It’s just a bill
Friday, Mar 29, 2019 - Posted by Rich Miller
* Paul Shapiro, the author of Clean Meat: How Growing Meat Without Animals Will Revolutionize Dinner and the World…
If two members of the Illinois House get their way, you may not be able to call those frozen chunks of water made by your freezer “ice” anymore.
Well, that’s not exactly what Rep. Mike Murphy and Rep. Tim Butler, both Republicans from Springfield, want to do, but it’s what they might have proposed had they been in office in the 19th century.
Their newly introduced bill — HB2556 — would prohibit meat grown from animal cells rather than animal slaughter from being called exactly what it is: meat.
For background on this meaty matter, many food sustainability experts are expressing serious concerns about the connection between meat production and food insecurity, climate change, antibiotic resistance, food safety problems and more. To address these concerns, a new crop of startups, financed by investors such as Bill Gates, Richard Branson and even meat companies like Tyson and Cargill, has been growing real animal meat in cultivators rather than in animals’ bodies.
It may sound like science fiction, but it’s actually quite similar to other technologies we’ve been using in food and medicine for decades. Simply by taking a sesame seed-sized biopsy from an animal’s muscle (their meat), these entrepreneurs are culturing animal cells in conditions where they grow into muscle just like they would inside the body. And from that minuscule piece of muscle, they can grow literally tons of meat.
* Illinois News Network…
State lawmakers are one step closer to removing a line from property tax bills in a number of cities in Illinois.
State Sen. Dan McConchie’s legislation allows for water drainage districts, responsible for keeping small waterways cleared of debris, to be absorbed into the municipality they’re at least 75 percent inside of through a court filing process.
“Drainage districts served to keep ditches clear of debris and improve farmland, but now, their services could easily be merged with another unit of government,” he said.
McConchie, R-Hawthorn Woods, told lawmakers on the Senate floor Wednesday that the measure is needed in more suburban areas where the cities have largely taken over drainage responsibilities already.
* Ibid…
It wasn’t just opening day for baseball Thursday, it was also opening day for a bill to legalize sports betting in Illinois.
The Illinois House Revenue and Finance Committee heard about various aspects of expanding gambling during an hourslong hearing Thursday, that included testimony from NBA Senior Vice President Dan Spillane. Afterward, he said the NBA supports legalizing sports betting in Illinois, but the association wants to make sure it protects the integrity of the game and protects the fans who would be placing bets.
“If sports betting is going to be successful it crowds out illegal markets, encourages people to bet in legal markets, and that’s going to create jobs and revenue for the state,” Spillane said.
Illinois’ professional sports teams support the concept. One proposal would give teams 25 cents for every $100 wagered. The teams also support online sports betting.
* Twitters…
The bill was withdrawn for an amendment.
…Adding… The sponsor has decided not to attach a new amendment after all. Click here to watch.
…Adding… The bill passed with 61 votes after a brief debate.
* Related…
* The Inside Story Of How The Ricketts Family Schemed And Feuded Their Way To Owning The Chicago Cubs
* Lawmakers move to allow graduate research assistants to unionize
