Newbie Farmers Pair With Old Hands

EU using eyes in the sky to spot subsidy fraud

(NEWSER) - Satellites and spy drones are scanning farmland in the European Union, and their findings can lead to something nearly as damaging as an air strike: a subsidy cut. The EU spends billions every year in farm subsidies, and eyes in the sky are increasingly being used as a tool to search for fraud and waste.Some 70% of EU farm checks are now being done by satellite, although Austria says the shadows cast by mountains make the checks inaccurate, and Scotland has decided its climate is just too cloudy for the technology to be useful. More»

Farmers, postal processors, switchboard operators face job loss

(NEWSER) - Unemployment may be easing , but certain jobs seem to be sliding into the dustbin of history. The Huffington Post lists 10 on the skids, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics:

1. Farmers and ranchers: expected to lose 96,100 jobs by 2020. Mechanized farming is taking over.

James Foldenauer eluded patrol cars, but not the plane

(NEWSER) - An Iowa man fleeing the cops on his motorcycle reached an astounding 188 mph on a public highway. James Foldenauer was convicted this week of eluding a peace officer for the breakneck chase in 2009, reports the Des Moines Register . Troopers say the speed is almost surely a state record, and prosecutors plan to push for the maximum punishment at his March sentencing: two years in jail. More»

Rick Santorum supporters have attacked him lately over caucus results

(NEWSER) - Iowa GOP chairman Matt Strawn will step down this week, he announced in a YouTube video today, citing "competing priorities" in his personal, business, and political lives. What he didn't mention was the intense criticism he's been under from Rick Santorum supporters, who accuse him of intentionally refusing to acknowledge their candidate's victory in the Iowa caucuses, the Des Moines Register observes. More»

For reasons no one is entirely clear on

(NEWSER) - A New York lawyer with a checkered past has relinquished his claim on a $7.5 million Iowa lottery jackpot, after being unable to explain how he got the ticket. It was the latest twist in what Iowa Lottery officials call the strangest episode in the game's 26-year history. The ticket was purchased back in December 2010, the AP explains. The lawyer, 76-year-old Crawford Shaw, claimed the prize hours before it expired last month, on behalf of a trust that he says benefits a corporation in Belize. More»