Issue link: https://www.epageflip.net/i/529503
ByAmandaLeeMyers The Associated Press LOSANGELES Poultrypro- ducer Foster Farms sus- pended five employees Wednesday after an ani- mal-rights group released undercover video showing live birds being slammed upside-down into shack- les, punched and plucked. The suspended employ- ees were either directly in- volved in the abuse or failed to report it to management, the California-based com- pany said in a statement released through a public relations firm. Standards "The behavior of the in- dividuals in this video is in- appropriate and counter to our stringent animal wel- fare standards, procedures and policies," the statement said. "We believe raising chickens humanely is sim- ply the right thing to do, and we take our commit- ment to humane values very seriously." The company said it is reinforcing animal welfare training companywide. The undercover video, obtained by The Associated Press in advance of its re- lease Wednesday, was shot by Los Angeles-based Mercy for Animals, which advo- cates against eating meat. The group said the foot- age was taken between April and June at a Foster Farms slaughterhouse in Fresno and the company's nearby farms. Tony Botti, a spokesman for the Fresno County Sher- iff's Office, said the agency is investigating the allega- tions after receiving a com- plaint from Mercy for Ani- mals last week. He declined to release further details. In the undercover foot- age, workers are seen throwing bins of live baby chicks onto the ground, af- ter which some are shown apparently unable to move. It also shows what Mercy for Animals said are the bodies of chickens that were boiled alive after missing an auto- matic knife that's supposed to slit their necks. Nathan Runkle, presi- dent of Mercy for Animals, said he believes the video shows there's "a culture of cruelty, neglect and vio- lence" at Foster Farms and that the company's man- agement took no corrective action after an undercover employee reported abuse. Runkle spoke at a news conference in downtown Los Angeles with Bob Barker, former host of "The Price is Right" and a long- time animal-rights activist. Some Foster Farms chicken is labeled as being certified by the Washing- ton, D.C.-based American Humane Association. Disclaimer Founded in 1877 and rec- ognized by the U.S. Depart- ment of Agriculture, the American Humane Associ- ation is most known for its "no animals were harmed" disclaimer at the end of movies and TV shows. Runkle criticized the as- sociation's standards as be- ing too low for companies to get the "humane" label, saying the group should ban production facilities from using scalding tanks and automatic blades dur- ing slaughter, and instead require that painless gas be used. "The humane-certified label is little more than a scam," Runkle said. "It dupes well-intending con- sumers into buying meat from factory farmed ani- mals." Mark Stubis, a spokes- man for the association, said the group has strin- gent standards and is ded- icated to the humane treat- ment of all animals. Government statistics show that hundreds of thousands of chickens are accidentally dropped alive into scalding tanks every year, but that represents a small fraction of those slaughtered. Last year, the rate at which chickens were improperly slaugh- tered plummeted to a low of 0.008 percent, accord- ing to the Agriculture De- partment. Mercy for Animals has been shooting undercover videos at various animal production facilities across the country for years. Last year, the Win- chester Dairy in southern New Mexico fired a group of employees after a Mercy for Animals video showed cows being whipped with chains and wire ca- bles, kicked, punched and shocked with electric prods. Employees in other cases have faced criminal charges. ANIMAL -RIGHTS GROUP FosterFarmssuspends5a ervideoshowsabuse AMANDALEEMYERS—THEASSOCIATEDPRESS Bob Barker, former host of 'The Price is Right' and a longtime animal rights advocate, speaks during a news conference in downtown Los Angeles on Wednesday. Barker criticized poultry producer Foster Farms a er an animal-rights group released video showing chickens being slammed upside-down into shackles, punched and having their feathers pulled out while still alive. The Associated Press NEW YORK Three New York postal workers have been accused of play- ing the Grinch and steal- ing gifts destined for un- derprivileged children by rigging the Operation Santa program where they worked. Federal criminal charges including conspiracy and mail fraud against two cur- rent and one former postal worker were unsealed Wednesday in federal court. The unsealing came the day the three were arrested. A U.S. Postal Service agent says in the com- plaint the two men and one woman carried out their scheme between Novem- ber 2013 and January 2014. The three worked at Op- eration Santa Headquar- ters in the huge James A. Farley Post Office in Man- hattan. The complaint says they wrote fake letters to fraud- ulently obtain electronics, clothing and other items and even replaced under- privileged childrens' ad- dresses with their own ad- dresses for gifts to be de- livered. FEDERAL CHARGES 3 postal workers accused of rigging Operation Santa gi s program BILL Washington 90/75 New York 73/63 Miami 91/78 Atlanta 95/76 Detroit 80/59 Houston 89/74 Chicago 80/53 Minneapolis 79/60 Kansas City 82/66 El Paso 102/75 Denver 88/60 Billings 84/61 Los Angeles 81/64 San Francisco 66/53 Seattle 74/55 AIRQUALITYFORECAST Whatitmeans: 0-50:Good; 51-100:Moderate; 101-150:Unhealthyforsensitivepeople; 151+:Unhealthyforall. Source: Airnow.gov City Today'sairquality City Hi/Lo/W Hi/Lo/W CALIFORNIA CITIES National and world forecast s-sunny,pc-partly cloudy,c-cloudy,sh-showers,t-thunderstorms,r-rain,sf-snow flurries,sn-snow,i-ice City Hi/Lo/W Hi/Lo/W Summary National Extremes World Extremes North and South America Asia, Australia Africa CarsonCity Hawthorne Reno Herlong Lovelock Sacramento Yuba City Napa Ukiah Chico Corning Lakeview Alturas Susanville Redding Red Bluff Laytonville Fort Bragg Point Arena Eureka Redway Mount Shasta Yreka Crescent City Ashland Shown is today's weather. Temperatures are today's highs and tonight's lows. Shown are today's noon positions of weather systems and precipitation. Temperature bands are highs for the day. ALMANAC Precipitation Temperatures ALLERGY REPORT Pollenlevels Source: National Allergy Bureau TODAY'S UV INDEX (The higher the number, the faster skin damage will occur.) Extreme Very high High Moderate Low SUN SETTINGS, MOON PHASES Sunrise Sunset Moonrise Moonset Hoursofsunlight River Levels SacramentoRiver Flood 7a.m. 24-hr Stage yest. chg. Lake Levels Elevation Yesterday Storage (acre-feet) Percent Capacity Q: A: FRIDAY 98° 64° SATURDAY 99° 66° Mostly sunn y and ho t Sunn y and ho t SUNDAY 96° 61° Mostly sunn y and ho t MONDAY 94° 63° Sunn y and seasonably hot TODAY 97° 62° Sunny and hot. Clear tonight. High ....................................................................... 98° Low ........................................................................ 65° Normal high ......................................................... 90° Normal low ........................................................... 62° Record high ........................................... 109° in 1982 Record low .............................................. 48° in 1939 Humidity noon today ........................................ 23% 24 hours through 2 p.m. yesterday ................. 0.00" Month to date ................................................... 0.01" Normal month to date ..................................... 0.34" Season to date ................................................ 19.98" Normal season to date .................................. 24.38" Red Bluff through 2 p.m. yesterday Chico .......................................................... Moderate Napa ........................................................... Moderate Red Bluff .............................................. Not available Redding ............................................... Not available Yuba City ................................................... Moderate Allergy, dust and dander today: Beneficial Grass ....................... Low Mold .........................Low Trees ....................... Low Weeds ..................... Low 8 Highest at 12 p.m. Today 5:39 a.m. 8:41 p.m. 7:55 a.m. 10:18 p.m. Friday 5:39 a.m. 8:41 p.m. 8:53 a.m. 10:56 p.m. 15 hr., 02 min. Jun24 First Jul1 Full Last Jul8 New Jul15 aboveBendBridge......................27 ...........2.40 ....... -0.10 atHamiltonCity.........................148 ......128.91 ....... -0.01 atOrdFerry................................114 ........96.47 ......+0.02 atRedBluffDiversionDam.......253 ......238.50 ....... -0.10 atTehamaBridge ......................213 ......201.20 .......none atVinaWoodsonBridge............183 ......167.04 ....... -0.05 BlackButte ....................455.50..............69,197 .....48.2% LakeOroville..................729.20.........1,491,277 .....39.9% LakeShasta ...................973.67.........2,294,551 .....50.4% LakeTrinity..................2252.55............977,299 .....36.9% Whiskeytown...............1209.18............238,471 .....98.9% Weather Trivia ™ What was the warmest decade since records have been kept? The 2000s. Today Friday Anaheim 87/61/pc 88/62/pc Bakersfield 102/67/s 99/68/s Chula Vista 78/62/pc 79/61/pc Crescent City 57/49/pc 60/50/pc Death Valley 116/79/s 116/78/s Eureka 57/48/pc 61/48/pc Fremont 70/54/pc 74/56/pc Fresno 103/68/s 100/67/s Glendale 86/63/s 86/64/s Huntington Beach 75/62/pc 76/62/pc Irvine 77/64/pc 78/61/pc Lake Tahoe 82/40/s 82/41/s Long Beach 83/64/pc 84/64/pc Los Angeles 81/64/pc 82/64/pc Mammoth Mountain 85/44/s 87/46/s Modesto 95/59/s 95/62/s Monterey 65/50/pc 66/52/pc Moreno Valley 96/57/s 97/57/s Napa 76/51/pc 82/51/pc Needles 116/85/s 114/83/s Oakland 67/53/pc 72/54/pc Oxnard 71/60/pc 74/60/pc Redding 99/64/s 99/66/s Riverside 97/58/s 97/59/s Sacramento 90/56/s 93/59/s San Bernardino 97/56/s 97/56/s San Diego 77/64/pc 77/63/pc San Francisco 66/53/pc 70/54/pc San Jose 76/53/pc 80/56/pc San Luis Obispo 76/51/pc 81/56/pc Santa Ana 80/64/pc 81/63/pc Santa Barbara 72/57/pc 74/58/pc Santa Clarita 89/62/s 90/64/s Stockton 92/54/s 94/57/s Ventura 71/60/pc 72/61/pc Yosemite Valley 94/57/s 93/59/s Today Friday Albuquerque 96/66/s 96/68/s Atlanta 95/76/t 93/74/t Baltimore 85/69/t 88/66/pc Boston 71/59/pc 77/55/pc Buffalo 75/59/t 69/50/pc Chicago 80/53/c 71/60/pc Cincinnati 86/66/t 78/67/t Dallas 87/71/t 90/74/t Denver 88/60/t 94/60/s Detroit 80/59/t 74/57/pc El Paso 102/75/s 101/74/s Fargo 69/56/pc 78/63/r Honolulu 88/74/pc 88/75/pc Houston 89/74/t 88/75/t Indianapolis 85/66/t 78/67/t Kansas City 82/66/pc 81/66/c Las Vegas 108/77/s 109/79/s Louisville 87/70/c 82/71/t Miami 91/78/pc 92/78/s Minneapolis 79/60/s 81/67/c New Orleans 90/77/t 89/76/pc New York City 73/63/t 84/62/pc Oklahoma City 79/66/t 89/71/pc Downpours from Bill will focus from parts of Mis- souri and Kansas to parts of Oklahoma, Arkansas, Louisiana and Texas today. Downpours and thunderstorms will also be strewn from the Ohio Valley to the Great Lakes and interior Northeast. There is the potential for flash and urban flooding anywhere from central and eastern Texas to Michigan and upstate New York. Very hot and humid conditions are forecast to hold over the Southeast states with only spotty storms likely over the southern Appalachians to the lower Mis- sissippi Valley. High ........................... 116° in Needles, CA Low .............................. 32° in Truckee, CA High .................. 118° in In Salah,, Algeria Low ...... 4° in Summit Station, Greenland Bogota 65/51/t 65/51/t Buenos Aires 51/39/s 53/46/s Caracas 90/77/t 90/76/t Ensenada 84/62/pc 86/62/pc Mexico City 72/59/t 74/59/t Montreal 78/53/t 69/50/s Rio de Janeiro 84/68/s 71/65/t Tijuana 81/62/pc 82/61/pc Toronto 79/53/t 68/52/pc Vancouver 69/56/pc 67/51/c Orlando 96/76/t 94/75/t Philadelphia 78/66/t 87/65/pc Phoenix 115/86/s 113/83/s Pittsburgh 79/65/t 79/62/pc Portland, ME 71/56/pc 76/51/pc Portland, OR 79/57/pc 76/53/pc St. Louis 82/69/t 78/71/r Salt Lake City 97/69/s 94/63/s Seattle 74/55/pc 70/53/c Tucson 109/77/s 110/76/s Washington, DC 90/75/t 89/71/pc Cairo 100/74/s 95/73/s Casablanca 87/63/s 87/64/s Johannesburg 61/39/s 63/38/s Kinshasa 85/67/pc 86/67/s Lagos 86/73/t 85/74/t Nairobi 73/60/t 71/57/r Tripoli 82/65/s 85/66/s Baghdad 107/77/s 109/80/s Beijing 89/65/s 81/63/pc Hong Kong 93/83/c 93/83/s Jerusalem 91/63/s 90/59/s Kabul 93/62/s 96/64/s Manila 92/80/t 91/80/pc Melbourne 55/40/sh 51/40/sh New Delhi 103/84/pc 102/85/pc Seoul 84/64/pc 82/63/pc Singapore 88/80/t 89/80/t Sydney 62/51/r 58/49/sh Tehran 95/73/s 97/75/s Tokyo 74/65/sh 73/66/sh Amsterdam 61/52/sh 61/50/sh Athens 82/68/t 81/69/t Belgrade 76/56/pc 77/56/pc Berlin 68/52/sh 62/51/sh Budapest 74/56/s 74/52/pc Dublin 63/47/s 66/54/c London 68/52/s 69/54/pc Madrid 86/60/s 89/61/s Moscow 67/48/s 70/56/sh Paris 70/51/sh 72/53/pc Rome 81/58/s 80/61/s Stockholm 57/48/sh 58/49/sh Vienna 71/57/pc 67/52/sh Zurich 70/55/sh 67/48/c 88/49 96/56 92/55 91/55 96/51 90/56 95/58 76/51 89/50 94/63 95/63 85/44 87/46 88/52 99/64 97/62 88/53 65/52 71/50 57/48 80/49 86/49 90/50 57/49 84/49 Forecasts and graphics provided by AccuWeather, Inc. ©2015 RUNNINGS ROOFING SheetMetalRoofing ResidentialCommercial • Composition • Shingle • Single Ply Membrane Ownerisonsiteoneveryjob ServingTehamaCounty 530-527-5789 530-209-5367 No Money Down! 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