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On a bright day this fall, tractors crisscrossed Gayle Goschie’s farm about an hour outside Portland, Oregon. Goschie is in the beer business — a fourth-generation hops farmer. Fall is the off-season, when the trellises are bare, but recently, her farming team has been adding winter barley, a relatively newer crop in the world of beer, to their rotation, preparing barley seeds by the bucketful. In the face of human-caused climate change impacting water access and weather patterns in the Willamette Valley — a region known for hops growing — Goschie will need all the new strategies the farm can get to sustain what they produce and provide to local and larger breweries alike. All of a sudden, climate change “was not coming any longer,” Goschie said, “it was here.” BEER INDUSTRY EXPERT: BUD LIGHT’S DECLINE LOOKS ‘QUASI-PERMANENT,’ ‘THOSE CONSUMERS ARE JUST LOST FOREVER’ UFC ANNOUNCES BUD LIGHT AS ITS OFFICIAL BEER IN PARTNERSHIP WITH ANHEUSER-BUSCH Climate change is anticipated to only further the challenges producers are already seeing in two key beer crops, hops and barley. Some hops and barley growers in the U.S. say they’ve already seen their crops impacted by extreme heat, drought and unpredictable growing seasons. Researchers are working with growers to help counter the effects of more volatile weather systems with improved hop varieties that can withstand drought and by adding winter barley to the mix. Researchers have known for a while that beer production will be affected by climate change, said Mirek Trnka, a professor at the Global Change Research Institute. He and his team recently authored a study modeling the effect of climate change on hops, out last month in Nature Communications, that projected that yields in Europe will decrease between four to 18% by 2050. His first study on hops 15 years ago issued a similar warning to his latest paper. “If we don’t act, we’re just going to also lose things that we consider not to be, for example, sensitive or related to climate change. Like beer,” he said. SOME AMERICANS MOVING ON FROM BUD LIGHT BOYCOTT, MARKING ‘SIGNIFICANT IMPROVEMENT’ FOR BRAND: SURVEY Climate change moves faster than we might realize – but still too slowly for many to notice, he said. The fact that researchers have started picking up on this means that there’s promise for adaptation and solutions in the form of farming changes, but Trnka still has his concerns. Hops declines in Europe mean changes for American producers too. One craft brewery that gets some of their hops from Goschie said that the company is trying to replicate the flavors of German hops using new varieties grown in the U.S. because the ones they depend upon from Europe have been impacted by hot, dry summers over the last couple of years. That’s why some researchers are working on varieties of hops that can better withstand summer heat, warmer winters, changing pests and diseases and less snowfall, which could mean less available irrigation, said Shaun Townsend, an associate professor and senior researcher at Oregon State University. Townsend is working on a project where he subjects hops to drought stress to eventually create more drought-tolerant varieties. It’s no easy task, one that can take a decade, and one that also has to take into account brewers’ main considerations, taste and yield. But the possibility of running out of water is a reality that’s on people’s radars, he said. Better hops might still be a technology that’s a work in progress, but the story of barley improvements is already well underway. Kevin Smith, professor of agronomy and plant genetics at the University of Minnesota, said that while spring barley is the dominant type for the U.S. beer industry, winter barley – which is planted in the fall and kept on fields during the coldest months of the year – may be more feasible now in the Midwest, where other barley types had been given up due to climate, plant disease and economic factors in favor of crops that are less risky. Winter barley may also be desirable for craft breweries that have started emphasizing local ingredients and who want something grown close by. And it can also be grown as a cover crop, meaning that farmers can prevent erosion, improve their soil health and keep carbon stored in the ground by planting it during the off-season when fields are normally bare. But there hasn’t always been complete consensus on the promise of winter barley. Smith told a story about his predecessor, who was a longtime spring barley breeder. Another scientist – Patrick Hayes, a professor at Oregon State University – was describing to him his hopes for the future of winter barley. Smith’s predecessor wrote on a business card, “it can’t be done,” referring to his firm belief that winter barley just wasn’t worth the trouble. Hayes kept the card in his office, and has made it his life’s mission to work on improving winter barley. There are now winter barley programs at nearly every state in the country, said Ashley McFarland, the vice president and technical director of the American Malting Barley Association. She doesn’t think winter barley will ever be the entirety of the crop in the U.S., but says that producers will need to diversify their risk in order to be more resilient to climate shocks. Molson Coors and Anheuser Busch, the two biggest beer companies in the U.S., issue annual environmental reports that pledge commitments to sustainably sourcing hops and barley and reducing water usage, but neither company responded to an Associated Press request for comment on the specifics of those efforts. BUD LIGHT’S ISSUES ‘CONNECTING WITH MIDDLE AMERICA’ COULD HAVE BEEN AVOIDED, BEER INDUSTRY GURU SAYS Hops can be a finicky crop when it comes to their climate, and without water, you simply can’t make beer, said Douglass Miller, senior lecturer at Cornell who teaches a class on beer. He added that the price of beer might rise due to climate impacts on the supply chain — but so will the price of everything else on the menu. “All beverage categories are being impacted by this,” he said. No matter what farmers and companies do with hops and winter barley, climate change may affect what beer-lovers are able to buy in the future. “It will be increasingly difficult for us as plant breeders to provide new varieties of barley and new varieties of hops that can meet, just, all of the terrors of the climate change process,” Hayes said. “And I say terrors because … it’s that volatility, which is so, so frightening.”



Source link : https://www.foxnews.com/us/climate-change-hits-beer-industry-prompting-farmers-researchers-adapt

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Publish date : 2023-11-13 19:15:31

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“Squad” member Rep. Ilhan Omar, D-Minn., is to face a rematch in the 2024 Democratic primary to keep her House seat against former Minneapolis City Council member Don Samuels.  Samuels, who was narrowly defeated by Omar by just about 2 percentage points in the 2022 primary, announced Sunday that he will once again try to unseat the prominent House progressive. “Ilhan hasn’t helped herself,” Samuels said, after formally announcing his campaign on WCCO News Talk 830 Radio. “She has made missteps, even after the last race. There are some folks who are coming [to support me] because of what I am, who I am, and what I will do. And some are coming because of what she’s done and what she’ll do.” Omar won re-election twice despite making comments in her first term that were widely criticized for invoking antisemitic tropes and suggesting Jewish Americans have divided loyalties.  But Omar, a Somali American and Muslim, has come under renewed fire for condemning the Israeli government’s handling of its war against Hamas.  “We have to remember that Israel is our ally,” Samuels said of the conflict on WCCO. “Hamas is in fact a terrorist organization. But our number one allies are justice and peace.”  IRAQI-BORN MUSLIM REPUBLICAN RUNNING AGAINST OMAR CALLS OUT ‘HAMAS SQUAD’ AMID CRITICISM OF ISRAEL “Our congresswoman has a predilection to divisiveness and conflict,” Samuels said of Omar in an interview with The Associated Press ahead of his official announcement Sunday.  The Jamaican-born Samuels still maintains that his narrow primary loss in 2022 showed Omar was beatable, and that he could have won if they had competed later in the general election, where Omar won 74% of the vote over a little-known Republican in the staunchly blue district.  The big issue in 2022 was the future of policing in Minneapolis, which descended into violent rioting and protest following the 2020 death of George Floyd in police custody.  Omar was among the progressives who slammed former President Barack Obama for criticizing the “defund the police” movement as just a “snappy slogan.” “It’s not a slogan but a policy demand,” she posted on Twitter, now known as X. ADL LEADER SAYS ‘SQUAD’ HAVE ‘MARGINALIZED THEMSELVES,’ LOST INFLUENCE WITH RADICAL POSITIONS ON ISRAEL In contrast, the centrist Samuels helped lead the opposition that defeated a proposal on the city ballot in 2021 that arose from the “defund” movement and would have replaced the police force with a revamped public safety agency. Samuels thinks safety will be a top issue again. “The long tails of the George Floyd and COVID issues continue, with empty storefronts and empty strip malls because people don’t want to invest anymore. They don’t think it’s safe,” Samuels said. Omar issued a written statement Sunday touting her work in Congress and for her district, including fighting to combat climate change and codify abortion rights. She also noted her part in securing an affordable housing facility for veterans in Minnesota and a public safety measure that provides mental health support and services for victims of gun violence. CLICK TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP “Right-wing donors have targeted me since I first entered public life,” Omar said in the statement, which also accused Samuels of taking hundreds of thousands in contributions from far-right donors and political action committees. “If we’re going to stop Donald Trump, we need record turnout, and I am confident in our ability to drive turnout, particularly in a presidential election year.” The Associated Press contributed to this report. 



Source link : https://www.foxnews.com/politics/ilhan-omar-faces-democratic-primary-challenge-candidate-hitting-her-missteps

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Publish date : 2023-11-13 18:03:43

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Roughly 250 small animals that were transferred from California to Arizona may have ended up being fed to reptiles, according to two humane societies. Tucson TV station KVOA investigated the animals’ whereabouts in September, a month after 300 small animals were transferred from the overcrowded San Diego Humane Society to the Humane Society of Southern Arizona in Tucson. The Arizona Republic reported that the transfer was a collaboration between the two groups and that the animals then went to a man who ran a reptile breeding company that also sold both live and frozen animals for reptile feed. DOG THROWN OUT OF CAR IN OHIO IS REUNITED WITH ITS RIGHTFUL OWNER: ‘ACTIVELY INVESTIGATING’ ASPCA GIVES 2% OF BUDGET TO PET SHELTERS WHILE ‘HOARDING’ MILLIONS, PUSHING ‘ANTI-FARMER’ AGENDA: THINK TANK The newspaper said the man ended up returning 62 of the animals to the Tucson-based humane society, leaving about 250 rabbits, guinea pigs, rats and mice to an unknown fate. “We could not have conceived something like this happening in connection with our organization,” Humane Society of Southern Arizona board chair Robert Garcia said at a news conference Thursday. “I’m heartbroken for the animals, I’m heartbroken for our community, I’m heartbroken for our organization whose mission it is to protect and save animals.” The Humane Society of Southern Arizona fired its CEO last month and also accepted the resignation of its chief operating officer. MAINE’S SURGE IN CAT POPULATION CAUSES CROWDED ANIMAL SHELTERS: ‘SAD SCENARIO’ The Tucson organization now is considering legal actions against the reptile breeding company, with a completed report of its internal investigation expected next month. The San Diego Humane Society’s investigation remains ongoing.



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Publish date : 2023-11-13 17:18:30

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Sam Haskell IV, the 35-year-old Hollywood “#richkid” whose wife and in-laws are missing, is due in court Monday to face a judge after police found a woman’s headless torso in a dumpster near his house last week.  Over the weekend, as Haskell languished in a cell with Los Angeles’ courts closed for Veterans Day, posts from his bizarre TikTok account garnered new scrutiny as commenters picked apart his ramblings about designer fashion, celebrities and Asian cuisine. Police arrested Haskell at a mall in Canoga Park on Thursday, hours after responding to a bank parking lot in Encino, where a homeless man made the grisly find while searching through trash. Surveillance videos taken the prior afternoon show a thin man pulling up in a white SUV and struggling to toss something into the bin in a crowded parking lot in broad daylight. LOS ANGELES SURVEILLANCE VIDEO CAPTURES MAN DROPPING LARGE OBJECT IN DUMPSTER WHERE HEADLESS BODY FOUND Under the pseudonyms Tragic Streetz and Samuel Basshinger, he has posted a series of bizarre selfie videos on TikTok and highly produced short clips to Facebook. In one, while in the driver’s seat of a cluttered SUV, he says, “Like, my resume says unhappy, bitter, resentful, and like really good at ordering off the menu.” Another showed him filming his reflection in a window, appearing to pose with music playing. “What in the Luka Magnotta is this?” wrote one commenter, a reference to the infamous killer whose capture was chronicled on Netflix’s docuseries “Don’t F— with Cats.” A tipster told Fox News Digital Friday that people found Haskell’s behavior in the parking lot suspicious and that a passerby took pictures of the license plate and sent the number to police. Police said they could not immediately identify the remains – but they believed they belong to Mei Haskell, the suspect’s 37-year-old wife who has been missing for days. Her parents, Goashan Li, 72, and Yanxiang Wang, 64, lived with the couple and are also unaccounted for. Authorities said the Haskells’ three young children have been removed from their Tarzana home – now a crime scene – as the investigation continues.  Prosecutors had 48 hours after Haskell’s arrest to bring him before a judge. However, Los Angeles courts observed Veterans Day on Friday, which paused the clock for the entire three-day weekend. SUSPECT IN LOS ANGELES TORSO DUMPSTER CASE IS HOLLYWOOD SCION WHOSE WIFE, IN-LAWS ARE MISSING Police visited Haskell’s home twice last week. On the first occasion, a group of day laborers told them they had been asked to remove suspicious bags that felt heavy and soggy. However, responding officers found no evidence at the scene and were forced to leave. They returned with a search warrant Thursday morning and found blood and other evidence inside, LAPD Detective Efren Gutierrez told reporters. Haskell’s famous dad was a longtime A-list talent agent who represented stars like Dolly Parton and George Clooney before becoming an Emmy-winning producer. He received four Emmy nominations and a single win for teaming up with Parton on “Christmas on the Square.” LOS ANGELES HOMELESS MAN DIGGING THROUGH TRASH DISCOVERS HUMAN TORSO IN PLASTIC BAG; SUSPECT ARRESTED He was also a longtime Miss America Organization CEO, who left in a scandal after leaked emails showed him disparaging former winners. A&E’s “Secrets of Miss America” miniseries chronicled the dad’s decline in June, which included allegations of sabotaging the career opportunities and romantic lives of pageant winners. The younger Haskell, meanwhile, used to maintain an Instagram account where he frequently posted about his Hollywood lifestyle under the hashtag #richkids.  The suspect Haskell’s mother is the former beauty queen and actress Mary Donnelly Haskell, 1977’s Miss Mississippi. Haskell was scheduled to be due in court at 8:30 a.m. Monday.



Source link : https://www.foxnews.com/us/hollywood-heir-sam-haskell-tiktok-rants-emerge-suspect-headless-torso-case-heads-court

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Publish date : 2023-11-13 16:14:53

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A senior Jewish New York Democrat lawmaker called on the leaders of the “Ceasefire Now camp” to publicly “urge” people to stop tearing down posters of Israeli hostages. Rep. Jerry Nadler, D-N.Y., posted on X Monday calling for the prominent “Ceasefire Now” members to tell people to stop tearing down the posters of Israelis kidnapped by the Palestinian terrorist group Hamas. Nadler wrote the posters being torn down is causing “hostilities” and “altercations” and that releasing the hostages is the fastest way toward a ceasefire. NEW YORK TIMES ACCUSED OF ‘BOTH-SIDING’ PRO-PALESTINIAN PROTESTORS TEARING DOWN POSTERS OF KIDNAPPED CIVILIANS “An earnest request to well-intended people, particularly those with large followings, in the Ceasefire Now camp: urge people publicly to stop tearing down hostage posters,” Nadler wrote. “It’s creating hostilities/altercations that aren’t good for anyone,” he continued. “And of course, hostage release is the quickest route to ceasefire.” Eva Borgwardt, IfNotNow’s national spokesperson, told Fox News Digital, “We don’t support tearing down posters of kidnapped Israelis.” “We call for a ceasefire and the return of Israeli hostages and Palestinian prisoners unjustly held captive,” she continued. “We urge Rep. Nadler to work towards a ceasefire — the quickest route to hostage release.” KARINE JEAN-PIERRE SKEWERED ONLINE FOR INITIAL REFUSAL TO CONDEMN VANDALISM OF HOSTAGE ISRAELI POSTERS Nadler’s call comes as videos of anti-Israel and pro-Palestinian protesters tearing down the kidnapping victims’ posters have gone viral online. The viral videos of anti-Israel and pro-Palestinian protestors tearing down posters of civilians taken by Hamas during the October 7 terrorist attack have inundated social media, and at least one journalism watchdog has accused The New York Times of “both-siding” the issue.  The posters have been plastered across public spaces and universities throughout America, and multiple social media accounts have dedicated themselves to posting video of people tearing them down. Some of the people caught tearing down the posters have lost jobs and been publicly shamed, while others seemed to embrace being caught in the act of destroying them. Anti-Defamation League CEO Jonathan Greenblatt blasted the “inhumane” act of tearing down the posters. “It is hard for me to think of something more inhumane than tearing down posters of babies who are kidnaped by a terror organization,” Greenblatt told Fox News Digital. “These people, I would encourage them to move to Gaza, if you feel so strongly. I would love to see these people relocate to Gaza and see how well they do,” Greenblatt continued. “I mean it — all these activists, all these people parading around with their sanctimony, you know, moralizing against the vast majority of us, send them to Gaza to do their protesting. I hope it goes well for them.” Some have been irked at The New York Times’ recent coverage of the hostage posters being torn down. An Oct. 31 report headlined, “How Posters of Kidnapped Israelis Ignited a Firestorm on American Sidewalks,” dove into the polarization of the posters. Fox News Digital’s Brian Flood contributed reporting.



Source link : https://www.foxnews.com/politics/ny-dem-calls-ceasefire-now-camp-demand-people-stop-tearing-down-israeli-hostage-posters

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Publish date : 2023-11-13 15:28:32

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