For Immediate Release – December 11, 2019
Contact: Marty Irby, marty@animalwellnessaction.org, 202-821-5686
Washington, D.C. – U.S. House Natural Resources Committee Chairman Raúl Grijalva (D-Ariz.) and a bipartisan group of lawmakers wrote late yesterday to the chairs and ranking members of the House and Senate appropriations panels with oversight of the Department of the Interior (DOI) to urge funding limits and additional clarity on a dangerous and costly Bureau of Land Management (BLM) pilot program to manage wild horse populations in the West.
The letter, available at http://bit.ly/2RDM29C, is addressed to U.S. Sens. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) and Tom Udall (D-N.M.), chair and ranking member respectively of the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Interior, Environment, and Related Agencies; and U.S. Reps. Betty McCollum (D-Minn.) and David Joyce (R-Ohio), the chair and ranking member respectively of the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Interior, Environment, and Related Agencies.
The House and Senate versions of the Interior-Environment appropriations bill – which are currently being reconciled – each include funding for an untested pilot project that calls for a dramatic increase in roundups and removals. The House bill provides $6 million in additional funding for the program while the Senate bill provides $35 million, and each bill includes report language calling for a total removal of 130,000 horses over the next decade.
As the authors point out, “That plan has never been presented for consideration in the authorizing committees of jurisdiction, would triple the number of horses and burros in holding, and could cost taxpayers billions.” They also note concerns that the House and Senate report language “opens the door to surgical sterilization procedures” that face opposition “by many stakeholders, including veterinarians.”
The authors urge appropriators to take three steps in a final conference version of the funding bill:
In addition to Grijalva, the letter is signed by Rep. Deb Haaland (D-N.M.), who chairs the Subcommittee on National Parks, Forests, and Public Lands; and by Reps. Jerrold Nadler (D-N.Y.), Chairman of the House Judiciary Committee; David Schweikert (R-Ariz.); Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.); Grace Napolitano (D-Calif.); Joe Neguse (D-Colo.); Tony Cárdenas (D-Calif.); Dina Titus (D-Nev.); Steve Cohen (D-Tenn.); Ann McLane Kuster (D-N.H.); and Paul Tonko (D-N.Y.), Co-Chair of the Congressional Horse Caucus.
“We applaud Chairman Grijalva’s tremendous leadership and tireless work to prevent the devastating roundup and incarceration of our iconic American wild horses, whose very backs this country was built upon,” said Marty Irby, executive director at Animal Wellness Action, and a lifelong horseman. “We must continue to do everything within our power to defend these symbols of our nation from their strategically planned eradication negotiated by the Humane Society, ASPCA, and pro-slaughter crowd.”
"We commend House Natural Resources Chair Raúl M. Grijalva for leading a bipartisan group of lawmakers in requesting restrictions on funding appropriated in the FY 2020 spending bill that would impact America’s federally protected wild horse and burro populations,” said Suzanne Roy, Executive Director of the American Wild Horse Campaign. “We are deeply grateful to Rep. Grijalva for continuing his longstanding work as a great champion for wild horses.”
“We thank Chair Grijalva for his leadership on this important issue," said Ginger Kathrens, Founder of The Cloud Foundation. "The appropriation of additional funds to this program, especially as BLM has failed to present any kind of plan to Congress, would be a grave mistake. If Congress chooses to appropriate additional funds, we strongly support Chair Grijalva. There are intelligent, cost-effective ways to manage healthy herds on healthy rangelands, but this plan is not one.”
The Animal Wellness Foundation (Foundation) is a Los Angeles-based private charitable organization with a mission of helping animals by making veterinary care available to everyone with a pet, regardless of economic ability. We organize rescue efforts and medical services for dogs and cats in need and help homeless pets find a loving caregiver. We are advocates for getting veterinarians to the front lines of the animal welfare movement; promoting responsible pet ownership; and vaccinating animals against infectious diseases such as distemper. We also support policies that prevent animal cruelty and that alleviate suffering. We believe helping animals helps us all.
Animal Wellness Action (Action) is a Washington, D.C.-based 501(c)(4) organization with a mission of helping animals by promoting legal standards forbidding cruelty. We champion causes that alleviate the suffering of companion animals, farm animals, and wildlife. We advocate for policies to stop dogfighting and cockfighting and other forms of malicious cruelty and to confront factory farming and other systemic forms of animal exploitation. To prevent cruelty, we promote enacting good public policies and we work to enforce those policies. To enact good laws, we must elect good lawmakers, and that’s why we remind voters which candidates care about our issues and which ones don’t. We believe helping animals helps us all.
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USDA Invests $7.9 Million in Rural Broadband for North Carolina Families
BOLTON, N.C., Dec. 11, 2019 – Today, North Carolina Rural Development State Director Robert Hosford announced USDA has invested $7.9 million in high-speed broadband infrastructure to create or improve e-Connectivity for more than 4,000 rural households in North Carolina. This is one of many funding announcements in the first round of USDA’s ReConnect Pilot Program investments.
“We know that rural communities need access to reliable broadband,” Hosford said. “This infrastructure will provide residents, farms, businesses, first responders and schools in Columbus County access to all the opportunities that e-Connectivity offers.”
Atlantic Telephone Membership Corporation’s Faster Columbus Advanced Connectivity for Communities, Education, Safety and Support (ACCESS) project will use a $7.9 million ReConnect Program grant to bring fiber-optic broadband into unserved and underserved rural areas of Columbus County. The service areas include 4,057 households, 18 businesses, 22 farms, 15 educational facilities, three health care facilities and 10 critical community facilities spread over approximately 150 square miles. The project will facilitate more access to services and information for area residents, and it will improve the overall quality of life for people in this community.
Background:
In March 2018, Congress provided $600 million to USDA to expand broadband infrastructure and services in rural America. On Dec. 13, 2018, Secretary Perdue announced the rules of the program, called “ReConnect,” including how the loans and grants will be awarded to help build broadband infrastructure in rural America. USDA received 146 applications between May 31, 2019, and July 12, 2019, requesting $1.4 billion in funding across all three ReConnect Program funding products: 100 percent loan, 100 percent grant, and loan-grant combinations. USDA is reviewing applications and announcing approved projects on a rolling basis. Additional investments in all three categories will be made in the coming weeks.
These grants, loans and combination funds enable the federal government to partner with the private sector and rural communities to build modern broadband infrastructure in areas with insufficient internet service. Insufficient service is defined as connection speeds of less than 10 megabits per second (Mbps) download and 1 Mbps upload.
In April 2017, President Donald J. Trump established the Interagency Task Force on Agriculture and Rural Prosperity to identify legislative, regulatory and policy changes that could promote agriculture and prosperity in rural communities. In January 2018, Secretary Perdue presented the Task Force’s findings to President Trump. These findings included 31 recommendations to align the federal government with state, local and tribal governments to take advantage of opportunities that exist in rural America. Increasing investments in rural infrastructure is a key recommendation of the task force. To view the report in its entirety, please view the Report to the President of the United States from the Task Force on Agriculture and Rural Prosperity (PDF, 5.4 MB). In addition, to view the categories of the recommendations, please view the Rural Prosperity infographic (PDF, 190 KB).
USDA Rural Development provides loans and grants to help expand economic opportunities and create jobs in rural areas. This assistance supports infrastructure improvements; business development; housing; community facilities such as schools, public safety and health care; and high-speed internet access in rural areas. For more information, visit www.rd.usda.gov/nc
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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
FOR MORE INFORMATION CONTACT:
Amanda Hurvitz, 713-316-3395
Angela Crissman, 713-316-3176
Laurie Wright, 713-316-3434
Corinne Giacomarro, 713-316-3398
David weekley homes collects thousands of meals, donations during annual food drive
Salt Lake City, UT (December 11, 2019): Over 1,600 people locally – and 60,000 nationwide – walked away from the Thanksgiving table with a full belly and a happy heart this year, thanks to the partnership of David Weekley Homes and 18 charities across the U.S. In Salt Lake City, David Weekley Homes teamed up with Utah Food Bank, a nonprofit organization that has served the greater Salt Lake City area for more than 100 years, to provide meals to needy families.
“Not only will the efforts from your food drive benefit many families in Utah, the money donated for the hot boxes will assist in feeding hot lunches to many underprivileged children all around the state with our Kids Café program,” said Lavine Shapiro, funds director with Utah Food Bank.
From November 1 – 15, David Weekley Homes hosted its fifth annual companywide Thanksgiving Drive, bringing together its homeowners, real estate agents, vendors, trade partners and team members to collect 150,000 pounds of food for nearly 60,000 people across the country.
“It was exhilarating seeing the donations come in!” said Stephanie Zorn, lead estimator with David Weekley Homes in Salt Lake City. “Nothing beats seeing companies come together to help the community.”
Utah Food Bank serves those in need throughout the entire state. The organization works tirelessly with community partners and volunteers to make an impact and fulfill their mission of Fighting Hunger Statewide. As Utah’s only member of Feeding America’s nationwide network, Utah Food Bank is part of the nation’s leading domestic hunger-relief organization.
“The donations from David Weekley Homes will assist our organization in providing five families of four with food for one month,” said Julie Adams-Chatterly, the food drive coordinator with Utah Food Bank.
To assist Utah Food Bank this year, David Weekley Homes collected approximately 1,900 pounds of nonperishable food items and $3,000 in monetary donations during the two-week drive. The Thanksgiving Drive is a volunteer and philanthropic initiative of the company’s CARE program, which allows the extended David Weekley Homes family to live out its purpose of Building Dreams, Enhancing Lives in each of the communities in which it builds.
“Some of the greatest joys in life come by serving those around you,” said Scott Curtis, a David Weekley Homes builder in Salt Lake City. “I always tell my kids, ‘observe and serve!’”
CAPTION: Team members from David Weekley Homes donated 1,900 pounds of Thanksgiving food items to Utah Food Bank to benefit families in need.
About Utah Food Bank
For over 100 years, Utah Food Bank has been serving those in need throughout the state, working tirelessly to fulfill their mission of Fighting Hunger Statewide. The organization distributes food free-of-charge to 150 partner agencies and also offers several direct service programs to help children and seniors in Utah.
About David Weekley Homes
David Weekley Homes, founded in 1976, is headquartered in Houston and operates in 20 cities across the United States. David Weekley Homes was the first builder in the United States to be awarded the Triple Crown of American Home Building, an honor which includes “America’s Best Builder,” “National Housing Quality Award” and “National Builder of the Year.” Weekley has also appeared 13 times on FORTUNE magazine’s “100 Best Companies to Work For®” list. Since inception, David Weekley Homes has closed more than 90,000 homes. For more information about David Weekley Homes, visit the company’s website at www.davidweekleyhomes.com.
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Industrial IoT Spending Skyrockets As Manufacturing Sector Braces for Change
The promise of greatly enhanced productivity is leading manufacturers to embrace smarter, autonomous IoT-based systems. Choice IOT’s Darren Sadana points out the importance of building these new capabilities on a stable infrastructure.
(Syosset, NY) December 10, 2019—According to a recent report from IoT Analytics, global spending on industrial internet-of-things platforms is expected to increase at a compound annual growth rate of 40 percent over the next few years, from $1.67 billion in 2018 to $12.44 billion in 2024.1 “Autonomous IoT platforms,” says Choice IOT’s CEO Darren Sadana, “are beginning to replace the large software-driven manufacturing execution systems currently in place in the manufacturing sector.” Sadana, whose company specializes in wireless connectivity for IoT solution providers, adds, “One thing that’s crucial at this point is for both manufacturers and platform developers to make sure they’re building the infrastructure they’ll need to support these new capabilities.”
The changes now taking place in manufacturing are often referred to as Industry 4.0, or the fourth industrial revolution. The first three industrial revolutions, Sadana notes, were precipitated by the transition from:
Among the basic technologies of Industry 4.0 are artificial intelligence, additive manufacturing (also known as 3D printing), and blockchain, which provides verifiable control of the manufacturing supply network.2
While Industry 4.0 is often discussed as though it were already firmly in place and delivering trackable benefits, the reality, Sadana notes, is that the revolution is just now getting underway. Many U.S. manufacturing plants are more than 20 years old, and fewer than 14 percent of the machines on shop floors are able to transmit and receive real-time data.3 These older machines are not only not equipped to operate in an Industry 4.0 environment, they are also prone to breakdowns, which account for up to $50 billion per year in lost manufacturing time.4
The bulk of manufacturers considering the use of industrial IoT are thus currently in assessment mode: increasing their ability to understand, monitor, and predict the processes they already have in place.5 In addition to systems and equipment, manufacturers are reviewing their overall management and personnel structures to ensure that the necessary training, understanding of roles, motivation, and feedback—including the management of an emerging ecosystem of industrial service providers—will be in place to make sure that Industry 4.0 takes off as planned.6
They are also paying close attention to digital infrastructure. “All the components of Industry 4.0,” says Sadana, “from fundamental technologies like AI and blockchain to multiple interlocking solutions platforms, rely on constant access to each other and to the cloud, which in turn requires constant, dependable 24/7/365 wireless connectivity. In planning and managing their businesses, manufacturers should be aware that it is possible to obtain accurate, current information—including pricing and contract requirements—about this essential commodity.”
About Choice IOT
Choice IOT provides the premiere wireless connectivity and management platform for IoT-based solutions providers in the consumer-facing, public, industrial, and infrastructural sectors. They were awarded Top 50 Smartest Companies of 2019 by the Silicon Review and Channel Vision’s Visionary Spotlight Awards for Top Innovation, Service Provider Enablement, and Enterprise Technology in 2019. With a business model based on ease of use and transparency, Choice IOT is dedicated to helping its customers partners deploy their solutions with maximum control and the lowest possible connectivity cost. For more information, please see www.choiceiot.com.
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Karen King announces the release of ‘Lundie’s Stories: Tales from a Wyoming Original’
LANDER, Wyo. – Karen King considers her close friend, the late Lundie Thayer a true Wyoming original who descended as a fourth-generation pioneer with lineage in Wyoming dating back to the mid-1800s. Before he passed away, King wanted to capture Thayer’s stories so others could learn of his adventures, his beliefs, his life and benefit from an authentic glimpse of Wyoming's history. This objective led her to write “Lundie’s Stories: Tales from a Wyoming Original.”
Thayer tells his tales with sensitivity, respect and details. From family memories to gardening tips, from political perspectives to wild weather and from unusual animal encounters to military service, this Wyoming original shares vivid details in a voice as distinct and open as the Wyoming range. He entertains readers with a personal glimpse at remarkable times and real-life characters.
“This is a truthful historical memoir with highly entertaining incidents, colorful characters and circumstances that readers will likely not read elsewhere,” King says. “Historic memoirs are available extensively, but few I know of are from the person themselves who lived during the settlement/civilization of Wyoming, the least populated state in the U.S.A. and the tenth largest geographically.”
“Lundie’s Stories: Tales from a Wyoming Original” aims for readers to hear Lundie's own voice and learn from his stories of the past and their influence on the present.
“Lundie’s Stories: Tales from a Wyoming Original”
By Lundie Thayer and Karen King/ www.KKWritesFromWyoming.com
Hardcover | 6 x 9in | 194 pages | ISBN 9781796058758
Softcover | 6 x 9in | 194 pages | ISBN 9781796058741
E-Book | 194 pages | ISBN 9781796058734
Available at Amazon and Barnes & Noble
About the Author
Karen King writes to stay out of the shrink’s office and enjoys learning from characters of diverse backgrounds. A native of Boulder, Colorado, King has written plays, stories, poems and skits since childhood with essays earning trips to the Caribbean and the United Nations. Writing grant applications, grant reviews, training materials and technical manuals to and for federal agencies serving American Indian educational programs for over 35 years honed her research skills. King’s academic contributions include “Parent Involvement in Indian Pre-School Programs,” ERIC 1992 and the chapter, “Parent Engagement: Historic and Current Practices in Native Pre-School Programs,” for the textbook series “On Indian Ground: High Plains,” Information Age Publishing 2020. Four screenplays rest in re-write files with three fiction novels while monthly piano ditties balance her musical rhythms. She lives with her memories, horses, dogs, plants and piano in Wyoming at the end of the road to the Wind River wilderness.
Xlibris Publishing, an Author Solutions, LLC imprint, is a self-publishing services provider created in 1997 by authors, for authors. By focusing on the needs of creative writers and artists and adopting the latest print-on-demand publishing technology and strategies, we provide expert publishing services with direct and personal access to quality publication in hardcover, trade paperback, custom leather-bound and full-color formats. To date, Xlibris has helped to publish more than 60,000 titles. For more information, visit xlibris.com or call 1-888-795-4274 to receive a free publishing guide. Follow us @XlibrisPub on Twitter for the latest news.
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Hi Dawn,
With the giving season reminding us to be selfless and 11.8 percent of our fellow Americans in poverty and half a million homeless, the personal-finance website WalletHub followed up on its report on the Most Charitable States with an in-depth look at 2019's Neediest Cities as well as accompanying videos.
Hoping to inspire goodwill toward the less fortunate, WalletHub compared more than 180 U.S. cities across 28 key metrics to determine where Americans are most economically disadvantaged. The data set ranges from child poverty rate to food-insecurity rate to uninsured rate.
Neediest Cities
1. Detroit, MI
11. Atlanta, GA
2. Cleveland, OH
12. Los Angeles, CA
3. New Orleans, LA
13. Gulfport, MS
4. Brownsville, TX
14. Baltimore, MD
5. Jackson, MS
15. Indianapolis, IN
6. Newark, NJ
16. Fresno, CA
7. St. Louis, MO
17. Richmond, VA
8. Philadelphia, PA
18. Augusta, GA
9. Memphis, TN
19. Shreveport, LA
10. Birmingham, AL
20. San Bernardino, CA
Key Stats
To view the full report and your city’s rank, please visit:
https://wallethub.com/edu/cities-with-the-highest-and-lowest-population-in-need/8795/
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Hi Dawn,
With the giving season reminding us to be selfless and 11.8 percent of our fellow Americans in poverty and half a million homeless, the personal-finance website WalletHub followed up on its report on the Most Charitable States with an in-depth look at 2019's Neediest Cities as well as accompanying videos.
Hoping to inspire goodwill toward the less fortunate, WalletHub compared more than 180 U.S. cities across 28 key metrics to determine where Americans are most economically disadvantaged. The data set ranges from child poverty rate to food-insecurity rate to uninsured rate.
Neediest Cities
1. Detroit, MI
11. Atlanta, GA
2. Cleveland, OH
12. Los Angeles, CA
3. New Orleans, LA
13. Gulfport, MS
4. Brownsville, TX
14. Baltimore, MD
5. Jackson, MS
15. Indianapolis, IN
6. Newark, NJ
16. Fresno, CA
7. St. Louis, MO
17. Richmond, VA
8. Philadelphia, PA
18. Augusta, GA
9. Memphis, TN
19. Shreveport, LA
10. Birmingham, AL
20. San Bernardino, CA
Key Stats
To view the full report and your city’s rank, please visit:
https://wallethub.com/edu/cities-with-the-highest-and-lowest-population-in-need/8795/
