Peanut Butter News

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LAVEEN, Ariz — Don’t tread on Andy C. McDonel.

This year, Mr. McDonel began flying a yellow “Don’t Tread on Me” flag on his roof in this unincorporated area just outside Phoenix. The historic banner — which dates to 1775, when it was hoisted aboard ships during the initial days of the Revolutionary War — has been adopted by the Tea Party movement. But Mr. McDonel said that he had unfurled the flag for its historical significance and nothing else

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(CNN) — Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents have arrested nearly 400 illegal immigrants — including 347 with prior criminal convictions — over a three-day operation throughout the Midwest, the agency announced Friday.

The arrests in Illinois, Indiana, Wisconsin, Kansas, Missouri, Michigan, Ohio, Iowa, Minnesota and Nebraska were part of the agency’s “Cross Check” operations that began in 2009 and are being held across the country.

Full Story at CNN.com

(CNN) — The number of eggs recalled in a nationwide salmonella scare has grown to more than half a billion.

Iowa egg producer Hillandale Farms of Iowa is voluntarily recalling some 170.4 million eggs distributed to stores and companies that service, or are located in, 14 states, a spokeswoman at the Egg Safety Center said on Friday.

The Hillandale eggs were distributed under the Hillandale Farms, Sunny Farms, and Sunny Meadow brand names in six-egg cartons, dozen-egg cartons, 18-egg cartons, 30-egg packages, and five-dozen-egg cases, the website for the Egg Safety Center said.

Full Story atYahoo.com

JUNEAU, Alaska – Anyone who has ever stepped foot on an airplane in Alaska is keenly aware of the dangers that lurk in every mountain pass and cloud on the horizon.

Ted Stevens was so mindful of the risks that he once called plane crashes an occupational hazard for politicians in Alaska, and he spoke from experience. He survived a plane crash in 1978 that killed his wife.

The crash that killed Stevens and four others on a salmon fishing trip this week has served as another tragic reminder about just how dangerous flying is in Alaska.

Full Story at CNN.com

(CNN) — Investigators will be on the scene Wednesday of a plane crash that killed former U.S. Sen. Ted Stevens and four others. Also, autopsies are expected to be completed by the end of the day.

Brutal terrain and bad weather on the remote Alaska mountain kept survivors waiting 12 hours for rescue after the crash, officials and witnesses said Tuesday.

“The weather was very challenging for those responding,” said Deborah Hersman, chairwoman of the National Transportation Safety Board.

Full Story at money.cnn.com

NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) — With wheat futures soaring to their highest level in two years, you could soon find yourself paying more for a loaf of bread at your local grocery store.

The price of wheat has surged more than 80% from its seven-month low in June. Prices continued to rally Thursday, surging to their highest level since August 2008, after Russia said it would ban grain exports until Dec. 1 due to a drought that has destroyed more than 20% of its wheat crop.

Full Story at msnbc.com

ON THE GULF OF MEXICO — BP said Wednesday that it had reached the “desired outcome” in a procedure in which it pumped mud down the throat of the blown-out well that is leaking in the Gulf of Mexico.

BP spokeswoman Sheila Williams said the mud is holding the oil down. She called the initial results “a very big deal.”

However, it doesn’t mean the well has been ultimately killed. The company will decide its next steps during the day Wednesday, Williams added.

Full Story at msnbc.com

DOVER, N.H. — In 1632, John Tuttle arrived from England to a settlement near the Maine-New Hampshire border, using a small land grant from King Charles I to start a farm.

Eleven generations and 378 years later, his field-weary descendants — arthritic from picking fruits and vegetables and battered by competition from supermarkets and pick-it-yourself farms — are selling their spread, which is among the oldest continuously operated family farms in America.

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WASHINGTON — Senate Democrats on Thursday gave up plans to attempt to pass an energy-global warming bill that caps greenhouse gases, abandoning a priority of President Barack Obama.

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid said no Republican was willing to back a comprehensive energy bill, a development he called “terribly disappointing.”

Democrats have been trying for more than a year to pass a plan that charges power plants and other large polluters for their heat-trapping carbon emissions, which contribute to global warming. The House voted 219-212 last year for a “cap and trade” plan featuring economic incentives to reduce heat-trapping gases from power plants, vehicles and other sources.

Full Story at CNN.com

(CNN) — The Utah Department of Workforce Services has moved to fire two employees believed to have created and distributed a list containing personal information of 1,300 purported illegal immigrants, officials said Tuesday.

The agency terminated a temporary worker and issued an “intent to terminate employment” notice to the other, spokesman Dave Lewis said. The latter career employee is on paid administrative leave pending a hearing, he said.

Information from a completed internal review of the data leak will be given to the state’s attorney general Wednesday for possible legal action, the department said.

Full Story at CNN.com

(CNN) — The U.S. is urging Pyongyang to release an American held captive after reports that the man attempted suicide in a North Korean prison.

Swedish diplomats met with Aijalon Mahli Gomes, a U.S. State Department official confirmed Friday. He declined to release details about the 31-year-old’s condition, citing respect for the family’s privacy.

Full Story at CNN.com

Porter Holder vividly remembers the day in 1998 when he left a U.S. Department of Agriculture loan office in Oklahoma empty-handed.

He had applied for a low-interest USDA loan to help keep a farm in family ownership. He says he expected his application to be accepted. He had kept his debt at a minimum and developed a plan for supplementing his income. He believes he was turned down because he’s Native American, a member of the Choctaw tribe.

“The day I walked out of there, I knew why he denied me,” Holder said.