Minnesota Dept of Agriculture Grant Money
Jun 18, 2008 Agriculture, News
The MN Dept of Ag will award approximately $2.7 million in matching grants to qualified organizations for the purpose of helping MN develop energy sources that displace fossil fuels with renewable energy technologies. Grants are limited to 50% of the cost of research, technical assistance or equipment related to bioenergy production or up to $1 million, whichever is less. Grants to non-governmental entities for the development of business plans and structures related to community ownership of eligible bioenergy facilities together may not exceed $150,000.
Eligible organizations include:
Owners of MN facilities producing bioenergy;
Organizations that provide for on-station, on-farm field-scale research and outreach to develop and test the agronomic and economic requirements of diverse stands of prairie plants and other perennials for bioenergy systems; or
Certain non-governmental entities for development of business plans and structures related to community ownership.
The MN Dept of Ag will issue the grants, in consultation with the NextGen Energy Board. Proposals must be received no later than 4:00 PM, July 31, 2008. Proposals will not be accepted by e-mail or fax. For more information, contact:
Andrew Carter, MN Dept of Ag
625 Robert St. N, St. Paul, MN 55155-2538
Tele: 651-201-5699
email: Andrew.Carter@state.mn.us
You may go to the MN Dept of Agriculture website for more information on grant money.
Celebrating Heritage Days in Faribault, MN
Jun 17, 2008 News
Heritage Days is a community festival honoring the rich and diverse heritage and cultures that comprise Faribault. The 2008 celebration theme will introduce a new tradition for the festival: Back Home Days! The event will be held at Central Park in downtown Faribault with rides, food, great music, beer garden and lots of fun. The Heritage Celebration parade is on Saturday night, June 21st at 6:30 p.m.
Come join me as we march in the Heritage Days Parade scheduled for Saturday, June 21. The parade begins at 6:30 p.m. and our slot will be #94. Marchers and participants should be expected to arrive before 5:30 p.m. We will begin the parade on the corner of 8th avenue and Highway 60, next to Lamperts building supply store and Wholesale Tire.
According to the latest extended weather forecast, it is expected to be partly cloudy and around 80 degrees. If it holds we should have a fun and memorable time meeting and greeting people along the parade route and get a little exercise in the process. As a family, take this opportunity to bring your children, your friends, and your relatives and participate, with me, in this wonderful celebration of Faribault.
For more information and to sign up for participation please contact Therese Barnett at 507-332-8287 or 612-232-6864
Robert Francis “Bobby” Kennedy (November 20, 1925 – June 6, 1968)
Jun 8, 2008 News
“The big threat to America is the way we react to terrorism by throwing away what everybody values about our country–a commitment to human rights. America is a great nation because we are a good nation. When we stop being a good nation, we stop being great.” – Robert F. Kennedy
The quote from Robert Kennedy reminds us just how relevant his thinking was for us today. I still draw upon the spirit of Robert Kennedy who grew so much in compassion and ability as a result of his public service. I recently read Robert Coles, Lives of Moral Leadership, which begins with a story about working with Robert Kennedy to help poor children in the south. It is a good lesson in the challenge of acting morally in a political arena to make positive change on the behalf of people who rarely have a person in a position of power speak for them. To hear his speech at the Cleveland Club, The Mindless Menace of Violence, you can click on the photo above; to hear a youtube tribute to RFK click on his initials.
On the morning of June 5, 1968, millions of Americans woke to the shocking news that New York Sen. Robert Kennedy, after winning the California’s Democratic presidential primary, had been shot. Kennedy – 42 years old – died the next day. CBS News’ senior political correspondent Jeff Greenfield, who at the time was a young man on Sen. Kennedy’s campaign staff, shared his memories of RFK’s assassination – now on the 40th anniversary of his death.
When you look back 40 years, there’s always a danger of buying into myth; of romanticizing a time or a prominent figure. But after spending hours looking at old films of Robert Kennedy’s 1968 campaign, I’m convinced that what I remembered-and admired-was something very real.
There was, first of all, the campaign itself. Since it was my first glimpse of presidential politics – I was 24 years old, working as a junior speechwriter – I didn’t know then, how remarkable it was. The controlled hysteria of the campaign plane, the size and intensity of the crowds, the sea of hands and faces, and at times near-frenzy.
He had a great sense of humor and apart from playing with his audiences, he would also challenge them. The most enduring memories of his appearances for me is how he would push his listeners into thinking.
When talking to college students about why he opposes draft deferments for college students: “As you stay here and sit here and debate all these questions and talk about the morality of some of these problems of the poor and all of these other difficulties, and then say a person who has the right and the ability because of maybe what his father did or mother did, or place that he happens to live, has the right to go to a college or a university and therefore doesn’t have to be drafted and a poor boy who happens to be black has to be drafted. How you can argue that and state that?”
He was also ready to challenge himself. When he turned against the War in Vietnam, he would always include this: “And when the history is going to be written about this conflict, I’m obviously going to have to take my share of personal responsibility. I happen to think I learned something from that.”
At the heart of Robert Kennedy was a sense of passion, even outrage at conditions he often called “unacceptable.” He was a Democrat who hated welfare, not just for the anger it stirred among taxpayers, but mostly because of what it did to the poor.
It all came to an end in a hotel kitchen in Los Angeles. But my last memories are not of that moment – but of the train ride that took his body from New York to Washington – a train ride that stretched for eight hours.
Every time we looked out the window, and saw the countless tens of thousands gathered to say goodbye – kids and Cub scouts and Little leaguers, veterans in their old uniforms, that sense of loss was overwhelming.
People still ask, “what if?” Could he have been nominated, could he have been elected, could he have governed effectively?
We don’t know, can’t know. But did we lose a rare kind of public figure? That I think we do know.
Click here for the full quote of Jeff Greenfield.
