A volunteer at a St. Charles County food pantry looks over empty shelves.

The number of Americans without enough to eat has reached the highest level since the federal government began keeping track 14 years ago.
About 49 million people — including…

Once upon a time, Americans were concerned about unsafe food being sold to the public. So they created a food protection system that was the envy of the world.
Then one day, someone decided government isn’t the solution to our problems, government…

Ed Schafer, the U.S. secretary of agriculture, dropped by our office Thursday with a little bit of good news:  Farmers are having no trouble borrowing money, at least for now, and farm banks seem to be in good shape.

The real…

When 44 tigers and 11 lions live in a neighborhood, you might expect neighbors to be concerned. When there are no government safety inspections of such menageries, you might expect a community to be worried. And when tigers attack people —…