar. According to the Department of Energy's latest report on jobs in the energy sector, employment in the electric power sector rose 13 percent in 2016 as utilities and developers built new power plants, replaced aging equipment, and invested in new technologies to manage an increasingly complicated distribution grid.  There are now 860,869 people employed in the electric power sector, an increase of more than 101,000 jobs from 2015. [node:read-more:link]

Wisconsin has stood out nationwide for state officials’ hostility toward solar and other renewable energy sources, as codified in decisions by the Public Service Commission as well as moves by Gov. Scott Walker and state legislators. But there are also numerous bright spots in Wisconsin’s clean energy landscape, including leadership by rural electric cooperatives in renewable development.  [node:read-more:link]

In addition to the Department of Natural Resources, a second state agency has scrubbed information on global warming from its website. For years, the Public Service Commission featured material devoted to climate change, including strategies designed to reduce Wisconsin's reliance on coal. Then, sometime after May 1, the agency eliminated its global warming web page. The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel discovered the change when reviewing archived web pages of the DNR and the PSC. [node:read-more:link]

Some roads in Montpelier, Vermont, have gotten a bit rumbly. Faced with decaying pavement and a long list of capital projects to be funded, officials in Vermont’s capital decided in 2009 to grind up some of the city’s streets and combine the asphalt with underlying gravel. Since then, just over of a mile of Montpelier’s streets have been converted, said Thomas McArdle, the city’s public works director. Residents largely have embraced the change, he said, and it’s projected to save Montpelier at least half of what it would have spent to pave and maintain the roads over the next 20 years. [node:read-more:link]

The recent election was very controversial.  No, I am not talking about the Presidential election, but the measure that was passed in Massachusetts to prevent confinement rearing of several species including table-egg hens.   This measure is estimated to increase the food bill of each resident of that state by $45 per year.  I wish that we could somehow communicate more effectively how many advancements have been made in animal welfare in the last 15 years.  It has been a meteoric change in housing, audits to verify animal care, record keeping and handling.  We all appreciated how many chan [node:read-more:link]

Britain will leave the single market and the customs union. She wants this all wrapped up within the two years permitted by Article 50, the exit process she will launch by the end of March; ideally with a “phased process of implementation” afterwards covering things like immigration controls and financial regulation. In other words there will be no formal transitional period. There will, in fact, be a cliff edge of sorts. [node:read-more:link]