Farm Groups Fight EPA On Limiting Atrazine, Truckers Take A Stand Against Human Trafficking, President Barack Obama’s Final Speech To The UN General Assembly

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• Farm Groups Fight EPA On Limiting Popular Weed Killer

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  The EPA issued a draft ecological risk proposal of the commonly-used weed killer, atrazine, which could be linked to reproductive and cardiovascular health problems. We’ll learn why corn growers say the potential restrictions on atrazine could harm the environment and agricultural yields.

• Truckers Mobilize Against Human Trafficking

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  A novel anti-trafficking initiative mobilizes truckers, truck stop employees and the general public to recognize the signs of human trafficking and help combat it.

• Organization Asking Truckers To Look Out For Human Trafficking

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  Truckers Against Trafficking is opening up a new line of defense against human traffickers by mobilizing truckers, truck stop employees and the general public to help recover victims.

  There are more than 3.5 million truckers on America’s roads, which makes them a great resource for groups working to fight human trafficking, said Lyn Thompson, the organization’s co-founder and communications specialist.

  “If we could train them to understand what human trafficking is and what to do when they see it, they could play a critical role in the fight against human trafficking across this country,” Thompson said.

  The organization is a hallmark program in the Industry Training Program, it has trained hundreds of thousands of people in the trucking industry about the warning signs of sex trafficking and how to appropriately respond by following up with a report to the National Human Trafficking Resource Center and local law enforcement.

  “What we wanted them to do is, first of all, to quit seeing young girls or young boys who were coming to their trucks or finding them at rest stops or motels or whatever, to quit seeing them as prostitutes and begin seeing them as potential victims,” Thompson said.

  The efforts appear to be working. Since Truckers Against Trafficking formed in 2009, the organization says it’s partnered with hundreds of trucking companies and driving schools, trained more than 238,000 truckers and implemented new laws in 24 states. That’s led to almost 1,500 calls to the hotline and the identification of 452 likely human-trafficking cases involving almost 1,000 victims, 270 of whom were minors.

  Thompson said the human trafficking cases have been reported in all 50 states. According to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, one in six runaways in 2014 were likely trafficking victims. There are millions of victims across the globe, many of whom are children, and it’s an estimated $150 billion industry.

  Milwaukee has been called a hub for human trafficking. The Guardian referred to the city as the “Harvard of pimp school.” Milwaukee was tied for the third highest number of young people rescued last year by FBI raids across the United States, according to the British newspaper.

  Thompson is calling on all travelers, not just truckers, to be on the lookout for traffickers moving victims across state lines by highways and the interstate. She hopes to expand the program into other transportation industries, including airlines and bus depots.

  “I think the more people that are aware that this could be happening and they could be seeing it, the more opportunities there are to raising an alarm and helping someone escape or be recovered from a trafficker,” Thompson said.

• President Barack Obama's Final Address To The United Nations General Assembly

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  On Tuesday President Barack Obama gave his final speech to the United Nations General Assembly. A political scientist breaks down this speech and discusses the president’s foreign policy legacy.