Centennial Kickoff
For the past 100 years, research from the University of Georgia Tifton campus has impacted international agriculture, from the world’s food supply to its fields of play.UGA College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences (CAES) Dean Sam Pardue and UGA-Tifton Assistant Dean Joe West shared the campus’s history with the Tifton, Georgia, community on Tuesday, Aug. 21, during a kickoff event commemorating UGA-Tifton’s centennial celebration.CAES alumni, current and retired UGA-Tifton faculty and staff, students, and local dignitaries attended Tuesday’s festivities, which were held on the campus’s front lawn.“This is a great day in the history of the UGA Tifton campus. We are here to celebrate 100 years of research, Cooperative Extension and teaching that has truly impacted the world,” Pardue said. “Agriculture is our state’s top industry, and much of that success is due to the scientists who have worked here for decades.”The city of Tifton was awarded the Coastal Plain Experiment Station, now UGA-Tifton, on May 3, 1919. Since then, scientists have focused their research projects on row crops like cotton, peanuts, tobacco, small grains and soybeans in addition to livestock, pecans, fruits, vegetables and turfgrass. Today, the campus is also a leader in irrigation research, precision agriculture and its accompanying technologies, like GPS.“This is one of those days for people who work here, who study here, who graduated from here and who retired from here after many years of service to be proud of what today represents,” West said.One of the special guests in attendance at the kickoff was Catherine Tift Porter, a descendant of Captain H.H. Tift, who established Tifton. Tift was also part of the Georgia Landowners Association that successfully lobbied the state legislature to create an agricultural experiment station in the Coastal Plain region.Porter helped to blow the ceremonial whistle to cap off the afternoon’s festivities. A steam whistle was used 100 years ago to announce to downtown Tifton that the city was selected as the home of the experiment station.Following the centennial kickoff, a special reception was held in the Tift and Agricultural Research (ARB) buildings. The first two structures on campus, both buildings were recently renovated, the Tift Building in 2016 and ARB in 2018.UGA-Tifton’s faculty roster includes world-renowned scientists who have made far-reaching impacts over the past century.Research geneticist and plant breeder Glenn Burton, who worked at UGA-Tifton from 1936 to 1997, helped to save millions of people from starvation in India and Africa through his pearl millet research. One of his greatest accomplishments involved transforming Bermuda grass into a top forage grass.James Shepherd, who worked at UGA from 1946 to 1974, was an agricultural engineering department head. He developed and tested the first peanut combine harvester in 1949. Current combines use the same concepts that Shepherd developed.Current UGA-Tifton researcher Peggy Ozias-Akins is a molecular geneticist who studies peanuts. She helped to sequence the peanut genome in 2014, which helps researchers and plant breeders across the world breed more productive, resilient peanut varieties.UGA-Tifton has also been a leader in internationally recognized technological developments. Scientist George Vellidis has been on the forefront of precision agriculture, a subject he teaches to UGA-Tifton’s undergraduate students.Turfgrass varieties bred at UGA-Tifton have been planted on World Cup soccer fields and Super Bowl football fields.UGA-Tifton researchers from different disciplines collaborated to help thwart pest infestations, like the boll weevil in cotton and kudzu bug in soybeans.“It doesn’t matter if you’re here in Tifton or halfway around the world, our campus is recognized as a leader in the agricultural industry,” West said. “To be a small part of that impact that spans 100 years, that’s truly an amazing feeling.”
Sign up for our COVID-19 newsletter to stay up-to-date on the latest coronavirus news throughout New York Adam Haber has been going door to door to increase his name recognition in the Democratic primary for the Nassau County executive’s race (Spencer Rumsey).Adam Haber is going door to door in his uphill battle to become the next Nassau County executive.His first step is to win the Democratic primary on Sept. 10. Standing in his way is Nassau County Democratic Chairman Jay Jacobs, who wants to unify his party behind Tom Suozzi, the former Nassau County executive. Suozzi served eight years in Mineola before losing by 386 votes to Republican Ed Mangano, a then-county legislator, in 2009.“I’m not part of the system,” says Haber as he strides down a sidewalk in Plainview on a sunny day last week with this reporter struggling to keep up. “I’m an outsider.”He introduces himself to a middle-aged woman who just came home from her job in a school district, and she invites him into her living room as he explains why he is running.“I believe that taxes are very high and services are being cut and the middle class is getting squeezed,” says Haber. “We could do better for our community. I’m a businessman. I’m also on the Roslyn School Board and I’m involved in charities. And I think I can do a better job.”She nods appreciatively as he continues. “I own restaurants, commercial real estate, incubator start-ups. I’ve been in finance over 20 years. I know how to balance budgets and make payroll.”This resident, a registered Democrat, supported Suozzi in the past, but she is open to persuasion, enjoying their banter as they discuss the deplorable state of the county.“Nassau County has the highest debt of the 57 counties in New York State: $3 billion plus,” he claims. Then, in response to her comment about the Nassau Interim Finance Authority, the state-appointed fiscal watchdog, Haber exclaims,“We’re the 12th richest county in the country and we have an oversight committee! It’s embarrassing!”In a serious vein, he tells her that he wants to restore fiscal sanity to the county without pandering or spewing rhetoric.“No one is going to lower your taxes!” Haber says in earnest. “But to stop the progression of them going up, you look for savings in the infrastructure. And there’s a lot you can do—and a lot we don’t do—in Nassau….“We had Suozzi,” he says. “I’m not going to disparage him because he’s not here to defend himself. But he had eight years. Mangano’s had four years. And [their predecessor, Republican Tom] Gulotta’s had…I don’t know how many years. Twenty years and nothing’s been built!”The woman chimes in, “A hundred years of the Republican Party machine!”“And nothing gets done in Nassau County!” says Haber. “We are losing businesses. We lost the Islanders. Social services are getting whacked.”But Haber’s chances of winning the hearts and minds of Nassau’s Democratic voters have taken a beating as well. With Jacobs’ backing, the Nassau County Democratic Party’s Executive Committee, comprised of the vice chairs, the town and city leaders, the legislative district leaders, zone leaders and committee officers unanimously endorsed Suozzi’s repeat run by a vote of 72-0 on March 19 .“Tom Suozzi is the candidate in this race with the vision and experience to turn our county around and stop the reckless borrowing and fiscal mismanagement of the Mangano administration,” said Jacobs in a statement. He was equally profuse in his praise of Suozzi at the Nassau County Democrats’ annual spring dinner last month at the Crest Hollow Country Club. Suozzi was the keynote speaker. Haber only stayed for cocktails and left to go campaigning.Haber says he loves knocking on doors, which he’s been doing since he announced in February, and judging from an unscientific sampling the other day in Plainview, the feeling is shared—at least by the Democrats who greeted him at their homes.A woman in a purple T-shirt of Alfred Hithcock’s famous profile answers the door and asks Haber a question. “You’re running against Suozzi?”“I am,” he says with a broad smile. “He’s running against me, actually. I declared first!”She chuckles and they engage in a conversation that ranges from the political to the personal. When it’s time to move on, he asks her, “Can I count on your support in September?” And without a moment’s hesitation, she looks him in the eye and replies, “Yes, you will!”Before the afternoon is through, Haber has spoken with a handful of Democrats who are home when he comes calling. One woman says she’d read about him. Every resident seems to take his candidacy seriously. Haber says the response fits the pattern he sees on Sundays when he puts in three to four hours at a time: about a third are neutral, a third are “a little above neutral for me” and “a third are, like, wildly pro for me. Five percent are pro-Suozzi, and those are the people who somehow work for him or are connected to him through some kind of job that they got.”Without the endorsements of well-known Democrats like New York State Comptroller Tom DiNapoli, whose announcement on April 26 makes him the state’s top Democrat to back Suozzi, Haber has to have a successful ground game to be competitive.“I plan on knocking on thousands of doors,” Haber says. “I’ve done well over a thousand already…. I usually walk very fast because the faster you walk the more doors you can knock!”When the day began, Haber was greeting morning commuters at the Freeport train station.“I’ve been up since six this morning,” he says. As for his Democratic opponent, Haber says, “I’ve been outworking him, clearly…because I know I’ve got to work harder!”
A record 32 million Latinos were eligible to vote in the 2020 election, making them the largest minority bloc of voters in the country. Although they historically lean Democrat, their support for the Republican party has been increasing. How did the Latino vote help shape the outcome of the election?- Advertisement – Video by Angelica Casas – Advertisement –
DES MOINES, Iowa – Touring IMCA Late Models travel to Des Moines for their next Deery Brothers Summer Series show, during the Iowa State Fair. The Monday, Aug. 11 main event at the Iowa State Fairgrounds Speedway pays $3,000 to win and a minimum of $300 to start.Justin Kay of Wheatland brings the point lead to town for the ninth of 15 events on the 2014 schedule. Gates open at 3 p.m., the grandstand opens at 4:30 p.m. and racing follows 5:30 p.m. hot laps. Spectator admission is $15 for adults, $5 for kids ages 6-12 and free for five and under. Pit passes are $30.Completing the race day card are IMCA Sunoco Stock Cars, Karl Chevrolet Northern SportMods and Dirt Trucks. More information is available at the www.iowastatefairspeedway.com website or on Facebook. Twenty-two previous series events have been held at Des Moines and Jeff Aikey of Cedar Falls leads all drivers with six career wins there, including the 2013 contest. Darrel DeFrance of Marshalltown has competed at all 428 events in series history and is a three-time winner at the Iowa State Fairgrounds Speedway. Deery Brothers Summer Series top 20 point standings – 1. Justin Kay, Wheatland, 382; 2. Andy Eckrich, Oxford, 370; 3. Jeff Aikey, Cedar Falls, 347; 4. Ryan Dolan, Lisbon, 329; 5. Joel Callahan, Dubuque, 325; 6. Jason Rauen, Farley, 299; 7. Brian Harris, Davenport, 287; 8. Scott Fitzpatrick, Urbandale, 285; 9. Tyler Bruening, Decorah, 282; 10. Ray Guss Jr., Milan, Ill., 278; 11. Matt Ryan, Davenport, 267; 12. Darrel DeFrance, Marshalltown, 244; 13. Jeremy Grady, Story City, 209; 14. Tommy Elston, Keokuk, 200; 15. Nate Beuseling, Silvis, Ill., 189; 16. Rob Moss, Iowa City, 181; 17. Colby Springsteen, Wapello, 172; 18. Spencer Diercks, Davenport, 164; 19. Denny Eckrich, Tiffin, 161; 20. Jay Johnson, West Burlington, 140.