Investigative reporter Linda Moulton Howe discussed a UFO sighting, cyber-espionage, declining bat populations, and Monsanto's genetically modified seeds. In her first report, she interviewed "Steve," a retired USAF security policeman, who described a 1969 incident at Vandenburg AFB, in which he witnessed an unidentified aerial object that hovered over a new military transport plane that contained "hot cargo"-- two wooden crates. The UFO emitted a greenish-blue beam of light at the plane where the cargo was held, and then shot up vertically and disappeared, said Steve, who added that he was told the crew was flying the plane to Groom Lake (the site that would in later years become linked to Area 51 and tales of aliens). More here.

In her second report, she detailed how NASA and Houston oil companies have suffered cyber attacks especially from China. She spoke with Prof. William Conklin from the College of Technology at the Univ. of Houston about the cyber infiltrations. "For espionage and stealing information from computers, many cases are specifically after oil exploration information because that’s information that is worth money," he said. NASA is also of interest to cyber spies, as "manned space flight is an area of competition among nations," and NASA has considerable intellectual property in that area. The US govt. is making efforts to tighten computer security, but it is taking time, he commented. Read her full interview.

Linda looked into the skyrocketing price of genetically modified seeds patented by Monsanto. She interviewed agricultural economist Charles Benbrook, who noted that farmers are paying the highest price they have ever paid for seeds. "There are a lot of very troubling signs about genetically engineered corn and soybeans in terms of their performance and whether they will even continue to work because of glyphosate (herbicide) resistance," he said. Meanwhile, bats and honey bees continue to die-off, which Linda noted might be related to the increase of genetically modified plants. More here.

In her discussion on bat die-offs, she pointed out that the problem is reaching crisis level proportions with white-nosed fungus having killed more than a million bats since 2007, in some 11 U.S. states. She spoke with Vermont wildlife biologist Scott Darling, who said "these bats have been around for some 50 million years and have been able to adapt very well to their natural conditions. And in a very short span under our watch, they are disappearing from our forests and ecosystems." More here.