Deaths of two found after Iowa fire are suspicious
GRAND MOUND, Iowa (AP) — The deaths of two people whose bodies were found in a burned machine shed on a farm in eastern Iowa have been deemed suspicious.

Clinton County Sheriff Rick Lincoln says it’s unlikely that the victims died in Thursday’s fire south of Grand Mound. Their names have not been released. The cause of death is under investigation.

The bodies were discovered after firefighters extinguished the fire. Flames had engulfed the metal building by the time firefighters arrived around 7:15 p.m. Thursday. Autopsies are pending by the state medical examiner’s office.
Two Illinois teens electrocuted freeing raccoon from pipe

ST. LOUIS, Mo. (AP) — A tiny southern Illinois school’s senior class president and another popular classmate were electrocuted when they accidentally moved an aluminum irrigation pipe into an overhead power line while trying to free a raccoon inside the tube, a coroner said Friday.

Thursday night’s deaths of student officer Nick Bledsoe, 19, and Justin Eldridge, 18, by Friday had numbed students and staffers at Okawville Junior-Senior High School.

“Both students were what I consider the embodiment of the spirit and what this small community stands for – they are hard-working, fun-loving, genuine kids,” Superintendent Scott Fuhrhop said.

Mark Styninger, the county coroner, said Bledsoe and Eldridge were working on a farm Thursday night – by Fuhrhop’s account, spreading manure – when they spotted a raccoon slink into the 30-foot irrigation pipe. The two teens picked up the pipe to try to get the animal out of it when the pipe touched the power line.

Styninger said he pronounced the two dead about an hour later at a hospital, where they had been flown by helicopter. Autopsies were planned, and funeral arrangements were pending.

Like Bledsoe, a lover of the outdoors, Eldridge was a member of the local bass-fishing and trap-shooting teams. During a day last year honoring FFA, Fuhrhop said, Eldridge and one of his daughters shared a tractor they rode to school.

Man run over by tractor, in critical condition
MOUNT FOREST TOWNSHIP, Mich. (AP) — Authorities say a 69-year old mid-Michigan man who was run over by a farm tractor remains in critical condition.
Bay County sheriff’s deputies told WSGW-AM that Richard Dillan was standing next to the tractor in a barn about 3:45 p.m. March 1 when it slipped into gear and the vehicle’s rear tire struck him in Mount Forest Township.

Dillan was flown by helicopter to St. Mary’s Medical Center in Saginaw. An investigation is ongoing.

2011 CRP general signup opens March 14

INDIANAPOLIS, Ind. — Julia A. Wickard, executive director of USDA’s Farm Service Agency (FSA) in Indiana, announced Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack has set a general signup for the Conservation Reserve Program (CRP) to begin on March 14 and continue through April 15.

During the signup period, farmers throughout the region may offer eligible land for CRP’s competitive general signup at their county FSA office. Land not enrolled in CRP may be offered in this signup, provided all eligibility requirements are met.

Additionally, current CRP participants with contracts expiring this fall may make new contract offers. Contracts awarded under this signup are scheduled to become effective Oct. 1. FSA, which administers the CRP, will evaluate and rank eligible CRP offers using an Environmental Benefits Index (EBI) that shows the environmental benefits to be gained from enrolling the land in CRP.
In addition to the general signup, CRP’s continuous sign-up program will be ongoing. Continuous acres represent the most environmentally desirable and sensitive land. For more information, visit www.fsa.usda.gov/crp

Wolf named National Pork president
PHOENIX, Ariz. — Doug Wolf, a producer from Lancaster, Wis., today was named president of the National Pork Producers Council (NPPC). He was elected to the post for a one-year term at NPPC’s annual business meeting – the National Pork Industry Forum – held in Phoenix.

Wolf is a partner in Wolf L&G Farms LLC, with his wife, Kris, and son, Shannon. They run a 1,200-sow farrow-to-finish operation, which markets 24,000 hogs annually. The farm also includes a cow-calf herd, feedlot and 1,200 acres on which corn, soybeans and alfalfa are raised.

Wolf has served on the NPPC board of directors for the past five years. He has been involved with the Wisconsin Pork Assoc., the Grant County (Wis.) Pork Producers, the Wisconsin Farm Bureau and the National Cattlemen’s Beef Assoc.
“Doug has been a strong leader in the U.S. pork industry and brings that leadership and knowledge of pork industry issues to his new position as president of NPPC,” said NPPC CEO Neil Dierks. “He is a valuable asset to U.S. pork producers.”

Iowa stands by decision to kill roaming elk
WAUKON, Iowa (AP) — State officials are standing by a decision to kill a small herd of elk in northeastern Iowa to prevent the spread of chronic wasting disease or other livestock diseases to deer.

The Department of Natural Resources believes the elk escaped from captivity and pose too great a threat, despite a growing number of fans.

Dale Garner is the department’s wildlife bureau chief. The Gazette in Cedar Rapids stated he told a crowd of about 100 people at a meeting in Waukon that officials are required to eradicate free-roaming elk. Garner says if the owner can’t be found, an elk will be killed.

In the past few weeks, officials have killed three elk. At least two others are along the Yellow River in Allamakee County.