
Drought-stricken rancher: "It's kind of like farming in the desert"
CBSN
A relentless heat wave is piling on the difficulties faced by ranchers and farmers who've endured up to two years of drought in the Western U.S., causing some to sell off cattle at an increasingly rapid pace.
Severe drought last year forced 40% of farmers to liquidate a portion of their herds, according to the American Farm Bureau Federation. This year, that percentage could be even higher. The latest figures from the U.S. Department of Agriculture had the nation's inventory of cattle and calves at 98.8 million head as of July 1, down 2% from a year earlier.
Most of Texas and Oklahoma have some measure of drought killing off pastures where cattle graze and depleting ponds and tanks that in the past were replenished with rain water, according to David Anderson, a professor of agricultural economics at Texas A&M.

A military dog is being hailed as a hero in Colombia after detecting a bomb planted by guerrilla fighters that exploded during a military operation, authorities said, adding that the wounded canine's actions saved the lives of dozens of soldiers and civilians. The incident was announced just two days after a bomb strapped to a donkey exploded in the same area, killing one soldier and wounding two others.

European markets mostly fell Monday as investors digested President Trump's latest trade war salvos, which saw him threaten to hit the European Union and Mexico with 30% tariffs starting on August 1. Mr. Trump's threat came after a series of announcements last week that included warnings of a possible 50% levy on all copper imports and all goods from Brazil, 35% levies on Canadian goods, and a possible 200% tariff on imported pharmaceuticals.

Emergency crews were forced to suspend search operations in Kerr County, Texas, on Sunday, as the area hit hardest by catastrophic flash flooding earlier this month faced a renewed flood threat. Officials in Texas' rural and flood-prone Hill Country have said at least 161 people from the area remain missing in the aftermath of destructive July 4 storms that caused the Guadalupe River to overflow, and efforts to find them are ongoing.

Barbara Rae-Venter, a 76-year-old patent attorney living in Marina, California, thought she'd spend her retirement leisurely playing tennis, traveling, and indulging in her favorite pastime: researching her ancestry and building a family tree. It didn't quite work out that way. For Rae-Venter, something she started as a hobby led to capturing one of the most notorious criminals in California.