| Emphasis on military veterans and limited-resource farmers |
| New Orleans, LA – Feb. 2, 2015 – Today, U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Deputy Secretary Krysta Harden (USDA) announced more than $18 million in grants to educate, mentor, and enhance the sustainability of the next generation of farmers. The grants are available through the Beginning Farmer and Rancher Development Program (BFRDP) administered by the National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA), which was authorized by the Agricultural Act of 2014 (Farm Bill).”As new farmers and ranchers get started, they are really looking to their community for support. The Beginning Farmer and Rancher Development Program empowers these farmers and ranchers to bring innovative ideas to the table when it comes to addressing food security, creating economic enterprises, and building communities,” said Deputy Secretary Krysta Harden. “As we celebrate the first anniversary of the 2014 Farm Bill, programs like these are evidence that an investment in beginning farmers and ranchers is an investment in our future”.
The grant announcement was made at Recirculating Farms Coalition in New Orleans. Recirculating Farms received a BFRDP grant to develop training sessions focusing on soil-based production and aquaculture for new and beginning farmers in New Orleans. The BFRDP program, first established by the 2008 Farm Bill, aims to support those who have farmed or ranched less than 10 years with workshops, educational teams, training, and technical assistance throughout the United States. NIFA awards grants to organizations that implement programs to train beginning farmers and ranchers. Today’s announcement was funded by the 2014 Farm Bill, which continued authorization of this program. The 2014 Farm Bill mandated at least five percent of BFRDP funding support veterans and socially disadvantaged farmers. Among today’s announcement, more than 15 percent of the funded projects have a substantial component that supports veterans and farming, while about 50 percent of the projects focus mainly on socially disadvantaged farmers and ranchers. A fact sheet with a complete list of awardees and project descriptions is available on the USDA website.
More information about USDA support for new farmers and ranchers is available at www.usda.gov/newfarmers. The Beginning Farmer and Rancher Development Program is currently accepting applications for the 2015 grant cycle. Applicationsare due March 13, 2015. Funding for the BFRDP program is authorized by the 2014 Farm Bill. The Farm Bill builds on historic economic gains in rural America over the past five years, while achieving meaningful reform and billions of dollars in savings for taxpayers. Since enactment, USDA has made significant progress to implement each provision of this critical legislation, including providing disaster relief to farmers and ranchers; strengthening risk management tools; expanding access to rural credit; funding critical research; establishing innovative public-private conservation partnerships; developing new markets for rural-made products; and investing in infrastructure, housing and community facilities to help improve quality of life in rural America. For more information, visit www.usda.gov/farmbill. Through federal funding and leadership for research, education and extension programs, NIFA focuses on investing in science and solving critical issues impacting people’s daily lives and the nation’s future. More information is at: www.nifa.usda.gov. |
USDA Invests $18 Million to Train Beginning Farmers and Ranchers
IS IT TRUE February 3, 2015
IS IT TRUE that the newly appointed Evansville Water and Sewer Board was told to go back and re-vote on past decisions made in January by the previous board because the makeup of the past board was deemed illegal?…we wonder if the Mayor is also going to require other City appointed boards to go back and re-vote on issues that other boards that had serving illegally since the new residency ordinance was passed by City Council? Â …we wonder why the Mayor didn’t inform his buddies in the mainstream media about this issue?
IS IT TRUE that 4th Ward City Councilwoman Connie Robinson shall announce this Wednesday at  4 PM at the Civic Center that she will seek re-election?  …you can expect a large group of 4th Ward voters to show up in support of Connie Robinson re-election announcement? …we hope that one of the At-large City Council members will take special note and see who attends Mrs. Robinson re-election announcement event?  …its  alleged if the 4th Ward have a heavy voter turnout on primary day that one At-Large City Councilman political career may be over?
IS IT TRUE the Evansville City Council is coming under fire in the mainstream media for allegedly being a clown show that cannot get anything done or agree on anything at all?…it is suspected that the source of these zingers is the Office of the Mayor which is complicit in any look of silliness on the City Council by continually doing things behind closed doors and failing to keep the City Council out of the loop on many important decisions? …is it any wonder that the City Council would be indignant about being blinded to the fact that the Mayor’s office authorized a $200,000 advance loan to Earthcare Energy,  spending hundred of thousands  of  taxpayers dollars on  vacant buildings and giving them away to special friends or has staged several theatrical ground breaking ceremonies for the downtown hotel which is still not designed in a way that it can attract financing?…the reality is that the Winnecke Administration has been a clown show and some members of the City Council have been in the rumble seat?…the City Council has been flying blind largely due to the fact that they are intentionally left out of the information loop?…as long as business continues to be done in a vacuum, the clown show will continue?
IS IT TRUE we are hearing that rank and file members of the Evansville Police Department are extremely upset with the Chief of Police decision to pay select officers “Special Duty Pay”  for attending a most important public relations trip to Disney World trip in Orlando, Florida ? …we agree that treating a group of Glenwood honor students to a free trip to Disney World is positive act? ….we do feel that officers who attended this worth while trip should had taken vacation time to attend trip and not being paid with “Special Duty Pay” from city funds?
IS IT TRUE President Barack Obama proposed a nearly $4 trillion budget package Monday aimed at improving the nation’s infrastructure and boosting middle-class Americans, but with a cost of tax increases on businesses and the wealthy as well as an end to existing spending caps?…the budget, much of which Mr. Obama has detailed over the past month, makes a case for easing Washington’s emphasis on deficit-reduction measures, given the strengthening economy?…it makes no new effort to fix the swelling costs of Social Security, Medicare, and the off budget obligations of public employee pensions which are the 800 pound gorilla in room when it comes to government spending?…neither party nor any President since the turn of the century has shown any willingness to tackle the real hard questions of long term financial obligations in the future to cash the checks written on the future generations?
IS IT TRUE that Super Bowl 49, just hosted by Phoenix, Arizona was one of the best played games from a spectators perspective in many years?…the University of Phoenix stadium which also hosts the Fiesta Bowl is a perfect venue for big time football games and the City of Phoenix seems to have a knack for doing a good job with such large events?…that was not always the case as back in 1950 Evansville, Indiana had a larger population than Phoenix by over 20,000 people?…to be specific in 1950 Evansville was home to 128,636 people while the water starved desert town of Phoenix had only 106,818 people and no prospects to be a significant city?…that was then and this is now?…in the last 65 years Phoenix has grown to become a major metropolis of 1.5 Million while Evansville has depopulated to only 120,000 after the most recent annexation?…to think that Evansville in an economic forecast model in 1950 would have had better prospects for the future than Phoenix is mind boggling to some, but the reality is that things were done much differently in the two cities and through a 65 year lens, Evansville’s mistakes are easy to characterize?…the problem is that Evansville keeps doing the same things and expecting different results which according to Dr. Albert Einstein is the very definition of insanity?…if the leaders of the past 65 years would have simply exercised a good game of “monkey see, monkey do”, who knows, perhaps Super Bowl 50 would be on the banks of the Ohio instead of San Jose, CA, that was also smaller than Evansville in 1950?
Please take time and vote in todays “Readers Poll”
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Attempt to Locate Theft Suspect
The attached images are of a subject who is suspected of stealing several hundred dollars’ worth of alcohol from the Liquor Locker located at 300 N. Weinbach Avenue
If anyone has knowledge about the individual’s identity, please call the Evansville Police Department at 436-7979 or the WeTip line at 1-800-78-CRIME.
For full details, view this message on the web
Wanted Suspect – Attempt to Locate
The below image is of Bryan D. Schini, a 22 year old W/M – 5â€10†– 140 lbs, who is wanted for an Aggravated Battery with a knife.
At approximately 11:45 pm on February 1, 2015, Schini went to the house of an individual that he had stayed with for a short time. While on the front porch of the residence, Schini allegedly attacked Clark and the two ended up wrestling in the front yard were Clark sustained multiple injuries including a stab wound to his chest and a large laceration to his head.
Schini is also wanted on multiple warrants for Petition to Revoke Probation for a previous theft and domestic battery and a Failure to Appear for Resisting Arrest
If anyone has knowledge about Schini’s location, please call the Evansville Police Department at 436-7979 or the WeTip line at 1-800-78-CRIME.
For full details, view this message on the web. b
City Council says Mayor Displaying a Total Lack of Fiscal Responsibly
PRESS RELEASE
The Council leadership is confident that the Residency Ordinance will pass judicial scrutiny, but it is very disappointed that Mayor Winnecke chose to file a lawsuit over the ordinance.  For the past six (6) weeks, the Council’s Attorney has made numerous efforts to meet with the Mayor’s legal representative to resolve any issues that the administration might have with the Residency Ordinance. But all to no avail.
Like the downtown convention hotel’s developments, or lack thereof, the Council learned of this lawsuit for the very first time through the local News media. Once again, the Mayor has demonstrated that he has no desire to collaborate or be forthright with the Council.
This episode is another example of the Mayor displaying a total lack of fiscal responsibility. The lawsuit will cost the City of Evansville’s tax payers tens, if not hundreds, of thousands of dollars. The Mayor should have made every effort to resolve any issues pertaining to the Residency Ordinance prior to initiating full blown litigation.
Moreover, the Residency Ordinance is law and is currently in effect. The Mayor has not sought a judicial delay in the implementation of the ordinance. Instead, the Mayor has chosen to ignore the ordinance. We find the Mayor’s blatant violation of the ordinance to be a terrible example for our citizenry.
The Residency Ordinance was passed for two primary reasons. First, to give the citizens of Evansville a voice in their government. Second, to reduce the previous confusion in board appointments and insure strict compliance with State law, by making all appointment qualifications consistent.  The Council strongly believes that the Residency Ordinance is in the best interest of the citizens of Evansville.
The Council leadership wants to make it clear that the Mayor is using tax payer monies from the citizens of Evansville to fight the citizens of Evansville from serving on governing boards that impact directly on them.
Respectfully Summited,
Dr. H. Dan Adams, President
John Friend, CPA , Vice President
Conor O’Daniel,  Attorney,  Finance Chairman
Sniper-Smearing in Hollywood By Conservative L. Brent Bozell
Starting today the City County Observer shall be providing our readers with Conservative and Liberal points of view. Â Today we begin the CCO Â newly launched “Opinion Section” with Brent Bozell. Â Â L. Brent Bozell is the President of the Conservative Media Research Center think tank. Â He is one of the most popular Conservative writer in America today.
Tomorrow we shall be publishing the Liberal opinions of Mark Shields a well known national TV personality.
We hope you appreciate our effort to give you both the Conservative and Liberal points of view.
In order for the CCO to provide our readers with a more diverse publication we also are adding “Ann Landers Classic” column, Comics section, Entertainment-Wine and Cooking articles, Crossword Puzzles, “Life Style Lil” local society happenings.
Oh, don’t be surprised to read in the near future that the CCO may be publishing a free weekly in print publication distributed throughout Vanderburgh proper.
Sniper-Smearing in Hollywood By Conservative L. Brent Bozell
Clint Eastwood’s movie “American Sniper” dominated the box office race over the long Martin Luther King weekend with a gross of $103.5 million. That’s more than twice as high as the previous January opening weekend record. It received a rare “A+” CinemaScore from people who saw it, suggesting word-of-mouth will be wildly positive.
This movie wasn’t very controversial — until, that is, the film earned six Oscar nominations and had that amazing weekend at the box office. That’s when the hostility erupted from leftist Hollywood types on Twitter, hell-bent on pushing back against the wave.
Radical director Michael Moore slammed American snipers in general on Twitter: “My uncle killed by sniper in WW2. We were taught snipers were cowards. Will shoot u in the back. Snipers aren’t heroes.” Moore hasn’t made a real movie in six years. He sounded almost desperate for attention.
Moore added to his smear campaign on his Facebook page, connecting it to the MLK holiday: “Lots of talk about snipers this weekend (the holiday weekend of a great man, killed by a sniper) … Hopefully not on this weekend when we remember that man in Memphis, Tennessee, who was killed by a sniper’s bullet.”
Actor Seth Rogen — so recently lionized for being at the center of a free-speech fight with North Korea over his comedy “The Interview” — showed he was no First Amendment hero. “American Sniper kind of reminds me of the (Nazi propaganda) movie that’s showing in the third act of Inglorious Basterds.” Quentin Tarantino’s World War II movie featured a fake film about a German sniper killing Allied soldiers from a clock tower.
This knee-jerk liberal tendency to compare our bravest, most dedicated soldiers to Nazis reminds us of NBC “Parenthood” star Dax Shepard’s Twitter rant about the 2012 movie “Act of Valor,” a movie that starred actual Navy SEALs.
He cracked: “Saw ‘Triumph of The Will’ tonight, oh wait, I mean ‘Act of Valor.’ great action.”The network news reported on the furor with alarming “objectivity,” considering the nature of the smears, but some network stars praised the movie. CBS morning host Gayle King said, “I really loved the movie and at the end of the day he saved a lot of lives. Chris Kyle saved a lot of lives.” On MSNBC, Mika Brzezinski praised the movie, saying veterans told her it was a very accurate reflection on the difficulties veterans and their families go through.
Faced with the hornet’s nest they kicked, Moore and Rogen quickly backtracked, lamely claiming their comments were taken out of context, which they weren’t. Live by the tweet, die by the tweet. Moore said he wasn’t directly referring to the new movie, which is a bald-faced lie.
Rogen protested that he actually liked the film and wrote a new tweet Monday saying he wasn’t directly comparing “American Sniper” with a satire of Nazi films. “Big difference between comparing and reminding,” he wrote. “Apples remind me of oranges. Can’t compare them, though.” Earth to Rogen: If you had said Martin Luther King “reminded” you of a communist, you couldn’t dig out of it by saying you were just comparing apples and oranges.
Movies raging against the Iraq war have failed, dud after dud after dud. But it should be no shock that American audiences like movies about American heroes, complete with their highs and lows. “Zero Dark Thirty” and “Lone Survivor” opened in the same post-Christmas slot in 2013 and 2014, respectively, and they grossed $95 million and $125 million at the box office.
“American Sniper” is now expected to surpass $200 million in ticket sales, demonstrating that the American public has a lot more gratitude for the sacrifices our troops make for freedom than the loudest mouths in Tinseltown.
L. Brent Bozell III is the president of the Media Research Center. Tim Graham is director of media analysis at the Media Research Center and executive editor of the blog NewsBusters.org. To find out more about Brent Bozell III and Tim Graham, and read features by other Creators Syndicate writers and cartoonists, visit the Creators Syndicate Web page at www.creators.com.
COPYRIGHT 2015 CREATORS.COM
Vanderburgh County Recent Booking Records
EPD Activity Report
ST. MARY’S HEALTH FOUNDATION TO HOLD 22nd ANNUAL ST. MARY’S WARRICK HOSPITAL GALA
The St. Mary’s Health Foundation will hold its 22nd Annual St. Mary’s Warrick Hospital Gala on March 13th, 2015 at the St. Mary’s Manor Auditorium. The event begins at 6:00 p.m. with a cocktail reception, followed by dinner, a live dessert auction and the program. This year’s Gala will pay tribute to the services and commitment of St. Mary’s Health in Warrick County, which includes St. Mary’s Warrick Hospital, St. Mary’s Epworth Crossing, the newly opened St. Mary’s Urgent Care Boonville and St. Mary’s Warrick Emergency Medical Services.
Ron Rhodes, Meteorologist at Eyewitness News, will return to emcee this year’s Gala, which will once again feature the unique and popular “Eat It Now! Dessert Auction.†Gala attendees bid on locally made desserts to share with the guests at their table. This is one of the only places you’ll see a cake selling for $1,000!
The Gala raises money to support St. Mary’s Warrick Hospital, which helps fund a wide range of hospital-related initiatives, all focused on helping those in need such as new equipment, staff education, hospital remodeling and care of the poor in the community.
Tickets are $75 each and must be purchased in advance by February 23rd. Table sponsorships are also available starting at $1,200. For more information and to reserve tickets, please contact Brooke Wagner, St. Mary’s Health Foundation Development Coordinator, at 812.485.5850 or brooke.wagner@stmarys.org.