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PNS - Friday, June 7, 2024 - President Biden and World War II veterans honor the 80th anniversary of D-Day. Fani Willis' prosecution of former President Trump is stalled. And a college organization creates a space for Israeli and Palestinian students to talk about their differences.
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PNS - Friday, June 7, 2024 - Salt Marsh Initiative aims to protect SC Lowcountry from storm surges; Biden mixes D-Day commemoration with warnings about democracy's vulnerability; Environmental groups want say in Critical Mineral Agreements; CT church hosts STEM advocacy talks for Hispanic students.
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The Floral Park Addition, platted in 1914, is the focus of Butte Citizens for Preservation and Revitalization’s annual Dust to Dazzle tour this year.
The event runs from noon to 5 p.m. on Saturday, June 29.
In 1913, Ed Bolever and his partner Ira Brown acquired 113 sagebrush acres on the Flat and set about to make a neighborhood of trees and gardens, which they advertised as a “transplanted California.” They named the spot Floral Park and its primary street Floral Boulevard.
The tour includes the 1916 home at 2735 Floral Blvd. that Mr. Bolever and his wife Susan built for themselves to be a showpiece of the community.
The other featured properties in and around Floral Park are: 2945 Bayard St. – United Congregational Church. Mr. Bolever donated the lots for this Mid-Century Modern church and turned over the first shovel of dirt at the 1952 groundbreaking.
2904 State St. – This early 1940s house typifies the Minimal Traditional style of architecture. The house was purchased sight unseen in 2020, and the current owner has put much effort into restoring its original charm while updating it for modern living.
1900 Wall St. – This is a modern reconstruction of a Craftsman home built at this same location in 1910. The original home burned in 2008, and the owners set about to lovingly recreate it.
3031 Burlington St. – This beautifully restored Craftsman home was built in 1918, back when Lake Avoca was nearby. It was featured on a previous tour but merits an encore due to additional updates.
This year’s silent auction is located nearby at the Home Atherton Fire Hall, 3900 Sheridan Ave.
Tour-goers can browse at their own pace and visit the featured properties in whatever order they choose.
Tickets are $20 each. They will be available at all properties on tour day and may be purchased in advance at Isle of Books and Books, 43 E. Broadway, The Corner Bookstore, 1877 Harrison Ave., and Second Edition Books, 112 S. Montana St.
This event is Butte CPR’s main fundraiser for its Historic Improvement Program grant fund. For more information, visit www.buttecpr.org.
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By Mark Moran - Producer-Editor, Contact - News
Big Sky Connection - A prominent animal-welfare group has released a report that names restaurant chains it says are falling behind on their commitment to ban gestation crates, small cages where poultry, pigs and other livestock are raised in the food-service supply chain. Some are doing well, the report says, but others are lagging. Comments from Devon Dear, institutional outreach manager, Animal Equality.
Click on the image above for the audio. Montana is not among the list of states outlawing or restricting restaurants' use of meat products from producers using gestation crates to raise their livestock for the food chain. (Adobe Stock)
Mark Moran
June 6, 2024 - A prominent animal-safety group is calling on restaurants to do more to ban the use of animal gestation crates where livestock and poultry are grown for meat.
A new report from the group Animal Equality said some chains have made progress but many are lagging.
Dozens of U.S. restaurant companies pledged to end the use of gestation crates for pregnant pigs in their supply chains back in 2008. Since then, 11 states have either restricted their use or outlawed them. Montana is not among them. In fact, one online store said it serves the Dakotas and Montana with swine-confinement facilities.
Devon Dear, institutional outreach manager for the group Animal Equality, said some restaurant chains still do not comply but she is encouraged others do.
"We've seen some really big players in this industry move away from crates," Dear outlined. "McDonald's, Wendy's, Jack in the Box, Chipotle, Shake Shack, Panera Bread; these companies have all either significantly reduced or eliminated crates. We know that it can be done successfully."
Gestation crates are about the same size as an airplane seat, and are breeding grounds for disease. The report lists Denny's, Chick-fil-A, Dunkin, and KFC among 13 companies it said have not been aggressive enough in reducing their use of the crates. Dear hopes the Farm Bill now being debated in Congress will put the issue in the spotlight.
In Montana and other Plains and Midwest states, gestation crates mirrored the proliferation of large factory farms in the 1980s and '90s, where thousands of animals are confined in limited areas. The operations have created health and environmental problems.
Dear emphasized Animal Equality is concerned with the threats those conditions pose to animal welfare.
"When you have this many animals in one place, you're getting really high concentrations of feces, you're having all of the environmental impacts of this," Dear explained. "Pigs produce a ton of waste and this has to be disposed of properly to not make nearby communities sick."
Dear argued the higher the pigs' stress levels, the higher the use of antibiotics, which often run off with manure into groundwater. Montana's factory farmers have said they are responding to consumer demand for more consistently raised, high-quality pork and other products. Animal Equality's report shows 80% of consumers are concerned about the treatment of factory-farmed pigs.
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