[imgbelt img=dollargeneral.jpeg]Dollar General Corp., of Goodlettsville, Tennessee, has announced it will open 625 new stores this year. Discount stores in small towns have had a good run during the recession and so Dollar General is taking its show on the road. For the first time, Dollar General will open stores in Connecticut, Nevada and New Hampshire.•What’s the deal in Iowa? Tom Alex at the Des Moines Register reports that “several Iowa sheriffs’ offices reported receiving 10 to 20 times as many weapons permit applications on Monday as they do most days.” Monday was the first day government offices were open after a new law took effect that required sheriffs to issue permits to carry concealed weapons. In Jasper County, 83 people showed up Monday morning to get their papers.• DTN reports that herbicide resistant weeds are forcing farmers to give up on no-till techniques and to go back to deep plowing and cultivating. •Jerry Hagstrom has more on the problem of funding all the programs in the new food safety law. The new Republican chair of the House Ag Committee, Rep. Jack Kingston of Georgia, says there is a “high possibility of trimming this whole package back.” The new food safety bill would cost $1.4, mostly for new inspectors to make sure food processors are following the law.• The American Prospect has an article about the attempt by a Washington, D.C. advocacy group to change the leadership of the Grain Inspection, Packers and Stockyards Administration (GIPSA).Forgive the acronym overload, but CREW (Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington) is charging that J. Dudley Butler is trying to alter rules governing livestock sales to benefit trial lawyers. Butler is an attorney. Read all about this silly controversy.