Declarations

Crop Protection

“A key to encouraging growers to plant these crops is to ensure that they can manage their risk with appropriate crop protection programs.”

—U.S. Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.) in her Feb. 16 letter to the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) urging the agency to expand crop insurance for barley in all counties in New York where production is possible.

Going with the Flow

“Just don’t tell the Highway Patrol.”

—Kansas state Rep. John Bradford, a Republican, who supports raising the highest speed limit on separated, multiple-lane highways in the state from 75 to 80 miles per hour. Bradford says many travelers in the region drive faster in open country.

Rule of Law

“I have to respect the rule of law. … I have to believe in our judicial system. I have to believe in democracy. I don’t think it’s a waste of time. Maybe we’ll see justice through the civil proceedings.”

—Karen Ireland, a city council member in Charleston, W. Va., comments on the conviction and one-month sentence for former Freedom Industries’ President Gary Southern. Freedom Industries was behind a 2014 chemical spill that contaminated the drinking water of 300,000 West Virginia residents. The maximum sentence Southern could have received was three years.

Resilience Within Reach

“Tornado-resilient designs of houses, or of any structure, is a thing within our grasp. … It’s something we can do, and we ought to do it.”

—University of Florida engineering professor David Prevatt, who surveyed damage in North Texas following a round of tornadoes — including one that was rated EF3 — that hit the area on Dec. 26, 2015. Many experts, including Prevatt, are encouraging communities to consider designing buildings to withstand twisters just as coastal communities build to survive hurricanes.

Workers’ Comp Matters

“I think once the court understands the impact that this has on workers, I’m hopeful they’ll reverse that decision they made.”

—Gail Evans, legal director of the New Mexico Center on Law and Poverty, said the group plans to file a motion requesting The New Mexico Supreme Court reconsider a stay in a case involving qualifying farm and ranch laborers across the state for workers’ comp benefits.