Grazing the Net: Snake oil defined
Dr. Oz aired a segment on beef last week. It wasn't pretty.
The show claims to have found a beef "whistleblower," and the segment was titled "Is America's beef healthy?" I think we all know the answer Dr. Oz found. Increasingly, however, folks are sounding the alarm about Dr. Oz, too.
For instance, a group of "real world" doctors conducted a review of the claims made on The Dr. Oz show.
They found "less than one-third of it can be backed up by even modest medical evidence." Further, the doctors said nearly 4 in 10 of the assertions made on the show appear to be made on the basis of no evidence at all. And that, folks, is the definition of snake oil.
Rally seeks "Justice for Jack"
Four months after Idaho rancher Jack Yantis was shot and killed by Adams County sheriff's deputies at the front gate to his property, the Idaho State Police are wrapping up their investigation.
The incident took place on Nov. 1, 2015, after a vehicle crashed into the rancher's bull. ISP says their detectives have worked continuously on the case for four months, and will soon be handing their results over to the Idaho Attorney General's Office. The deputies involved remain on suspension.
Residents of Council, Idaho, and the nearby ranching community gathered for a rally on Saturday with the message "Justice for Jack."
No July Cattle Report
Citing budgetary constraints, USDA's National Agricultural Statistics Service has suspended it's mid-year cattle inventory report.
The report is an inventory of U.S. cattle and calves, and is normally issued twice a year. It was next due on July 22. "The decision to suspend this report was not made lightly, but was necessary, given our available fiscal and program resources," the department said on its website.
Chipping away at California's drought
Six weeks remain in California's rainy season, and the drought-ending predictions tied to El Niño are seeing mixed results. Rain drenched the Bay Area this weekend,
and fresh snow blanketed the Sierra Nevada as the first of several powerful storms hit the Western states this weekend.
Still, California as a whole seems on track to have only an average precipitation year.
The west remains the only area with widespread drought.
