WASHINGTON, D.C. (AP) — The Senate on Thursday confirmed President Trump’s nominee for U.S. Trade Representative on a bipartisan vote despite complaints from some Republicans that the administration has an “ongoing, incoherent and inconsistent trade message.”

 

The Senate voted 82-14 to confirm Robert Lighthizer, who served as deputy U.S. Trade Representative under former President Reagan and has worked on trade issues as a lawyer representing various manufacturers and high-tech companies.

 Republican Sens. John McCain of Arizona and Ben Sasse of Nebraska said on May 10 they would oppose Lighthizer’s confirmation. They said they doubt he will champion agriculture and negotiate trade deals that benefit American consumers and the economy.

 

Some of Lighthizer’s most vocal support has come from Democratic lawmakers.The Senate on May 9 also confirmed Dr. Scott Gottlieb as commissioner of the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) despite Democratic questions about his financial ties to medical companies the agency regulates.

 

Gottlieb is a physician-turned-health consultant who has criticized many FDA regulations as unnecessary and has faced criticism from Democrats over his financial entanglements. The vote was 57-42.

 

At his confirmation hearing in April, he pledged that science will prevail at the agency. He said he is a cancer survivor who understands firsthand the importance of the FDA. Gottlieb was a deputy FDA commissioner under former President George W. Bush.

  

BOONVILLE, Ind. (AP) — An attorney says it could take a year to resolve a lawsuit by residents seeking to stop a proposed egg farm that could have up to 2 million hens in rural southwestern Indiana.

 

A group of residents living near the 

site of Prime Foods Holding’s proposed confined-feeding operation a few miles from Boonville argue a Warrick County zoning board acted improperly when it approved the project in November.

 Zoning board attorney Maurice Doll told the Evansville Courier & Press the challenge led a judge to order a halt to any work on the egg-laying facility. Residents have raised worries about possible water contamination, odors and how it would affect the area’s residential development.

 

Prime Foods has maintained the $50 million project is in a remote location.

 

 

INDIANAPOLIS, Ind. — The Indiana Office of Energy Development (OED)  and the Indiana Corn Marketing Council(ICMC) announced that $158,371.74 through the Hoosier Homegrown Fuels (HHF) Blender Pump Program will be provided to Family Express.

 

The goal of this program is to expand the availability of higher ethanol blends in areas of Indiana where blends of E15 to E85 are limited or not available. This round of grants will allow Family Express to deploy eight blender pumps capable of dispensing these higher ethanol blends throughout the state. More than $1.3 million has been provided to Indiana energy companies, which have allowed them to diversify their fueling options and increase the availability of blender pumps to Hoosiers who drive flex-fuel vehicles.

 

The grant program is also in partnership with the Indiana State Department of Agriculture, Greater Indiana Clean Cities and South Shore Clean Cities, which assisted in scoring the applications and provided outreach support.