Robocalls: "Humanity Strikes Back" ~ Making Your Own Luck ~ Corporate Farming Story

The Federal Trade Commission is launching two contests that challenge the public to develop a crowd-sourced technical system that can help address the problem of robocalls. Here to explain is Patty Hsue, staff attorney with the FTC. See: "Humanity Strikes Back." ~~~ Tom Isern has this week’s Plains Folk essay, “The Wire that Fenced the West.” ~~~ Happy St. Pat’s Day. Here to discuss “The Luck of the Irish,” is life coach Anne Deidre, who says people often make their own luck. ~~~ An Natural North Dakota essay from Chuck Lura on the Turtle Mountains. ~~~ Efforts are underway to allow corporate ownership of hog operations in North Dakota. In Nebraska, a similar restriction exists. Farmers contract with corporate packers that aren’t allowed to actually own the livestock. Grant Gerlock of Harvest Public Media reports.