The latest: June 13, 2017

Alternative food production needs fresh bread 

Food is relocalizing. But powering smaller-scale ag will require a shift in financial thinking—and a new type of lender willing to fork over the dough.

By Amy Halloran | Read more

Whatever works. Last week, Seattle’s City Council voted “yes” on a 1.75-cent-per-ounce soda tax, joining a growing list of cities including Berkeley, Philadelphia, and Boulder, that levy taxes on sugary beverages.

But a new study suggests that a subsidy that would lower the price of fruits and vegetables would work five times better than a soda tax in preventing deaths caused by cardiovascular disease. Read more.

—Claire Brown

Isn’t that illegal? Last week, a New York State Appellate Court confirmed the decision to dismiss a lawsuit alleging that the mass slaughter of chickens on public sidewalks—a religious ritual called kaporos or kapparot, observed by some Hasidic Jews on the afternoon of Yom Kippur—constitutes a gross animal cruelty violation and a flagrant public health hazard.

Welcome to Brooklyn, where one’s person’s freedoms are likely to encroach on the neighbors. Is the ritual religious sacrifice of animals “justifiable”? Read more.

—Joe Fassler

Just the one-liners.

McDonald’s is hiring a quarter of a million workers this summer—and to recruit them, it’s using Snapchat.

In Chicago, food stamps users will be exempt from the county soda tax, the Chicago Tribune reports.

There is nowhere in this country where someone earning minimum wage can rent a two-bedroom apartment, the Washington Post reports.

 With online sales booming, states struggle to capture sales tax 

As online sales soar, outdated tax codes are draining state budgets and upsetting brick-and-mortar Main Street.

By Elaine S. Povich, Stateline | Read more