Media Advisory
Secretary Perdue in Nebraska TOMORROW
(Washington, D.C., August 22, 2019) – U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Sonny Perdue will be in Nebraska TOMORROW, Friday, August 23rd.
Secretary Perdue, Governor Pete Ricketts and Representative Adrian Smith to tour Cyclone Farms
WHAT: Secretary Perdue, Governor Pete Ricketts and Representative Adrian Smith will tour Cyclone Farms. Following the tour, Secretary Perdue will hold a media availability.
WHEN: Friday, August 23rd beginning at 8:00am CT.
WHERE: Cyclone Farms, 1811 NE-69, Waco, NE 68460
Secretary Perdue to participate in Disaster Roundtable with Governor Pete Ricketts, Senator Deb Fischer and the Nebraska Congressional Delegation
WHAT: Secretary Perdue, Governor Ricketts, Senator Fischer, the Nebraska Congressional Delegation and local stakeholders will participate in a Disaster Roundtable. Following the roundtable, Secretary Perdue, Governor Ricketts and Senator Fischer will hold a media availability.
WHEN: Friday, August 23rd beginning at 10:00am CT.
WHERE: Nebraska State Fair Boardroom, 501 E Fonner Park Road #200, Grand Island, NE 68801
Secretary Perdue to participate in Town Hall hosted by University of Nebraska
WHAT: Secretary Perdue will participate in a Town Hall hosted by University of Nebraska.
WHEN: Friday, August 23rd beginning at 11:30am CT.
WHERE: Raising Nebraska Building, Nebraska State Fair, 501 E Fonner Park Road #200, Grand Island, NE 68801
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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Aug 22, 2019
CONTACT: Lee Lonsberry
c - 801 698 7349
Bishop Welcomes Vice President Pence
WASHINGTON – Rep. Rob Bishop (UT-01) welcomed Vice President Mike Pence to Utah and joined Pence as he delivered remarks to community leaders and employees of Merit Medical in South Jordan. Vice President Pence spoke about the United States–Mexico–Canada Agreement (USMCA) as part of an America First Policies series called, “USMCA: A Better Deal for American Workers.” Following Pence’s remarks, Rep. Bishop offered the statement below.
“To host the Vice President of the United States is a great honor for the state of Utah. After a decade of congressional service together with Vice President Pence, I am a first-hand witness of his tireless advocacy for America.
“The USMCA is a fairer deal for America and it places our nation’s prosperity above all else. This agreement promises to bolster small and medium size businesses, American industry, and the country’s global competitiveness. I stand ready to implement this agreement with my vote in Congress.”
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Secretary Perdue Statement on New Draft Suspension Agreement on Fresh Tomatoes from Mexico
(Washington, D.C., August 21, 2019) - U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Sonny Perdue issued the following statement after U.S. Department of Commerce announced a new Draft Suspension Agreement on Fresh Tomatoes from Mexico:
“I want to thank my colleagues at the U.S. Department of Commerce for working diligently to reach a mutually beneficial agreement for tomato growers in both the U.S. and Mexico. Protecting America’s tomato producers from the glut of Mexican imports is yet another example of President Trump’s commitment to ensuring our farmers have the ability to succeed in international markets, as well as right here at home. Tomato producers across America, including those in Arizona, California, the Carolinas, Florida, and Georgia will benefit from the elimination of the unfair trade practices we have seen from these Mexican tomato imports,” said Secretary Perdue. “America’s farmers are the most productive on earth and President Trump recognizes that – I thank him for his continued work to secure fair trade that benefits our nation’s producers and consumers alike. When it comes to trade and agriculture, we have a mutually dependent relationship with Mexico and reaching a compromise here allows us to refocus our efforts towards quick passage by Congress of the broader U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement.”
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Hi Jim,
Please feel free to use the below article as is. For an interview or comments from Aaron Block or Zach Aarons on this and related topics please reach out and I'll be happy to coordinate.
Ashley
How Technology Is Reshaping
And Reinventing The Real Estate Frontier
How you buy or rent property – and how others sell or lease it to you – is in the midst of dramatic change, the kind perhaps not seen in the real estate world since the birth of the skyscraper in the 19th century.
The reason: property technology or “PropTech,” which is a collective term used to define startups offering technologically innovative products or new business models for the real estate markets.
PropTech could even alter who wins and who loses in the real estate profession.
“Some who don’t embrace real estate technology will be dragged along, forced to up their game by vendors and clients,” says Aaron Block, co-author with Zach Aarons of PropTech 101: Turning Chaos into Cash Through Real Estate Innovation (www.proptech101.com). “They may discover one day that they are well behind the competition. Some of them won’t survive.”
Block and Aarons, co-founders of MetaProp, a leading PropTech venture capital firm, say that PropTech is creating far-reaching change for the real estate industry that’s comparable to what happened in the late 1800s when innovations in construction technology helped make building skyscrapers possible and profitable.
“The ways in which real estate gets bought, sold, leased, financed, appraised, designed and managed already have changed dramatically in recent years,” Aarons says. “And you can expect PropTech to drive even more changes, and at a fast pace.”
Block and Aarons say that’s a good thing for consumers, for the industry – and for those working in real estate who are willing to adapt. Some of the many changes and benefits PropTech is creating are:
Energy savings. One key benefit of PropTech is the potential cost savings involved with energy. “Detailed data about how a space is used, lighted, cooled, and heated, and the ability to automate or remotely control the built environment, make for a powerful combination,” Block says. “This sort of information and analysis moves landlords and management closer to the customer, allowing them to present real estate as a service, not a product, which increasingly gives them an edge over the competition.”
Availability of data. The growing transparency and availability of real estate data has a democratizing effect and makes providing good service more important than ever, Aarons says. “Much of the commercial brokers’ value used to lie in their relationships with other brokers and their access to information,” he says. “Residential sales agents were hired in part because they had deep local knowledge and exclusive access to a jealously guarded multiple-listing service.” As technology makes such information readily available, those who can differentiate themselves in such areas as good deal-making skills and smarter strategies stand to make more money, Aarons says.
Efficiency. In the past, commercial real estate brokerages had to spend a lot of time and resources gathering information and plugging it into spreadsheets. Now they can devote that time to deeper market analysis, planning, and strategy, Block says. Meanwhile, residential sales agents who are willing and able to adapt to innovations will have the means to replace their exclusive access to the MLS with perhaps something better – a forward-looking online advertising strategy, a suite of powerful digital tools, and a comparative marketing analysis that harnesses data in ways their competitors’ CMAs don’t.
“The fact that real estate managed to insulate itself from technological advances and innovations for longer than most industries only means that the pace of change is that much faster now,” Aarons says. “The good news is that, for those willing to embrace innovation, there is a future rife with opportunity.”
About Aaron Block
Aaron Block, co-author with Zach Aarons of PropTech 101: Turning Chaos into Cash Through Real Estate Innovation (www.proptech101.com), is co-founder and managing director of MetaProp, a leading PropTech venture capital firm. Previously, he was chairman of Chicago-based BayRu, the U.S.-Russian -commerce company. Prior to that, he was an executive running the Chicago region of global commercial real estate services firm Cushman & Wakefield.
About Zach Aarons
Zach Aarons was one of the top angel investors in PropTech before co-founding MetaProp, where his team has funded more than 60 start-ups. Previously, he worked as a commercial real estate developer with Millennium Partners; an investor at ENIAC Ventures; and as the founder of Travelgoat, a walking-tour company. He is a professor of PropTech at Columbia University.
