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Richard Mertens

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Drought-stricken corn near Paris, MO
Christian Science Monitor

Midwest drought: how engineered corn saved some farmers from disaster

By Richard Mertens | 09/26/12

Estimates suggest that drought-resistant corn might have diminished potential crop losses by one-quarter this year — a development with major implications for a hotter, more crowded world.

Christian Science Monitor

As drought withers US corn crop, ethanol industry feels the squeeze

By Richard Mertens | 08/10/12

As corn prices soar amid deepening drought, ethanol plants watch their margins evaporate. The industry is working at half-capacity, and some plants have closed. The slowdown is a blow to some rural areas.

Christian Science Monitor

College-educated and illegal: Immigrants pin job hopes on DREAM Act

By Richard Mertens | 12/16/10
CHICAGO — Tina was 3 years old when her mother carried her across the Rio Grande into the United States. Plucked from her birthplace, the Mexican mining town of Zacatecas, she grew up in a Chicago suburb.