Southwest
The single crushing problem American cattle ranchers wish Trump would fix instead
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President Donald Trump’s beef import plan aims to cut prices, but cattle ranchers say it misses what’s crushing them most — the power of meat packers.
“Meat packers have created a system where they win no matter what — at the cost of everyone else,” said Will Harris, a fourth-generation cattleman and owner of White Oak Pastures in Bluffton, Georgia.
Harris, who plans to hand off the operation to his children, said his farm handles every step of production, from raising cattle to processing and selling beef, giving him a clear view of how prices are set.
AMERICA’S SMALLEST CATTLE HERD IN 70 YEARS MEANS REBUILDING WILL TAKE YEARS AND BEEF PRICES COULD STAY HIGH
Sixth-generation cattle rancher Mark Kirkpatrick feeds heifers on the Stoker-Kirkpatrick Ranch in Post, Texas. (Melina Mara/The Washington Post/Getty Images)
At the center of that pricing power sit the “Big Four” — Tyson, JBS, Cargill and National Beef — anchoring the U.S. beef supply chain from pasture to plate.
Together, the packing titans process about 85% of the grain-fattened cattle that become steaks, roasts and other supermarket cuts.
“The U.S. beef market is so highly concentrated that a small number of dominant packers control processing, distribution and pricing. This allows them to pay ranchers less for cattle while charging consumers more at the store. When cheap imported beef enters the system, it allows packers to increase their margins,” Harris told Fox News Digital.
It’s a concern echoed deep into cattle country.
Texas cattle rancher Cole Bolton said he sees the same problem in the Lone Star State.
IN TEXAS CATTLE COUNTRY, ONE RANCHER WELCOMES TRUMP’S FOCUS ON DECADES OF THIN MARGINS
Cattle rancher Cole Bolton and his wife in Texas. (Courtesy of Cole Bolton)
“What the real issue is, is the price differential between the big four packers and what they’re paying us for the product,” said Bolton, the owner of K&C Cattle Company.
Those margins, Bolton said, have been squeezed for decades. “Ranchers have dealt with such thin margins of profitability for the last 20 years.”
While ranchers like Bolton and Harris say Trump’s temporary expansion of U.S. beef imports from Argentina may help ease prices in the short term, both warn it is no substitute for rebuilding domestic production.
“Imports should be a bridge, not a long-term replacement,” Harris said. “We must rebuild the American cattle herd, protect American farmers and ensure transparency, so consumers understand where their beef comes from. Long-term affordability depends on a healthy, resilient domestic cattle industry — not permanent dependence on foreign beef.”
Brad Randel rounds up some of his Black Angus cattle to sell at auction on Sept. 12, 2022, in McCook, Nebraska. (Ricky Carioti/The Washington Post/Getty Images)
Years of drought, high feed costs and an aging ranching population have thinned herds, leaving the U.S. cattle supply at its lowest level in more than 70 years.
“I think it’s going to take a while to fix this crisis that we’re in with the cattle shortage. My message to consumers is simple: Folks, be patient. We’ve got to build back our herds,” Bolton told Fox News Digital.
He noted that the cattle industry, over the last five years, has weathered one setback after another, from market turmoil to extreme weather conditions.
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Los Angeles, Ca
Culver City bank robbery suspect arrested after attempted robbery in L.A.
A man accused of robbing a Culver City bank earlier this month has been arrested and charged after allegedly committing a similar robbery elsewhere in Los Angeles County, authorities announced Tuesday.
The robbery occurred June 2 around 1:10 p.m. at a bank in the 3800 block of Culver Center Drive, according to the Culver City Police Department.
Investigators said the suspect approached a teller window and handed over a note demanding money. Although the man never displayed a weapon, he repeatedly gestured toward his waistband and claimed he had a gun, causing employees to believe he was armed.
Fearing for their safety, bank employees complied with the demand, investigators said.
The suspect, described as a Black adult about 5 feet 10 inches tall with a heavy build, then fled on foot with approximately $10,000 in U.S. currency.
Following an investigation by Culver City detectives, with assistance from the department’s forensics unit, authorities identified the suspect as 35-year-old Shawn Greene.
On June 12, Greene was arrested by deputies from the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department’s West Hollywood Station after he reportedly attempted to rob another bank, police said in an updated news release.
Culver City detectives interviewed Greene while he was in custody in West Hollywood, during which, police said, he admitted to the June 2 bank robbery in Culver City.
He has since been charged with two counts of bank robbery by the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office.
Anyone with additional information about the Culver City robbery is asked to contact Detective Stulp at 310-253-6312. Anonymous tips can be submitted through Los Angeles Regional Crime Stoppers at 800-222-TIPS (8477) or online at www.lacrimestoppers.org.
Los Angeles, Ca
Suspicious item leads to closure of Metro station on Tuesday morning
Metro officials said a suspicious item found at a train station prompted the partial closure of the K Line on Tuesday morning.
Details surrounding the “item” were not disclosed; however, Metro officials said in a statement that it was found on the tracks at the Fairview Heights station.
Metro officials called for assistance from the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department, who responded and closed the station.
Due to the closure, a bus shuttle is in operation to help get people between the Downtown Inglewood and Hyde Park stations.
As of 9 a.m. Tuesday, the shuttle system was still transporting people as the investigation continued.
No further details were released.
For the latest updates, Metro officials recommend going to the Metro alerts website or following @metrolaalerts on X.
Los Angeles, Ca
Stress on San Andreas Fault reaches highest levels in 1,000 years as scientists await next ‘major rupture’
The San Andreas Fault and San Jacinto Fault Zone have reached their highest stress levels in 1,000 years, according to a study by researchers at the University of Hawaii at Manoa, leading scientists to wonder when California’s next “Big One” will occur.
The fault lines have reached “unprecedented levels,” according to the study, which was recently published in Journal of Geophysical Research: Solid Earth. The study suggests that stress normally released in large earthquakes has continued to build as 160 years have passed since the last “major rupture.”
The study’s lead author, Liliane Burkhard, said the fault system is in a “critically loaded state.”
“Our results show that stress levels on multiple fault segments are now at or above the highest values seen in the past millennium and that the region may be capable of a large through-going rupture involving both fault systems,” Burkhard said.
The study also found that the Cajon Pass in Southern California may act as an “earthquake gate,” which can sometimes block large earthquakes from striking along the San Andreas Fault and San Jacinto Fault Zone at the same time. However, the Cajon Pass could also “facilitate a joint rupture,” the study states. An earthquake simultaneously striking both fault lines would be “significantly more damaging” and affect highly populated areas of Los Angeles, San Bernardino, Riverside and the Coachella Valley, according to the study.
“The conditions that determine whether the ‘earthquake gate’ at Cajon Pass opens or stays closed appear to be related to how closely the stress levels on the two fault systems are aligned with each other at the time of rupture,” Burkhard said. “Right now, with stress at historically high levels across the region.”
Scientists conducted the research by feeding 1,000 years of earthquake history from the region into a computer model. The extensive history was gathered by reconstructing geological evidence through radiocarbon dating of displaced sediments and tree-ring records.
This research can help determine earthquake threat levels and help experts plan for disasters, the University of Hawaii at Manoa said.
“This is not a prediction of when an earthquake will happen,” Burkhard said. “However, studies like this are important contributions to national and global earthquake hazard research in that we are using rigorous, quantitative science to better understand the risk facing millions of people. What we can say is that the system is critically stressed, and that physics-based models like this one give us a clearer picture of the range of scenarios we should be prepared for. That information matters for hazard assessments, infrastructure planning, and emergency preparedness.”
California residents are strongly encouraged to prepare for the next major earthquake. Earthquake preparedness tools and information are available at earthquake.ca.gov.
“If you live in or travel to areas that could be impacted by an earthquake, preparation is vital, as these events can strike suddenly, at any time, with little warning,” the state website reads.
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