Chronic wasting disease spreads farther west in Alberta. Chronic wasting disease in deer has spread farther west into the province and within five years will likely be found at Edmonton’s outskirts and in Calgary, says a University of Alberta biologist. [News Source]

Auditions: ‘A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum’ from Mad Cow Theatre Here’s an audition notice for “A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum” from Mad Cow Theatre: MAD COW THEATRE is holding auditions by appointment only on Sunday, March 6, 2011 for its upcoming production of A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum with Book by Burt Shevelove and Larry Gelbart and [...] [News Source]

$20 tickets to Mad Cow’s ‘Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf’ Here’s a great deal from Mad Cow Theatre: A limited number of $20 tickets to the theater’s terrific production of “Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?” There are only four performances left, this Thursday-Sunday. To take advantage of the $20 tickets, mention the “Twenty” deal over the phone, or use coupon code “TWENTY” if ordering online. Showtimes are: 7:30 [...] [News Source]

Cozad man pleads guilty to fake mad cow reports The Associated Press The Associated Press LINCOLN, Neb. A Cozad man has pleaded guilty to mailing false reports for a federal mad cow disease inspection program. The Lincoln Journal Start reports that Galen Niehues pleaded guilty Thursday to mail fraud in U.S. District Court in Lincoln. During the hearing, prosecutors said Niehues was employed by the Nebraska Department of Agriculture between ... [News Source]

Cozad man pleads guilty for faking mad cow tests A Cozad man accused of filing fake mad cow inspection reports has pleaded guilty to mail fraud in federal court in Lincoln. [News Source]

Rise of the ‘hegans’. The realities of modern life -- the obesity epidemic, the exposure of factory farming practices and the environmental price of meat production among other forces -- are converging and may start breaking up the marriage between "the guy" and his monster burger. [News Source]

U.S. beef exports set record in 2010, bouncing back from mad cow scare The U.S. exported $4.08 billion of beef in 2010, topping the record set in 2003 before an outbreak of mad cow disease sapped shipments, the Cattlemen's Beef Promotion and Research Board said. [News Source]

Sweden probes possible mad cow death Health officials in Sweden are looking into whether a woman who recently died from Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease (CJD) may have had mad cow disease. [News Source]

The end of BSE. The BSE epidemic cost us billions, and devastated the British farming industry. Now, that plague is at an end. A few days ago, in New Scientist, we described how just 17 cases were recorded worldwide in cattle last year. [News Source]

Bio-cremation: Support for bio-cremation bill dissolves under scientific scrutiny, but a revival is brewing. Assemblyman Jeff Miller needed one more vote last spring on his bill to legalize "bio-cremation," a chemical process that he called a water-based alternative to incineration. But as it turns out, dissolving corpses in chemicals may not be so green. [News Source]