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Would you eat a burger grown in a laboratory?

A Dutch scientist has created ‘meat’ from stem cells – and wants Heston Blumenthal to cook the first batch. Steve Connor reports on the ultimate in culinary experimentation

The world’s first hamburger made with a synthetic meat protein derived from bovine stem cells will be publicly consumed this October after being prepared by a celebrity chef, according to the inventor of the artificial mince.

Heston Blumenthal is the favourite to be asked to cook the €250,000 (£207,000) hamburger, which will be made from 3,000 strips of synthetic meat protein grown in fermentation vats. Dr Mark Post, of Maastricht University in the Netherlands, said the anonymous backer of his research project had not yet decided who would get to eat the world’s most expensive hamburger, which will unveiled at a ceremony in Maastricht.

Dr Post told the American Association for the Advancement of Science that a hamburger made from artificial beef protein was a milestone in the development of novel ways to meet the global demand for meat, which is expected to double by 2050.

“In October we’re going to provide a ‘proof of concept’ showing that with in vitro culture methods that are pretty classical we can make a product out of stem cells that looks like, and hopefully taste like, meat,” Dr Post said.

“The target goal is to make a hamburger and for that we need to grow 3,000 pieces of this muscle and a couple of hundred pieces of fat tissue. As long as it’s a patty the size of a regular hamburger, I’m happy with it,” he said.

A handful of researchers has been working for the past six years on the technical problem of extracting stem cells from bovine muscle, culturing them in the laboratory and turning them into strips of muscle fibres that can be minced together with synthetic fat cells into an edible product.

The technical challenges have included giving the meat a pinkish colour and the right texture for cooking and eating, as well as ensuring that it feels and tastes like real meat.

Dr Post admitted to being nervous about the final result. “I am a little worried, but seeing and tasting is believing,” he said.

Although some animals still have to be slaughtered to provide the bovine stem cells, scientists estimate that a million times more meat could be made from the carcass of a single cow, compared with conventional cattle rearing. As well as reducing the number of beef cattle, it would save the land, water and oil currently need to raise cattle for the meat trade, Dr Post said.

“Eventually, my vision is that you have a limited herd of donor animals that you keep in stock in the world. You basically kill animals and take all the stem cells from them, so you would still need animals for this technology.”

One of the economic incentives behind the research is the increasing cost of the grain used to feed much of the world’s cattle. This is helping to drive up the cost of meat.

“It comes down to the fact that animals are very inefficient at converting vegetable protein [either grass or grain] into animal protein. Yet meat demand is also going to double in the next 40 years,” he said.

“Right now we are using about 70 per cent of all our agricultural capacity to grow meat through livestock. You are going to need alternatives. If we don’t do anything, meat will become a luxury food and will become very expensive.

“Livestock also contribute a lot to greenhouse gas emissions, more so than our entire transport system. Livestock produces 39 per cent of the methane, 5 per cent of CO2 and 40 per cent of all the nitrous oxide. Eventually we’ll have an ‘eco-tax’ on meat.”

Growing meat in fermentation vats might be better for the environment. And it might be more acceptable to vegetarians and people concerned about the welfare of domestic livestock, Dr Post said. “There are many reasons why people are vegetarian. I’ve talked to the Dutch vegetarian society, which has said that probably half of its members will eat this meat if it has cost fewer animal lives and requires less intensive farming,” Dr Post said. Growing artificial meat would also allow greater control over its makeup. It will be possible, for example, to alter the fat content, or the amount of polyunsaturated fats vs saturated fats, according to Dr Post.

“You can probably make meat healthier,” he said. “You can probably trigger these cells to make more polyunsaturated fatty acids, just like grass-fed beef has more polyunsaturates than grain-fed beef. You could make any type of meat, you could make mixed meats. I’m pretty sure you could even make panda meat.”

Dr Post declined to reveal who his backer was, except to say that he was well known but not a celebrity – and not British. “It’s a very reputable source of money,” he said. “He’s an individual. There may be two reasons why he wants to remain anonymous: as soon as his name is associated with this technology he will draw the attention to himself and he doesn’t really want to do that.”

Dr Post added: “And the second reason is that he has the image of whatever he does turns into gold and he is not sure that may be the case here so he doesn’t want to be associated with a potential failure.”

LAB-GROWN MEAT THE CASE FOR AND AGAINST

Pros

– Billions of animals would be spared from suffering in factory farms and slaughterhouses

– Would reduce the environmental impacts of livestock production, which the UN’s Food and Agriculture Organisation estimates account for 18 per cent of greenhouse-gas emissions

– Could reduce by 90 per cent the land- and water-use footprint of meat production, according to Oxford University research, freeing those resources for more efficient forms of food production

– Would provide a more sustainable way to meet demand from China and India, whose growing appetite for meat is expected to double global meat consumption by 2040

– Lab-grown meat could be healthier – free of hormones, antibiotics, bacteria such as salmonella and E.coli, and engineered to contain a lower fat content

– Would reduce the threat of swine and avian flu outbreaks associated with factory farming

Cons

– Consumers may find the notion of lab-grown meat creepy or unnatural – a “Frankenstein food” reminiscent of the Soylent Green at the heart of the 1973 sci-fi film of the same name

– For some vegetarians, in vitro meat will be unsatisfactory as it perpetuates “meat addiction” – rather than focusing on promoting non-meat alternatives, and changing our meat-heavy diet

– Although the fat content can be tinkered with, other risks of eating red meat, such as an increased threat of bowel cancer, remain

– It’s not cruelty-free – animals will still have to be slaughtered to provide the bovine stem cells

– There could be unforeseen health consequences to eating lab-grown meat

– As a highly processed, “unnatural” foodstuff, lab-grown meat is a step in the wrong direction for “slow-food” advocates, and others who believe the problems in our food system have their origins in the distance between food production and the consumer

Native American Vote-Suppression Scandal Escalates

By Stephanie Woodard, Huffington Post

South Dakota has devised an ingenious new way to curb minority voting. For decades, suppressing the Native American vote here has involved activities that might not surprise those who follow enfranchisement issues: last-minute changes to Indian-reservation polling places, asking Native voters for ID that isn’t required, confronting them in precinct parking lots and tailing them from the polls and recording their license-plate numbers. The state and jurisdictions within it have fought and lost some 20 Native voting-rights lawsuits; a major suit is still before the courts. Two South Dakota counties were subject to U.S. Department of Justice oversight until June of this year.

That’s when the Supreme Court struck down a portion of the Voting Rights Act of 1965, saying, “Today, our Nation has changed.”

Yes, it has. The VRA decision provided an opening for those who are uncomfortable when minorities, the poor and other marginalized citizens vote. Since the decision, new measures to limit enfranchisement have swept the country — mostly gerrymandering and restrictions on allowable voter IDs.

South Dakota’s secretary of state and top elections official Jason Gant is a step ahead of the pack. He will ask the federal Election Assistance Commission if it’s okay to use Help America Vote Act funds to pay for early-voting polling places on three Indian reservations. Such facilities, which the state has already spent HAVA funds on for two other reservations, cost about $15,000 per election. If the new ones are approved, the money would come from the $9 million in HAVA appropriations the state has in interest-bearing accounts earning hundreds of thousands of dollars per year.

Voting-rights group Four Directions made the early-voting request on behalf of three South Dakota Sioux tribes during the July 31 meeting of the state’s Board of Elections. With the polling places, tribal members would cast ballots closer to home during the 46-day period when South Dakota allows voting ahead of Election Day. Shown above is a portion of a 50-plus-mile round trip some Sioux currently make to early-vote off their reservation–if impoverished tribal members can find transport or gas money. Other Sioux may travel 100 miles or more.

“Right now, most Indians in South Dakota get one day to vote, Election Day, when precincts are set up on reservations; meanwhile, other voters have several weeks,” said civil-rights leader OJ Semans, a Rosebud Sioux who co-directs Four Directions. “That’s not equal access.” Semans is shown below, second from right, discussing early voting with county officials.

At this point, you are probably wondering why asking a federal agency for advice is so very clever. It’s because the Election Assistance Commission no longer has any staff whatsoever tasked to respond to such a query, according to EAC spokesperson Bryan Whitener. He wrote in an email, “Questions that require advisory opinions regarding HAVA funds are decided by a vote of the commissioners. At this point, EAC is without commissioners.” A look at the EAC’s website reveals a several-year backlog of unanswered questions.

Better yet, Gant knows — and may have long known — that a query to the EAC would disappear into the void. Soon after the July 31 meeting, the national American Indian news source, Indian Country Today Media Network, the AP and several South Dakota media outlets reported that Gant is an officer of the National Association of Secretaries of State, which voted in 2011 to support disbanding the EAC.

As the scandal accelerates with articles, blog posts and radio and television talk shows on the subject appearing in South Dakota and around the country, Gant insists that the moribund EAC is the arbiter of the Native early-voting question. In an August 2 statement, he said, “The EAC can either say yes, no, or they may issue no response… I will not use HAVA funds unless it is clearly defined that I can do so.”

Four Directions consultant Bret Healy called Gant’s reliance on the EAC “troubling,” given the secretary of state’s involvement with the commission’s demise. Healy added that any request for advice sent to the EAC was a “dead letter.”

Linda Lea Viken, a Rapid City attorney and elections board member since 1999, said she was startled by the turn of events, especially since board members had pressed Gant during the July 31 meeting about when the EAC might reply and he gave no indication that the answer was, in all likelihood, never.

In an email to Secretary Gant, Viken asked, “May I ask, when did you first become aware that the EAC is not fully staffed and hasn’t issued a decision for several years?”

At another point, Viken queried Gant, “In light of the information the board has now [received] about the futility of such a request, what do you propose? We certainly don’t want these folks to be in limbo for years. They have been seeking this decision for a long time, and we should not be dismissive of their request.”

County elections official and elections board member Patty McGee saw things differently. McGee, who has served on the EAC’s federal Standards Board, told the state group on July 31, “We’ve given them several opportunities to vote.” Later, she told this reporter for an Indian Country Today Media Network article, “A person has to make an effort.”

Healy noted that having some — but not all — ways to vote does not constitute equality. He also referred to Natives as a “protected class” of voters, as defined by the permanent sections of the Voting Rights Act, which were not struck down and remain in effect. Because Native Americans have historically had less opportunity to participate in the electoral process and have been subject to official discrimination, any abridgment of their rights draws special scrutiny.

Separately, at the request of U.S. Senator Tim Johnson (D-S.D.), the nonpartisan Congressional Research Service has analyzed the relevant regulations and opined that it appears South Dakota’s HAVA funds can properly be used for early voting, also called in-person absentee voting. Gant and the state elections board had this information for the July 31 meeting.

Gant is sticking to his guns: “We need to see what the EAC response is and proceed with the next step at that time.”

According to Viken, the state elections board acts as an appeals panel for HAVA issues within South Dakota and can clarify the state’s HAVA plan when necessary. She wants the state board to revisit the Indian-reservation early-voting issue. Said Viken, “It’s always good for us to be refreshed on our responsibilities under the law.”

Photograph by Stephanie Woodard. This article was produced with support from the George Polk Center for Investigative Reporting. c. Stephanie Woodard.

Video: Upper Skagit youth learn traditional cedar gathering

Source: Northwest Indian Fisheries Commission

Elders and tribal leaders from the Upper Skagit Indian Tribe teach a group of children in the summer youth enrichment program to gather cedar and prepare it for use in traditional crafts such as headbands and baskets.

Upper Skagit Tribe youth gather cedar from NW Indian Fisheries Commission on Vimeo.

Exotic fish caught in lake near Marysville

Photo courtesy John DentonJohn Denton caught what he believes to be a pacu, a relative of the piranha, in Lake Ki over the weekend. The fish is being held at Cabela's. — Photo courtesy John Denton
John Denton caught what he believes to be a pacu, a relative of the piranha, in Lake Ki over the weekend. The fish is being held at Cabela’s.

By Jim Davis, The Herald

John Denton hoped to catch a perch or bluegill on Sunday when he cast his line into Lake Ki, northwest of Marysville.

What he caught was something entirely different.

“Bang, there it was,” Denton said. “It’s a pretty big fish, a big ol’ herking fish.”

The fish he pulled out of the water was what looks like a pacu, an omnivorous South American freshwater fish that’s related to the piranha. The pacu is not nearly as ferocious as its cousin — it eats mainly fruit and vegetables and is known as the vegetarian piranha.

Like their cousins, pacu do have big teeth.

Denton’s fish weighs about four to five pounds and it took him about 20 minutes to reel it onto the dock in his back yard. He was using a worm and a hook known as a wedding ring.

By the time he got it into his net, his whole neighborhood came to see what was happening.

“Every neighbor I never met in this cul-de-sac I met yesterday,” Denton said.

One of the neighbors used to work at an aquarium and said he believed the fish was a pacu.

“Obviously it’s outgrown someone’s fish tank and they threw it in,” Denton said. “I don’t know how long it’s been there; it’s a big fish for an aquarium.”

Denton, 40, who’s a commercial painter for Mehrer Drywall, kept the fish alive by keeping it in a cooler of water: “My neighbor’s daughter kept pouring water in there all the time.”

Denton’s wife works at the Tulalip Cabela’s, where they have large fish tanks in the back of the store. Cabela’s agreed to hold on to the fish until the Washington Department of Fish & Wildlife could give them direction on what to do.

Katie Sanford, Cabela’s retail marketing manager, said the fish was still doing its fishy things on Monday afternoon. She said they had been doing some research on what it needs and what it eats.

“It looks like a really cute fish until it opens its mouth and you see its teeth,” Sanford said.

People have caught the pacu in lakes around Snohomish County, said Jeff Holmes, of Fish & Wildlife. In 1994, an 18-inch pacu was pulled out of Silver Lake in Everett.

“They’re a warm water fish and the odds of them establishing a population here are very low, if not impossible,” Holmes said.

Holmes said a biologist will confirm whether the fish is a pacu. He noted that pacu have recently been featured on the popular cable show “River Monsters” and that may be shading people’s opinions.

Mike Kirkham, a manager at The Fish Store, a Seattle aquarium and tropical fish business, saw photos of the fish and said he believes it is a pacu.

He’s been at the store for a decade and has heard several stories of people finding pacu in lakes in the Puget Sound area. The warm water fish can’t survive Northwest winters.

“In the fall, they tend to just die and float to the surface,” Kirkham said.

The fish can grow up to three or four feet long. He urged people against dumping unwanted pacu into waters around here. Instead, they should call pet shops or post advertisements to get rid of the unwanted pets. He said his shop doesn’t sale sell pacus, red-tail catfish or oscars because those species grow too large, making them prone to dumping.

For Denton, the fish created a keeper of a story.

“It was a pretty amazing experience,” Denton said. “I’ll never forget it.”

Jim Davis; 425-339-3097; jdavis@heraldnet.com

What are pacu?

Pacu are omnivorous South American freshwater fish that are related to the piranha. They have square, straight teeth that resemble a human’s. They can grow to 3 feet long and 55 pounds in the wild – much larger than a piranha.

Pacu are often sold as “Vegetarian Piranhas” to home aquarium owners. A pacu named Swish lived for two decades in a tank at a restaurant in Seattle’s International District.

Double-Dip Hell: NCAI Demands Illegally Taxed Native Veterans Get Paid

Megan Baker, Indian Country Today Media Network

The National Congress of American Indians passed a resolution recently urging Congress to recompense eligible Native American service members and veterans who were illegally taxed by the state in which their reservation was domiciled during their active service.

According to federal law, service members with active duty status who legally claim to live on federal reservations are not subject to income taxation by the state in which the reservation is domiciled.

This new resolution argues that 26 states have taxed service members for as long as 24 years.

Nine years ago, an attempt was made in Washington D.C. to address this issue.

The American Indian Veterans Pay Restoration Act of 2004, sponsored by New Mexico Representative Tom Udall, sought to provide remittance to certain Indian veterans of amounts withheld from military basic pay for state income tax purposes while those veterans were in active service and were domiciled in Indian Country.

In his introduction speech, Udall decried the illegal taxation of service members that claimed the reservation as their home. The legislation failed due to a lack of support in the House Armed Services Committee.

In December 2009, the state of New Mexico began to refund any state income tax that was withheld from service members legally domiciled on reservation land while serving.

The fund expired on January 1, 2013. Other states have yet to follow suit.

During the 2013 Midyear Session of the NCAI held in Reno, Nevada from June 24 through 27, the General Assembly called upon the federal government to fulfill its obligations to American Indians, citing its moral and legal federal trust responsibility.

This new resolution will be a policy of the NCAI until it is withdrawn or modified by subsequent resolution.

Judge blocks planned horse slaughter at 2 plants

Associated Press, source: Washington Times

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — A federal judge on Friday temporarily halted plans by companies in New Mexico and Iowa to start slaughtering horses next week.

U.S. District Judge Christina Armijo issued a restraining order in a lawsuit brought by The Humane Society of the United States and other groups in case that has sparked an emotional national debate about how best to deal with the tens of thousands of unwanted and abandoned horses across the country.

Armijo issued a restraining order and scheduled another hearing for Monday in a lawsuit by The Humane Society of the United States and other groups that are strongly opposed to the idea of resuming horse slaughter for the first time in seven years in the U.S.

The groups contend the Department of Agriculture failed to do the proper environmental studies before issuing permits that allowed companies in Iowa and New Mexico to open horse slaughterhouses. The companies had said they wanted to open as soon as Monday.

The horse meat would be exported for human consumption and for use as zoo and other animal food.

Valley Meat Co. of Roswell, N.M., has been at the fore of the fight, pushing for more than a year for permission to convert its cattle plant into a horse slaughterhouse. Its plans ignited a divisive debate over whether horses are livestock or domestic companions, and how best to deal with all the neglected and often-starving horses.

After more than a year of delays and a lawsuit by Valley Meat, the Department of Agriculture in June gave the company the go-ahead to begin slaughtering horses. USDA officials said they were legally obligated to issue the permits, even though the Obama administration opposes horse slaughter and is seeking to reinstate a congressional ban that was lifted in 2011.

Another permit was approved a few days later for Responsible Transportation in Sigourney, Iowa.

The move has divided horse rescue and animal welfare groups, ranchers, politicians and Indian tribes about what is the most humane way to deal with the country’s horse overpopulation.

Some Native American tribes, including the Navajo and Yakama nations, are among those who are pushing to let the companies open. They say the exploding horse populations on their reservations are trampling and overgrazing rangelands, decimating forage resources for cattle and causing widespread environmental damage. The Navajo Nation, the nation’s largest Indian reservation, estimates there are 75,000 horses on its land, many of which are dehydrated and starving after years of drought.

On the other side, actor Robert Redford, former New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson, current Gov. Susana Martinez and Attorney General Gary King are among those who strongly oppose a return to domestic horse slaughter, citing the animals’ iconic role as companion animals in the West.

“Horse slaughter has no place in our culture,” Redford said in a statement last week in announcing formation of a foundation that has joined the fight. “It is cruel, inhumane, and perpetuates abuse and neglect of these beloved animals. We must oppose it with all of our might.”

Supporters of domestic slaughter point to a June 2011 report from the federal Government Accountability Office that shows cases of horse abuse and abandonment on a steady rise since Congress effectively banned horse slaughter by cutting funding for USDA inspection programs in 2006.

They also cite USDA statistics compiled by the Equine Welfare Alliance that shows the number of U.S. horses sent to other countries for slaughter has nearly tripled since domestic horse slaughter ceased, with many of those being shipped thousands of miles to points south of the border to be slaughtered in unregulated and inhumane facilities.

They said it is better to slaughter the horses in regulated and humane domestic facilities than to let them starve or be shipped to Mexico.

John Kitzhaber set to veto bill allowing Native American mascots in Oregon

Molalla High School is one of the schools that still has a Native American mascot. Under Senate Bill 215, the school would be able to keep the mascot if a local tribe approved it. But Gov. John Kitzhaber is expected to veto the bill. (Beth Nakamura/The Oregonian)

Christian Gaston, The Oregonian

Gov. John Kitzhaber intends to issue a rare veto over a culturally sensitive bill passed by his fellow Democrats amid split testimony from Native Americans.

Senate Bill 215 installs a loophole in a ban implemented by Kitzhaber’s Board of Education, which decided last year to eliminate the use of all tribal mascots at high schools, such as the Banks Braves or Molalla Indians. The mascots, the board found, negatively impact Native American students.

Kitzhaber said he was willing to support a bill allowing schools to adopt the names of tribes, similar to college sports rules, but the bill the Legislature delivered offered too broad an exemption, letting schools keep generic names if a local tribe approved.

“We worked hard to let them know our concerns and the governor doesn’t think the bill gets there,” said Kitzhaber spokesman Tim Raphael.

While a trio of Republicans introduced the mascot legislation, the bill attracted many Democratic votes, passing the House and the Senate by broad enough margins to override a veto.

Even so, Sen. Jeff Kruse, R-Roseburg, said he doesn’t think the Legislature would beat back Kitzhaber’s veto. Instead, he’s hoping the governor will reconsider, and is preparing for the next session.

“I’m just hoping at this point, I don’t know what else I can do,” said Kruse, a chief sponsor of the bill. “The reality of a veto override is non-existent, I know that. So we’d just do another bill.”

The renewed debate over Native American mascots in Oregon this year kicked up at the same time as the owners of the Cleveland Indians rebuffed fresh calls to dump the team’s mascot — the grinning, red-faced “Chief Wahoo.”

In 2012, the Oregon Board of Education established a strict statewide ban giving 15 schools until 2017 to change their mascots or lose state funding.

Many of Oregon’s nine federally recognized tribes didn’t formally weigh into the debate. Those that did were split.

The Confederated Tribes of Coos, Lower Umpqua and Siuslaw Indians supported the mascot ban. Two tribes, The Confederated Tribes of Siletz Indians and the Confederated Tribes of the Grand Ronde both sought the modified policy encompassed in the legislation: let mascots remain only if a local tribe approved. The Coquille Indian Tribe supported the board’s ban, but changed its position, supporting SB 215 during the Legislative session.

Sen. Mark Hass, D-Beaverton, who chairs the Senate Education and Workforce Development Committee, said lawmakers relied on input from local tribes. “It’s emotional on both sides for the tribes and the Oregon tribes wanted this bill, so we passed the bill that they said they supported,” Hass said.

Kitzhaber said it went too far. He wanted the bill modeled after National Collegiate Athletic Association rules, which banned the use of Native American mascots during tournaments in 2005.

NCAA rules let Florida State University keep the Seminoles name for its sports teams after reaching an agreement with the Seminole Nation of Florida.

Brenda Frank, who chaired the Oregon Board of Education when it adopted the ban, said any Native American mascot could hurt a Native American child’s self esteem.

“I still go back to how offensive is that? How is that fair to other tribal people who find that offensive?” said Frank, a member of the Klamath Tribe. “I just don’t think that there is anything that can justify racism.”

Frank said the board took into consideration the concerns of school administrators when it passed the ban, including the cost of replacing uniforms and other materials.

“As uniforms cycle down, they would eventually all be replaced and that’s a cost that districts would pay for anyway,” Frank said.

Kruse still worries about the cost of change at Roseburg High School, which he attended. The school long ago modified its logo in deference to the local tribe, the Cow Creek Band of Umpqua Tribe of Indians.

“In the case of the Roseburg Indians and the Cow Creek Band, everybody’s happy with it,” he told The Oregonian in February.

But it wasn’t that the tribe had asked for the change, and its response illustrates the different ways tribes feel about this issue.

Susan Ferris, a spokeswoman for the Cow Creek Band said students from Roseburg approached the tribe roughly 15 years ago and asked whether the mascot, then a Native American warrior, should be changed. Ferris said tribal leaders told the students to do what they thought was right. The district adopted a new mascot: a feather.

The Cow Creek Band kept out of the mascot debate in Salem this year.

“The Cow Creek stance, historically, seems to be ‘do what you think is right regardless of us.'” Ferris said.

Taste of Tulalip – The Culinary Festival of the Year

5th Anniversary Highlights Include Extraordinary Epicurean Events, Celebrity Chefs & Sommelier Superstars

Tulalip, Washington – Tulalip Resort Casino is gearing up for a weekend of revelry to celebrate the 5th anniversary of Taste of Tulalip, its coveted award-winning food and wine aficionado event. Scheduled for November 8 and 9, 2013, this year’s line-up of top talent, to be announced within the next month, will include many familiar names as well as some stars on the rise. Past culinary celeb appearances have included ABC TV’s “The Chew” host Carla Hall, Bravo’s Top Chef Master and author Marcus Samuelsson, wine legend Marc Mondavi, “Thirsty Girl” Leslie Sbrocco and others. Executive Chef Perry Mascitti and Sommelier Tommy Thompson are putting together a dazzling roster of food, wine and tradition show-stoppers that have been a year in the planning. Taste 2013 will feature honorary winemaker Bob Betz of Betz Family Winery. Taste of Tulalip tickets have just gone on sale at Ticketmaster, with Friday night Celebration dinner tickets soon to follow.

The two-day gathering, with a focus on food, wine and tradition, begins with a Friday night wine and passed hors d’oeuvres reception, followed by the aptly named Celebration Dinner. The multi-course repast will focus on Native American and traditional recipe inspired dishes, paired with a global offering of rare, top wines. It is priced at $175. Tickets are limited and this event is always a sell-out.

On Saturday “All Access” pass holders ($295) will enjoy early entrance to the unforgettable Grand Taste; a VIP seminar featuring a celebrity cooking demo, table talk and Q & A session on the Viking Kitchen Stage; a private Magnum Party where they’ll be treated to a high level wine and indigenous food pairings; and a special bonus this year – two in-depth Reserve Tasting forums.

The weekend’s highlight is always the Grand Taste, spanning four hours and featuring lavish food stations as well as over 100 wines from Washington State, California and Oregon, and craft beer. It is priced at $95 and includes a Rock –n- Roll Cooking Challenge done “Iron Chef” style with celebrity judges looking for the best from both regional and Tulalip chefs, and sommelier teams. Special guest Emilio Lopez of El Salvador (a sixth generation specialty coffee producer), will be appearing at the Dillanos Coffee Roasters espresso bar, where guests will be able to sample a special TOT 5th Anniversary Blend.

All of the weekend’s wine offerings will be available in limited quantities for purchase in the Taste of Tulalip retail wine shop. There will also be book and bottle signings for those looking to personalize their purchases.

For tickets, go to www.tasteoftulalip.com or www.ticketmaster.com

Night Out gatherings target crime

Rikki King, The Herald

EVERETT — In Granite Falls, they’ll have a Humvee.

In downtown Lake Stevens, a DJ will play. In Snohomish, neighbors will throw block parties.

A number of Snohomish County cities and neighborhoods plan family fairs on Tuesday as part of National Night Out, an annual event that promotes meeting the neighbors and preventing crime. Some communities also plan neighborhood block parties.

The Granite Falls event is a partnership between police, the local IGA and community groups, police officer Don Lauer said

“It’s going to be a great time for the kids,” he said. “They’re going to have a lot of fun. There are a lot of giveaways.”

Like many of the Night Out events, Granite Falls will have police, fire and military vehicles for kids to check out, free food, and a bouncy house.

“It’s a great opportunity for the parents to find out about services that are available in the community and talk with not only community organizations, but with community leaders as well,” Lauer said.

As fall approaches, National Night Out is a chance for families to talk about safety, Mukilteo police officer Cheol Kang said. Kids heading back to school can have fun, eat food and win prizes. The events bring people together, Kang said.

“It’s just good to have that reminder about what’s available as resources and crime prevention,” he said.

Lake Stevens plans two kinds of music downtown along Main Street during National Night Out, said Kirsten Mueller, program coordinator at the Lake Stevens Family Center.

There will be a DJ in one spot playing family-friendly music and karaoke, she said. In another spot, a live band will play pop hits from the 1980s.

Activities include laser tag, face-painting and a race car display from the Evergreen Speedway, Mueller said. About 30 booths are planned, along with free hot dogs, nachos and popcorn.

“A lot of what we’re promoting is a chance to come together as a community and let people know that these people in your community are here,” she said. “We want to meet you. We want to get to know you. And as we collaborate as a community, it instills a sense of pride.”

Mountlake Terrace plans a martial arts demonstration and square dancing. More than 1,000 people attended the city’s event last year.

For more information about specific events, contact your local police department.

Rikki King: 425-339-3449; rking@heraldnet.com.

Arlington: Block parties.

Bothell: Block parties.

Brier: 6 p.m., Brier Park

Edmonds: Was held July 30.

Everett: Block parties.

Gold Bar: Parade starts at 6:30 p.m. at 10th Street and Lewis Avenue, then ends at Gold Bar Elementary. Event ends at 9 p.m.

Granite Falls: 5 to 8 p.m. in the field between Alfy’s Pizza and the IGA.

Lake Stevens: 5 to 8:30 p.m. at North Cove Park and Main Street.

Lynnwood: Block parties.

Marysville: 6 to 8:30 p.m., Comeford Park, 514 Delta Ave.

Mill Creek: Shared with the county.

Monroe: 5:30 to 8:30 p.m., Lake Tye Park.

Mountlake Terrace: 6 to 9 p.m., Evergreen Playfield, 22205 56th Ave West.

Mukilteo: 4 to 7 p.m., Mukilteo YMCA, 10601 47th Place W.), and block parties. More info: http://tinyurl.com/mukNNO2013

Tulalip: Shared with Marysville.

Snohomish: Block parties.

Stanwood: 6 to 9 p.m., former Thrifty Foods parking lot, 27225 90th Ave. NW.

Sultan: Shared with Gold Bar.

Snohomish County: 5 to 8 p.m., Willis Tucker Park, 6705 Puget Park Drive.

PBS Newshour: Lummi Fighting Cherry Point Coal Export Terminal

Source: Indian Country Today Media Network

The controversy over coal-export railway terminals at Cherry Point near Lummi territory in Washington State has drawn the attention of the venerable Public Broadcasting System.

PBS Newshour broadcast a story on August 2 detailing the brewing battle, from tribal opposition to the reservations of health professionals concerned about the respiratory effects of both coal dust and diesel exhaust. The report starts and ends with input from Lummi fisher Jeremiah Julius, who articulates the nation’s concern about the destruction to habitat, air and tradition.

“The whole landscape is sacred to us,” Julius tells a reporter at the beginning of the segment. “There’s not much contaminant-free lands left in the United States. This is one of them.”

The segment aired the same day that the Lummi Nation sent a letter to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers formally registering the tribe’s opposition to the plan.

Washington State officials along with other partners are conducting an environmental review of the shipping terminal project, which would entail exporting 54 million metric tons annually of “bulk commodities,” including as much as 48 million metric tons of coal per year, the Washington Department of Ecology said in a statement on July 31.

The Bellingham Herald reported on August 1 that a firm stance against the project “could stop the federal permit process for the coal terminal dead in its tracks.” Officials from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers have said that if the tribe were to state in writing that there is no chance for an agreement with the company, SSA Marine, the federal agency would take that into account when evaluating federal permit applications.

“If the Lummis come to that position, it will make us reassess the direction we are going,” said Muffy Walker, the head of the Army Corps of Engineers’ regulatory branch in Seattle, at a press conference according to the newspaper. “We have denied permits in the past, based on tribal concerns.”

If Julius’s sentiments are typical, the Lummi Nation’s stance does not look likely to change.

“To me, these tankers are the trains that killed off the buffalo,” said Julius. “These tankers are going to kill my way of life. So to me, this is—it is a battle.”

Watch Pacific Northwest Weighs Environmental Risks of Cashing in on Coal Export Market at the PBS website.