Email: press@oc.usda.gov
USDA to Ensure All Have Equal Access to Crop & Livestock Reports
(Washington, DC – July 10, 2018) – The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) today announced new procedures for the release of market-affecting crop and livestock reports from the National Agricultural Statistics Service (NASS) and World Agricultural Outlook Board (WAOB) to ensure that all members of the public have access to the information at the same time. Under current “Lockup” procedures, information is released to the public at 12:00 p.m. (Eastern), though the news media are allowed access approximately 90 minutes early, with their reports embargoed until the noon release time. Prompted by inquiries from the public, USDA examined the procedures and determined that technological advancements have afforded recipients of customized media reports a market advantage not enjoyed by members of the general public. The USDA also sought analytical assistance from the Commodity Futures Trading Commission to help inform a policy update to the lockup procedures. As a result, beginning August 1, 2018, USDA will provide media the same access to the NASS and WAOB reports as the public, with the information becoming available to all at 12:00 p.m. on days the reports are released.
“These reports are greatly anticipated each time they are released, and they can have significant market impacts,” said U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Sonny Perdue. “Everyone who has interest in the USDA reports should have the same access as anyone else. Modern technology and current trading tactics have made microseconds a factor. This change addresses the ‘head start’ of a few microseconds that can amount to a market advantage. The new procedures will level the playing field and make the issuance of the reports fair to everyone involved.”
Background: Current Process
USDA produces a number of reports with significant market impacts, such as commodity futures sold on the Chicago Board of Trade. Those reports are prepared by NASS and WAOB staff under special “lockup” conditions at USDA: no electronic transmission devices are permitted into lockup (such as cellular telephones) and once people enter the lockup they cannot leave until the reports are sent out to the public at 12:00 p.m.
The public is allowed to enter lockup at 10:30 a.m. to hear about the lockup facility and to sit in on the data briefing that occurs at approximately 11:45 a.m. Again, no transmission devices are allowed into lockup and the public is not allowed to leave until 12:00 p.m.
Lock up is open to any media outlet that meets a set of strict standards. Currently, six news services participate in lockup and are given pre-access to reports: Associated Press, Dow Jones/Wall Street Journal, Thompson Reuters, Market News Int’l/Deutsche Boerse, Bloomberg News, and DTN/Progressive Farmer.
It takes USDA data roughly 2 seconds to be transmitted and posted for the public to read. Meanwhile, press organizations have access to high-speed fiber optic lines out of the USDA lockup and advertise paid services to clients that offer ‘ultra-low latency’ data transmission speed. They have approximately 90 minutes to distill the reports down to their clients’ needs.
There is evidence to suggest that there is significant trading activity worth millions of dollars that occurs in the one to two second period immediately following 12:00 p.m., which could not be based on the public reading of USDA data. The inference is that private agents are paying the news agencies for faster data transmission to get a jump on the market.
What is USDA doing to fix this?
USDA is requiring the media to participate in lockup in the same way as the public. Media will no longer receive the reports in advance nor can they utilize high-speed transmission cables from within USDA’s lockup facility.
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SLEEP ON IT
Release Music Video For
photo credit: Penelope Martinez
Catch The Band On The 2018 Vans Warped Tour
Chicago, IL - July 10th, 2018 - Sleep On It have shared the new music video for their song "A New Way Home", the first track off their debut album Overexposed. Fans can check out the video on the Equal Vision Records YouTube channel, here: https://bit.ly/2L2drPK
Previously, they've released music videos for "Fireworks" and "Distant", both off Overexposed, which was released in November of last year on Equal Vision Records. The album was produced by Seth Henderson (Knuckle Puck, Real Friends), with additional production from Derek DiScanio. It is now available to stream or purchase.
Recently, Sleep On It played Slam Dunk Festival in the UK and toured last fall with labelmates Waterparks. Today, they kick off their run on the second-half of the Vans Warped Tour in Nashville. Please see below for a full list of dates.
Sleep On It is comprised of Zech Pluister (vocals), TJ Horansky (guitar/vocals), Jake Marquis (guitar/vocals), AJ Khah (bass) and Luka Fischman (drums).
More Sleep On It
www.facebook.com/sleeponitband
www.instagram.com/sleeponitband
Upcoming Tour Dates
July 10 - Nashville, TN @ Tennessee State Fairgrounds
July 12 - Virginia Beach, VA @ Veterans United Home Loans Amphiteater
July 13 - Camden, NJ @ BB&T Pavilion
July 14 - Holmdel, NJ @ PNC Bank Arts Center
July 15 - Hartford, CT @ Xfinity Theater
July 16 - Burgettstown, PA @ Keybank Pavilion
July 17 - Toronto, Canada @ The Flats at Budweiser Stage
July 18 - Cuyahoga Falls, OH @ Blossom Music Center
July 19 - Cincinnati, OH @ Riverbend Music Center
July 20 - Detroit, MI @ Meadow Brook Amphitheatre
July 21 - Tinley Park, IL @ Hollywood Casino Amphitheater
July 22 - Shakopee, MN @ Canterbury Park
July 23 - Milwaukee, WI @ American Family Insurance Amphitheater
July 24 - Noblesville, IN @ Ruoff Home Mortgage Music Center
July 25 - Darien Center, NY @ Darien Lake Pac
July 26 - Scranton, PA @ The Pavilion at Montage Mountain
July 27 - Mansfield, MA @ Xfinity Center
July 28 - Wantagh, NY @ Northwell Health at Jones Beach Amphiteatre
July 29 - Columbia, MD @ Merriweather Post Pavilion
July 30 - Charlotte, NC @ PNC Music Pavilion Charlotte
July 31 - Atlanta, GA @ Cellairis Amphitheatre at Lakewood
August 2 - Jacksonville, FL @ The Old Cypress Lot Near Met Park
August 3 - Orlando, FL @ Tinker Field
August 4 - Tampa, FL @ Midflordia Credit Union Amphitheater
August 5 - West Palm Beach, FL @ Coral Sky Amphitheater
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A weekly report on education news and commentary you won’t find anywhere else — from the nation’s leading voice on education innovation and opportunity.
A NEW HOPE FOR RELIGIOUS SCHOOLS’ FREEDOM? The President’s nominee to fill the vacancy that Supreme Court Justice Anthony Kennedy will create is Brett Kavanaugh, whose long history of rulings and opinions on education issues may allow for progress and real change for religious schools and school equity: Does A Justice Kavanaugh Mean That Blaine Amendments Are History?
A SETBACK IN PUERTO RICO. A frustrating turn of events in Puerto Rico where the hopes and plans to increase educational opportunities and innovations are being held up a judge’s ruling that private school scholarships violate Puerto Rico's Constitution and that only the University of Puerto Rico and Puerto Rico's municipalities can operate "alianza" (i.e. charter) schools.
Sadly, this is another case of putting children last when it comes to meeting their educational needs and, with hope, will only be a temporary set-back in delivering Gov. Rosselló’s hugely needed, and hugely promising reforms. The good news is that we’ve seen this movie before, and the flawed decisions of courts from Washington state to Florida are usually based on education powers in constitutions not legislative powers, which in most Constitutions take precedence. Check out this review, for example, from former U.S. Solicitor General Paul Clement, about a similar issue claimed but not litigated in Kentucky. We’ll keep you posted.
NEA: THE “NOT EDUCATION ASSOCIATION.” Somehow the NEA thought it appropriate to dedicate nearly two-thirds of the resolutions at its annual conference last week to everything BUT education? What are some of the NEA’s priority issues? Here’s a sample. Ensuring that Banana Republic doesn’t advertise with the union. Creating a toolkit to press for moratoria on charter school authorizations by bodies other than locally elected school boards. Advocating for lower interest rates and affordable housing programs for educators. And planning at least one action to shut down an immigration detention center, a Customs and order Patrol office, or an Immigration and Customs Enforcement office (and recruiting at least 500 educators to participate in the action who are willing to be arrested and not bailed out of jail for a week!).
AFT ALSO OUT OF TOUCH. As the AFT gears up for its rollicking annual convention and demagoguery fest we thought we’d brief you on the issues they’d be debating this year…that is until we looked at the list of a whopping 91 resolutions from 13 committees that are more appropriate to a meeting of the U.N. General Assembly than they are to addressing the educational needs of America’s children and families. To be fair, they do have an “Educational Issues Committee” but things go sideways fast when we get to the committees on Healthcare, Human Rights, International Relations, Labor and the Economy, Political Action (“Resolution No. 53 ‘Rev It Up:’ Register, Educate, Vote!”) and Organizing and Collective Bargaining. Suffice it to say they will be discussing a lot of things, most of which have little or nothing to do with educating children. If you are so inclined, you can read every word of every resolution here.
NOTE TO UNIONS: You’re supposed to be looking for ways to improve your standing after Janus not get farther away from the mission upon which you were founded.
HEARING IT DIRECTLY FROM MARK JANUS. Along with many of our most respected colleagues, we’ve been glued to the Janus v. AFSCME litigation proceedings since the beginning. We’ve covered, interviewed and reported on the subject. But nothing compares to hearing it from the horse’s mouth. Here’s Mark Janus explaining his “why” after the historic decision.
TO NBC: NOT TO SAY, ‘WE TOLD YOU SO” BUT… The Grade, by Alexander Russo, offers up a great article over the irresponsibly story alleging charter schools are creating “white flight” from traditional public schools. The contention is absurd, and we said so, but the Grade goes even further. A very brief synopsis of its critique: “…unfortunately, the [NBC/Hechinger] piece fails badly at its larger attempt, which is to assert that this kind of charter school is a significant problem nationally. Despite all efforts to make it seem otherwise, the data presented in the story do not support the claim that segregated white charters are a big problem.” Read the full article here.
COMPETITION. Pennsylvania’s Bensalem school district hired a consultant to tell them why so many families were choosing charter schools over district schools. The consultant’s explanation: with charter schools as an option for families, districts must compete for students, which means they have to improve in areas where they are lacking – be that in performance or programs or in working with parents. “Of course,” the article concludes correctly, “competition is what the charter school law was supposed to produce — because competition drives excellence.”
THE ROAD TO INNOVATION IS PAVED WITH SILVER… This week we are pleased to announce the addition of Arizona State University as a partner in CER’s Silver Anniversary Summit. We’re grateful for the pathbreaking leadership of ASU and it’s visionary president Michael Crow in their myriad endeavors. Start your engines and make your way to Miami on October 26th! Registration opens this week!
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President Trump’s Useful Idiocy
Winslow Myers
870 words
Though the president still has many supporters, there is a growing consensus, especially as the Trump-initiated trade war heats up, that he does not have their best interests in mind, never mind the best interests of the nation as a whole. While I think I understand why so many people voted for Trump, my sympathy does not extend to the man himself, whose emotional repertoire appears to be the narrow range between meanness and self-pity.
As his first summit with Vladimir Putin approaches, though we do not have certainty about the possibility of active collusion, one cannot help but recall Lenin’s phrase “useful idiot,” by which Lenin meant anyone who could be manipulated to serve the ends of the Soviet state.
To borrow another well-known phrase, this time from the late Senator Moynihan, Trump has “defined deviancy down.” Gradually we have come to tolerate behavior in a leader that was formerly enough to derail a candidacy, if not leading to outright trial by law.
Whether Mr. Trump will or will not be able to serve out his term, it is not too soon to learn some lessons about what we seek and what we want to avoid in candidates for the presidency. In no particular order, here follows a simple and obvious list, clarified by way of contrast with the person presently occupying the office:
• A president needs to be a national model for truth-telling, encouraging and validating the scientific method, and making policy based upon experimentally validated data.
•A president needs a secure, private, inner-directed self-sense that transcends their image in the media, a self-sense that includes a solid ethical compass.
•A president needs to ameliorate, not exacerbate, conservative-progressive polarization, and consistently emphasize what all of us have in common as Americans, like equality of opportunity and equality under the law. The president that follows Trump will need special skills to promote healing between pro- and anti-Trump factions.
•A president needs to understand the racism which is one of America’s original sins, so that they can actively encourage the principle that our diversity makes us stronger.
•Anyone who wins the presidency will inevitably possess a healthy ego, but presidents must sublimate their self-confidence into a humble awareness of their position as servant leader, which views citizens as ends rather than instruments.
•A president needs good listening skills. Most of America’s difficulties, domestic or international, have in common some kind of failure to listen. Crude bullying, such as opposition to a U.N. breast feeding resolutionbecause it threatens the profits of baby formula corporations, is surely not what our country wants to be known for around the world.
•A president needs to separate from business interests clearly and absolutely while in office.
•Presidents need authentic life experience that has tested them. My friend Adam Cote ran for the governorship of Maine. While serving the National Guard, he was deployed to Bosnia, Afghanistan and finally Iraq, where he began an orphanage and established an effective program that adopted Iraqi villages. Five minutes in Adam’s presence is sufficient to demonstrate that his motivation for running is public service, not power. The testing experience doesn’t have to be military; it could be any trial by fire that seasons a person.
•Presidents need a sense of humor, especially about themselves.
•Presidents need to be scholars of the lessons of history, to avoid repeating past mistakes.
•A president needs to be strong enough to push back against establishment groupthink from whatever political direction, such as the momentum of American techno-colonialism and militarism. Presidents can be a bulwark against the tail of unlimited military spending wagging the dog of sensible policy.
•Irrespective of party, presidents need to understand the great global challenge of environmental stress, and the imperative for greater international cooperation to help the planet through to a place where humans have learned to sustain the commons that is the life-support-system for all.
•Presidents must understand that many of our contemporary challenges are trans-national, and that the delicate structures of international law must be gradually strengthened. This will unquestionably benefit America’s security in the long term.
•Presidents need discernment. As my father used to say, quoting Leo Rosten: “First rate people hire first rate people. Second rate people hire fourth rate people.”
Of course, every trait that makes a good president also makes a good civically engaged citizen. It would seem we get the presidents we deserve (though most of the Trump voters I know are much more interesting than either the liberal press stereotype of a Trump voter or than Trump himself).
Even if at a very high cost, President Trump may have done our country at least one valuable service. If we have learned the right lessons, we will tolerate a little less the political obfuscations of the mean-spirited, the petty, the mealy-mouthed, the smugly entitled (in both mainstream political parties), and still less the garrulous narcissism taking up all the air in the room at present. There is an opening, if we can encourage it, for a more disinterested, honest political conversation. I know I will be looking among the emerging candidates for at least some of the qualities listed above—and that, I’m afraid, means I need to exemplify those qualities myself.
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Winslow Myers, syndicated by PeaceVoice, is the author of “Living Beyond War: A Citizen’s Guide” and serves on the Advisory Board of the War Prevention Initiative.
