MONTPELIER, Vt. — A partnership of state and federal entities is teaming up to provide small businesses a unique opportunity to discover their true love: More customers.The Vermont Agency of Transportation and Department of Economic Development, the U.S. Small Business Administration; and the Vermont Small Business Development Center are presenting their fourth annual Strategies for Winning Government Contracts event on Feb. 1.The highlight of the day is the matchmaker sessions that allow Vermont businesses to introduce their firms and products in one-on-one, ten-minute appointments with various state and federal agencies as well as large companies who already contract with the government.We like to call it, speed dating for businesses, said Greg Maguire, who runs the Vermont Procurement Technical Assistance Center, formerly the Government Marketing Assistance Center, at the Vermont Department of Economic Development.Being a small or mid-sized business looking for new customers is a lot like trying to find romance: Its all a matter of opportunity and time, Maguire said. This event gives businesses the opportunity to make lots of contacts with potential customers in a very short period of time.Businesses can meet with the U.S. Department of Homeland Security; General Services Administration and Postal Service; the University of Vermont; Vermont National Guard; Agency of Transportation and Departments of Information and Innovation, Buildings and General Services, and Environmental Conservation.Its not only a chance to get contracts with government agencies, but with private enterprises, said Lenae Quillen-Blume, State Director of the Vermont Small Business Development Center, a program of U.S. Small Business Administration. Companies like Fletcher Allen Health Care, Husky Injection Molding, General Dynamics, Goodrich Aerospace, and Dubois & King engineering.Participants can also get hands-on help and practical advice on getting government contracts from experts like Maguire; the Small Business Administration; and the Vermont Global Trade Partnership.This event is really an example of one of Gov. Douglas core economic development strategies: Working with partners like the Vermont Manufacturing Extension Center and the SBA to strengthen and grow Vermonts existing businesses, said Mike Quinn, Vermont Commissioner of Economic Development.Vermont is a small state, but many businesses still have trouble navigating how to do business with their state and federal government agencies, said Senator Patrick Leahy, whose office helped coordinate the event. Small businesses and government procurement officials have a great opportunity in this event to meet one another face to face and make connections that could help their businesses grow while helping these agencies line up good, reliable suppliers.The $35 fee also includes breakfast and lunch, with a keynote lunch address from Melissa Dever, Vice President of engineering for Competitive Computing and an enterprise systems architect with over 25 years of applications engineering experience. Governor Jim Douglas will be on hand to deliver opening remarks.The Fourth Annual Strategies for Winning Government Contracts event takes place on Thursday, February 1st, from 7:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. at the Sheraton Conference Center in Burlington.For more information, visit: www.vtsbdc.org(link is external) or call Colleen Montague at the Vermont Agency of Transportation, (802) 828-2715.-30-
Four teenagers – including two from the same club – will represent England in the Italian international U16 boys’ championship at Biella Golf Club from September 1-3. They are Jack Ainscough of Hartlepool, Durham; Barclay Brown and Alex Fitzpatrick of Hallamshire, Yorkshire; and Benjamin Jones of Brampton Heath, Northamptonshire. Ainscough, 16, (Image © Leaderboard Photography) has just had two top ten finishes in the English U16 boys’ championship for the McGregor Trophy and in the Scottish U16s. Brown, 14, was fourth in the McGregor and recently became the youngest winner of the Sheffield open amateur – taking the record from Danny Willett. Fitzpatrick, 16, was fifth at the McGregor after equalling the course record at Wallasey in his final round, with six-under 66. He was runner-up in last year’s Italian U16 championship. Jones, 16, tied sixth in the McGregor and shared 26th place in the Carris Trophy, the English U18 boys’ championship. The Italian championship is played over 72 holes, with a cut to the leading 40 players and ties after 36 holes. 6 Aug 2015 Teenagers target Italian title 
The second week of college football play has come and gone, and it produced almost exactly the same results for the Big 12 as Week 1 did. Let’s take a closer look at the winners and losers.OU-TennesseeThe Oklahoma Sooners went on the road to take on No. 23 Tennessee in a game that many predicted the Sooners would lose. However, Oklahoma would end up rallying from 17 points down to win 31-24 in double OT.The winning play came in the form of an 18-yard touchdown pass from quarterback Baker Mayfield to wide receiver Sterling Shepard. Much like last week, the Sooners started very slow and didn’t come alive until the second half.Tennessee had a 17-0 lead early on and was still holding on to a safe 17-3 lead at halftime. It was a sellout crowd at Neyland Stadium with 102,455 in attendance. The fans had a lot to cheer about until the fourth quarter.Mayfield threw two interceptions and had an abysmal pass completion rating of 32 percent through the first three quarters, but finally found his rhythm in the fourth. He mustered two touchdown drives, with the second one tying the game at 17-17 with 40 second left in regulation.Both teams scored again in OT to tie it again at 24-24, sending the game into a second OT period. After Sterling Shepard found the end zone, it was all over. Mayfield finished the fourth quarter and OT throwing 11-14 for 103 yards and three touchdowns.Bob Stoops said this win against the Vols may be his favorite win ever. The Sooners became the first team to ever erase a 17-point deficit in Knoxville, and will return to Norman next Saturday to take on Tulsa.Final ScoreOU: 31Tennessee: 24Next OU game: Home against TulsaTCU-Stephen F. AustinThe TCU Horned Frogs took on Stephen F. Austin in Forth Worth this weekend and made easy work of the Lumberjacks.Trevone Boykin threw for 285 yards, four touchdowns and just one interception. Boykin was eventually removed from the game during the third quarter as TCU was well on its way to finishing their domination by a score of 70-3.During the game, Boykin surpassed 9,000 yards of total offense and became the nation’s active leader in that category. He also reached 60 passing touchdowns in his career, becoming only the second player in TCU history to do so.Final scoreTCU: 70SFA: 3Next TCU game: Home against SMUBaylor-LamarThe Baylor Bears squared off against Lamar this Saturday and once again put plenty of points on the board to fend off their opponent.Quarterback Seth Russell struggled a bit throughout the game, but had his brighter moments. He completed 23 of 34 passes for 342 yards and four touchdowns, but also had three interceptions. He also fumbled the ball once, assisting the Lamar Cardinals and making it much easier for them to score.However, Baylor still came out with the win and saw wide receiver Corey Colman set a new school record with four touchdown catches in a single-game. He totaled six catches for 182 yards.Final ScoreBaylor: 66Lamar: 31Next Baylor game: Home against Rice (in two weeks)Kansas State-UTSAThe Kansas State Wildcats traveled to San Antonio this Saturday and beat the UTSA Roadrunners 30-3. Although they only led 7-3 at half, K-State eventually pulled away and had another strong showing by the defense.K-State has officially played eight quarters of the 2015 season, and they have yet to allow their opponent to score a TD. Granted that they still haven’t faced any offensive firepower yet, this is a defense that has the sky as their limit. The Roadrunners could only muster 229 yards of offense against the Wildcats and one 51-yard field goal.Final ScoreK-State: 30UTSA: 3Next KSU game: Home against Louisiana TechWest Virginia-LibertyWest Virginia was at home this Saturday in Morgantown to host the Liberty Flames for second game of the season. The Mountaineers won 41-17 and became 2-0 for the first time since 2012.Quarterback Skyler Howard tossed three touchdowns on 21 of 26 passing for 263 yards. Howard has been avoiding costly mistakes in his play so far, having yet to throw an interception as a starter. His completion percentage of 80 percent against Liberty was his most efficient to date.Final scoreWest Virginia: 41Liberty: 17Next WVU game: Home against Maryland (two weeks)Texas Tech-UTEPTexas Tech earned their second victory of the season and cruised past UTEP by a score of 69-20 in Lubbock.Patrick Mahomes was once again the offensive star for the Red Raiders, as he ran for two touchdowns and threw for four others. He also completed 18 of 33 passes for 361 yards.Running back DeAndre Washington broke out for a 51-yard scoring run to help improve the Red Raiders to 2-0 so far this season. Unlike last year when the Red Raiders had to come from behind to beat the Miners, they controlled this game from the start.Final scoreTexas Tech: 69UTEP: 20Next Tech game: At ArkansasTexas-RiceUnlike last week, the Texas Longhorns were actually able to pull out a win in week two against Rice University. Texas won 42-28 against the Rice Owls and moved to 1-1 on the season.Freshman quarterback Jerrod Heard got a chance to prove himself in his first start on Saturday and helped propel his team to a victory. He threw for two touchdowns and 120 yards, along with 96 yards rushing.Texas claimed its 16th straight home opener victory and set a new single-game school record in the punt return yards category, racking up 175 total. Daje Johnson, a senior wide receiver for the Longhorns, made the biggest impact on setting that record by returning three punts for 119 yards.This game also featured one of the stranger box scores ever.Catching up on some of the night games. The stats from Texas-Rice are bizarre. 39 plays! pic.twitter.com/TJbNsWbF9d— Mark Cooper (@mark_cooperjr) September 13, 2015Final scoreTexas: 42Rice: 28Next Texas game: Home against CalKansas-MemphisOnce again, the Big 12 suffered only two losses in week two. Those two losses came at the hands of Kansas (surprise!) and Iowa State.Kansas fell hard to Memphis 55-23 and got run into the ground as the Tigers put up a massive 651 yards of offense against the Jayhawks.Memphis quarterback Paxton Lynch obliterated the Kansas defense for 354 yards passing and two touchdowns. The Jayhawks had a 10-0 lead early, but then failed to stop an onslaught of Memphis scores and fell to 0-2 on the season.Final scoreKansas: 55Memphis: 23Next Kansas game: At Rutgers (two weeks)Iowa State-IowaIowa State also lost their week two matchup against rival Iowa and fell by a score of 31-17.The game was held in Jack Trice Stadium in Ames, and Iowa State paid their respects for Iowa University with a moment of silence after what had been a very emotional week for their rival. The football program found safety Tyler Sash, who was 27 years old, dead in his home earlier in the week. As if that wasn’t enough, the school suffered another loss later in the week when 48-year-old former basketball player Roy Marble lost his yearlong fight with cancer.Final scoreIowa: 31Iowa State: 17Next ISU game: Home against ToledoIf you’re looking for the comments section, it has moved to our forum, The Chamber. You can go there to comment and holler about these articles, specifically in these threads. You can register for a free account right here and will need one to comment.If you’re wondering why we decided to do this, we wrote about that here. Thank you and cheers!