text:
K-retailers and Kesko as responsible employers
Ari Svensk | 12.12.2013
Last year was the K-Group's 100th anniversary year. As part of its celebration, K-retailers and the K-Retailers'Association initiated cooperation with the Finnish Association on Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities (FAIDD). The project, dubbed "Many Kinds of Performers", was aimed to offer paid employment to people with disabilities who are easily excluded from the open labour market. Disabled people and people with partial work disability are not equal with other job seekers although discrimination is against the law. Disabled people need work coaches to support and help them in work related matters.
In the project, a work coach was hired in FAIDD to facilitate K-retailers and disabled people willing to take a job meeting each other. The recruitment of a person with a disease or a disability is carried out in cooperation with TE-services (Employment and Economic Development Services), Kela (the Social Insurance Institution of Finland), social services/disability services, work coaching and tax administration. Employment easily becomes a bureaucratic jungle of different application forms and practices varying between different parts of Finland.
The work coach of the project acted as an "information centre" between all parties in order to make employment as smooth as possible. Unfortunately in practice, the other side of the coin became visible: although the employer was ready to hire a particular person, bureaucracy sometimes delayed the process so long that in the end, employment did not take place.
Obstacles bigger than bureaucracy in the employment of people with disabilities are attitudes which K-retailers began to tackle. The project was not carried out with emphasis on disability. Instead, a suitable recruit with the right attitude, willingness to be employed and to be part of the K-Group was sought for a job on offer. Thanks to the project, 27 people with disabilities found a permanent or a fixed-term paid employment in a K-store.
In Finland, around 350 people with disabilities are working in paid employments in different fields and the number has remained unchanged for many years. In slightly over a year, the active and unprejudiced approach of K-retailers enabled a substantial rise in that number. The professional work coach also played a significant part in the successful outcome.
Today, finding a job is not easy whether you have a disability or not. Youth unemployment is afflicting the whole of Europe, not least in Finland, where the continuously rising youth unemployment rate is really worrying: at present, around 40,000 young people between 15-24 years of age are without a job.
Encouraged by the project "Many Kinds of Performers" Kesko and K-retailers joined the Youth Guarantee effort by launching a project of their own as part of the K-Group's responsibility work. The project is based on the same operating model as in employing people with disabilities but with a wider scope of options. For example, wage-subsidised work, trial work, apprenticeship and recruitment specific training are employment alternatives included in the K-Group's Youth Guarantee.
The project hired a coordinator to communicate information to Kesko supervisors and K-retailers on the ways in which young people can be employed by the K-Group and the forms of support available for that purpose. In addition to information, the project is supported by the K-Group spirit, responsibility and willingness to employ young people.
Elli Mäki was employed with the help of the Youth Guarantee project and she works at K-market Himanka.
Photo: Henri Sikkilä
The writer, Ari Svensk, is Kesko's Vice President for Human Resources and Managing Director of K-instituutti Oy.
This article is part of the Finnish Government's Working Life 2020 project aimed to make Finnish working life the best in Europe by 2020.


The boom of superhero blockbusters in Hollywood over recent years has resulted in cosplay becoming mainstream.
Once a male-dominated space, more women have opened up about their love for of comics and cosplay with Black women proudly waving their nerd flags, rocking flawless costumes at comic conventions and even for everyday photoshoots.
We're just scratching the surface, but these 20 ladies are some of the coolest cosplay queens on Instagram.
The college student is all kinds of #blackgirlmagic, finding time to balance school projects while working on insane costumes in between. Just look at this incredible Morrigan costume.
Hailing from Trinidad and Tobago, the Caribbean cosplay queen has won a number of competitions all over the world for her stellar costumes. According to her website, Panterona won the London Film and Comic Con Cosplay Championships in 2015 and has been head judge for the Caribbean Cosplay Championships since its inception.
This Anput cosplay was everything and more. The cosplaying mommy has more cool looks on her IG and Facebook page, often letting her daughter join in on the fun for some insane mother-daughter costumes.
The Texas-based cosplayer makes a mean Lion, but her Vivienne and Moongirl looks aren't shabby either. Tamara also gives followers an indepth look at how she creates her costumes, sharing videos on IG and Facebook.
This Atlanta lady proves that Southern belles can slay at cosplay. Shanice has slayed as Sailor Moon, Ruby Rose, and D.Va.
Cosplay is a family affair in the Hale house. This cosplaying mama turns cosplay into fun for the whole family with her two adorable kids joining in with their own costumes.
Another Southern belle, Cherisse makes your favorite characters look good. Whether she's dressed as Supergirl or Yusuke, Cherisse slays every time.
Luna and Cherisse sometimes slay together, but Luna can definitely stunt on her own. She's killed it as Rouge the Bat and the above look is the perfect homage to Black Cat.
Honestly, the real Scarlet Witch could never. This goddess, whose IG handle refers to X-Men character Storm's real name, serves in every costume. She even makes villains look good.
This body positive cosplayer has inspired us to dip our toe in the cosplaying world, proving that cosplayers and the characters they're portraying don't have to be one size.
Jasmine has a pretty big following of fans and for good reason. The cosplay queen creates incredible costumes that turn her into real life heros, villains, and everything in between.
Ebby's Madoka is the perfect homage to the Puella Magi Madoka Magica character.
The Netherlands-based cosplayer dabbled in cosplay before making a return earlier this year, according to her website. Seems she's having tons of fun this time around, sharing cute cosplays and fun photos.
Keana breathes life into cool characters like Harry Potter's Hermione and Voltron: Legendary Defender's Allura.
Francesca's Disney cosplays brings the company's beloved princesses to life. And, her Phoenix cosplay ain't shabby either.
Another cosplayer making us consider joining in on the fun. Wonder if we'd look this cool as Symbiote Black Cat?
Sanura's cosplays are spot on and she often shares photos of projects in progress, proving that building the props and costumes can be just as fun as the final outcome.
Alicia's Instagram combines cosplay and fitness and we can't get enough.
Another body positive cosplayer, Cin's incredible cosplays are in a league of their own.
Cosplays don't have to be perfect to be badass. Krystel's locless Michonne could still strike fear into the heart of anyone who crossed her.


"Currently winning our race for most intriguing book title of 2009 is the oxymoronic "Self-Promotion for Introverts" by Nancy Ancowitz (McGraw Hill). The 'how to' book is filled with tips (rehearse is a favorite). The author's tone is supportive and she does not argue that introverts should become live wires. But what else would you expect from a book whose subtitle is 'the quiet guide to getting ahead'?"
"…showing how quiet people can turn their innate strengths into an advantage when networking."
"Whatever's behind your reluctance to speak out for yourself, this is the first book I've seen with serious research on the topic that leads to a new game plan."
"Must-Read Fall Books for IT Execs"
"Offers a solid dose of practical advice—alongside humorous anecdotes.... Ancowitz shows introverts how to take advantage of the unique qualities and strengths they can offer."
"There is great value in this book, whether you are promoting your own business or consulting practice, or just want to be sure your talents are recognized within your larger organization."
"Written by an introvert for introverts."
"'Self-Promotion for Introverts' is a primer on doing just that—helping 'quiet sorts' assert themselves by using their inherent tendencies in the most effective ways."
"Pitched perfectly. Our rating: 10/10."
Sign up here for Nancy's e-newsletter and get a free copy of her article, "Get Heard More. Even If You Talk Less."
Self-Promotion for Introverts® helps you jumpstart your visibility and climb to new heights in your career.
Available at Amazon.com, Barnes & Noble, and everywhere books are sold.
Nancy is interviewed on public speaking, self-promotion, and boosting your confidence on the following several-minute videos.
"Success Isn't Only for the Extroverts"
"Get Heard More. Even If You Talk Less."
Audio has been lightly edited for accuracy.


If you are looking for a reliable supplier of PPE's like respirators, coveralls, safety shoes, hard hats, hearing protection, goggles, harness, welding mask and more, you are in the right place. LSG Industrial & Office Products Inc. is one of the well-known distributors of PPE Supplies in the Philippines and in Asia. Contact us today and get a FREE quotation.


Welcome to the sixth edition of the NHS Health Check digital exemplar project update. This project brings together PHE's national Cardiovascular Disease (CVD) Prevention team, Behavioural Insight team and PHE's Digital team to use a blend of service design and behavioural insights to look at the potential for digital technology to support the NHS Health Check programme.
This update covers work undertaken between 18th March and 1st April.
Click here for links to all previous updates.
Recap on the journey so far..
To make sure we have an idea of what a 'physical product' could look like when embedded into an existing digital product, the team have been working with the NHS Digital, NHS App team. This is not to say that the NHS App is the best and only way forward for this project, it is an initial way of exploring the look and feel of a digital NHS Health Check. Some of the NHS App team have been embedded in the core team for the last month, using tools such as Trello to work together.
The design challenge in focus for this 2 weeks of work was: 'How might we define and visualise how the NHS App could enable a light-touch, convenient NHS Health Check that's also safe effective and supports end-users end-to-end?' The was demonstrated through the experience of a specific persona using the NHS App: Bob, a 43-year old man with low risk of CVD, whom we think we could serve well via a 'digital health check'. This persona was built on our insights from discovery and as we only wanted to test the concept of a digital NHS Health Check potentially being served by the NHS app we only did this for a single persona at this stage.
As a beta prototype for the PHE Digital Evaluation project, the NHS Health Check exemplar team have been working closely to prepare for evaluation in alpha and to identify the best methodology for evaluating health products.
Over the last two weeks, the core team have made a start on a logic model for the alpha phase specifically and to map the user journey for the next phase. This will now be shared with the wider team to ensure that we are all aligned on what the intended health outcomes are, and how we will achieve them. Having worked with our partners in the NHS App team to better understand the look and feel of this user journey has really supported this. The team will then use this logic model, once finalised, to underpin the success indicators for the evaluation strategy for the alpha phase. Further updates to follow.
During Alpha we will collect feedback about our hypotheses (using storyboards) and test early concepts and prototypes with end users, providers and commissioners. Research methods will include interviews, surveys and, where possible, observations of NHS Health Check consultations. The service design team are working closely with the behavioural insights team to develop an alpha user research plan. The NHS App collaboration may also provide an opportunity to test with non-users of the NHS Health Check (i.e. their existing NHS App testing participants who are eligible for an NHS Health Check but either haven't been offered or haven't taken up their offer of a check). Your views will be critical in finalising this research plan. We will be using the postcard to gauge interest so please watch this space.
The Centre for Behaviour Change (CBC) and PHE's Behavioural Insights team are in the final stages of completing a systematic review of evidence and behavioural analysis to identify key drivers (i.e. barriers and facilitators) of whether people initially take up an NHS Health Check and then continue to engage. The results of this work will not only inform the development of interventions that we will be testing in the Alpha phase of the project but can support more widely improvements in the implementation, delivery and impact of the NHS Health Check programme in primary, community and social care settings in England.
Based on several knowledge gaps that this study identified, Centre for Behaviour Change (CBC) and Behavioural Insights team have now decided to conduct a scoping review of interventions to promote NHS Health Check implementation. The aim of this work is to identify interventions implemented in England to promote NHS Health Check-related behaviours, collect materials relevant to interventions identified and propose future research based on findings.
"How might we improve the way end users receive, understand and act on their NHS Health Check results, and the way the results are delivered, to motivate necessary behaviour change?"
We are also completing and submitting the business case to allow us to continue to progress.


text:
Home / LewRockwell / June 2001 Bioterror Exercise
June 2001 Bioterror Exercise
No Author 8 days ago	LewRockwell
No Author
My articles My books
Coincidence … Or Something More? On June 22-23, 2001 – some 3 months before 9/11, and 4 months before the Anthrax attacks – the U.S. military held a senior-level war game at Andrews Air Force Base called Dark Winter. The scenario of this bio-terrorism drill was designed to simulate a smallpox attack in three states. Numerous congressmen, former CIA director James Woolsey, New York Times reporter Judith Miller (who pushed the Iraq WMD myth, as well as the false link between Iraq and the Anthrax attacks), and anti-terror official Jerome Hauer all participated in the exercise. As a part of this war game, scripted TV news clips were made to help make this drill as realistic as possible. At the end of one of these clips, the reporter
No Author considers the following as important:
Mises Institute writes Theory and History
Tyler Durden writes Ex-Fox & Friends Co-Host Flees US Amid Ponzi Scheme Allegations
Tyler Durden writes Humanity Is Creating Its Own AI Overlord
Tyler Durden writes Despite Best First Half In A Decade For Hedge Funds, Fees Continue To Fall
Making the Worst Case Appear the Better
Busing: Birth of a Ruination
Coincidence … Or Something More?
On June 22-23, 2001 – some 3 months before 9/11, and 4 months before the Anthrax attacks – the U.S. military held a senior-level war game at Andrews Air Force Base called Dark Winter.
The scenario of this bio-terrorism drill was designed to simulate a smallpox attack in three states. Numerous congressmen, former CIA director James Woolsey, New York Times reporter Judith Miller (who pushed the Iraq WMD myth, as well as the false link between Iraq and the Anthrax attacks), and anti-terror official Jerome Hauer all participated in the exercise.
As a part of this war game, scripted TV news clips were made to help make this drill as realistic as possible.
At the end of one of these clips, the reporter says:
Iraq might have provided the technology behind the attacks to terrorist groups based in Afghanistan.
Why is this interesting?
Because U.S. officials intentionally linked Iraq to Al Qaeda and 9/11 to justify the Iraq war, even though they knew there was no such connection. (The claim that Iraq is linked to 9/11 has since been debunked by the 9/11 Commission, top government officials, and even – long after they alleged such a link – Bush and Cheney themselves.)
Indeed, Dark Winter participant Woolsey – the former CIA director – swore in court testimony that Saddam Hussein was connected to 9/11.
Similarly, the government tried to falsely blame the anthrax attacks on Iraq as a justification for war:
When Congress was originally asked to pass the Patriot Act in late 2001, the anthrax attacks which occurred only weeks earlier were falsely blamed on spooky Arabs as a way to scare Congress members into approving the bill. Specifically:
And see this.
Dark Winter participants Judith Miller – the New York Times reporter who had long hyped bioterror threats through books and articles – and CIA head Woolsey were two of the loudest voices blaming the Anthrax attacks on Iraq.
Woolsey was an outspoken proponent of war against Iraq even before 9/11.
My articlesMy books
Previous So Let's Ban Marijuana
Next There's No 'Pay Gap' in Professional Soccer
Predatory "Green Capitalism" Is Monetizing the Air, and It's Going to Cost You

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


text:
Before I share my upcoming appearances, let me note that Food Town USA has been receiving a respectable about of media attention – almost 70 "hits" since its release in October. These include radio interviews, podcasts, reviews, excerpts, and social media posts. I'm...
Washington, DC is where I'll be next week, and it's also most of the name of the paper – The Washington Post – where I was 12 years ago. Thanks to the superbly quirky and timelessly perfect Tabard Inn, I'll be speaking about and signing my book Food Town, USA there on...
Food Town Updates and Other News
U.S. News and World Report, the online magazine whose annual rankings have sent more than one college president to an early retirement, posted a "slide show" version of Food Town, USA. With photos of the seven cities accompanied by a brief descriptive commentary for...
Food Town, USA
Good food is the new normal, taking care of our own is the new ethic, community-sanctioned entrepreneurship is the new model for growth, and the rise of the individual is the new old story. Those are the conclusions I reached after immersing myself in the food scenes...
Return to Sender, Address Unknown
Don't try mailing anything to USDA's National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA) after September 30th. There won't be anybody at the Washington, DC-based agency to open the mail. In fact, there may not be a forwarding address either since NIFA, which conducts...
So You Want to Change the World? Go Home!
About a year and a half ago, my son, Peter, told me he was leaving Brooklyn to move back to Hartford, Connecticut where he was born and raised. Having lived in New York for a while and recently completed a graduate degree at N.Y.U., he had soaked up enough of the Big...
Doing Food Summits Right
"Let's do a food summit!" proclaimed the food policy council member, whose moving motion was immediately seconded and thirded by the council's other members. "We can invite everybody!" suggested one member. "Michelle Obama can be our keynote!" chimed in another. "I...
Food Democracy's Long, Hard Slog
I swear to the Lord, I still can't see, why Democracy means, everybody but me. - Langston Hughes The walk on this sunny winter day from the Lexington and 125th Street subway station took me several blocks down Harlem's main drag. In spite...
It's been cold just about everywhere this winter, even here in Santa Fe where the stingy Snow Gods have finally relented and answered our prayers for moisture. The mountains peaks in all directions are the whitest I've seen them in years, which is great for skiers now...
I'm happy to report that I am out and about this year with several trainings, speaking engagements, and book promotion events. But before I share a quick a run down of where, what, and when, let me first say that there are still copies of my new book Stand Together or...
Join Mark Winne and Friends for a Webinar that asks, "Can the Food Movement Stand Together?"
Hi there, You are invited to a Zoom webinar. When: Feb 2, 2018 (Ground Hog Day) 1:00 PM Eastern Time (US and Canada) Topic: Can the Food Movement Stand Together?. Join Mark Winne and friends for some answers. Register in advance for this webinar:...
Mobbing the Issue (and More)
I'm sharing two brief excerpts below from Stand Together or Starve Alone: Unity and Chaos in the U.S. Food Movement to give you a peek into what my third book has to offer. Just a reminder, you have until March 31st to purchase Stand Together directly from the...
Stand Together or Starve Alone
I am pleased to announce the release of my newest book Stand Together or Starve Alone: Unity and Chaos in the U.S. Food Movement. It is available directly from the publisher, from Amazon, and if you pout and stamp your feet long enough, at your independent book store....
Occupy Your Farmers' Market!
My favorite farmers' market essay is a short piece by San Francisco Chronicle columnist Jon Carroll that he wrote eight months after 9/11. As America was raining "shock and awe" down on Afghanistan, and our airports were becoming maximum security facilities, Carroll's...
The Most Important Word in "Community Gardening" is not "Gardening!"
I've always loved community gardens. I think it's because they come in so many shapes and sizes. You can find them tucked into the oddest places like a pie-shaped city block, on the apron of an airport runway, or in the middle of a forgotten vacant lot. Due perhaps to...
2017 Appearances and Updates – Summer and Fall
Santa Fe is hotter than a Big Jim green chile right now. Like packs of thirsty dogs, people are slouching through the streets with their tongues dangling. They are finding relief by sipping cool margaritas, and waiting reverently for the summer monsoons to begin. And...
Books that Sow the Seeds of Change
Markwinne.com's rigid subject selection criteria only allow reviews of books that include a substantial contribution by me or mention my name a minimum of five times. In this age of narcissism, the reasons should be obvious: these may very well be the only books worth...
Winne Banned in Arizona!
On February 23rd, I received an email from Tim Thomas of the Arizona Food Marketing Alliance asking me to speak at the Arizona Food Summit on April 28th. I enthusiastically accepted the invitation and participated two weeks later in a lengthy planning call with other...
Should the Food Movement Embrace Soda Taxes?
Sugar, rum, and tobacco are commodities which are nowhere necessaries of life…and which are therefore extremely proper subjects of taxation. Adam Smith In his The Wealth of Nations, Adam Smith displayed an uncanny sense of fairness and proportionality. He considered...
Thank You, Survey Respondents! Thank you to the 193 people who responded to my December food movement survey. Let me also thank the couple of dozen others who responded late thinking I was just joking about the deadline. The information, especially the responses to...
Take this Survey — Please!
Dear Reader, Over the course of markwinne.com - a blog that I have been posting for nearly five years - I have been happy to share with you my views, experiences, and insights concerning both the trials and beauties of our food system. This time, however, I'm asking...
What I Learned from Idaho
"Work and learn in evil days, in insulted days, in days of debt and depression and calamity. Fight best in the shade of the cloud of arrows." Ralph Waldo Emerson Despair set in about 3:00 a.m. Mountain Time as the states that were supposed to fade to blue flared...
Kitchen Demolition
At some point in 2014 a momentous food event occurred. Unheralded by clanging church bells, it nevertheless signaled a pronounced shift in our eating behavior and a realignment of our culture's tectonic plates. Precisely when and where no one knows for sure, but...
Fall Appearances and Other News
Crispy days and cool nights, the heady aroma of roasting chile peppers, and the whiff of magic markers and double-sided sticky tape must mean that the fall workshop season is upon us. As you can see below I'll be journeying to the South, the West, and my former...
Food Policy Amnesia
"I am quite sure that people only have the kind of government that their bellies crave." From Paterson by William Carlos Williams "Florida Lawns Are Being Transformed into Edible Farms," gushed the Huffington Post (June 1, 2016) story about how a dozen Orlando,...
Roadkill Stew, Bad-ass Cabbage, and the Midnight Sun – Lessons from Alaska
The Alaska Airlines flight dips over Cook Inlet on its approach into Anchorage. The sunlight is reflecting off of distant glaciers and the cupcake glaze of snow-topped islands. My watch tells me it's 10:30 p.m. but the midnight sun is as bright as a summer noon in New...
Appearances and Aperitifs
Early this spring it looked like I might have to lay off my booking agent and get a summer job. I got even more worried when I realized that my lifeguard certification expired in 1974, and that landscapers weren't falling over themselves to hire the "aged."...
Ramen U: Is This the New Meal Plan?
My father was a business man and plastics engineer – World War II veteran, Eisenhower lover, and Fortune 500 executive. Over his morning cup of instant Nescafe and the New York Times, he'd growl at the newsprint that was inked only twenty miles east in mid-town...
Global Warming and Poverty: Can We Find Common Ground?
In spite of what climate change deniers say, science tells us that the earth is warming. The seas will rise, extreme weather will become the norm, and our crocuses will bloom in January. For those of us with means, the immediate adjustments may only require that we...
In Search of the Just Chicken
Once again I stand in awe of the challenges and opportunities presented by our complex food system. The hard work of bringing healthy, affordable food to everyone while adequately protecting everything and everybody along the food chain is not for sissies. We may make...
Winter and Spring 2016 Appearances
February 23, 2016 - Columbus, Ohio. Talks at Ohio State University for students, faculty, and community members. For more information contact Matthew Wriley Porter at matthewwrileyporter@gmail.com. February 26 - Columbia, Missouri. Talks and trainings at the...
Brooklyn and Beyond
Brooklyn, New York The blow to my head came out of nowhere. One moment I was turning down the bodega's narrow grocery aisle admiring the tidy merchandise display; the next thing I know I'm dazed and seeing stars. I look down at my outstretched hands holding the...
Eat the Rich for Thanksgiving
I'm giving thanks this Thanksgiving for Thomas Piketty, the French economist and author of Capital in the Twenty-First Century, the much acclaimed tome on the subject of economic inequality. I acknowledge that giving over a portion of our national feast day to...
A Blast from the Past, Mark Bittman, Fall Appearances and More!
I'm giving this edition of Mark's food blog over to short stuff. No long, windy think pieces or rapturous reflections (oh well, maybe one). I just want to share a few things, including a look ahead at where I'm going over the next couple of months. I do this as much...
"Where Do People Around Here Get Their Groceries?"
After driving for more than an hour at 70 mph down an arrow straight country road in southwestern New Mexico, I was perplexed by the fact that not only had I seen so few homes, but I was still in the same county! In those beautiful, wide-open spaces where the cattle...
Huerta del Valle – An Ontario Oasis
What is the sound of a woman's hands slapping a corn tortilla into shape? Is it water falling over a rocky stream bed? Or a series of slaps across your face? No, my friends, I think it's a doctor's slap across a baby's bum to remind it that life has begun. Yes, I...
Summer Appearances and Trainings
July 20 - 22 (2015) - Baltimore, Maryland - Center for a Livable Future at Johns Hopkins University. For more information contact Mark Winne at win5m@aol.com or (860) 558-8226. July 23 - New Brunswick, New Jersey - Rutgers University - Community food system...
The Daily Table: Is This What We Really Need?
There's a new kid in town, who, like the new kid before him and the kid before her, is stirring things up. He's saying things differently than those who preceded him, and his new ideas are making some people feel a little uncomfortable. In the parlance of the...
In Search of the Perfect BOD
I think I have a crush on Gretchen Morgenson, the Pulitzer Prize-winning financial editor for the New York Times. If I had to explain my attraction, it would probably be due to her dogged pursuit of fairness, a guiding principle that she believes will be achieved by a...
A Big Policy Moment is Upon US
For those of us who are buffeted daily by the shrill alerts that spill across our screens urging us to do this and do that, well, here's another one: Before May 8th, go to http://www.myplatemyplanet.org/ and urge the U.S. secretaries of Health and Human Services and...
A Rainbow of Farmers
For those of us who still think that food is grown exclusively by 59-year-old white men wearing freshly laundered overalls and John Deere caps, photo-journalist Natasha Bowen's book The Color of Food may come as a shock. In what can only be described as the classic...
The Tortoise and the Hare
The newly elected mayor had picked up a dose of food-movement religion somewhere along the campaign trail. The exact source couldn't be identified, but more than likely it was from those angry moms seething about the crappy food their children were eating in the...
The Color of Food Leadership
It doesn't matter if you don't want to be a part of America's race story – it has a way of finding you. This came home to me recently during my morning practice of reading poetry, the purpose of which is to warm up gently to a wobbly world. Picking up from where I'd...
Appearances for Winter and Spring 2015
2015 January 14 & 15 - Mobile, Alabama - Southern Sustainable Agriculture Working Group Annual Conference. Co-leading a 1 1/2 day workshop on food policy councils in the Southeastern United States. For more information contact Mark Winne at win5m@aol.com or...
Taking Money from Wal-Mart
Is it time for the food movement to wade once again into the messy and murky world of ethics? To stimulate a little conversation over this season of gift-giving, I've posted this link to a recent article by Andy Fisher and Bob Gottlieb. In it, they note how...
Faith in a Seed
Where and when did the food movement begin? Without consulting the Book of Genesis – and to avoid a protracted debate – let's just say it wafted in on some twentieth-century breeze making landfall on a relatively undisturbed portion of the American coastline...
Korea Goes Local
During a tour of the bustling Yangpyeong street market, I learned how food figures prominently in Korea's creation myth. According to my guide, Dae-Han Song, Bear and Tiger had an irrepressible urge to become human, so the God Spirit instructed them to go into a cave...
Build It Right and They Will Eat
For a long time now I've wanted to share some thoughts on the relationship between our food system and the physical space where we live that has been awkwardly labeled the "built environment." I had the opportunity to start that reflection with a keynote speech at...
Mark Winne's 2014 Fall Appearances
10/5 - 10/8 - Maryland. Chesapeake Bay Region Food Policy Council Training Institute. This first of its kind leadership training program for food policy councils is operated by the Johns Hopkins Center for a Livable Future's Food Policy Networks project. The training...
Skagit Reads "Closing the Food Gap" (and More News)
I was delighted to hear that Skagit County, Washington has decided to indulge in a community reading event that features my first book Closing the Food Gap as part of their October Food Day observances. Not only does this decision reflect the county's good taste in...
The Lost Garden
"God knows the law of life is death." John Pock, poet It came suddenly the way weather does in New Mexico's summer monsoon season. Not suddenly in the sense of unexpected – any sentient being out and about on this breathtakingly perfect Santa Fe day would notice the...
Ending Hunger in New Mexico: Finding the Road to Beijing
The following is an excerpt of Mark Winne's keynote speech delivered in Albuquerque, New Mexico at the New Mexico Hunger Summit on July 17, 2014 Like most of you, I've come to this gathering to ask the question that no one has yet succeeded in answering: How do we...
July 17 - New Mexico Hunger Summit - Isleta Hotel and Casino Resort - Lunchtime Keynote Address by Mark Winne. Contact Dolores Gonzales at doloresg@ncnmedd.com. July 29 - Leominster, Massachusetts - 10:00 to 3:30; Training and networking session for New England food...
I Have Seen the Future of Medicine: It Is Doctor Yum
As a newly minted medical doctor, Nimali Fernando's baptism by fire came in a Houston community pediatric clinic where she would see as many as 60 new-born babies a day. Long hours and a bone-crushing caseload that never gave her more than 15 minutes to spend with a...
Farm to School Graduates with Honors
It was the second week of June in 1995, and we had just scored several flats of Connecticut early season strawberries. The excited Hartford Food System staff had arranged the delivery to the city's three pilot farm to school sites – two elementary and one middle...
The Poetry of Community Food Assessments
How has our approach to understanding community food systems become like our approach to poetry? I took some instruction recently from a former United States Poet Laureate, Billy Collins. I...
Access Games
Like all privileged liberals, I naturally assume I know what's best for poor people. It begins with my Judeo-Christian ethic: what's good for me is naturally good for them. If I can buy local, organic produce at my enthusiastically over-priced farmers' market, so...
2014 February 7 & 8: Springfield, Missouri - Missouri Organic Association Annual Conference - Workshop on Feb. 7 on Food Policy; Conference keynote on Feb. 8. For more information contact Angela Jenkins at angela@ozarksregionalfpc.com. February 10: Santa Barbara,...
Winne Divests Monsanto Holdings…Company's Stock Tanks
At least that was the fantasy headline I hoped would appear on the front page of the Wall Street Journal. But the one I feared would startle me awake one morning was, "Anti-GMO Activist Outed: Investment Portfolio Contains Monsanto Stock!" Imagine my chagrin when a...
The accounts we read of famine never fail to rip our hearts to shreds. Mass human suffering taken to a slow, excruciating end, and the cries of hungry children with no hope of being fed sink us into an agonizing torment. We wonder which is more painful: the bearing...
Hitting Florida's Food Policy Beaches
Leaving home at 4:00 a.m. to catch an early flight, the car's thermometer read 8 degrees above zero. After a treacherous drive down an icy I-25 to Albuquerque, I boarded my plane and was airborne before even a hint of dawn had flickered across the Sandia Mountains. A...
Let Us Now Thank Famous Foodies
Rather than offering up paeans to those fabulous Brussels sprouts I grew this year, I want to devote my harvest message to three people I'm grateful for: Bob Lewis, Kate Fitzgerald, and Hugh Joseph. To protect the innocent, let me declare from the outset that not one...
The Fundraising Letter I'd Like to Receive
Since I speak and consult with many groups around the country, I often find myself placed on their donor solicitation lists. Many of the subsequent fundraising letters I receive are from food banks which urge me to help them feed the hungry. The letters rarely vary in...
Republicans to Park Goers: "Take a hike!" But Not in the National Parks
Place: Rocky Mountain National Park – Alpine Visitors Center Elevation: 11,796 feet Date: September 2, 2013 "The National Park Service budget is down seven percent due to sequestration. We had to close the Morain Visitors Center and the Glacier campsite as well as...
"No-Nonsense Guide to World Food" Makes Perfect Sense
Before he was a food activist and manager of the Toronto Food Policy Council, Wayne Roberts was a union leader in Ontario and a Greenpeace organizer in northern Canada. While I can't imagine what those experiences were like, they sound rough, frigid, and unresponsive...
San Bernardino: A Hub of Food Activity
There's something humbling about a 100-year old orange tree. Ancient, deeply rooted, with a gnarly trunk as thick as an old washing machine tub, its leafy crown is elegantly coiffed like that that of a manicured dowager. When standing in a large grove of these...
Time to Re-think Food Stamps
At the risk of being labeled a Tea Party toady or right-leaning deviationist, I have to ask if the severing of the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP, formerly known as food stamps) from the Farm Bill by the Republican House Majority isn't an opportunity...
Food Rebels of Utica
I've always wondered what it takes to turn around a really down and out place. By which I mean the type of city where the only visible signs of prosperity are a well-lit McDonalds and half-full car wash. Some will say that the only hope rests with bold, inspired...
Food Coops: A Faith Renewed
"Faith is a stray pet that will somehow find you again." David Hernandez, deceased poet. For the better part of 40 years, my fondest memory of retail food coops was the day they closed. Even though my heart was broken, the handwritten "Out of Bizness" sign hung from...
June 19 - 2:00 to 3:00 eastern time - CSPI Food Day Webinar on Food Policy Councils with Mark Winne. To register go to http://www.foodday.org/webinars June 25 - Utica, New York - Food Policy Council workshop. For more information contact win5m@aol.com. June 27 &...
We're (They're) Number One!
Ever since I abandoned my fair Connecticut for the browner pastures of New Mexico, I put more than miles between me and my former state. At times I found myself making fun of such inconsequential things as its puny size (some of New Mexico's counties are larger than...
UK Keen on Food Policy Councils
Imagine having nearly $2 million to spend over 3 years on the development and improvement of food policy councils in the United States. Mix in some capacity building assistance, a template for bringing together local food system stakeholders to write a food plan for...
Food Democracy on the March
The most recent issue of the Harvard Health Policy Review has an article by me titled "Food Democracy on the March." For those of you who have heard me speak or attended one of my food policy council trainings, some of the article's references may sound familiar. But...
Genetically Engineered Food Needs Labels
The fight is underway in the Connecticut legislature to require labels on food items containing genetically engineered food. The bill has been reported out favorably by large margins in two committees. My op-ed in favor of the bill appeared in the Sunday, 4/7/13...
Warriors, Workers, and Weavers: Choreographing the Food Policy Dance
I think it was the University of Wisconsin sociology professor Steve Stevenson who first coined the phrase "warriors, workers, and weavers" to characterize the three most common flavors that change agents come in. If it wasn't him, I hope he'll forgive the attribution...
Mark Winne and Johns Hopkins Center for a Livable Future Join Forces
Food Policy Advocate Mark Winne and The Johns Hopkins Center for a Livable Future to Collaborate on Food System Policy Work #AOLMsgPart_1_5ac6725f-3498-4132-b52d-083ac3ac1a6a td{color: black;} Mark Winne has begun working with the Johns Hopkins Center for a...
Winter/Spring Appearances – 2013
January 30 - Albuquerque, NM - KiMo Theater - Panel for screening of "Soul Food Junkies." February 6 - Evansville, Indiana - Keynote address and panel discussion for local food forum. For more more information contact Erin Slevin at erinslevin@yahoo.com. February 11 -...
Cooperating Our Way to a Better Food System
Authors' note: It's been a cold winter so far in New Mexico. A ski mountain just north of Santa Fe gave the country its coldest reading, 20 below, one day in early January. A few nights of sub-zero temperatures at lower elevations may have set back the bark beetles'...
Food Policy Councils: A Look Back at 2012
This past year marked several growth spurts and critical shifts in the world of food policy councils. First and foremost was the incredible leap forward from 111 active North American food policy councils in 2010 to 193, as indicated by the May 2012 census conducted...
Newtown, Connecticut
I'll never forget the look on the desk sergeant's face as he gazed down at me from the heights of his dark-paneled police podium. Before him was a neatly dressed, wavy-haired 18-year old cradling something seemingly as long as baseball bats wrapped in a tattered brown...
State Food Policy Guide Released
GMOs, trans-fats, and buying local. Food retail in underserved communities, farmland protection, and kicking soda out of public schools. That's just a partial list of the cutting edge food and agriculture issues seizing the attention of lawmakers and advocates across...
George McGovern – Too Good for His Times
I was standing in the Ambassador's reception line nervously chatting with those closest to me. In spite of the wine that I was gulping more than sipping, and the charm of the late September Rome evening, I was growing more anxious as I waited my turn on the terrace at...
VIVA KOREA!
The young farmer was wearing aviator sunglasses and a black Che Guevara t-shirt. If it wasn't for the fact that she weighed considerably south of 100 pounds, I might have felt intimidated. But any fear quickly dissipated after she told me with a shy, girlish grin to...
Fall Appearances 2012 (revised)
Sept. 7 - 12: South Korea - International Local Food Conference in Chungnam Province; Sept. 10 Presentation to the Chungnam Development Institute; Sept. 11 Presentation to the National School Food Movement. For more information contact Hur Nam-Hyuk at hurnh@naver.com....
Academics and Activists Unite!
When the tomatoes ripen in such numbers I know it's time to can, and when the delirious scent of basil is so redolent I know it's time to pesto, I know that school is just around the corner. Whether these seasonal signals were for me, my children, or the neighbors'...
Fat or Fiction?
A Review of Weighing In: Obesity, Food Justice and the Limits of Capitalism by Julie Guthman Food issue books have become as prevalent as Thai restaurants these days. One publishing house lists 32 titles devoted to the category of "Food and Culture" alone while one...
Summer and Fall 2012 Appearances
June 7 - Rochester, NY - All day training for people interested in local food policy councils throughout New York state. Site: Monroe County Cooperative Extension office. Sponsored by NOFA-NY and the Hunger Action Network of New York State. For more information...
Living On Earth episode: "Food Deserts: A Mirage or Reality?"
A recent article questions whether food deserts - areas with minimal access to fresh fruits and vegetables - are as pervasive as some policymakers claimed. We recap a 2009 story about an area of Brooklyn where locals grow their own vegetables due to a lack of...
Guerrilla Gardeners in USA Today
USA Today's spring supplement features a great spread on guerrilla gardening by reporter Matt Villano. Mark Winne...says that after years of reporting, he concluded that guerrilla gardening is a way for people to feel like they're taking control of their lives and...
Food Rebels Down Under
Imagine living on an island, albeit a big one, but an island nevertheless where almost everything you need has to travel across vast oceans. You can grow food and raise livestock, but most of the country is desert, and the arable land is merely a thin coastal strip....
Get Your Hands in the Dirt, Veggies on the Chopping Block and Voices Down at City Hall
Listen to this interview with Mark Winne on Net Impact (Dallas/Fort Worth) regarding "the state of our country's community food systems, food policy and food security." [soundcloud...
Breaking Through Concrete
Breaking Through Concrete by David Hanson and Edwin Marty was recently released by the University of California Press. We've been hearing great stories for some time about the urban agriculture movement across America, and you'll find many of those stories, gorgeously...
Winter and Spring 2012 Appearance Schedule
2012 January 11&12 - Birmingham, Alabama - training for Alabama food policy council (1/11) and Birmingham-Jefferson County Food Policy Council. For more information contact Jennifer Ropa at bhamfoodsecurity@gmail.com. January 21 - Santa Fe, New Mexico - 12:30 PM -...
"Food Stamped" – The Movie
Film reviews are generally not my strong suit. I either like the characters, actors, and actresses or I don't. If the narrative doesn't engage and ultimately take me to a better place - enlightenment, excitement, ecstasy - I'll just grumble for a while and go find a...
For the two weeks before Thanksgiving I was on the road spreading the word about good food. From the San Francisco Bay to the Delmarva Peninsula, from Boston to Bethesda, and Oklahoma to Iowa, I became the itinerant preacher thumping the bible for a just and...
Food Rebels Now Available in PaperBack
It's now cheaper, lighter, and more flexible, but one thing that hasn't changed about Food Rebels, Guerrilla Gardeners, and Smart-Cookin' Mamas is its content. Just like the heavyweight hardcover version, it takes on the industrial food system, which, since the book's...
Fall 2011 Appearances & Trainings
September 12 - Newark, New Jersey - one day food policy council training sponsored by Rutgers University. 1 Washington Street, Newark, NJ. For more information contact Xenia Morin at xmorin@SEBS.Rutgers.edu. September 13 - Passaic County, New Jersey - half-day food...
Troubled by Paradise
The rum-soaked beverage and balmy breeze were starting to erode my leftist resistance to luxury. Let's face it, sipping a Mai Tai from a beachfront terrace with a million-dollar view of Diamond Head will dull the edge of the most hardened class warrior. But just as I...
Where's the Rage?
Dan and Isabelle sit patiently on the folding metal chairs in the tastefully decorated waiting room of Seattle's Ballard Food Bank. Intelligent, soft-spoken, and in his late 50s, Dan is a chronically underemployed architectural draftsman who barely managed to eke out...
Perspectives: Food Policy Councils
The following link takes you to an introductory piece about food policy councils that was posted to www.nourishlife.org. Today, there are approximately 150 food policy councils across North America. And as this short Q&A style article indicates, they are proving...
The Big Man (1942 – 2011)
"Do you want to meet Clarence?" the micro-skirted, junior assistant PR lady asked me and my son, Peter. There he sat, all 250 pounds, perched on a high captain's chair and drawing soulfully on a cigar that was just a shade smaller than a B-flat clarinet. Clarence...
Practicing Patience
By Mark Winne Over the years I've come to lean on Ralph Waldo Emerson the way a drunk leans on a lamppost. When my frustration with politics, society, or even the weather surpasses all understanding, I go running for the shelter of my Emerson-only bookshelf, a...
Texas College Converts Football Field to Organic Farm – Is Nothing Sacred? By Mark Winne Highland Hills is one of those down-and-nearly-out communities that's allowed a glimpse of prosperity but never gets to taste it. The Dallas skyline looms large and shining across...
2011 Appearances: January – August
January 16 - Santa Fe, New Mexico - 11 to 12 noon - La Fonda Hotel. One World, Everybody Eats annual conference. Talk by Mark Winne. For more information contact Denise Cerreta at denisecerreta45@yahoo.com. January 20 & 21 - Chattanooga, Tennessee - 1 to 5 PM...
Ripped from the Headlines – A Brief Look At 2010 Food Stories
This fall I had the privilege of releasing my second book Food Rebels, Guerrilla Gardeners, and Smart-Cookin' Mamas: Fighting Back in an Age of Industrial Agriculture. As it makes the rounds of book reviews, and I tour the interview and lecture circuit – casting...
Mark Winne Washington Post Op-Ed
The link takes you to an online Washington Post op-ed that appeared on November 24, 2010. I wanted to share some thoughts about Thanksgiving, its meaning, and the industrial food system....
Food Rebels, Guerrilla Gardeners, and Smart-Cookin' Mamas Is Now Available
I am happy to announce the release of my second book Food Rebels, Guerrilla Gardeners, and Smart-Cooking Mamas: Fighting Back in an Age of Industrial Agriculture (Beacon Press). For those readers who followed my arguments for a food system founded on justice in...
How Do You Like Your Eggs? Industrial or Local?
Picture this: three long-haired college kids are unloading crates of food from the bed of a battered pick-up truck. It's parked curbside at the Androscoggin Food Co-op located in the equally battered mill town of Lewiston, Maine. The year is 1971 and these kids are,...
Fall Book Tour: Food Rebels, Guerrilla Gardeners, and Smart Cookin' Mamas
September 10 - Bend, Oregon - Central Oregon Food Summit - Mark Winne keynote, workshop, book sale and signings. For more information go to www.cofoodsummit.yoasite.com. September 11 - Downtown Los Angeles - 5th Annual Sustainable L.A. Green Fair & Film Fest -...
Summer 2010 Appearances
June 25, 2010 - Detroit - US Social Forum - Food Policy Council workshop - 3:00 PM in Room 3 of the TWW Building July 12 & 14 - Miami, Florida - South Florida Food Summit - Keynote Address (7/12) at the Miami Dade College-Wolfson, 300 NE 2nd Ave, Miami. Food...
A Brief But Very British Food Journey
I chose the lusty month of May to visit Great Britain and my first granddaughter, the 10-week old Zoe. Something of a life-long Anglophile, my daughter had married a fine young British gentleman, and together they've feathered a nest for themselves in a lovely little...
Factory Dairies Challenged in New Mexico
Testimony Submitted to the New Mexico Water Quality Control Commission by Mark Winne Starting on April 13 and continuing into May, the New Mexico Water Quality Control Commission is taking testimony on proposed changes to the state's regulations governing the...
Black Farmers and Savannah Foodies Join Forces
By Mark Winne The outstretched limbs of Savannah's live oaks sent dappled sunlight along a wide promenade separating two rows of farm stalls in Forsyth Park. The Saturday morning farmers market was in full swing, with boxes heaped high with red peppers, collard...
Book Review: "Free For All: Fixing School Food in America"
Two Million Angry Moms and One Sociologist By Mark Winne Early in Free for All: Fixing School Food in America (University of California Press, 2010) former Texas Agriculture Secretary Susan Coombs declares that, "it will take 2 million angry moms to change school...
Appearances: January – April 2010
January 15 - Washington, DC - 1:00 to 4:00 - The Washington Post, 1150 15th, St. NW - speaking at a forum in recognition of the 30th Anniversary of the Capital Area FoodBank. The event is free and open to the public. For more information call 202-526-5344. Book...
November and December 2009 – Appearances and Trainings
November 4 & 5 - Atlanta, Georgia - Briefing for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Division of Nutrition, Physical Activity, and Obesity. For more information contact Latetia Moore at lvmoore@cdc.gov. November 20 - Massachusetts - Massachusetts Public...
The Season of Our Discontent
By Mark Winne I'm worried about the coming month. Not because I have any dark premonition, but because this is the time when we slip into that autumnal haze marked by pumpkins, turkeys and cornucopias. These harvest-time icons signal the arrival of World Food...
The Farmers Cow
By Mark Winne (an edited version of this piece appeared in the Hartford Courant - July 5, 2009) Willie Nelson was recently quoted as saying, "Dairy farmers are among the hardest workers I know." Having hung around with a couple of dozen Connecticut dairy farmers...
July – October 2009 Appearances
July 23 - Sacramento, CA - Keynote for Valley Vision - 9:00 AM - For more information contact Robyn Krock at robyn.krock@valleyvision.org. September 24 - Boston, MA - Natural Products Exposition - speaking at session at 10:00 AM September 25 - Seattle, WA - Washington...
Methodist Women Select Closing the Food Gap
The United Methodist Women, one of the nation's oldest and largest women-led mission organizations, has selected Closing the Food Gap: Resetting the Table in the Land of Plenty for their 2010 national reading list. Over 40,000 members of United Methodist Women are...
Keep It Simple; Keep It Local
When I was much younger, I would take solo backpacking trips in the Adirondack Mountains of upstate New York. On one occasion, I found myself at a very remote campsite deep in the forest. My original plan was to commune in some vague, Thoreau-like fashion with nature,...
May and June 2009 Appearances
May 9 - Boston, Massachusetts - Boston University - Conference "The Future of Food". Presentation as part of panel "From Farm to Fork: The Global Food Chain." Books on sale throughout the day. For more information see www.bu.edu/euforyou/EU/future-of-food.html or...
Food Elitism for All!
(First appeared in the Kennebec (Maine) Journal) By Mark Winne Let me say from the outset that I eat well. Not well in a maternal, "please finish your broccoli, dear" sense. I mean very well. I cultivate a large organic garden, buy grass-fed beef from a local...
2009 Appearances
January 22, 2009 - Chattanooga, Tennessee - Southern Sustainable Agiculture Working Group Annual Conference - 8:00 a.m. to 11:00 p.m. Workshop "Policy and Communication" co-led with Dr. Keecha Harris ("Closing the Food Gap" will be available during the conference for...
If Only He Asked Me – Thoughts on a New Way for USDA
By Mark Winne How ironic that we must even ask our national policy makers to make the nutritional health and well-being of their people the U.S. Department of Agriculture's first priority. But due to the sheer weight of the marketplace and poor government policies,...
To View, To Eat, Per Chance to Not
By Mark Winne November has always been a confusing month for me. Traditionally, it is the time when we Americans give thanks to a mixed bag of things from the bounty of the autumnal harvest to the blessings of that new flat-screen TV that now adorns the living room...
November and December '08 Appearances
November 6 - Phoenix, Arizona - Maricopa County Extension Office (434 E. Broadway); Keynote address, 9:30 a.m. For more information contact Cindy Gentry at 602-493-5231 November 11 - Norman, Oklahoma - University of Oklahoma, 7:30 p.m; Public talk. For more...
Factory Farms, Dirty Water, and the Bible
The following article was first written by me in 2006 for publication in the Sierra Club magazine "Sierra." Though accepted in a revised form by the editors for publication, they chose not to run the piece for some reason that they were never able to explain to me....
Harvest Home Brings it Home
August 28th, 2008 by Mark Winne You would be hard pressed to find a place where the divide between the "haves" and "have nots" is more sharply defined than Manhattan's Eastside. The gap between rich and poor is not just evident in the number of nannies pushing...
EXTRAORDINARY FOOD FOR ALL
By Mark Winne A recent New York Times dining section piece (4/9/08) told the story of a 17-year old on his spring college shopping tour. Apparently the young fellow's selection criteria was not limited to a school's academic strengths but also included the quality of...
Food Bank Speech – May 15, 2008 – Seattle, WA
Leading the Charge, Leading the Change By Mark Winne (Excerpted from a keynote address given to the Northwest Harvest Food Bank Annual Meeting in Seattle, Washington - May 15, 2008) Here are three thoughts I'd ask you to consider – open-mindedly and with the hope that...
High Food Prices – Just Another Bad Day in the Food Line
High Food Prices - Just Another Bad Day in the Food Line Mark Winne The current spate of alarming farm and food stories – drought, rising food prices and shortages – has riveted our attention on the precarious state of our food system. As a nation that has become...
Replenishing Our Food Deserts
In tightly packed urban neighborhoods and isolated rural areas, fresh and healthy food is unavailable to many Americans. Lawmakers hope to remedy that. By Mark Winne September 2007 Whether you live in an urban or rural community, access to fresh produce and meat is a...
Farm Bill or Food Bill?
U.S. agriculture policy has grown fat and lazy--and hasn't helped our waistlines either. It's tempting to take for granted summer's bounty of fresh fruits and vegetables. But if you care about how that succulent tomato gets to your table, your beach reading should...
Appearances & Trainings
Readings and Signings: August 29 - San Francisco - Slow Food Nation "Changemakers Day," Mark Winne panel presentations: 2:30 to 5:45. For more information go to www.slowfoodnation.org. Media contact: bhorton@vancomm.com. September 17 - Albuquerque, NM - 1:30 - Peace...
When Our Farms Are Gone, They're Gone Forever
By Mark Winne Hartford Courant November 9, 2003 The flight from Bradley Airport circled slowly west over the Farmington River Valley. Below me, wedged between the red and yellow flares of autumn foliage, were angular farm fields alternating at irregular intervals with...


Nick Garnett tells the untold story of the Premier League's Mo Salah.
When one of America's most notorious broadcasters starts texting you, what do you do?
A woman is murdered. Nearby, a man is covered in blood. What happens next defies belief.
A Texas cult, thirty Britons, their path to Waco – and into the hands of David Koresh.
Michelle Obama reads from her compelling memoir, inviting listeners into her world.
An investigation into the disappearance of a young man from a locked room in an asylum.
Sit back and enjoy the rays with the ideal soundtrack to your spring weekend!
Feeling stressed at the end of a long day? This mix is here to help!


We are a Wella Professional salon specialising in colour, cutting and styling. We also stock Olaplex and Evo products. Our salon aims to make your visit fun and enjoyable while providing you with a complimentary beverage of your choice from our in salon menu (includes martinis! YAY).
Our team consists of the owner Daryl who pops in every now and delights us with his fun and easy going nature. Our talented stylists, Indi and Laura are always creating amazing colors and styles! Our lovely up and coming stylist, Sophie is constantly learning new skills and we can't wait for her to qualify! We also have some lovely talented stylists pop by throughout the year.
Can't wait to see you in the salon soon!


Now you can own the superb wood fiber target that leaves arrow shafts residue free. Huebert Fiberboard Archery Targets, in use at shooting clubs and ranges, is made of all natural wood fibers with no glue, plastics, or bonding agents that leave residue on arrows.
This extremely durable target provides a safe, reliable backstop. Serious shooters find it superior to compressed cardboard, excelsior or foam. It is an excellent choice for both range and individual use.
If you have any questions, want to place an order or want to check availability, please call (660) 882-2704.
Due to the weight of the archery board we are unable to ship archery products. All archery board and targets must be picked up at our location in Boonville, MO. Also, at this time we are only able to take cash or checks for archery products. Thank you.


were a sharefarmer in a private company that owned or held a pastoral lease over the farm land.
Sharefarmers who did not own real land and did not have a qualifying interest were unable to participate in RAFS.
Farmers who occupied property on a short-term lease rather than a pastoral lease were unable to participate in RAFS because they did not have a qualifying interest in the farm.
A trustee of a trust has a legal interest in the trust's assets. Accordingly, where a farm was owned by a trust and the farmer was the trustee of that trust, he or she had a qualifying interest in the farm. This included situations where the farmer was the trustee of an estate, for example where a widow/widower was trustee of the deceased partner's will.
Shareholders in private trustee companies that owned a farm had a qualifying interest.


text:
|Sportstar Aces Awards 2023 | VOTE FOR TOP CATEGORIES
IMF throws Ukraine a lifeline
March 27, 2014 09:46 pm | Updated May 19, 2016 12:00 pm IST - MOSCOW:
'ON THE BRINK': Ukrainian Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk addresses members of Parliament in Kiev on Thursday.
The International Monetary Fund has agreed to throw Ukraine's sinking economy a lifeline worth up to $18 billion provided the country adopts severe austerity measures.
After two weeks of emergency talks the IMF announced on Thursdaypreliminary agreement to give Ukraine between $14 and $18 billion in loans over the next two years.
The IMF's board must still approve the package once the Ukrainian Parliament passes a set of laws on painful and highly unpopular reforms. If Ukraine honours its end of the deal it could receive the first installment as early as April.
Even before the IMF talks began Acting Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk had said the government had "no other choice but to accept the IMF offer".
"The country is on the edge of economic and financial bankruptcy", Mr. Yatsenyuk told the Parliament on Thursday. "This package of laws is very unpopular, very difficult, very tough. Reforms that should have been done in the past 20 years".
Under the IMF deal Ukraine will have to cut the budget deficit, raise taxes, shift to a flexible exchange rate and increase retail energy tariffs toward their full cost.
Floating the hryvnia will push up inflation, while hiking gas prices will place a heavy burden on family budgets as gas is universally used in Ukrainian households for cooking and heating.
State energy company Naftogaz announced this week that household gas prices would rise 50 percent beginning May 1. Some experts said the gas prices may later have to double to meet the full cost recovery condition.
Income tax rates would rise from 15-17 percent now to up to 25 percent.
Mr Yatsenyuk told lawmakers that Ukraine's economy will contract by 3 percent and inflation will rise up to 14 percent.
The IMF deal will unlock about $10 billion in aid from the European Union, the United States and other countries.
Ukraine's Finance Ministry has said it needs $35 billion over the next two years to avoid default.
Russia has put on hold a $15 billion aid package it pledged to ousted President Viktor Yanukovych and has withdrawn gas price discounts to Ukraine. The price of Russian gas is to nearly double to $480 per 1000 cubic metres on April 1.
The harsh economic measures may further weaken the Ukrainian new authorities' shaky grip on power ahead of presidential elections scheduled forMay 25.
Meanwhile. former Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko, released from jail last month after Mr Yanukovych was overthrown, announced on Thursday she would run for president.
Ms Tymoshenko, the 53-year-old fiery leader of the 2004 "orange revolution", served twice as prime minister and ran for president in 2010, losing to Mr Yanukovych in a run-off vote. She served two years of a seven-year term for abuse of office.
In a leaked phone call earlier this week Ms Tymoshenko said the eight million ethnic Russians in Ukraine should be "nuked".
Commenting on Crimea's referendum on splitting from Ukraine she said:
"It's about time we grab our guns and go kill those damn Russians together with their leader".
Russia rules out intervention in Ukraine
Lavrov, Kerry agree to push constitutional reform in Ukraine
Lavrov reiterates need for greater autonomy
Ukraine / recession/slowdown
On the mat: On politicians heading sports bodies
EPFO to hold mass outreach programme across the country on January 27
Pakistan Prime Minister to be invited for SCO summit
RSS makes fresh minority outreach, senior leaders meet Muslim leadership
Four Adani listed companies on brink of delisting threshold: Hindenburg Research
Adani vs Hindenburg: A brief story of short sellers
Real Madrid vs Atletico, Copa del Rey quarterfinal live streaming info: Preview, stats, when and where to watch?


A Wyoming rancher remembers the winter of 1979 -- what it was like tending cattle at 52 below zero.
A nighttime flight over Wyoming reveals that the once-dark open spaces are now covered with lights that glitter like cheap costume jewelry.
If you want to see the Old West live again, drop by a ranch and offer to help with the springtime cattle branding.
Forty years ago, Wyoming ranchers raised a lot of sheep, and ranch kids like the author's own knew the joys and frustrations of raising "bum" lambs.
Mary Flitner takes joy in the hard but satisfying work of bringing her cattle down from the mountains in Wyoming's beautiful fall.
Today's economic woes remind Mary Flitner of a horse race years ago and the important lesson it taught her: Times are always tough for ranchers, so you might as well enjoy the gamble!
Mary Flitner believes public-land ranchers and Forest Service employees can – and should – get along with each other.
Who will pick up the pieces when this boom ends?
Mary Flitner remembers the last Sublette County energy boom in the 1950s and wonders whether there will be anything left of her community after this one.


Smart transportation is crucial for making the day of the big game a success.
For two guys charged with figuring out what may be the single most vital component in successfully hosting a Super Bowl—transportation—Michael Morris, the transportation director for the North Central Texas Council of Governments, and Jeff Fegan, the CEO of Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport, seem remarkably relaxed about the challenges they face.
Morris, who created the transportation plan the North Texas Super Bowl bid committee submitted to the NFL, says he's never worked on an event with the scope of Super Bowl XLV. But he's not worried, since even normal daily operations are like a Super Bowl for the region's transportation system.
"Six and a half million people traveling every day is kind of large," he says.
Fegan, chairman of the Super Bowl XLV Host Committee's Aviation Action Team, has absolutely no concerns that his airport—and the 14 other regional airports that will see a spike in traffic during the week of the game—can handle what's coming.
Nearly a year before the game's kickoff on Feb. 6, Fegan and Morris and the teams they oversee have ironed out their expectations for what's to come, studied how previous Super Bowl host cities have confronted these demands, and started taking the steps necessary to pull it all off.
Here's a look at what's on their minds.
The host committee's Aviation Action Team contracted with SH&E, a Virginia-based aviation consultant, to make a forecast for the effects of Super Bowl XLV. Their numbers indicate that about 100,000 of the 150,000-200,000 visitors expected for the game will arrive by air. Commercial flights will carry about 96,000 of them, while private aircraft bring another 4,000.
Fegan isn't worried about the impact on commercial traffic. DFW is the highest capacity airport in the world and operates most days at well below the capabilities of its five terminals, seven runways, and 174 gates to handle a spike in flights.
Of more concern is accommodating the many corporate flights arriving. These are the planes most likely to carry CEOs and other business leaders that North Texas most hopes to impress.
DFW Airport itself isn't currently outfitted to handle much corporate traffic; in fact, it's only able to accommodate about 30 private planes on the ground simultaneously. The Super Bowl forecast calls for as many as 100 planes sitting at the airport at once.
That's only a small portion of about 1,000 general aviation aircraft expected to arrive at one of the region's airports sometime between the Wednesday before the game and the day after Super Bowl Sunday. About 700 planes will be sitting at DFW, Love Field, or one of the host of local municipal airports on game night—many of them waiting to take off again as soon as possible once the contest's over.
With 15 local airports accommodating passenger aviation traffic, there are plenty of options for bringing in a corporate jet—or even a helicopter. It's one of the strengths that the region brought with its Super Bowl bid.
The biggest annual sports event in America comes with grave security concerns for local, state, and federal officials. While Arlington's police chief is heading local security efforts, outside agencies, including the FBI and NFL security, will become involved in determining what type of security perimeter will be established around the stadium.
Only the very-privileged few will be able to park anywhere near the ball field on Super Bowl Sunday. Everyone else will have to park at distant sites and then make their way on foot through the security scanners to get into the celebration. Just how many parking spaces will be off-limits has yet to be determined, but planners are already making adjustments.
An official remote parking location could be designated at Lone Star Park in Grand Prairie, about 9 miles away. The host committee has plans to spend $500,000 to allow fans to park there and load buses to take the trip to Cowboys Stadium. While he's not yet certain, Morris expects Lone Star to be the only remote parking location provided for the game.
Anyone looking to get in on available parking for the game will have to register for a spot through a special "Click and Park" web site that the NFL will set up specifically for Super Bowl XLV. The only way for spectators to secure and pay for a space, the site will boast software determining the best parking area depending on the area from which the traveler is coming and suggest a route to the stadium, Morris says. He hopes to sell rail and bus passes through the site as well.
Rather than rely exclusively on automobiles to get people to and from the stadium, the host committee was aiming at press time to strike a deal with Union Pacific to allow the use of its rail corridor on Super Bowl Sunday.
Thousands of fans would be able to board Trinity Railway Express cars at either Victory Station in Dallas or Texas & Pacific Station in Fort Worth to take them into Arlington. Riding the rail would be limited to passengers carrying tickets to the game itself. Once in Arlington, they would get on buses to travel the final mile to Cowboys Stadium.
Because parking near the stadium will be extremely limited by a security perimeter blocking off many of the spaces, bringing in a sizeable number of spectators by other means is an important component of the plan.
Morris says he "would be more nervous" about pulling off the logistics of game day if the train option weren't available.
"I'm using the Super Bowl to implement transportation projects that we should be implementing anyway," Morris says.
Working with the Regional Transportation Council of the NCTCOG, he pushed to take advantage of the opportunity afforded by this major event. For example, while the proposed deal with Union Pacific provides for only one day using the company's rail corridor, it would establish a relationship with the railroad that could yield benefits for future collaborations.
Among the road projects in Arlington that have gotten moving just a bit faster than they might have otherwise—thanks to being put on the clock by Super Bowl XLV—are construction on State Highway 161, completion of the major redo of Interstate 30 and its on- and off-ramps, and a new bridge for State Highway 360 at Division Street.
DFW Airport also is preparing for increased Super Bowl general-aviation traffic by renovating the former American Eagle building on its northeast side for use as a new private-plane terminal. The $3 million project, which was awaiting the airport board's approval at press time, would involve constructing a road to reach the building, as well as refurbishing the structure's interior. If the project is OK'd, Fegan expects the work to be completed by the fall, and to increase the airport's capacity so that—along with an existing, temporary corporate-plane building on the other side of the airport—it can handle as many as 100 private planes at once.
Meanwhile, Arlington Municipal Airport, the airport closest to the stadium at 6.4 miles away, is constructing a new $4.9 million terminal that it expects to have completed shortly before the game. It will increase Arlington's capacity for corporate traffic as well.
Even Denton Municipal Airport, more than 47 miles away, is making upgrades. Leaders there are building a new $1.2 million taxiway to help prepare for more traffic. They're also set to break ground on a 1,000-foot runway extension, though that project may not be completed in time for the big game in February.
North Texas planners expect to learn from mistakes and difficulties they've observed at other Super Bowl sites.
At Super Bowl XLIII in 2009, North Texas officials in attendance were staying in a hotel about 30 miles from where most of the major events were scheduled to happen in downtown Tampa. One evening they loaded into a mini-bus to drive to a pre-party, only to find themselves stuck in traffic on a causeway for more than two hours. By the time they arrived, the event was over.
In Miami in 2007, tires were stolen off the cars of some NFL VIPs even as they were parked in a protected area. And the specter of an ice storm, like one that struck the 2000 game in Atlanta, is the ultimate nightmare scenario for the host committee and the league.
Morris plans to combat these possibilities by planning down to the smallest details, designating precise routes for all traffic to take, and ensuring that all vehicles within the host committee's control stick to those routes. "Redundant capacity" and back-up plans are also an important component of the agenda.
In addition, commitments have been secured from the state to ensure a greater number of sand trucks are standing by in case of harsh winter weather. Other complications—like what happens if one of their passenger rail cars breaks down on the track—are being thought through, too. Another question is exactly how many tow trucks can be brought into service, at a possible cost of $500,000 to the host committee, and posted in strategic locations to assist any travelers that have breakdowns that could threaten to snarl the entire system.
"We'd like to get that plan put to bed so that we can continue to test elements of our plan as the stadium is being used for other events," Morris says.
Every event thus far at Cowboys Stadium, from the George Strait concert that officially opened the venue until the big game in February, can be viewed as an opportunity for a test run of what's coming Super Bowl Sunday. So far local officials are pleased with the ability of traffic to get to and from Cowboys Stadium.
Morris plans to have bus drivers, car drivers, and train operators practice running their routes well before game day. That way there will be no surprises when the time comes. Back-up routes will be determined. Every bus officially associated with the event will have a GPS device loaded onto it, so that leaders in a central operations center will be able to keep plans on track and know when any of their drivers takes a wrong turn.
"Everything we want to do for the Super Bowl, we'll have tried out for the Paul McCartney concert and everything else," Morris says.
Another difficulty that North Texas leaders ran into during their sometimes-disappointing stay in Tampa was having a driver who didn't know much about the local area. When their bus got stuck in traffic, the driver relied on GPS to tell him how to reach the destination, and he didn't know enough to jump off the highway and seek an alternate route.
It's a nearly unavoidable problem because the demand for services like taxis is so high at major events like the Super Bowl that vehicles and drivers have to be brought in from outside the area to meet the need.
Morris and NCTCOG hope to combat some of that by launching an "ambassador taxi" program. That program would work with local governments that license cabs to require drivers to attend training that makes them more knowledgeable about the region and teaches them to be better, friendlier representatives to visitors.
Information about the public transportation system, options for arriving at the stadium and other venues, and details about the region's airports all will be available on the North Texas Super Bowl XLV Host Committee web site months before the game. The hope is to give visitors a chance to educate themselves before they arrive in town.
Just as important will be communication among various components of the transportation system as the plan is executed. Fegan, for instance, is working on a plan calling for buses that pick up groups of passengers to do so away from the terminal, and only once flight arrivals have been confirmed.
"If we didn't plan for it, our curbside would be overwhelmed by buses in the days leading up to the Super Bowl," he says.
A transportation operations center will be established, and that's where you can expect to find Morris on the day of the game. All aspects of the system—roads, taxis, buses, tow trucks, and parking—will have to be carefully monitored to ensure that the meticulously developed plan is followed.
Fans will begin arriving at Cowboys Stadium as early as about noon on game day and trickle in over several hours up until the 5:30 p.m. kickoff, aiming to view some of the pre-game entertainment and to see the ball field itself. But they'll all want to leave at the same time.
The same is true at area airports, where the biggest glut of traffic is expected on Super Bowl Sunday night and the following morning. Fegan notes that at the 2006 Detroit game, there were thousands of fans with commercial flights departing on Monday morning that flooded the airport and spent Sunday night there, rather than pay for another night in a hotel room. DFW is preparing for a similar occurrence, asking concessionaires to stay open late—as they do during weather-related emergencies—to serve the needs of overnight guests.
Morris wants to use transportation elements to enhance what he calls the "World's Fair atmosphere" of the Super Bowl. He has approached local companies in the transportation and aviation sectors about showing off some of their wares as additional attractions to out-of-towners.
Bell Helicopter, for example, is testing the first civilian tilt-rotor aircraft in Arlington. Bell has been approached about flying its BA609 along Interstate 30 to land on top of the Dallas Convention Center, where the NFL Experience event will be taking place, several times in the days leading up to the game. And, with Lockheed Martin a major presence in Fort Worth, Morris would like to see fighter jets perform flyovers between Fort Worth and Dallas as well.
Ground transportation will have a chance to get in on the fun too. Ideas include asking General Motors to show off some of the cars produced at its plant in Arlington by painting them in the color schemes of the teams participating in Super Bowl XLV. Fort Worth's Burlington North Santa Fe Railway may be asked to paint locomotives on local tracks with Super Bowl colors as well. While none of this is sure to happen just yet, Morris believes in the big game as an ideal local showcase.
"I think it's a good way to celebrate sports, the private and public sector, and new technology, all in one big show," he says.


The USDA's ReConnect Program plans to expand the use of rural broadband Internet to areas that currently lack high-speed connectivity.
In December, U.S. Department of Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue announced the department would be distributing $600 million in a combination of grants and loans to build broadband infrastructure in rural areas of the country through the department's new ReConnect Program.
Telecommunication companies, rural electric cooperatives and utilities, Internet service providers and municipalities are eligible to apply for funding through the new rural broadband program.
High-speed Internet e-Connectivity is a necessity, not an amenity, vital for quality of life and economic opportunity, so we hope that today rural communities kick off their rural broadband project planning," Perdue said.
The report also emphasizes the connection between high-speed Internet access and an increase in prosperity. A study conducted in 2016 and referenced in the report attributes 70,000 jobs and more than $100 billion in commerce in 2015.
In addition, the report also connects high-speed Internet with job opportunities, as a rising percentage of the population is working remotely, either part-time or full-time. According to the report, the "share of workers doing some or all of their work away from their increased from 19 to 24 percent nationwide" between 2003 and 2015.
Particularly for rural America, where job opportunities outside of agriculture are scarce or competitive, the ability to work from home would increase the opportunity for rural prosperity.
Download the full report from the task force to the president, here.
The USDA will provide $200 million for grants, $200 million in low-interest loans and $200 in grant-loan combinations. All funded projects must serve communities with 20,000 people or less, and provide broadband speeds of at least 25 mbps for downloads and 3 mbps for uploads.
Grant applications are due by April 29.
Grant-loan combination applications are due by May 29.
Loan applications are due by June 28.
Editor's Note: During the government shutdown implemented on Dec. 21, 2018, updates for the USDA ReConnect Program will not be available. More information will be provided when the department is funded for the fiscal year.


How do you know if your practice supports the opinions of patients and their families?
Ask: Are there policies, procedures, and actions taken to support patient and family participation in governance or operational decision-making of the practice (Patient and Family Advisory Councils (PFAC), Practice Improvement Teams, Board Representatives, etc.)?
What is the intent of the Support for Patient & Family Voices Metric?
Intent: The intent of this metric is to include the perspective and voice of the patient and family in all aspects of the governance of the practice.