Latest news with #Schweitzer
Yahoo
2 days ago
- Business
- Yahoo
Class action lawsuit touching Montana beef industry sees $83 million settlement from JBS Foods
A USDA employee at work at Cargill Meat Solutions is pictured in Friona, Texas, on Sept. 20, 2022. (USDA Photo /Preston Keres) An $83 million settlement in a large class action lawsuit led in part by a Montana nonprofit against JBS Foods and other meat processing companies is accepting claims from cattle producers. The lawsuit alleged price fixing among four companies that control almost 85% of the meat processing industry in the country — including JBS Foods, a U.S. subsidiary of a Brazilian firm. The lawsuit also names Tyson Foods, Cargill and National Beef. In court documents, JBS denied wrongdoing. 'JBS denies Cattle Plaintiffs' allegations, denies any and all wrongdoing in connection with the facts and claims that have been or could have been alleged against it in the Action, and asserts that it has a number of valid defenses to Cattle Plaintiffs' claims,' a court filing stated. The lawsuit was brought by the Farmers Union and the Ranchers Cattlemen Action Legal Fund United Stockgrowers of America, which is known as RCALF-USA. The legal fund, RCALF-USA, is a Montana-based nonprofit. The legal battle with the companies in the suit is likely not over, said Walt Schweitzer, the president of the Montana Farmers Union. Tyson, Cargill and National Beef have yet to conclude their parts of the suit in court. 'I do anticipate more developments with the other three (defendants), but it's in the court system, and it's anybody's guess how quickly it'll proceed,' Schweitzer said. The suit covers those who sold cattle to JBS Foods and its subsidiaries between June 1, 2015, to Feb. 29, 2020. A website, has been set up to handle the claims, which have to be filed by Sept. 15, 2025. 'We filed this case after witnessing the inexplicable collapse of fed cattle prices beginning in 2015,' R-CALF USA CEO Bill Bullard said in a press release, 'Our case has been working its way through the court for six years now, and we will continue in our effort to recover as much as we can for American cattlemen.' Montana is a beef producing state and there are currently about 1.2 million beef cattle in the state. Including calves, that totals more than 2 million head. Schweitzer said the monopolization of the cattle industry was the biggest issue facing it. 'Price gouging, not just the producers, but the consumers, has been an ongoing issue for really decades, and Farmers Union has facilitated other lawsuits against the big four in the past. This is the farthest we've gotten, as far as settlement and discovery documents,' Schweitzer said. 'So we're getting to the bottom of it, but there's still a lot of discovery left to be made.' The class action lawsuit alleges the defendants 'conspired to fix and suppress' prices of fed cattle, or beef cows that are fed a concentrated diet to add weight before slaughter. Companies like JBS Foods and other meatpackers make their money on the 'meat margin,' or the difference between what they buy the cattle for and what they sell the processed meat for. Because it takes time for cattle to be old and large enough to be slaughtered, the price of meat does not move very fast. 'Beef demand is also relatively insensitive to changes in price (and) the meat margin is very sensitive to changes in aggregate industry slaughter levels,' the complaint states. 'Consequently, Packing Defendants can increase the meat margin, and thus their profitability, by working cooperatively to reduce their respective slaughter volumes, thereby depressing the price of fed cattle.' Using a system of complex contracts, the JBS Foods lawsuit alleges the companies artificially lowered the price of beef. The contract system and the formulas to set the sale price are relatively new, Schweitzer said, noting they were essentially unheard of 40 years ago. The packing companies get most of their meat — about 70% — through contracts at a price to be determined at delivery. Those prices in part come from the 'weekly cash cattle market,' which represents about 25% of beef sales. The contracts are also dated, meaning companies could manipulate the cash price of cattle on days when cattle on contract are brought in to be slaughtered. The companies named in the suit 'cratered' the cash cattle trade, the complaint alleges. 'Defendants used their market power and the relatively small cash cattle trade to their advantage and embarked upon a conspiracy to depress fed cattle prices that began no later than January 2015 and continues through to this day,' the suit alleges. The suit also says the companies let meatpacking plants go idle and that the defendants imported foreign beef cattle, 'after it became uneconomical for them to do so.' Cattle production is big business in America, and more than 2.5 million cows are slaughtered every month, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture. It takes about 15 to 24 months for a cow to go from birth to slaughter. JBS is also politically active. The company donated $5 million to Trump's inauguration, Forbes reported, far more than Meta, Amazon, Uber and even Nvidia. JBS, the largest meatpacking company in the world, was recently tagged with a $64 million fine in Brazil for raising cattle on illegally deforested land in the Amazon, although it did not admit wrongdoing in the case. The company has been beset by other legal woes and two billionaire shareholders went to jail in Brazil after bribing 1,800 politicians.
Boston Globe
03-05-2025
- Politics
- Boston Globe
In Montana, a rare sight: Republicans and Democrats voting together
That has made it all the more aggravating for conservative lawmakers to find themselves effectively in the minority this year. Advertisement After an intraparty dispute in January, nine Republican state senators began breaking with their caucus on key votes, siding with the 18 Democrats in the 50-person chamber. The result: a 27-person majority that has all but locked Republican leaders out of power. Get Starting Point A guide through the most important stories of the morning, delivered Monday through Friday. Enter Email Sign Up Some or all of the Nine, as the Republican defectors are known, have voted with Democrats to reauthorize a Medicaid expansion, establish a child tax credit, increase access to maternal health care, and pass the state budget. They have helped block bills that would have weakened labor unions, made state judicial elections more partisan, and established an unlimited hunting season on wolves. On Wednesday, the session's final day, they again broke with their party, pushing through a property tax cut to assist residents struggling with soaring home values. Advertisement The unusual alliance shows that for all the seeming unanimity in the MAGA movement, Republicans can still clash over policy objectives and the wielding of power. And in an era when advancing legislation often loses out to mocking the opposing party, it shows that some on the right remain more interested in getting things done. It could prove to be something of a blip: a reversion to bygone reflexes toward compromise belying Montana's steady drift to the right. Yet, former governor Brian Schweitzer, a Democrat, said politicians elsewhere could learn from the Nine. 'What they've done is said, 'I'm going to vote with the people I represent back home -- and that's not what the party leadership is telling us,'' Schweitzer said. 'We'll haul Congress out here to see how it's done in Montana,' he joked, adding that he would 'put in the first $50' for bus fare. The Nine argued that they were simply prioritizing smart policy over ideological conformity -- reauthorizing the Medicaid expansion would keep open rural hospitals in their districts, for instance -- and supporting the agenda pushed by Governor Greg Gianforte, also a Republican. But as President Trump exerts almost total control over the Republican Party, and the country seems bitterly divided along partisan lines more than ever, the GOP schism in Montana has attracted outsized attention. As the session progressed, other Montana Republicans ramped up a pressure campaign against the defectors, posting their photos on social media, demanding that they quit bucking party leadership and giving them nicknames like the 'Nasty Nine.' In March, Republicans tried to expel one of the senators, Jason Ellsworth, from the Legislature over alleged ethical violations; a majority of Democrats helped block the attempt. Advertisement The Montana Republican Party even censured the Nine, saying they would no longer be considered Republicans or receive funding from the state party because of 'the damage they have exacted on the Montana Senate.' The Nine remained upbeat. Days before the legislative session ended, seven of them sat for an interview in the state Capitol, describing praise from voters, swapping stories of admonishment by local Republican groups, and declaring that such criticism had only strengthened their resolve. 'I always looked at politics when I was younger and you see people work across the aisle,' said Gayle Lammers, a first-term senator. 'I know we're in this new age where division is so hardcore, but why can't we get back to where any reasonable legislation is reasonable legislation? If it's good for Montana, if it's good for your district, why not consider it?' Even though they have voted with Democrats, the senators say they remain conservative Republicans and strong supporters of Trump. All of them voted for a bill restricting transgender people's use of public bathrooms, and most of them sided with their Republican colleagues on several anti-abortion bills. Josh Kassmier, who emerged as a leader of the Nine, noted that he had sponsored a bill cutting the income tax. Since Gianforte took office in 2021, Kassmier said, 'we've cut the budget, we've made government more efficient -- that's all Trump politics, right?' He added, 'We're voting on the policy. It's not a deal we've made with the Dems.' One of the Nine, Wendy McKamey, keeps at her desk a stack of notes from Montanans thanking the group for its courage. 'Give 'Em Hell,' the front of one card reads, above an image of a cowgirl astride a galloping horse. Advertisement 'They help me own my vote,' McKamey said. 'I will not offend my conscience.' Although the Legislature's political lines seemed blurred, some lawmakers and analysts suggested the real rift was between those who wanted to make policy and those who sought to obstruct it. 'It's about who is more interested in governing, really,' said Jessi Bennion, a political science professor at Montana State University. Montana's right wing, she said, seemed less interested in conservative fiscal policy than in introducing controversial bills on social issues that jammed up the legislative process. That put hard-liners on a collision course with Gianforte, who did not endorse Matt Regier, the right-wing Senate president, last year but did endorse a group of relative moderates. The Freedom Caucus issued a rebuttal to Gianforte's State of the State address in January, suggesting that Montana should spend less money than the governor desired and opposing some of his priorities, including Medicaid expansion. Gianforte has avoided speaking directly about the Nine, and a spokesperson for the governor declined to comment. But he has seemed pleased to have achieved many of his goals. Despite the recent rightward drift, Big Sky Country has long been proud of its independent streak and small-town values. Montana has voted for a Democratic presidential candidate only once since 1964 -- Bill Clinton in 1992 -- but it had Democratic governors and senators for decades. In previous legislative sessions, which occur every two years, a loose coalition of Republicans called the Solutions Caucus worked with Democrats to pass bills. But that was easier for Republicans to swallow when a Democratic governor made it necessary to compromise. Advertisement What stood out about this year's bipartisanship was the animosity it produced. The conflict started the first week of the legislative session, when the Nine were assigned to what they say was a sham committee that would have sidelined them from the legislative process -- part of an effort, they argued, to make it easier for Regier and his allies to consolidate power. The senators pushed back, agreeing with Democrats on alternate committee assignments. From there, they said, the Democrats were only too happy to work with the Nine on some bills. In an interview, Regier called the bipartisan alliance a 'gut punch.' He said none of the Nine had raised concerns about committee assignments when Republicans met before the session, and suggested the unhappiness was a 'talking point' that provided 'cover for them to side with Democrats.' Efforts to win them back, he said, had been rebuffed. 'We tried and tried,' Regier said. 'It was obvious to see there was some sort of handshake, friendship, collaboration with the Democrats.' Regier denied that right-wing Republicans were obstructionist and sounded dumbfounded by the Nine's role in locking them out of the legislative process. 'You're scratching your head being like, 'Are you even on our team anymore?'' he said. Democrats also felt heat for their role in the coalition -- from the left. Bill Lombardi, a former top aide to Tester, faulted the Democratic senators for voting with Republicans on issues such as maintaining a tax on Social Security. 'While working together is good, you can't give away Democratic principles,' Lombardi said. 'Republicans have cemented their position in Montana, and some legislative Democrats think they must hew to the moderate Republican line to get anything.' Advertisement But the frustration appears more strongly felt on the right. Theresa Manzella, a founder of the Freedom Caucus, said right-wing state senators had tried hard to get the Nine to back down but eventually tired of the fight. 'We've resigned ourselves to life in the circus,' she said. 'And, unfortunately, it is our circus, and these are our clowns.' This article originally appeared in
Yahoo
30-04-2025
- Yahoo
Pennsylvania State Police searching for missing juvenile in Adams County
ADAMS COUNTY, Pa. (WHTM)– Pennsylvania State Police are searching for a missing juvenile in Adams County. According to State Police, on April 30 at 7:36 a.m., troopers were notified that a juvenile male, Keegan Schweitzer, was missing. Schweitzer was last seen in the area of Pine Grove Road in Littlestown, Adams County, on April 29 at 9:30 p.m. Police said Schweitzer, 16, is described as 5'4 'and 130 pounds, with brown hair and brown eyes. He is potentially wearing jeans or khakis with a black sweatshirt that says 'Just Strong,' or a gray sweatshirt with a wolf design. Police added that he may be wearing a ring on his right hand and a black backpack. He may be riding a black bicycle with orange accents. Anyone with information regarding his whereabouts is encouraged to contact law enforcement. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Yahoo
25-04-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
REAL ID sees nationwide state government compliance ahead of deadline, but it wasn't always that way
While all 50 states, the District of Columbia and U.S. territories are all currently in compliance ahead of the federal deadline of May 7, REAL ID was once roundly opposed by several state governments. As soon as two years after the law's 2005 passage by President George W. Bush, several state leaders had already expressed objections to complying with the nationwide standard. Then-Montana Gov. Brian Schweitzer, a Democrat, called REAL ID a "harebrained scheme" in a 2008 NPR interview. "[W]e are putting up with the federal government on so many fronts, and nearly every month they come out with another… unfunded mandate to tell us that our life is going to be better if we'll just buckle under on some other kind of rule or regulation," Schweitzer said. No 'Real Id' Appointments Open In New Jersey As Residents Sound Off: 'Get With The Times, Nj' "And we usually just play along for a while, we ignore them for as long as we can, and we try not to bring it to a head. But if it comes to a head, we found that it's best to just tell them to go to hell and run the state the way you want to run your state." Read On The Fox News App One year prior, Schweitzer signed a law banning Montana's DMV from enforcing REAL ID stipulations, calling it a "threat to privacy" in a letter to then-Colorado Gov. Bill Ritter, also a Democrat. Not too far west in Washington state, fellow Democratic Gov. Christine Gregoire signed similar legislation that required the feds to appropriate $250 million to cover the unfunded mandate. "[E]ven worse, it doesn't protect the privacy of the citizens of Washington," Gregoire claimed when signing the bill. On the Republican side, then-Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Corbett signed a law in 2008 halting PennDOT's implementation of REAL ID. "Neither the governor nor the Department of Transportation or any other Commonwealth agency shall participate in the REAL ID Act of 2005 or regulations promulgated thereunder," Act 38's text read. The policy was later reversed by Act 3 of 2017, signed by Democratic Gov. Tom Wolf. 'Mass Surveillance': Conservatives Sound Alarm Over Trump Admin's Real Id Rollout Meanwhile, New Jersey has the lowest reported compliance with REAL ID, according to a CBS News analysis, with only 17% of the population having one - and many complaining of not enough bandwidth for the state to handle the number of applications. On Wednesday, Kentucky Republican state Sen. Jimmy Higdon, wrote to DHS asking for an extension to the May 7 enforcement date, according to the Lexington Herald-Leader. State compliance with REAL ID means that a state has met the federal security standards outlined by DHS for the actual issuance of drivers' licenses. Since all states have done so, they are considered compliant. Because the program is optional for the licenseholder – due to the alternatives, like passports – an insufficient proportion of residents not having REAL IDs does not affect statistical state compliance. REAL ID requirements, endeavored out of a post-9/11 national security law from then-Rep. James Sensenbrenner, R-Wis., dictate that the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) will no longer accept a photo-ID that does not have a star in the upper corner denoting verification, unless it is a passport. To become verified, Americans must provide Social Security information or other personal identifiers. The law's implementation date has been delayed several times, due to COVID and concerns about varied state compliance and states' abilities to summon the necessary resources to meet federal standards. Fox News Digital reached out for comment from the current governors of the three states referenced: Democrat Bob Ferguson of Washington, Republican Greg Gianforte of Montana and Democrat Josh Shapiro of article source: REAL ID sees nationwide state government compliance ahead of deadline, but it wasn't always that way
Fox News
25-04-2025
- Politics
- Fox News
REAL ID sees nationwide state government compliance ahead of deadline, but it wasn't always that way
While all 50 states, the District of Columbia and U.S. territories are all currently in compliance ahead of the federal deadline of May 7, REAL ID was once roundly opposed by several state governments. As soon as two years after the law's 2005 passage by President George W. Bush, several state leaders had already expressed objections to complying with the nationwide standard. Then-Montana Gov. Brian Schweitzer, a Democrat, called REAL ID a "harebrained scheme" in a 2008 NPR interview. "[W]e are putting up with the federal government on so many fronts, and nearly every month they come out with another… unfunded mandate to tell us that our life is going to be better if we'll just buckle under on some other kind of rule or regulation," Schweitzer said. "And we usually just play along for a while, we ignore them for as long as we can, and we try not to bring it to a head. But if it comes to a head, we found that it's best to just tell them to go to hell and run the state the way you want to run your state." One year prior, Schweitzer signed a law banning Montana's DMV from enforcing REAL ID stipulations, calling it a "threat to privacy" in a letter to then-Colorado Gov. Bill Ritter, also a Democrat. Not too far west in Washington state, fellow Democratic Gov. Christine Gregoire signed similar legislation that required the feds to appropriate $250 million to cover the unfunded mandate. "[E]ven worse, it doesn't protect the privacy of the citizens of Washington," Gregoire claimed when signing the bill. On the Republican side, then-Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Corbett signed a law in 2008 halting PennDOT's implementation of REAL ID. "Neither the governor nor the Department of Transportation or any other Commonwealth agency shall participate in the REAL ID Act of 2005 or regulations promulgated thereunder," Act 38's text read. The policy was later reversed by Act 3 of 2017, signed by Democratic Gov. Tom Wolf. Meanwhile, New Jersey has the lowest reported compliance with REAL ID, according to a CBS News analysis, with only 17% of the population having one - and many complaining of not enough bandwidth for the state to handle the number of applications. On Wednesday, Kentucky Republican state Sen. Jimmy Higdon, wrote to DHS asking for an extension to the May 7 enforcement date, according to the Lexington Herald-Leader. State compliance with REAL ID means that a state has met the federal security standards outlined by DHS for the actual issuance of drivers' licenses. Since all states have done so, they are considered compliant. Because the program is optional for the licenseholder – due to the alternatives, like passports – an insufficient proportion of residents not having REAL IDs does not affect statistical state compliance. REAL ID requirements, endeavored out of a post-9/11 national security law from then-Rep. James Sensenbrenner, R-Wis., dictate that the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) will no longer accept a photo-ID that does not have a star in the upper corner denoting verification, unless it is a passport. To become verified, Americans must provide Social Security information or other personal identifiers. The law's implementation date has been delayed several times, due to COVID and concerns about varied state compliance and states' abilities to summon the necessary resources to meet federal standards. Fox News Digital reached out for comment from the current governors of the three states referenced: Democrat Bob Ferguson of Washington, Republican Greg Gianforte of Montana and Democrat Josh Shapiro of Pennsylvania.
