Secretary Perdue Administers Oath of Office to Bill Northey
U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Sonny Perdue administers the oath of office to Under Secretary for Farm and Foreign Agricultural Service Bill Northey
(Des Moines, IA, March 6, 2018) – U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Sonny Perdue today administered the oath of office to Bill Northey at the Annual Iowa Ag Leaders Dinner. Until yesterday, Northey had served as Iowa’s Secretary of Agriculture, a position he had held for more than eleven years. Northey will serve as the Under Secretary for Farm and Foreign Agricultural Service (FFAS)* at the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA).
“After months of waiting, I’m thrilled to finally have Bill on board at USDA,” Secretary Perdue said. “The patience he displayed throughout this process is an indicator of what kind of steady leader he will be on our team, and we are eager for him to get to work. Bill comes to us at an important time, as farm incomes are down and expected to fall further. Additionally, with work on the 2018 Farm Bill already underway, Bill will play an integral role in the advice we offer to Congress.”
In addition to his long service as Iowa’s Secretary of Agriculture, Northey has also held other positions of leadership in agricultural fields. He is a former president of the National Corn Growers Association and served in state and local roles for the Iowa Farm Bureau. A fourth-generation corn and soybean farmer, he and his wife Cindy have three daughters and five grandchildren.
*NOTE: As part of a reorganization of USDA, Secretary Perdue has created, the President appointed, and the Senate confirmed a new Under Secretary for Trade and Foreign Agricultural Affairs, as directed by the 2014 Farm Bill. The creation of the new mission area prompted the realignment of several agencies under a newly-named Under Secretary for Farm Production and Conservation (FPAC), the position for which Northey is intended. FPAC encompasses the Farm Service Agency, the Natural Resources Conservation Service, and the Risk Management Agency. USDA is working with Congress to formally change the name of the mission area to FPAC.
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We have two urgent advocacy alerts that we need you to act on in these final days of the Utah legislative session.
Advocacy Alert #1: The state legislature is once again attempting to take control of the state school board away from voters. For some history on past take over attempts, click here.
Please email your representative in the house and ask them to vote no on SJR16 with one click. If you wish to follow up with a phone call or text, contact info is listed here.
SJR16 wants to replace the 15 member state school board with a single person appointed by the Governor and approved by the state Senate. As a result, this person is not beholden to voters. Imagine how hard our fight would have been to keep middle school arts, health, and PE ed required if that decision had been made by someone who wasn't an elected official!
Advocacy Alert #2: The first round of funded appropriations includes many of the items we asked for (click here for a list), but a few are missing. If your legislator is any of the following members of Executive Appropriations, click here to email them with one click and ask them to support a few more items, including more funding for the Utah Division of Arts & Museums' Arts Sustainability Grants.
Members of Executive Appropriations:
Sen. Jerry W. Stevenson (R), Rep. Bradley G. Last (R), Sen. Kevin T. Van Tassell (R), Rep. Mike Schultz (R), Sen. J. Stuart Adams (R), Sen. Gene Davis (D), Sen. Luz Escamilla (D), Sen. Jani Iwamoto (D), Sen. Peter C. Knudson (R), Sen. Karen Mayne (D), Sen. Wayne L. Niederhauser (R), Sen. Evan J. Vickers (R), Rep. Joel K. Briscoe (D), Rep. Francis D. Gibson (R), Rep. Sandra Hollins (D), Rep. Gregory H. Hughes (R), Rep. Brian S. King (D), Rep. John Knotwell (R), Rep. Angela Romero (D), and Rep. Brad R. Wilson (R)
The session ends March 8th so time is of the essence! Act now to save the state school board and to support more money for arts grants. Executive appropriations makes final funding decisions at 4:10pm March 7th.
Thank you so much for advocating for arts and humanities. If you'd like to help us keep these issue in front of voters, please support us today!
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With St. Patrick’s Day around the corner and at least $5.9 billion expected to be spent for the holiday this year, the personal-finance website WalletHub today released its report on 2018's Best Cities for St. Patrick's Day Celebrations, along with cool stats about the holiday in its St. Patrick’s Day infographic.
To determine the best cities for celebrating Irish-American heritage, WalletHub compared 200 of the largest U.S. cities across 17 key metrics, ranging from Irish pubs and restaurants per capita to lowest price for a three-star hotel on St. Patrick’s Day to weather forecast.
Top 20 Cities for St. Patrick’s Day
1
Chicago, IL
11
St. Louis, MO
2
Boston, MA
12
Henderson, NV
3
Philadelphia, PA
13
Naperville, IL
4
Buffalo, NY
14
Reno, NV
5
New York, NY
15
Seattle, WA
6
San Francisco, CA
16
Omaha, NE
7
Fort Collins, CO
17
Columbus, OH
8
Tampa, FL
18
Rochester, NY
9
Madison, WI
19
Syracuse, NY
10
Pittsburgh, PA
20
Fort Wayne, IN
To view the full report and your city’s rank, please visit: https://wallethub.com/edu/best-worst-cities-for-st-patricks-day-celebrations/19603/
St. Patrick’s Day Facts
For the full infographic, please visit: https://wallethub.com/blog/st-patricks-day-facts/10960/
