skip to main content
skip to newscasts

Monday, March 17, 2025

Public News Service Logo
facebook instagram linkedin reddit youtube twitter
view newscast page
play newscast audioPlay

Trump administration deports hundreds of immigrants, even as a judge orders removals be stopped; Sierra Club sues DOGE over mass firings; Lack of opportunity pushes rural Gen Zers in AZ out of their communities; Fixing one problem, creating another? Ohio's lead pipe replacements.

view newscast page
play newscast audioPlay

Secretary of State Rubio pledges more arrests like that of student activist Mahmoud Khalil. Former EPA directors sound the alarm on Lee Zeldin's deregulation plans, and lack of opportunity is pushing rural Gen Zers out of their communities.

view newscast page
play newscast audioPlay

Farmers worry promised federal reimbursements aren't coming while fears mount that the Trump administration's efforts to raise cash means the sale of public lands, and rural America's shortage of doctors has many physicians skipping retirement.

Industrial farming in NC, US becomes breeding ground for bird flu

play audio
Play

Thursday, March 6, 2025   

Industrial farming practices could be boosting the spread of bird flu.

Avian influenza has been detected in poultry across the country, including in North Carolina, where 3.3 million birds had to be culled because of the disease at one farm alone in January.

Rania Masri, co-director of the North Carolina Environmental Justice Network, said concentrated animal feeding operations used for poultry are a breeding ground for disease.

"CAFOs by design amplify the formation, the mutation and the spread of new viruses," Masri explained. "Which can very simply and quickly transform into a full-blown epidemic."

Masri pointed out industrial farms in North Carolina disproportionately affect low income communities and communities of color. Her organization signed a letter with other public interest groups calling for more transparent data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The North Carolina Environmental Justice Network is also calling on the state to be more transparent with its data.

Craig Watts, a farmer and director of the contract grower transition program for the Socially Responsible Agriculture Project, said diseases like bird flu at large industrial operations can create bottlenecks, such as during the COVID-19 pandemic when farms did not have workers and had to kill their birds.

"While they're killing those birds in the field, now our shelves are empty," Watts observed. "If you have smaller, more localized, regional, you might have an issue in, say, North Carolina but maybe it wouldn't affect Nebraska like a breakdown in the industrial system will."

Masri believes the control of the industry by a small handful of corporations is bad for democracy.

"The only thing that the industrial farming is good for is the shareholders of these mega-corporations," Masri contended.


get more stories like this via email

more stories
Trash 2 Trends designers create runway looks from items headed to the landfill. Proceeds from the event fund recycling initiatives, litter prevention and community beautification in Orlando. (Trimmel Gomes)

Environment

play sound

What if your trash could be the key to a more sustainable wardrobe? The group Keep Orlando Beautiful is proving it is possible with its annual "Trash…


Social Issues

play sound

As the Trump administration continues to implement aggressive immigration policies, many Hispanic residents in Florida, a key voting bloc for Trump…

Social Issues

play sound

Cuts to the U.S. education system are expected to create a profound ripple effect on students and staff in Hamtramck's already struggling school …


The Trump administration is working to lower air-quality standards, which could allow easier permitting for the oil and gas industry. (Travelview/Adobe Stock)

Environment

play sound

Local leaders in California are slamming the Trump administration's moves to gut dozens of environmental policies on climate change and pollution in l…

Health and Wellness

play sound

Ohioans are seeing changes in their water infrastructure as cities work to replace lead service lines, a requirement under federal regulations…

Clean=energy advocates say wind and solar projects in Texas are reducing air pollution, saving water, supporting the grid and combating the global warming that threatens native ecosystems. (Peter Adams/Adobe Stock)

Environment

play sound

Clean-energy advocates in Texas are closely monitoring a bill before the Legislature that, if passed, could stop the development and operation of …

Environment

play sound

The Sierra Club is taking the Trump administration to court, joining a slew of legal challenges over the mass firings of federal workers. Sierra …

Health and Wellness

play sound

The Kentucky Board of Medical Licensure recently proposed new changes to regulations around the prescribing and dispensing of buprenorphine, also …

 

Phone: 303.448.9105 Toll Free: 888.891.9416 Fax: 208.247.1830 Your trusted member- and audience-supported news source since 1996 Copyright © 2021