Meet The Team / Jessie Cacciola

The newest corporation riding the green wave might surprise environmentalists. A new Kentucky Fried Chicken outpost in Indianapolis is gunning for LEED certification (short for Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) from the U.S. Green Building Council. Before you give the Colonel a pat on the back, we feel compelled to mention that this is different from green certification from the Green Restaurant Association, which evaluates sustainability efforts in both food and waste control. LEED is purely design-oriented -- think energy-efficient lighting and building materials.

So what's special about this KFC? Well, they're using "reusable containers," meaning plastic instead of styrofoam, plus paper boxes (weren't those infamous buckets already paper?). To this we say, "about time." But on its website, the company touts the reduction of styrofoam by 62 percent -- not 100 -- and plastic by 17 percent. Not exactly groundbreaking stuff.

The building itself is well-designed, however. It's got long-life LED lighting, locally sourced building materials and fixtures that reduce water use -- all of which is estimated to reduce energy waste by 25 percent, according to the company press release.

It might not be earth-shattering change, but we'll take it.

Jamie Oliver got a big glimmer of hope last night. Food Revolution may have been bumped on the tube in favor of a two-hour Dancing With The Stars episode, but Oliver appeared on Jimmy Kimmel Live! with big news that more than makes up for the scheduling snafu (and no worries, Revolution returns next Tuesday). The news? The Los Angeles United School District (LAUSD) has hired a new superintendent, and unlike the last guy, he's on Jamie's side.

Superintendent John Deasy joined Oliver on Kimmel to announce that he'll be pushing a ban on flavored milk in LAUSD schools, which is a major goal of Oliver's. Why? Because, as Oliver reiterated to the studio audience: "There's more sugar per ounce in flavored milk than there is in a can of soda." About 80 percent of kids get free or reduced-priced milk, he explains, and 75 percent of the milk is flavored. So most kids end up drinking the sugar-packed beverage twice a day, every day that they're in school. "And then you worry about diabetes?" he asks.

Doughnuts and wine go together like... wait, that's insane, right? Not at a place called Psycho Donuts in San Jose, California owned by former techy Jordan Zwegoron. Set up like a "light-hearted" asylum, it's complete with lab coat-clad employees, a padded booth, straitjacket and group therapy area where customers are given plastic bubble wrap (for popping, natch) and donuts named "Cereal Killer," "Kooky Monster" and "Massive Head Trauma."

"When you walk in, you're our patient, and we make you better with doughnuts," Zwegoron told the Santa Cruz Sentinel. That all may not spell 'family friendly' but it's TV gold for producer Nicole Block of LA-based Highlighting Entertainment, who's shooting a sample episode of a doughnut-and-wine pairing reality show to pitch to TLC, the Food Network and the Cooking Channel, reports the Sentinel.

"There's a lot of cupcake and cake reality shows, but we haven't seen a doughnut show," says Block. "Zwegoron is a good character and the doughnuts are unique, so we think Psycho Donuts will be a good candidate." She's decided to match up the crazy confectionist with wine from Poetic Cellars on the hills of Soquel, CA. The cellar's shtick? Each bottle is labeled with a poem. We can't say what's in the paired-up doughnut, but it's four-pronged and goes by "the poetic psycho," like any good reality TV star.

Food stamp users, prepare for some belt-tightening. Harkening back to Clinton-era welfare economics of 1996, House Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan has proposed a $6.2 trillion cut to annual federal deficits for the next decade. The proposal, which passed the House earlier this month and resumes legislation today as Senators return from Easter-Passover break, would have a major impact on nutritional assistance programs.

The Ryan budget plan looks to cut the federal Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) by 20 percent between 2012 to 2021 by capping the open-ended system with a block-grant -- either by capping eligibility or benefits, or both. This means benefits would not fluctuate with economic need. States would instead be allotted a max.

If you're not celebrating Earth Day by dining at one of the many Earth Dinners we offered to you earlier this week, take comfort in one of these green-certified spots approved by the only non-profit that can: the Green Restaurant Association (GRA). This 20-year-old, nationally recognized program is backed by Energy Star and the Environmental Defense Fund. To get an approval from this group, your establishment needs to be Stryfoam-free, recycle-friendly (and compost, if available) and use sustainable food and water.

"The Green Restaurant Association is proud to have attracted scores of highly esteemed restaurants from across the United States," said Michael Oshman, founder and executive director of the GRA, in a statement. Most recognizable: Le Bernardin, Mario Batali's empire, Microsoft corporate cafés, Hyatt hotels, Panera and Jamba Juice. Not to leave anyone out, here's the full list.