5-18 NWR H-2A Speed up
A new streamlined e-approval system aims to help resolve H-2A delays.
We have some news that should delight agricultural producers in the great Northwest. There has been so much concern over the delays in processing temporary agricultural workers that thoughts have even drifted to the prospect of not being able to harvest when crops come due. But,the State Department and the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services just announced a new e-approval system for temporary agricultural workers to ease delays under the H-2A program. Farm Bureau's Kristi Boswell says the new approach is a step in the right direction. Boswell says while happy with the new system, the overall H-2A program is dated, making delays far too common among farmers.
Elsewhere, and in keeping with a story we ran earlier this week wherein automobile death rates had significantly increased in the state of Washington where marijuana has been legalized, it appears to be having an effect in Oregon as well. The Oregonian reported A 27-year-old driver who was seen puffing away on a marijuana pipe -- then blocks later fatally struck a pedestrian in a Gresham crosswalk last October -- was sentenced Tuesday to nearly four years in prison.
