skip to main content
skip to newscasts

Friday, March 29, 2024

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

The latest on the Key Bridge collapse, New York puts forth legislation to get clean energy projects on the grid and Wisconsin and other states join a federal summer food program to help feed kids across the country.

view newscast page
play newscast audioPlay

Republicans float conspiracy theories on the collapse of Baltimore's Key Bridge, South Carolina's congressional elections will use a map ruled unconstitutional, and the Senate schedules an impeachment trial for Homeland Secretary Mayorkas.

view newscast page
play newscast audioPlay

Historic wildfires could create housing and health issues for rural Texans, a Kentucky program helps prison parolees start a new life, and descendants of Nicodemus, Kansas celebrate the Black settlers who journeyed across the 1870s plains seeking self-governance.

Animal Welfare Groups Cry Foul over Mass. Livestock Bill

play audio
Play

Monday, June 3, 2013   

SPENCER, Mass. - A livestock bill gets a hearing today in Massachusetts and it's drawing the ire of many animal welfare groups. The bill is touted as an act to promote the care and well-being of livestock, but according to Alexis Fox, the state director for the Humane Society of the United States, it's a power grab designed to do away with protections for animals used for food. She noted that the bill, drafted by the Farm Bureau, appoints an 11-member board, and while two of those seats will be made available to animal welfare groups, she said, they'll be a powerless minority.

"It specifically cuts animal-welfare organizations out of the process," Fox charged. "This board has the power to veto animal welfare regulations that are issued by the state."

The hearing for the livestock bill, sponsored by state representative Stephen Kulik (D-Worthington), is set for this morning in Spencer. Supporters of the measure claim it will help keep decisions about livestock local. Fox said however that the bill cuts out many local farm and animal welfare groups.

Fox believes the legislation is designed to counter the Massachusetts "Prevention of Farm Animal Cruelty Act," a bill her group backs that would prohibit the use of veal crates for calves and pig gestation crates for breeding pigs. Such crates, widely used in factory farming, keep the animals closely confined.

"The way it would impact farmers in Massachusetts, it would prohibit their use, and hopefully discourage farmers from ever even considering putting an animal in Massachusetts into one of these cruel confinement systems," the Humane Society leader declared.

Currently, there are no laws on the books in the state that would prohibit the use of veal or gestation crates. Maine and Rhode Island passed laws banning the extreme confinement of pigs and calves, and recently the Vermont and New Jersey Senates overwhelmingly passed similar legislation.

The hearing is at 10 a.m. today, June 3, at David Prouty High School, 302 Main Street , Spencer, MA 01562.The livestock Bill is H.753, Massachusetts Prevention Of Farm Animal Cruelty Act (S. 741)




get more stories like this via email

more stories
The U.S. Supreme Court heard arguments this week about the popular abortion pill Mifepristone and will weigh in on whether the U.S. Food and Drug Administration was correct in how it can be dosed and prescribed. (Ascannio/Adobe Stock)

Health and Wellness

play sound

Missouri residents are worried about future access to birth control. The latest survey from The Right Time, an initiative based in Missouri…


Social Issues

play sound

Wisconsin children from low-income families are now on track to get nutritious foods over the summer. Federal officials have approved the Badger …

Social Issues

play sound

Almost 2,900 people are unsheltered on any given night in the Beehive State. Gov. Spencer Cox is celebrating signing nine bills he says are geared …


The U.S. teaching workforce remains primarily white while the percentage of Black teachers has declined. However, the percentage of Asian and Latinx teachers is rising.(WavebreakMediaMicro/Adobestock)

Social Issues

play sound

Education advocates are calling on lawmakers to increase funding for programs to combat the teacher shortage. Around 37% of schools nationwide …

Environment

play sound

New York's Legislature is considering a bill to get clean-energy projects connected to the grid faster. It's called the RAPID Act, for "Renewable …

Social Issues

play sound

Earlier this month, a new Arizona Public Service rate hike went into effect and one senior advocacy group said those on a fixed income may struggle …

Social Issues

play sound

Michigan recently implemented a significant juvenile justice reform package following recommendations from a task force made up of prosecutors…

 

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