Monthly Archives: February 2019

2020 Dietary Guidelines Advisory Committee Announced By USDA

U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Sonny Perdue and U.S. Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Alex Azar have announced the appointment of 20 nationally recognized scientists to serve on the 2020 Dietary Guidelines Advisory Committee. Here is the list of DGA Committee members: Jamy Ard (Wake Forest School of Medicine) Regan Bailey (Purdue University) Lydia Bazzano […]

U.S. Considering Replacing Metal Tariffs With Quotas: Perdue

According to Bloomberg, U.S. trade negotiators are working to replace aluminum and steel tariffs with “reasonable quotas Canada and Mexico can live with,” Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue said. “The removal of the tariffs is in the interest of all, and we’re advocating to the administration to do that,” Perdue said at House Agriculture Cmte hearing […]

Official Reaction To Pritzker’s Budget Address

Gov. J.B. Pritzker recently delivered his first budget address in which he proposed increasing spending on education, social services and public safety while also stabilizing the state’s crippling financial problems. But his plan to restore the state to financial health is ultimately predicated on moving Illinois to a graduated income tax – a process that […]

People Who Don’t Understand Science Oppose GMOs The Most, Says Study

People who most intensely oppose genetically modified food think they know a lot about food science, but they actually know the least. That’s according to a peer-reviewed paper published in January in the journal Nature Human Behaviour, NPR reports.  The survey, conducted by four universities, asked 2,000 people in Europe and the United States how much they […]

MN Gov. Walz Proposes $49 Billion Budget

MN Governor Tim Walz has released his 2-year budget proposal totaling $49.4 billion dollars for the next biennium, roughly a $2 billion dollar increase from the current biennium which ends June 30th. Proposed are new gas tax revenues, increased revenues through conforming to the 2017 federal Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (TCJA), and maintaining the […]

Pritzker Signs Bill Raising IL Minimum Wage To $15 By 2025

IL Governor J.B. Pritzker signed a minimum wage hike into law Tuesday. The minimum wage would increase gradually every year, until it hits $15-an-hour in 2025. Currently, the state minimum stands at $8.25-an-hour. It increases from $8.25 by $1 on Jan. 1, and jumps to $10 on July 1, 2020. Then, it increases $1 each […]

Pritzker Set To Deliver IL State Budget Plan

IL Gov. JB Pritzker will lay out his budget proposal for the next year during a noon speech today.  During his much anticipated budget address he is expected to highlight the state’s dire fiscal picture, while also proposing new streams of revenue and a boost in education funding, according to an administration source. The state […]