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☆ Gucci’s horsebit loafer is still a coveted status symbol 70 years on
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-08 | by ( Leah Dolan | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +5 min

Despite their vastly differing personal styles and occupations, they have all been spotted in a pair of Gucci horsebit loafers. In mid-June, coinciding with the menswear shows at Milan Fashion Week, Gucci will stage an exhibition celebrating the legacy of its signature loafer. In 1974, George H. W. Bush wore a pair of horsebit loafers to meet then-President Gerald Ford. Through the decadesThe success of Gucci’s horsebit loafers has been far-reaching, and the secret to their ongoing relevance may lie in the shoe’s versatility. The horsebit loafer is Gucci’s answer to the near-philosophical question: What shoes do I wear?

Persons: George H, Bush, ’, Jane Birkin, Wiz Khalifa, Gucci horsebit, Gucci, loafers, Gerald Ford, David Hume Kennerly, Birkin, Francis Ford Coppola, Sophia Loren, Charlotte Casiraghi, Jodie Foster, Brad Pitt, Zoe Kravitz, Gigi Hadid, Guccio Gucci —, —, Aldo, Rodolfo, Vasco, Guccio, Serge Gainsbourg, Gucci’s, Alessandro Michele, JB Lacroix Organizations: CNN, Metropolitan Museum of, Milan Fashion, Golden Globe, MTV VMA, Savoy, Wall Locations: Cannes, Monégasque, London, Florence, Italy, New York, France

☆ Look of the Week: J. Smith Cameron makes the case for party pajamas
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-02 | by ( Leah Dolan | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +3 min

Don’t cry because “Succession” is over, smile because J. Smith Cameron wore an extravagant set of feather-trimmed pajamas to the finale watch-party. Discovery, parent company of CNN) were mourning the end of “Succession,” Smith Cameron — who plays Waystar general counsel Gerri Kellman — and her stylist Cat Pope gave us something to grin about. The look even received the approval of Sex and the City’s Kim Cattrall, who simply commented: “Perfect.”The Sleeper set worn by J Smith Cameron retails for $390 on the brand's website. That The Sleeper set takes its sartorial cues from this era, and that it’s being worn by Smith Cameron, is a knowing wink. This is Smith Cameron’s silver screen moment, and she’s dressing for it.

Persons: Smith Cameron, ” Smith Cameron —, Gerri Kellman —, Cat Pope, ” Smith Cameron, Kim Cattrall, Cameron Smith It’s, ” Smith, ”, J Smith Cameron retails, Sylvia Pedlar, Anna Sui, Christy Turlington, Naomi Campbell, Linda Evangelista —, mary janes, Sarah Burton, Alexander McQueen, Gigi Hadid, Morgan, Jean Harlow, Smith, Hollywood starlets Vivien Leigh, Shirley Ross Organizations: CNN, Warner Bros, Twitter, Hollywood, Bettmann Locations: New York, Ukrainian

Eligibility requirements for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) became a lightning rod in negotiations of the debt deal. The debt plan passed by the House of Representatives on Wednesday and by the Senate on Thursday contains work requirements to get food benefits. It would also expand those work requirements to adults aged 50 to 54, a group that had previously been exempted. Republicans argued during negotiations that expanding work requirements would help more SNAP recipients get jobs and reduce their dependence on federal aid. Some progressive lawmakers cited the work requirement issue as their reason for not supporting the debt deal.

Persons: Ty Jones Cox, Ellen Vollinger, Kevin McCarthy, Kofi Kenyatta, Colleen Young, Young, Leah Douglas, David Gregorio, Tom Hogue Organizations: Congress, Supplemental, Assistance, Food, Budget, Democrats, Republicans, SNAP, Veterans, Food Research, Action, Congressional, Office, Greater, Greater Pittsburgh Community Food Bank, Thomson Locations: UpTogether, Greater Pittsburgh

☆ Exclusive: Staff at top U.S. farm research center file complaint alleging unsafe work conditions
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-19 | by ( Leah Douglas | Thomson Reuters | Washington-Based Award-Winning Journalist Covering Agriculture | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +11 min

The Beltsville Agricultural Research Center (BARC) near Washington D.C. is the largest research facility owned by the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) and has long been the flagship of U.S. farm research. “Our employees’ health and well-being is our top priority," a spokesperson at USDA’s Agricultural Research Service (ARS), which oversees BARC, told Reuters. STAFF CUTSFounded in 1910, the BARC facility spans nearly 7,000 acres in Prince George’s County, Maryland, near the nation’s capital. The unreliable conditions are affecting research outcomes, making it at times impossible to complete experiments or replicate their findings, said two research employees. On February 22, several BARC employees met with Thomas Shanower, the director of USDA’s Northeast Area, a division that oversees 15 research centers, including BARC.

If Biden and McCarthy reach a deal, possibly as soon as Sunday, Congress could struggle to get enough votes for passage ahead of a June. Liberal Democrats, including Senator Raphael Warnock and Representative Ro Khanna, put Biden on notice that they do not support more stringent requirements to existing law. Republicans have called for saving $120 billion by expanding work requirements to qualify for food aid, monetary help for poor families and other assistance. Warnock accused Republicans of "using poor people as pawns" in negotiations, saying their proposal "presupposes that poor people are in some way morally deficient. The Republican-controlled House Ways and Means Committee describes the steps as "common-sense work requirements to help lift families out of poverty and revitalize the American workforce."

☆ Cannes red carpet looks 2023: All the fashion from the 76th film festival
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-17 | by ( Leah Dolan | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: 1 min

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WASHINGTON, May 16 (Reuters) - Rural electric cooperatives, utilities, and other energy providers will soon be able to apply for nearly $11 billion in grants and loans for clean energy projects, funded by the $430 billion Inflation Reduction Act signed into law last August, the Biden administration said on Tuesday. Expanding clean energy to rural communities is critical to meeting the administration's goal of net-zero emissions by 2050, officials told reporters on a Monday press call. Rural electric cooperatives will be eligible to apply beginning July 31 for $9.7 billion in grants for deploying renewable energy, zero-emission, and carbon capture systems, the Department of Agriculture (USDA) said. Rural electric cooperatives serve 42 million people and draw about 22% of their energy from renewable sources, according to the National Rural Electric Cooperative Association (NRECA). The new funds will help rural electric cooperatives reach parity with private utility companies who have already begun significant investment in clean energy, Vilsack told reporters.

WASHINGTON, May 16 (Reuters) - Rural electric cooperatives, utilities, and other energy providers will soon be able to apply for nearly $11 billion in grants and loans for clean energy projects, funded by the $430 billion Inflation Reduction Act signed into law last August, the Biden administration said on Tuesday. Expanding clean energy to rural communities is critical to meeting the administration's goal of net-zero emissions by 2050, officials told reporters on a Monday press call. Rural electric cooperatives will be eligible to apply beginning July 31 for $9.7 billion in grants for deploying renewable energy, zero-emission, and carbon capture systems, the Department of Agriculture (USDA) said. The new funds will help rural electric cooperatives reach parity with private utility companies who have already begun significant investment in clean energy, Vilsack told reporters. Rural electric cooperatives serve 42 million people and draw about 22% of their energy from renewable sources, according to the National Rural Electric Cooperative Association.

REUTERS/Evelyn HocksteinWASHINGTON, May 15 (Reuters) - Expanding work requirements for the largest U.S. food assistance program is still a "red line" in negotiations over raising the country's debt ceiling to avert a looming default, Senate Agriculture Committee Chair Debbie Stabenow said Monday in an interview with Reuters. Republicans, whose party control the House of Representatives, have proposed increasing work requirements for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), also known as food stamps, as part of a spending deal. Expanding work requirements for SNAP would affect about 1 million people, the Department of Agriculture has estimated. "It is a red line as far as I’m concerned," the senator said of tying the expansion of work requirements to the debt ceiling talks. The debt ceiling plan released by Republican House Speaker Kevin McCarthy in April would raise that top age to 56.

☆ Biden attacks news outlets for 'lies of conspiracy and malice'
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-30 | by ( David Shepardson | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +4 min

[1/3] U.S. President Joe Biden addresses the annual White House Correspondents Association Dinner in Washington, U.S., April 29, 2023. Speaking at the annual White House Correspondents' Association dinner, Biden referred to "truth buried by lies," in an apparent reference to false conspiracy theories that his 2020 election win was the result of a massive voter fraud. Lies of conspiracy and malice repeated over and over again designed to generate a cycle of anger and hate and even violence," Biden said. That cycle, Biden added, has emboldened local jurisdictions to ban books, and "the rule of law and our rights and freedoms to be stripped away." Biden said he and his administration were "here to send a message to the country and quite frankly to the world.

WASHINGTON, April 26 (Reuters) - The Biden administration said on Wednesday the plan from U.S. Republican lawmakers to cut federal spending for a decade in exchange for raising the debt ceiling would cost rural communities thousands of jobs and billions of dollars. The House of Representatives could vote as soon as Wednesday on the plan proposed last week by Speaker Kevin McCarthy. There would be 2,700 fewer firefighters to handle wildfires, 125,000 fewer rural households connected to high-speed internet, and 84,000 fewer farmers and ranchers receiving assistance in implementing conservation practices, the USDA said. Under the new version, expanded work requirements would go into effect in 2024 instead of 2025. About 275,000 people would lose benefits each month under the plan, the Congressional Budget Office said Tuesday.

April 25 (Reuters) - Nearly one million Americans could find it harder to access federal food aid under a Republican proposal to expand the program’s work requirements, according to the Biden administration, which has promised to veto the plan if it passes Congress. The expanded work requirements for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) were included in a plan released last week by Republican House of Representatives Speaker Kevin McCarthy to cut federal spending and raise the debt ceiling. Existing SNAP work requirements apply only to such adults up to age 50. The expansion could affect nearly 1 million people, said a U.S. Department of Agriculture spokesperson. About 42.4 million people are receiving SNAP benefits this year, the agency said.

They said two in five people seeking food assistance in the Atlanta region this year have not done so before. In central Ohio, the local food bank says the number of households seeking aid has increased by nearly half since last year. Craig Gundersen, a Baylor University economics professor who is a prominent researcher for Feeding America, said that food banks experiencing spikes above COVID levels are outliers. The Highland Food Pantry in Winchester, Virginia, said it served about 90 families a week during the pandemic. In early April, White visited a community center to donate old clothes and noticed a line for the food pantry.

Four food banks told Reuters that demand is up between 46 and 125% since last spring, and that visits to their pantries are as high or higher than they were at the height of the pandemic. "But for food banks, we're still deep in a crisis." Food banks also feel the pinch: two organizations told Reuters their food costs are up 25 to 30% this year compared to last spring. Democrats in Congress negotiated a compromise with Republicans to end the benefits in exchange for a new summer food program for children. The Department of Agriculture (USDA) said in December that it would allocate an additional $1 billion to food banks to meet rising demand.

WASHINGTON, April 12 (Reuters) - Meat companies should examine their supply chains for evidence of child labor, the Biden administration said in a letter sent to top meatpacking companies on Wednesday. The letter is part of an effort by several agencies, led by the Department of Labor, to curb the use of illegal child labor across sectors. In February, the Labor Department found that more than 100 children had been illegally employed by Packers Sanitation Services Inc, a company that contracts with meat-packers to clean slaughterhouses. Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack asked meat and poultry companies in the letter to determine whether illegal child labor is being used in their supply chains and to adopt stronger child labor standards for subcontractors. The Department of Agriculture is exploring enforcement mechanisms that would allow stronger oversight of child labor use in food supply chains and plans to take future steps on the issue, an agency spokesperson said.

☆ Thousands of Israelis march to illegal West Bank outpost as tensions mount
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-10 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

Summary Israelis push for outpost recognition as tensions mount in occupied West BankNetanyahu's Likud party sinks in recent pollsIsraeli-British citizen succumbs to wounds after West Bank shooting attackPalestinian teen killed by Israeli forces in West Bank raidJERUSALEM, April 10 (Reuters) - Thousands of Israelis, including government ministers, marched towards the evacuated outpost of Evyatar in the occupied West Bank on Monday to support settlement expansion, as tensions mounted between Israelis and Palestinians. [1/5] Israeli settlers hold a protest march from Tapuach Junction to the Israeli settler outpost of Evyatar, in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, April 10, 2023. REUTERS/Nir Elias 1 2 3 4 5"Tragic news that Leah Dee has also died following the abhorrent attacks in the West Bank," UK foreign minister James Cleverly on Twitter. In February, Israel granted retroactive recognition to eight illegal West Bank outposts, also condemned by international organizations. Palestinians want an independent state in the West Bank and Gaza with East Jerusalem as its capital - territories Israel captured in a 1967 war.

☆ After growing GM corn for decades, some US farmers open to Mexican restrictions
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-06 | by ( Tom Polansek | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +5 min

"I'm all for free and fair trade," said Fred Huddlestun, who grows GM corn and soybeans in Yale, Illinois. Supporters of the policy say GM corn can contaminate Mexico's age-old native varieties and have questioned its impact on human health. NCGA said GM corn is safe and it will fight all illegal trade barriers for farmers. But many would consider growing more non-GM corn, if the price were right. "You need to make it worth my while," said Illinois farmer Dave Kestel, who grows GM corn and sells seed for Corteva.

Companies United States Department of Agriculture FollowWASHINGTON, March 31 (Reuters) - Rural small businesses and farmers will be eligible to apply for $1 billion in grants to invest in clean energy beginning Saturday, the U.S. Department of Agriculture and the White House announced on Friday. The money, funded by the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA), will be distributed through the USDA's Rural Energy for America Program (REAP) and is meant to further the Biden administration's efforts to cut climate-harming emissions across the American economy. The grant money can be used to install renewable energy systems - like solar panels, wind turbines, or biomass projects like anaerobic digesters that process animal manure to generate renewable fuels like biogas - or to make energy-efficient improvements, the USDA said. The funded projects will create jobs, reduce emissions, and improve rural resiliency in the face of a changing climate, said Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack on the press call. The IRA provided more than $2 billion for REAP, which the administration anticipates will fund projects for 41,500 farms and small businesses, according to the USDA website.

WASHINGTON, March 26 (Reuters) - U.S. House of Representatives Speaker Kevin McCarthy said on Sunday lawmakers will move forward with legislation to address national security worries about TikTok, alleging China's government had access to the short video app's user data. "The House will be moving forward with legislation to protect Americans from the technological tentacles of the Chinese Communist Party," McCarthy said on Twitter. In Thursday's hearing, the TikTok CEO was asked if of the app, has spied on Americans at Beijing's request. Republican Representative Neal Dunn then referenced the company's disclosure in December that some China-based employees at ByteDance improperly accessed TikTok user data of two journalists and were no longer employed by the company. McCarthy, a Republican, said in a tweet on Sunday, "It's very concerning that the CEO of TikTok can't be honest and admit what we already know to be true — China has access to TikTok user data."

The planned closure of the plant has left dozens of Virginia chicken growers scrambling to find new buyers in a region with few other options. Tyson alerted Virginia farmers by phone on March 13 and later by mail that it will shut its Glen Allen plant on May 12, according to three poultry farmers who supply the plant. The USDA, which enforces the PSA, told Reuters it is "closely monitoring" Tyson's planned plant closure. 'WE'RE DONE'Under normal circumstances, Tyson supplies farmers with chicks, while farmers assume the costs of land and chicken houses. On Monday, about 20 Tyson farmers and local government officials gathered in a fire station in Burkeville, Virginia, and raised concerns about Tyson's short timeline for closure of the plant, attendees said.

[1/2] An undated handout photo from Eat Just, Inc shows a GOOD Meat takeout meal product in Singapore. Eat Just, Inc/Handout via REUTERSWASHINGTON, March 21 (Reuters) - California-based cultivated meat company GOOD Meat has received clearance from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to bring its lab-grown chicken to market, according to agency documents released on Tuesday. GOOD Meat's chicken is the second cultivated meat product to receive a "no-questions" letter from the FDA after California-based UPSIDE Foods got the regulator's green light for its cultivated chicken breast last November. GOOD Meat plans to initially sell its product at restaurants owned by chef José Andrés, known for his work on global food security. Cultivated meat companies say the product provides environmental benefits because it could cut down on the 14.5% of the world's greenhouse gas emissions derived from livestock.

Some living above Navigator's proposed sequestration site are also worried that carbon dioxide stored 5,800 feet underground could seep upward and contaminate their groundwater with carbonic acid, which is formed when carbon dioxide meets water. This came two months after a senior ICC engineer recommended that the commission deny the company's application because it had not secured the necessary sequestration site, the commission's docket shows. The company did not share the number or percent of easements it has secured over its proposed sequestration sites. The two other major carbon pipeline projects are working to secure underground carbon storage space. Summit has negotiated easements with landowners for more than 85% of its sequestration site in North Dakota, the company told Reuters.

Mexico published a presidential decree on genetically modified (GM) corn in late 2020, saying it would ban GM corn in the diets of Mexicans and end the use the herbicide glyphosate by Jan. 31, 2024. The new decree eliminated the deadline to ban GM corn for animal feed and industrial use, by far the bulk of its U.S. corn imports. The new plan bans only GM corn used for dough or tortillas but leaves the door open to gradually substituting GM corn for animal feed and industrial use in the future. Some sector experts have said they worry that Mexico's restriction on GM corn, if successful, could set a precedent, prompting other countries to take a similar approach and disrupting the global corn trade. Corn for human food use comprises about 21% of Mexico's corn imports from the U.S., according to a representative from the National Corn Growers Association, citing U.S. Grains Council data.

REUTERS/Nick Carey/File PhotoWASHINGTON, March 6 (Reuters) - Several federal agencies will work together on competition issues in the seed sector as part of a broader Biden administration push to enhance competition in agriculture, the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) announced Monday. The USDA, Patent and Trademark Office, Department of Justice, and Federal Trade Commission will start up a working group on intellectual property and competition in the seed and agricultural input sector, USDA said. USDA is also creating a "farmer seed liaison" role to deliver on recommendations in a report released by the agency today on how to promote competition in the seed industry. USDA issued a $73 million round of funding under the same program last fall. Reporting by Leah Douglas in Washington and Karl Plume in Chicago Editing by Nick Zieminski and Sharon SingletonOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

March 6 (Reuters) - Companies labeling their meat, poultry, or eggs as a U.S. product must raise and slaughter the animals within the country under a new rule proposed by the Biden administration on Monday. The administration and U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) pledged to review the "Product of USA" and "Made in the USA" label standards for meat early last year as part of a broader strategy to encourage competition in the economy as a whole and in the highly consolidated meat sector. "American consumers expect that when they buy a meat product at the grocery store, the claims they see on the label mean what they say," Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack said in a statement. U.S. meat labeling has been contentious for years. The "Product of the USA" label will remain voluntary under USDA's proposed rule.

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