Schafer addresses farm bill, Canadian BSE and Cuban trade (The Prairie Star) There has been no shortage of problems or concerns to face for the U.S. Department of Agriculture's new secretary, Ed Schafer. [News Source]

Activities (The Lakeland Ledger) TODAY DETROIT TIGERS EASTER SUNRISE SERVICE BAY AREA RENAISSANCE FESTIVAL MARY J. BLIGE, JAY Z KENNY G Mad Cow Theatre quot MONTY PYTHON'S SPAMALOT quot [News Source]

USDA beef recall creates challenge (Tri-State Neighbor) Bo Reagan concedes the beef industry is facing a huge challenge after the USDA recalled 143 million pounds of meat produced at a California plant. [News Source]

Lessons learned from largest U.S. meat recall (AG Weekly) Not since Upton Sinclair’s 1906 book “The Jungle” has the American meat market been this shaken. [News Source]

Worker sentenced in slaughterhouse abuse. A man caught on video dragging sick cows and shocking them at a Southern California slaughterhouse has been sentenced to six months in jail. [News Source]

Young people’s production sends audience into the future (Kern Valley Sun) Sierra Performing Arts (SPA) went Sci-Fi last weekend as they presented 'SAFE,' the musical fantasy adventure written by SPA member Mary Hanawalt, which featured young performers from throughout the Kern River Valley. [News Source]

Man sentenced in cattle abuse case (Contra Costa Times) CHINO -- One of two men charged with animal cruelty after being caught on videotape apparently abusing cattle at a Southern California slaughterhouse has been sentenced to six months in prison. [News Source]

Inspectors didn’t catch cattle abuse in California (The Des Moines Register) Washington, D.C. -- The undercover videos were bad enough: packing-plant workers abusing sick or disabled cattle and dragging at least one of the cows to be slaughtered, a violation of federal food-safety standards. [News Source]

Jail time for slaughterhouse case (The Monterey County Herald) CHINO (AP) — One of two men charged with animal cruelty after being caught on videotape apparently abusing cattle at a Southern California slaughterhouse has been sentenced to six months in jail. [News Source]

New Insights Into The Diversity Of Creutzfeldt Jakob Disease Agents (Medical News Today) Researchers from the United Kingdom and France have identified four separate biochemical subgroups in a selection of cases of Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease. The study, published March 14th in the open-access journal PLoS Pathogens, suggests that these subgroups could represent distinct prion strains in what is the most common human prion disease. [News Source]