By LISA HOFFMAN, Scripps Howard News Service

WASHINGTON -- Though it got far less attention than warranted, the meat industry did a stunning 180 this past week and dropped its long support of butchering old, sick cattle for human consumption.

WASHINGTON -- Though it's little noted, one of the reasons such a large number of U.S. troops remain in Iraq is that they, by default, have had to shoulder many civilian duties because of a woeful lack of support and staff from the Department of State.

WASHINGTON -- One day in the not-too-distant future, your cell phone may bring you a text message from the president. And if it does, odds are it will be bearing very dire news.

WASHINGTON -- The Newseum, Washington's newest museum, opens Friday, April 11, in a symbolic Pennsylvania Avenue spot about midway between the White House and the U.S. Capitol.

WASHINGTON -- Nonprofit organizations carry the image of high-purpose and selfless staffs. But their do-gooder ranks apparently include a growing number of do-badders, according to the Ethics Resource Center.

WASHINGTON -- One of the few bright corners of the U.S. economy these days is the agriculture sector, where higher prices for major crops are counteracting spot losses from drought and floods.

WASHINGTON -- The sudden exit of Adm. William Fallon from his post as the top U.S. military chief in the Middle East and Central Asia constituted a major victory in Pentagon politics for Army Gen. David Petraeus, who had bucked Fallon's desire to begin a steady withdrawal of U.S. troops from Iraq.

WASHINGTON -- Whoever wins the White House this year will be ferried to Camp David and elsewhere by the most advanced presidential helicopters ever developed. The helicopter also will be the most expensive, stung by skyrocketing development costs from the start.

WASHINGTON -- Even the indictment of yet another sitting congressman wasn't enough to goose House Democrats and Republicans to put real teeth into an independent ethics office that would probe complaints of lawmaker misconduct.

WASHINGTON -- It's not just the meat of "downer" cattle we should be worried about infiltrating our food supply. There's little standing in the way of meat from sick pigs, sheep, goats and other animals from winding up on our plates.