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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.

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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.

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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.

MI Ag Sector Takes National Spotlight With Presidential Visit

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Thursday, February 6, 2014   

EAST LANSING, Mich. – Move over, Motor City. It might be time for Michigan to be known as the Ag State.

That's according to experts who say President Barack Obama's choice of Michigan as the spot to sign the federal Farm Bill highlights the role the growing industry plays in the state's turnaround.

Jennifer Holton, communications director for the Michigan Department of Agriculture and Rural Development, says it's high time the rest of the state and the nation recognize that over the years, Michigan has quietly become an agricultural powerhouse.

"There's continued interest and pride in watching Michigan's food and agriculture industry continue to grow,” she stresses. “It's always sort of been the little engine that could. They just kept going and going and going."

Obama is expected to sign the nearly $1 trillion Farm Bill during a speech at Michigan State University on Friday.

Holton says even many Michiganders are surprised to learn just how much the state's food and agriculture industry has grown. She says it now employs nearly a quarter of Michigan's population.

"We are actually the second most diverse agriculture state in the U.S., second only to California,” she points out. “And total economic impact for food and agriculture is about $96 billion dollars – billion with a B."

Holton adds passage of the Farm Bill and the president's visit to Michigan also highlight the advocacy of Sen. Debbie Stabenow of Michigan, who chairs the Agricultural Committee and was a driving force behind the compromise measure.






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