KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — A Kansas federal jury awarded nearly $218 million on June 23 to farmers who sued Swiss agribusiness giant Syngenta over its introduction of a genetically engineered corn seed variety.

Syngenta vowed to appeal the verdict favoring four Kansas farmers representing roughly 7,300 growers from that state, in what served as the first test case of tens of thousands of U.S. lawsuits assailing Syngenta’s decision to introduce its Viptera seed to the U.S. market before China approved it for imports.

The Kansas trial and a Minnesota one next month involving about 60,000 cases will provide guidance for how the complex web of litigation in state and federal courts could be resolved.

Experts speaking for the farmers who sued said they estimate the economic damage at about $5 billion, though Syngenta has denied its actions caused any losses for farmers. Calling Viptera “in full compliance with U.S. regulatory and legal requirements,” Syngenta added, “American farmers shouldn’t have to rely on a foreign government to decide what products they can use on their farms.”

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. (AP) — The FBI has located the car that a missing Chinese scholar studying at the University of Illinois was last seen getting into earlier in June, the FBI said last week.

The University of Illinois Police Department and the FBI received numerous leads regarding the black Saturn Astra that surveillance video showed Yingying Zhang getting into on June 9, the agency said in a statement. FBI spokesman Brad Ware declined to provide further details, including where and when the car was found.

The FBI is offering up to $10,000 for information leading to the location of the 26-year-old woman. The disappearance has been labeled a kidnapping, but police have not ruled out other scenarios. Local police and the FBI said her case is top priority.

The agriculture sciences scholar disappeared moments after stepping off a bus on her way to sign an apartment lease. Zhang has been researching crop photosynthesis and was expected to begin work on her Ph.D. in the fall, according to the school.

SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (AP) — ABC and a South Dakota meat producer announced a settlement June 28 in a $1.9 billion lawsuit against the network over its reports on a beef product that critics dubbed “pink slime.”

The terms of the settlement including its amount are confidential. Dakota Dunes-based Beef Products, Inc. (BPI) sued ABC in 2012, saying ABC’s coverage misled consumers into believing the product is unsafe, is not beef and isn’t nutritious. ABC spokeswoman Julie Townsend said in a statement that throughout the case the network has maintained its reports accurately presented the facts and views of “knowledgeable people” about the product.

“Although we have concluded that continued litigation of this case is not in the company’s interests, we remain committed to the vigorous pursuit of truth and the consumer’s right to know about the products they purchase,” Townsend said.

After the reports aired, some grocery store chains said they would stop carrying ground beef that contained the product. BPI claimed in the 2012 complaint that sales declined from about 5 million pounds per week to fewer than 2 million.

BPI has said the sales drop forced it to close plants in Iowa, Kansas and Texas and lay off more than 700 workers. “This agreement provides us with a strong foundation on which to grow the business, while allowing us to remain focused on achieving the vision of the Roth and BPI family,” the company and family stated.

PRAIRIEBURG, Iowa (AP) — Thunderstorms that spun off tornadoes as they rumbled across Iowa injured at least two people as of Friday, mowed down crops and damaged homes and farm buildings.

Tornadoes were reported June 28 in several eastern Iowa counties. Linn County authorities said a woman was injured when the roof of her garage collapsed on her near Prairieburg. She was taken to a hospital for treatment of non-life-threatening injuries. Several semitrailers were overturned at Nagel Grain on the south side of torn, and a roof was torn off a Prairieburg home.

Fremont County authorities in western Iowa said a tornado touched down in a rural area between Sidney and Shenandoah, flattening crops.

Dee Ossian, 66, told the Omaha (Nebraska) World-Herald she and her 7- and 12-year-old grandsons were hurrying to shelter in an outdoors root cellar at her home near Shenandoah when swirling winds tugged the boys away from her. The younger boy, Sam, suffered a few scrapes, Ossian said.

CROSSVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — A more than $100 million wind farm project in Tennessee has been put on hold after state lawmakers passed a year-long moratorium on new turbines being installed in the state.

The Crossville Chronicle reported developer Apex Clean Energy of Charlottesville, Va., cited “current market conditions’’ for suspending the project.

The Crab Orchard wind farm located on the Cumberland Plateau about 100 miles east of Nashville, was projected to power 20,000 homes. The site is located on a privately owned 2.8 square-mile property behind a limestone quarry, though the 23 turbines would be visible from Interstate 40.

 

The moratorium was sponsored by Crossville Republican Rep. Cameron Sexton, who has said residents of a nearby retirement community worried about losing value on their homes and that the windmills would be noisy or harm wildlife. Gov. Bill Haslam told reporters he doesn’t support banning all future wind energy projects in the state.