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Nancy Martiny didn’t know what she was doing when she made her first saddle. It took her almost a year of stolen afternoons — between ranching, rodeoing and raising three children in rural Idaho — to complete it. But because she did it under the guidance of a renowned saddlemaker, Dale Harwood, that first saddle turned out well. “And that gives a man the confidence that I know what I’m talking about.” The orders started rolling in. And for more than three decades, they haven’t stopped.

Persons: Nancy Martiny didn’t, Dale Harwood, cowgirl, “, ” Martiny, haven’t Organizations: Idaho — Locations: Idaho

☆ Montana Has More Cows Than People. Why Are Locals Eating Beef From Brazil?
▼ + stars: | 2024-06-13 | by ( Susan Shain | Rebecca Stumpf | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

“Making It Work” is a series is about small-business owners striving to endure hard times. While many people can conjure up romantic visions of a Montana ranch — vast valleys, cold streams, snow-capped mountains — few understand what happens when the cattle leave those pastures. Even here, in a state with nearly twice as many cows as people, only around 1 percent of the beef purchased by Montana households is raised and processed locally, according to estimates from Highland Economics, a consulting firm. As is true in the rest of the country, many Montanans instead eat beef from as far away as Brazil. Any ranchers who want to break out from this system — and, say, sell their beef locally, instead of as anonymous commodities crisscrossing the country — are Davids in a swarm of Goliaths.

Persons: don’t, JBS, Tyson, Davids Organizations: Highland Economics, Tyson Foods, Cargill, Foods, Walmart, Costco Locations: Montana, Brazil

☆ How Free School Meals Went Mainstream
▼ + stars: | 2024-05-21 | by ( Susan Shain | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

At those schools, all students get free breakfast and lunch, regardless of their family’s income. “We’ve done a lot of good things to feed kids here in Butte,” Mr. Marthaller said. But introducing universal free meals, he added, was “probably the best thing we ever did.”Advocates for free school meals have pushed for them to be offered to every student for a long time, but saw significant progress in the last decade and a half. Their first big win came quietly, in 2010, when Congress passed an under-the-radar policy called the community eligibility provision, which made it easier for schools to serve free meals to all. Then, during the Covid-19 pandemic, the federal government let every public school student eat for free, rapidly transforming the nation’s thinking around school meals.

Persons: Kurt Marthaller, fuming, “, ” Mr, Marthaller Locations: Butte, Mont

Nearly half of all flash flood deaths are vehicle-related, experts say, which is why you should never drive into a flooded street. Here’s what to do in advance — and in the moment — to get through a flash flood safely. A “flash flood warning” means a flash flood is imminent or already occurring, and you should immediately move to higher ground if you’re outside or in a basement apartment. The most dire alert is a “flash flood emergency,” which indicates that not only is flooding occurring, but it’s posing a severe threat to human life. “People need to realize that most people who lose their footing in a flash flood don’t get out,” she said.

Persons: there’s, ”, Bonnie Schneider, Schneider, it’s, Hurricane Ida, You’ll, Ready.gov, David Markenson, ‘ It’s, Sabine Marx, I’m, Julie Munger, Munger, “, Dr, Markenson, you’re, don’t, they’re, Ms, Lynn Burttschell, Burttschell, Eugene Resnick, ’, ” Susan Shain Organizations: National Weather Service, Federal Emergency Management Agency, Cross Training Services, Columbia University’s National Center for Disaster Preparedness, Sierra Rescue, FEMA, Wimberley, Metropolitan Transportation Authority, New York Times Locations: United States, New York City, New York, Madison, Wis

☆ Can Plastic Recycling Ever Really Work?
▼ + stars: | 2023-09-01 | by ( Susan Shain | More About Susan Shain | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +2 min

The decision to revert the designation came after the Recycling Partnership, another industry-funded group, gave $6.7 million to recycling facilities to expand their acceptance and sorting of polypropylene.The group now estimates that more than half of recycling facilities in the United States accept and sort the material. Paul Nowak, the executive director of How2Recycle’s parent organization, sees this as a success story. The Environmental Protection Agency estimates that just 2.7 percent of polypropylene containers and packaging was reprocessed in 2018. While Keefe Harrison, chief executive of the Recycling Partnership, acknowledges that little polypropylene is being turned into new material right now, she argues that more investment in sorting and reprocessing facilities would improve the chances. Polypropylene recycling is at a “tipping point,” she said, noting that Oregon is considering including polypropylene on a forthcoming list of recyclable materials that municipalities are required to collect, sort and sell.

Persons: Paul Nowak, ”, Dell, Keefe Harrison, Matt Seaholm Organizations: Recycling Partnership, Environmental Protection Agency, Partnership, Recycling, Plastics Industry Association Locations: United States, Oregon

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