Child sex trafficking and abuse ring uncovered in Bibb County, Ala., leaves community stunned

Bibb County, Ala.
(Wikipedia map)

 

After their county sheriff, Jody Wade, announced his office had uncovered an alleged child sex trafficking ring that included at least 10 children ages 3 to 15 years old, residents of Bibb County, Alabama, were at a loss for what to think or do, so they met at a small Presbyterian church and prayed.

"There were Baptists and Methodists and some who claimed no denomination at all, heads bowed and eyes closed in a rare show of interfaith unity amid criminal allegations considered so evil that some openly wondered if Satan himself had taken up residence here," reports Holly Bailey of The Washington Post.

“We can’t assume that just because we’re in small towns that everything operates like it did in the days of ‘The Andy Griffith Show,’” Robert Turner Jr., the district attorney for Alabama’s 4th Judicial Circuit, which includes Bibb County, told WAKA-TV.

The closely-knit rural county was shocked to hear a child sex trafficking ring 
was operating on the outskirts of town. (Ala. Conservation photo)

At the center of the finding was an isolated, underground storm shelter on the "dusty outskirts of Brent, an adjacent town of about 3,000 people located an hour south of Birmingham," Bailey explains. For at least the last three years, children were taken into the bunker and "allegedly drugged and abused in an operation that included sex trafficking [and] torture."

After the bunker was discovered and one of the defendants agreed to cooperate, "seven people were arrested and charged with a laundry list of crimes, including numerous charges of rape, sexual abuse, trafficking and kidnapping," Bailey reports. "The defendants include the parents of at least four victims."

Wade warned the community that the initial "revelations are probably only 'scratching the surface,' with additional victims and more arrests expected," Bailey writes. He told her, “I know God’s forgiveness is boundless, but if there was a limit to it, I think we reached it.

West Virginia is among the first states to ban some synthetic food dyes from school lunches

Many dyes from nature can replace artificial colors.
(Adobe Stock photo)

West Virginia schools took certain food dyes off the school lunch menu starting on Aug. 1. "West Virginia Gov. Patrick Morrisey signed a sweeping new law in March banning seven artificial dyes from school meals," reports Jonel Aleccia of The Associated Press. "Other states have enacted similar laws that would strip artificial dyes from school meals, but West Virginia’s action is the first to take effect."

The brief timeline between March and August sent state and school nutrition directors on a crunch time search to root out any school menu items that "contained any trace of petroleum-based synthetic dyes, including Red 3, Red 40, Yellow 5, Yellow 6, Blue 1, Blue 2 and Green 3," Aleccia explains. Once those items were removed, directors began working out substitution options that kids would still eat.

Health advocates have pushed to get synthetic dyes out of U.S. food for years, "citing mixed evidence of potential harm," Aleccia reports. "West Virginia’s ban on synthetic dyes was cheered by Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who has successfully pressured food makers to agree to remove artificial colors from their products."

Still, banning certain dyes won't suddenly make Americans healthier. "Nutrition experts agree that removing artificial colors from foods doesn’t address the main drivers of America’s chronic health problems," Aleccia writes. "Those stem largely from ingredients such as added sugars, sodium and saturated fat."

Nationally, the push against synthetic dyes is more of a baby step toward better nutrition. FDA Commissioner Marty Makary "has joined Kennedy in the push to get artificial dyes out of food, despite limited proof of health effects," Aleccia reports. In a recent podcast, Makary called the removal of petroleum-based food dyes "steps in the right direction.”

Just because Jell-O fruit cups and older versions of  Cool Ranch Doritos won't be served, doesn't mean school lunches will all turn beige. "Some suppliers had already removed artificial dyes from some school foods, swapping them for products colored with beet juice or turmeric." 

Opinion: Federal policies targeting farming workforce and income need to be addressed before a bailout is needed

New federal policies seem to take aim at farming
incomes. (Photo by Richard Bell, Unsplash)

U.S. farmers face a rocky future as federal policies cut into sector labor and profitability. "Agriculture stands out as acutely vulnerable to President Donald Trump’s avalanche of tariffs, mass deportations and potential new regulations," writes The Washington Post editorial board. "Farmers don’t need a bailout. They need relief from overregulation and excessive immigration enforcement."

Soybean and corn farmers are "panicking about Trump’s trade wars, which expose them to retaliation from China, Canada and Mexico, their most important export markets," the board writes. Ranchers and produce growers have stood by and watched as "agents from Immigration and Customs Enforcement descended en masse across fields to detain and deport agricultural workers."

Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins suggested that Medicaid recipients, who will soon need to meet program work requirements, could replace the migrant workers ICE deported. Her comments "landed like an insult in farming communities," the board adds. 

Dave Puglia, president of Western Growers, a lobby group for produce growers in the West, told the Post, “The men and women who harvest our crops are highly skilled. To anybody who believes they can pick and pack in the field, go try it.”

The current administration’s solution for farmer woes is to send subsidy payments, but those will only help certain types of farms. "Trump’s tax bill included $66 billion in new spending for farm programs," the board writes. "While the generous income support programs may keep many farmers from switching political allegiances, the hit from the Trump administration’s policies won’t be easy to fix."

Using agriculture as political fodder is "unusual in American politics," the board adds. "Yet to be seen are the full economic consequences of going after America’s food producers. . . .On priorities that come at the expense of farmers, it is likely to do some real damage to the food supply. The better approach is to avert the damage, rather than wait to bail out farmers once they grow desperate."

Alpha-gal syndrome, also called the 'red meat allergy,' is spreading. Lone star and black-legged ticks are to blame.

Cases of suspected alpha-gal syndrome based on confirmed laboratory evidence. (CDC map via The Conversation)

Despite being unable to jump or fly, ticks are surprisingly good at hiding in vegetation and attaching to people as they walk or hike past. When a tick attaches to a person's flesh and begins to suck blood, the tick injects its saliva -- and anything it contains -- into the person's body. Certain ticks expel alpha-gal sugar molecules into their host's body, which can, months later, leave the person allergic to specific proteins.

"This delayed allergic reaction is called alpha-gal syndrome. While it’s commonly called the 'red meat allergy,' that nickname is misleading, because alpha-gal syndrome can cause strong reactions to many products, beyond just red meat," writes entomologist Lee Rafuse Haines for The Conversation. Dairy products, gelatin and even some prescription medications can trigger a response.

Alpha-gal syndrome isn't a disease; it's a reaction to the "alpha-gal sugar molecule [that] exists in the tissues of most mammals, including cows, pigs, deer and rabbits. But it’s absent in humans," Haines explains. "When a big dose of alpha-gal gets into your bloodstream through a tick bite, it can send your immune system into overdrive to generate antibodies against alpha-gal. In later exposure to foods containing alpha-gal, your immune system might then launch an inappropriate allergic response."

Once a person is exposed to the alpha-gal sugar protein through a tick bite, it can take months for an allergic reaction to occur. Syndrome symptoms can "range from hives or swelling to crushing abdominal pain, violent nausea or even life-threatening anaphylactic shock," Haines adds.

Alpha-gal syndrome is commonly blamed on the lone star tick bites, but other ticks can spread it as well. In North America, tick bites from the lone star tick and the black-legged tick, also called a deer tick, can cause alpha-gal syndrome. Scientists are also looking at other species of ticks found in the U.S. as possible culprits.

Even as alpha-gal syndrome spreads in the U.S., not all medical professionals have experience with it. Haines writes, "A study in 2022 found that 42% of U.S. health care practitioners had never heard of alpha-gal syndrome." 

News watchdogs report more 'pink slime' media sites, which can confuse readers and erode trust in local news

Pink slime can confuse and misinform readers.
(Graphic by Bill Miller, GBH Creative)

With its cluttered headlines and oodles of lower gas price offers, the North Boston News online website does its best to mimic a legitimate news organization. A deeper read of the site reveals articles written by nameless "staff" and stories credited to journalists who can't be found on the internet.

"North Boston News is one of a growing number of what journalist watchdogs are calling 'pink slime' journalism," report Phillip Martin and Nicole Dauphinee of GBH News, a PBS member television station in Boston, Massachusetts. These websites masquerade as local news websites, but their creators and funding stem from "partisan groups or hostile governments, largely with the help of automated services."

Most "pink slime" sites have titles that connect with the region they allegedly represent. "In Massachusetts, such sites include websites with names like the Bean Town Times, the Cape Cod Ledger and the Springfield Record," GBH reports.

In 2024, NewsGuard, a New York-based company that verifies information online, identified 1,265 'pink slime' outlets in the country. By comparison, there are only about 1,200 daily newspapers operating in the U.S.

A company called Metric Media owns North Boston News, along with "58 other websites that claim to provide community news across New England," Martin and Dauphinee explain. "The company says on its homepage that it has more than 1,300 sites across the nation, with an aim of giving 'every citizen a voice in their community.'"

But Metric Media doesn't seem to have any people for citizens to contact. GBH reports, "Nobody replied to GBH News’ emails requesting comment sent to the addresses listed on several of the 14 sites covering news in Massachusetts, including the North Boston News."

A quick look at the North Boston News doesn't tell a reader much about the area, but it does have repeated stories and jumbled jargon paired with political-looking photos. North Boston News and other sites like it can confuse people about what trustworthy, local news looks and reads like, which can erode overall trust in any media source.

Some organizations, like Newsguard, "are making efforts to better educate people about which webpages can be trusted. The information watchdog offers an online tool that helps readers determine the credibility of certain sites," GBH reports. "The app displays website trust ratings and scores next to links on search results and social media feed pages."

New tax law marks $60 billion for farm subsidies, but little of it is expected to reach smaller farming operations

New farm subsidy money won't reach many smaller
farmers. (Adobe Stock photo)

While the new tax bill sets aside $60 billion in farm subsidies, how the money is divided is just as crucial for farmers who need assistance. Some experts worry that uneven subsidy distribution "could worsen disparities between farms in an industry already struggling with consolidation," reports Linda Qiu of The New York Times. Who gets what depends on what crops are grown. "Large farms, particularly those in the South, [are] poised to reap the most benefits."

In Gaines County, Texas, 600 farms are set to receive "an additional $258 million in government payments over the next decade," Qiu writes. "Along the coast of California, 1,000 farms in Monterey County will collectively receive just $390,000 in additional payments, according to one analysis."

Smaller farms are unlikely to get the help they need to fend off harm from volatile markets and increasingly high input and labor costs. Qiu reports, "Owners of smaller farms and independent producers who grow fresh fruits and vegetables or raise livestock have expressed concern that the distribution of funding will only deepen the consolidation of an industry that has lost over 300,000 farms in the past two decades."

The largest chunk of subsidy funding "will go toward increasing payments to farmers enrolled in price and revenue support programs covering 22 commodity crops, or major crops like corn and soybeans," Qui adds. "Farmers of those crops, which are concentrated in the South, are expected to see the biggest benefits." For many of those farmers, the additional income will provide support in difficult times and prevent farm bankruptcies.

But for other farmers, the bill lends no such cushion, and many believe the subsidies are a handout for large agricultural operations. Qui reports, "The National Family Farm Coalition, which supports smaller farms, warned that the law was short-sighted, unnecessarily favoring large corporations."

Vincent H. Smith, an agricultural economist at the American Enterprise Institute, a conservative think tank in Washington, told Qiu, "“The monies are not flowing to small- and medium-sized family farms. They’re flowing overwhelmingly to the largest producers.”

AI isn't coming for 'blue-collar' jobs. The skilled trades sector boasts 'high-tech, 21st-century, rewarding, well-paying jobs.'

Human work may change as AI enters
new markets. (Unsplash graphic)

Artificial intelligence may upend parts of the U.S. labor market, but "blue-collar" jobs are growing and expected to be less vulnerable to AI intrusion. "AI is supposed to displace millions of workers in the coming years — but when your toilet won't flush at 2 a.m., you're not going to call ChatGPT," reports Ben Berkowitz of Axios. "Companies are already boasting of saving hundreds of millions of dollars a year by using AI instead of humans."

AI might be able to regurgitate its "white-collar work" programming with razor-like precision, but putting on a new roof or installing electrical wiring won't be its domain. "The 40 most-vulnerable jobs (translators, historians, sales reps, etc.), basically all of them office work," Berkowitz writes. "The 40 least-vulnerable jobs (dredge operators, roofers, etc.), just about all of them manual labor."

Reinvigorating American labor and manufacturing has "become a key Trump administration economic talking point: Blue-collar wages are rising faster now than at the start of any other administration going back to Nixon," Berkowitz reports.

Even before the AI mega-data center expansions, there was a skilled trade worker shortage. "AI will, ironically, only make [the shortage] worse," Berkowitz explains. "Factories alone are short about 450,000 people a month, per the National Association of Manufacturers."

Jay Timmons, the CEO of NAM, told Berkowitz, "We're really talking about high-tech, 21st-century, rewarding, well-paying jobs. Manufacturers are really embracing what's coming, and they accept the responsibility."

Efforts to ramp up the number of American trade workers "will require a large-scale, national effort — not just for up-and-coming students, but for mid-career folks forced into a pivot," Berkowitz explains. "Everyone from politicians to CEOs recognizes just how badly they need tradespeople to keep the economy running." 

University extension services could help balance rural and urban priorities, but schools have been slow to expand

Expanding university extension services could help balance
rural and urban opportunities. (Photo via the Yonder)

When universities keep extension services limited to agricultural outreach, they miss opportunities to balance their educational mission to serve urban and rural populations equally.

An Ohio State University study completed in 2021 and repeated with roughly the same 400 respondents in 2025, asked respondents if universities should favor urban or rural residents. In 2021, 70% of respondents "answered that 'there should be no difference between how rural and urban communities are prioritized,'" reports Nick Fouriezos of The Daily Yonder. In 2025, 83% of participants said both populations should receive an equal focus.

"Nearly all of the respondents who wanted a balanced approach still held that stance four years later — meaning that most of the shift came from people who previously felt universities should favor one geographic region over the other," Fouriezo explains. Researchers believe the increase in respondents who support an equal division of university resources "underscores that universities aren’t structured to deliver the balance that the public wants."

Stephen Gavazzi, whose team conducted the survey, told Fouriezo, "It’s so easy to look at the university structure and realize: We’re not set up for that."

Extension services are the primary tool many universities use to reach rural populations. Fouriezo writes, "When extension programs only focus on agriculture, rural communities miss out on everything else the university offers — from business development to social work to engineering."

While some states have moved their extension offerings out of agricultural colleges, others are reluctant to make the change. Fouriezos explains, "Switching would require universities to admit their current structure doesn’t match their mission, or what the public expects from them."

When university administrations limit extensions to their agricultural college, they leave all their other colleges behind, which limits learning choices for rural residents. Fouriezos reports, "That narrow ag-centered focus doesn’t reflect the current diversity of rural towns and their communities, which have become important hubs for innovation and entrepreneurship."

U.S. consumers battle with ongoing high prices by foregoing splurges and focusing on money-saving strategies

Americans are worried about stubbornly high
grocery prices. (Adobe Stock photo)

Frustrated with continuously high food and staple pricing, many U.S. consumers are combating grocery store costs with money-saving tactics and spending reductions. "Consumer spending stagnated in the first half of this year, according to federal data issued last week, and the CEOs of Chipotle Mexican Grill, Kroger and Procter & Gamble, among others, are telling investors that their customers are more strapped — or appear to feel that way," report Katherine Hamilton and Natasha Khan of The Wall Street Journal. 

Eyeing an uncertain job market, ongoing inflation and anticipated tariffs, shoppers are opting to spend their dollars on "essentials and forego the extras," the Journal reports. "P&G, which sells daily-use items such as Tide, Charmin and Pantene, said it is noticing signs of slower spending across essential products, too."

Low-income and higher-income shoppers have pulled back on spending sprees to focus on making their budgets stretch further. "Americans are using up the goods in their pantry and seeking value by buying in bulk to economize or purchasing smaller packs to spend less," Hamilton and Khan explain. "At Kroger, shoppers are making more trips to the store but putting less in their carts. They are also clipping coupons again. . ."

The cost of living and worries over being able to afford it has become a common theme for many Americans. "A May poll of consumer sentiment conducted by consulting firm McKinsey found most people planned to adjust their spending in response to tariffs," Hamilton and Khan write. "Rising prices was the top concern of those surveyed, far outweighing issues such as immigration, international conflict and political polarization."

With used farm equipment in short supply, tractor thefts have become more common

Despite their size, farm tractor sometimes vanish without a trace.
(Graphic by Adam Dixon, Offrange)

A century ago, farmers had to worry about horse and cattle rustlers, but now, they need to look out for tractor thieves. "Used tractors are increasingly valuable and often left out in the open with their keys in the cab, ready to be stolen," reports Elissa Welle for Offrange. "In 2023, there were 1,221 reported thefts of special equipment, including tractors, each month."

New farming equipment is expensive, so many farmers seek out used equipment, which is in short supply. Over the past year alone, there has been "a 23% shrinkage of the inventory of used compact and utility tractors," Welle explains. "Mower, riding, or garden tractors were the top style of reported thefts in the category."

Despite their size, tractors are surprisingly easy to steal. Farmers often leave their keys in the tractor for easy startups or the next driver, with some older models even sharing the same manufacturer's key. "By grinding off the VIN, older tractors can simply disappear into the used farm equipment market," Welle reports. "Older models are often not equipped with GPS, leaving law enforcement little to go off."

Last year, farmers in California faced a rash of vanishing tractors, which ended when state law enforcement "broke up a farm equipment theft ring alleged to have stolen equipment totaling $2.25 million," Welle writes. 

Once a tractor is gone, it's hard to recover. "Only half of the value of the stolen equipment — $1.3 million — in California was recovered in the recent bust," Welle reports. 

Despite the increase in farming equipment theft in some areas, farmers don't like to talk about it. Farmer Steve Hess, who had three pieces of equipment stolen, "believes that his tractors didn’t go far. . . But despite his lived experience, talking about a stolen tractor is taboo in the farming community, Hess said, likening it to divorce," Welle explains. "He’s silenced many bustling farmer meetings with the announcement that his tractors got stolen."