briefs

(MCT CAMPUS) WASHINGTON-If you’re feeling fat these days, blame Congress.

That’s… (MCT CAMPUS) WASHINGTON-If you’re feeling fat these days, blame Congress.

That’s just what the nation’s doctors are doing, saying that federal lawmakers are responsible for the fact that a salad costs so much more than a Big Mac.

Hoping to produce thinner waistlines, many doctors – including the American Medical Association – want Congress to stop subsidizing the production of foods that are high in fat and cholesterol and spend more to promote fruits, vegetables, legumes and grains that are not.

Farm Belt lawmakers are on the defensive.

“I agree that obesity and health are serious issues in America today,” Sen. Pat Roberts, R-Kan., a member of the Senate Agriculture Committee, said. “However, blaming the cause on the crops that we grow in Kansas and/or the U.S. farm program is overlooking the personal responsibility we all have in our daily lives and diets.”

The debate is intensifying as the Senate prepares to vote on a new farm bill. On Thursday, the Senate Agriculture Committee approved a bill that would give a record $2 billion for specialty crops, which include fruits and vegetables, tree nuts, dried fruits and nursery crops.

“The real scandal in Washington is the farm bill,” Neal Barnard, president of the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine, said. “Senators take millions from corporations that produce bacon, burgers and other fatty foods. Then Congress buys up these unhealthy products and dumps them on our school lunch program. Companies get rich, and kids get fat.”

Fruit and vegetable growers, who have long felt ignored on Capitol Hill, are confident they’ll cash in this year. They want to persuade Congress to broaden subsidies beyond traditional farm crops such as corn, wheat, rice and cotton.

“Our markets are highly volatile, yet we have never relied on traditional farm programs to sustain our industry,” Doug Krahmer, co-owner of Blue Horizon Farms in St. Paul, Ore., which grows blueberries, grass seed, hazelnuts, clover, wheat, flower seeds and flowers, said.

Krahmer noted that on any given day 45 percent of children eat no fruit at all, while 20 percent eat less than one serving of vegetables. All U.S. children would benefit if Congress offered subsidies to lower the prices that consumers pay for fruits and vegetables, he said.

-By Rob Hotakainen, McClatchy Newspapers

(MCT CAMPUS) MINNEAPOLIS -Answering an online ad for a nanny job-which she had done at least twice before without trouble-cost Katherine Ann Olson her life, authorities said.

Olson, a 24-year-old St. Olaf College graduate, was found dead in the trunk of her car late Friday night. Friends last saw her on Thursday morning, when she went to meet someone in Savage, Minn., about the job, which authorities said she had found on Craigslist.

A 19-year-old Savage man who police believe placed the ad is being held in the Scott County jail pending charges. Authorities did not release his name but said charges could be filed as soon as late Saturday.

Olson was a theater and Hispanic studies major whose family said had taken nanny jobs at least twice before, including a job in Turkey, after answering online ads.

Craigslist.org, an online bulletin board, has fallen under the watch of law enforcement agencies in recent years because of prostitution ads and its use to set up robberies, but an Internet search revealed no other homicides connected to the site.

Savage Police Capt. David Muelken gave this account of Olson’s death:

A resident told a Savage Public Works employee about a purse found in a garbage can at Pacer Park. That employee notified police, and an officer got the purse, which contained things belonging to Olson. At first it appeared to be a theft. Police called Olson’s home and left a message telling her they had her purse. About 5 p.m. Friday, Olson’s roommate returned the call and told police Olson hadn’t been seen since 8 a.m. Thursday.

Police went back to Pacer Park and found a garbage bag in the container. Inside the bag was a “significantly bloody towel.”

Meanwhile, a Minnesota State Patrol helicopter was called in to help. The pilot noticed a car in the parking lot of Rudy Kraemer Nature Preserve in Burnsville, Minn., which is a few blocks away from Pacer Park.

Police identified the car as Olson’s and searched it. Her body was found in the trunk.

As the search proceeded Friday night, other investigators began to focus on the 19-year-old Savage man. He worked at Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport, and airport police arrested him there Friday night.

-By Chris Havens and James Walsh, Star Tribune (Minneapolis)