By Sharon DowdyUniversity of GeorgiaFarm business isn’t just about raising cows, chickens and corn. From family-friendly corn mazes to on-farm demonstrations, Georgia farmers are finding new and unique ways to market their farms to tourists and keep their businesses from going into the red.This new and ever-growing enterprise has been coined as agritourism and in 2006 it brought some $27.1 million into the state’s economy. Nature-based tourism brought in an additional $50.8 million, according to the University of Georgia’s Georgia Farm Gate Value Report.To encourage and educate those interested in joining this field, UGA’s Center for Agribusiness and Economic Development has organized an agritourism conference. Set for Nov. 5 – 6 at the Georgia National Fairgrounds and Agricenter in Perry, Ga., the conference will include sessions on starting a business, insurance and risk management, taxes and zoning, Web site development and evaluation, signage and marketing. The conference will also include tours of agritourism operations. “Participants will meet successful owners/operators of agritourism venues, tour their facilities, listen as they share lessons learned, and network with other agritourism advocates,” said Kent Wolfe, a marketing analyst with the UGA Center for Agribusiness and Economic Development. “This will provide potential operators a time to ‘pick the brains’ of those who operate best in class agritourism destinations.”Judy Randall of Randall Travel Marketing Inc. will serve as guest speaker for the conference. She will discuss national and international agritourism trends and benchmarks. The conference is designed for both novice and advanced agritourism operators. While new business owners learn about the nuts and bolts of agritourism, current operators can attend brainstorming sessions on the pros and cons of the industry and learn how to identify programs that promote Georgia’s rich variety of agritourism operations, Wolfe said. There will also be a session geared specifically to agritourism professionals that work in agriculture, tourism, or community and economic development at the local, state or federal levels.The conference will also include an exhibitor expo, social networking sessions and a regional resource round table. A round table including representatives from agencies, authorities and various governmental entities will talk about programs and funding available to agritourism owners and operators.For entertainment, Karen Kimbrel and Joy Jinks of Colquitt, Ga., will share their community’s story of building clusters of businesses around a theatrical production, “Swamp Gravy.” For more information or to register for the conference, contact Wolfe at 706-542-0752 or Carla Woods at 706-583-0347.
Three credit union-specific regulatory relief provisions, as well as more than a dozen other relief items that benefit credit unions, are contained in a bill introduced by Senate Banking Committee Chairman Richard Shelby (R-Ala.) Tuesday.The much-anticipated bill is expected to be marked up by the Senate Banking Committee on May 21.“Several Title I provisions within Chairman Shelby’s draft legislation align with regulatory relief changes that CUNA has long advocated for on behalf of our members,” said CUNA President/CEO Jim Nussle when the bill was unveiled. “CUNA has repeatedly called on Congress to provide regulatory relief, and I thank Chairman Shelby and his staff for the many Title I provisions that will benefit credit unions and their members.”The credit union-specific provisions in the bill are:Allowing privately insured credit unions to become members of the Federal Home Loan Bank (FHLB) system;Granting credit unions under $1 billion in assets parity with like-sized banks by allowing less restrictive access to the FHLB system; and continue reading » ShareShareSharePrintMailGooglePinterestDiggRedditStumbleuponDeliciousBufferTumblr
This is breaking news. Please check back here for updates. First-time claims for unemployment insurance continued a modest trend down last week, though the total remains well above what was considered normal prior to the coronavirus pandemic and was a touch higher than Wall Street estimates.The Labor Department reported Thursday that 751,000 U.S. workers filed for benefits, compared to 758,000 from the week before. Economists surveyed by Dow Jones had been expecting 741,000. This was the third straight week that claims were below 800,000, and the four-week moving average fell to 787,000.- Advertisement – – Advertisement – At the same time, the total for those receiving benefits showed a sharp decline, falling by 1.15 million to 21.5 million. For the same period in 2019, there were 1.44 million people getting benefits, reflecting just how deep the jobless problem remains in the coronavirus pandemic era.The insured unemployment rate, which is a simple computation of those receiving benefits against the total workforce, fell 0.3 percentage points to 5%. The headline unemployment rate, which includes multiple other factors, is expected to edge lower to 7.7% from the 7.9% level in September.Illinois saw the biggest weekly increase in claims, climbing 23,200 to 53,138, according to unadjusted data. Kansas, Kentucky, Ohio and Pennsylvania all reported gains of more than 3,000. Massachusetts reported the biggest decline at 9,055 while Florida, Georgia and Michigan also reported substantial decreases.- Advertisement – The numbers come a day before the government’s official nonfarm payrolls report, which is expected to show a gain of 530,000 in October. However, this week’s report is not part of the survey week the Bureau of Labor Statistics uses to compute the monthly number.Claims have been trending lower since the late-March peak of 6.9 million but remain elevated by historical standards. The pre-pandemic peak was 695,000 in October 1982.Continuing claims fell for the sixth straight week, this time by 538,000 to nearly 7.3 million. However, part of the reason for that was the continued migration from those losing benefits into the Pandemic Emergency Unemployment Assistance program, which saw its rolls increase by 277,564 to 3.96 million. Continuing claims are delayed by a week.- Advertisement –
The association also questioned whether EIOPA had the mandate and powers to set up a pan-European occupational DC framework, which would require “fundamental” social, labour, tax, and supervisory issues to be addressed.It also claimed that the questions EIOPA asked suggested the supervisory authority was more interested in getting respondents to agree with certain statements than in identifying problems and solutions.The Pensions and Lifetime Savings Association (PLSA), the UK pensions trade body, did not respond to the survey, partly because of a lack of appetite for running cross-border schemes among its members.James Walsh, EU and international policy lead at the PLSA, told IPE: “It is quite clear that EIOPA are keen to press ahead with this whole project for establishing a framework for pan-European occupational DC schemes. We don’t detect any great demand for that and we don’t see how you can easily circumvent the difficulties that arise from having different national tax systems, and different national regulatory systems.”An EIOPA spokeswoman emphasised to IPE that the survey was a first step to gauge stakeholders’ initial views on and potential appetite for a pan-European occupational DC framework.“The questionnaire included a number of open questions inviting stakeholders to provide additional comments and, for instance, bring up issues that may not be covered in the questionnaire,” she added.She said that EIOPA was welcoming all the comments and ideas from the stakeholders, “many positive but also negative ones”.EIOPA has said that it would feed responses to the survey into a discussion paper that it planned to publish later in the year.“The discussion paper will outline early stage proposals to foster the development of cross-border activities in Europe and give the opportunity for all stakeholders to submit their first views,” it said.EIOPA is organising a workshop next month as a follow-up to the survey to gain a better understanding of the views shared by stakeholders, according to the spokeswoman. It is also engaging with the authority’s Occupational Pensions Stakeholders Group.EIOPA floated the idea of a pan-European occupational DC framework in late 2015. It has said that such a framework “would outline a number of proposals seeking to foster the further development of cross-border activities for occupational DC pensions in Europe”. These proposals could take the form of a pan-European occupational DC scheme or a “good practice guide”. Germany’s occupational pensions association has strongly criticised a survey carried out by the European Insurance and Occupational Pensions Authority (EIOPA) on a proposed pan-European occupational defined contribution (DC) framework.The idea is to encourage and develop an internal market for second pillar pensions in the EU, with a focus on DC. EIOPA sees its work on facilitating more cross-border activity as being in line with the revised IORP Directive and its mandate to facilitate supervisory convergence.But there is resistance to this in some quarters.aba, Germany’s occupational pensions association, claimed the survey did not address certain key issues, such as whether respondents think such a framework was needed, and what the evidence was for this.
DeepOcean has been awarded a long-term contract involving subsea life of field services on Equinor operated fields.The award covers onshore project management, engineering and offshore operations utilising a variety of vessels within the DeepOcean fleet.Offshore operations may include life of field services such as standard inspectionand survey work involving use of work-class and observation-class ROVs, installation and replacement of subsea modules and x-mas trees using module handling systems as well as scale squeeze operations and installation of structures.The contract is call-off based and has a firm duration of 5 years, starting in January 2019.Rolf Ivar Sørdal, DeepOcean’s commercial director for Subsea Services said: “Realising the long term relationship DeepOcean has had with Equinor over the past years we are pleased that Equinor once again recognise DeepOcean as a quality supplier. “The introduction of new technologies and digitalisation is creating radical improvements within this business and our innovative attitude coupled with long experience and field knowledge will allow DeepOcean to offer exciting solutions to the subsea operations Equinor will require in the coming years.”
By Dru BrownBILLINGS, Mont. (June 4) – A strong run from start to finish put Travis Davis in Xtreme Motor Sports IMCA Modified victory lane Saturday at Billings Motorsports Park.Davis rocketed to the top spot at the drop of the green while Beau Nave was quickly in second with Jeremy Meirhofer in third, moving to the bottom line to try to make things happen.Hank Berry started all the way back in the 10th position but that hardly slowed him down. Berry challenging Nave for second and eventually wrestled it away. Another yellow flag halted the action, and on this restart Meirhofer again stuck his car to the bottom lane but to no avail.Berry was sizing up Travis Davis in every corner, but the laps were quickly ticking away. He finally got a run on Davis but lapped traffic caused Berry to slam on the brakes and Davis flew by again.A quick yellow waved and on the restart Davis and Berry again separated from the field. Berry gave it everything he had in the final set of turns but Davis was too strong and took the win.Berry was a very close second and Dale Neitzel climbed all the way to third after a thrilling first lap. Finishing fourth was Meirhofer and fifth was Kenny Baumann.
A Virginia Beach man traveled nearly 900 miles to St. Lucie County to meet his long lost father.Rod Hobbs, a father of two, told CBS12 “family is everything,” and for that reason, he spent years searching for his biological father.Hobbs worked closely with private investigators, and found a Port St. Lucie man who goes by “Bobby.”Bobby dated Hobb’s mother while he was training for the U.S. Navy., but lost contact after he was deployed.After 32 years of searching, Hobbs traveled to meet Bobbly, and soon after, two DNA tests confirmed that there is a 99.9 chance that he is his long lost father.Bobby said he never knew about the pregnancy, and offered an emotional apology to his adult son.Hobbs, now 47, said, “it was difficult growing up without a father,” and shared details of his struggle, which included him having to move out and live on his own at the young age fifteen.However, in spite of the hardships he’s faced, Hobbs has found it in his heart to forgive.“It’s the family I wanted my whole life that I didn’t think I would ever have,” he told CBS12.Click here to watch what happened.
As the Big East enters the halfway point of conference play, fans are beginning to forget the catastrophe that was the conference’s performance against out-of-conference teams. Now every team is seemingly beating up on each other in a conference race that still has a long way to go. Pitt is the odds-on favorite to get to the BCS bowl game. After that, Syracuse and West Virginia appear to be battling for a trip to Orlando, Fla. And the teams in the middle of the Big East pack are hoping Notre Dame doesn’t get to seven wins so they all can ultimately go bowling. Here is an early look from The Daily Orange into how it will shake down come the holidays:AdvertisementThis is placeholder text Jan. 1: Fiesta Bowl, Glendale, Ariz.: Pittsburgh — Big East Champion Who would have thought before the season began that the game at the Carrier Dome between Syracuse and Pittsburgh would be the pseudo-Big East championship game? With the home game for West Virginia in this year’s edition of the Backyard Brawl, the Panthers will cruise into a slot in a BCS game. The most likely destination for a team that will be ranked between No. 15 and No. 20: Fiesta over Orange. Dec. 28: Champs Sports Bowl, Orlando, Fla.: Syracuse — No. 2 Big East Syracuse won’t win out. But even if the Orange does, it will not be enough for a BCS game. Pitt won’t lose two games. West Virginia has a much tougher Big East schedule the rest of the way than the Orange. With just one WVU loss, SU should feel comfortable that they will get to Orlando, even if there is a long way to go. Dec. 31: Meineke Car Care Bowl, Charlotte, N.C.: West Virginia — No. 3 Big East It’s an uphill battle for the Mountaineers back to a BCS bowl. The good news is they can still defeat Pitt and have a legitimate shot to get there. The bad news is that game is at Heinz Field. The even worse news is that if Notre Dame gets to seven wins, WVU will have to settle for the Big East’s fourth bowl, which would be a supreme failure. Dec. 30: Pinstripe Bowl, New York City: Rutgers — No. 4 Big East It seems like every year Rutgers somehow slips into a solid bowl game after a dull season, making a trip to a bowl that is much more worthy than the team itself. For some reason, I think it’s going to happen again this year. And it will be the ideal situation for Rutgers head coach Greg Schiano, as the Scarlet Knights will be slotted to stay home at Yankee Stadium, thanks to a tie with the other two 6-6 Big East teams. Dec. 21: Beef ‘O’ Brady’s Bowl, St. Petersburg, Fla.: South Florida — No. 5 Big East Speaking of staying home, if USF, Rutgers and Louisville all beat up on each other in the middle pack of the Big East, USF won’t have to travel anywhere. Skip Holtz will be content with that in his first year. Jan. 8: Birmingham Bowl, Birmingham, Ala.: Louisville — No. 6 Big East As the least appealing team in the New York City and Tampa markets, Louisville will stay down south. The main team Charlie Strong should be worried about for a bowl bid is Utah. If the Utes slip up versus Notre Dame, UL will be the team left out of the selection process, thanks to the two hometown hosts for Rutgers and USF, as Notre Dame needs seven wins to steal one of conference’s bowl slots. aolivero@syr.edu Jan. 1: Fiesta Bowl, Glendale, Ariz.: Pittsburgh — Big East Champion The Backyard Brawl will likely determine the winner of the Big East, and I see Pitt defeating West Virginia in Pittsburgh. Even if Pitt loses to any conference team not named WVU, it appears it will still claim the top spot in the conference. Two losses in-conference and the league is suddenly wide open. Dec. 28: Champs Sports Bowl, Orlando, Fla.: Syracuse — No. 2 Big East If Syracuse wins out, this would be a worst-case scenario. Doug Marrone referred to a bowl talk as a ‘four-letter word,’ but I’m guessing SU’s place in the Big East standings is something that plays on his mind. A loss this weekend would obviously be a hit but not necessarily a major setback. Dec. 31: Meineke Car Care Bowl, Charlotte, N.C.: West Virginia — No. 3 Big East West Virginia may still finish No. 1 or No. 2 in the conference, despite a loss last weekend. WVU needs to win out and hope SU falls at least one more time to claim the top spot. But the thinking here is that the Mountaineers will lose at least one more game and finish No. 3 in the conference. Dec. 30: Pinstripe Bowl, New York City: South Florida — No. 4 Big East Though SU fans might like to see the Orange in the first ever bowl hosted at the new Yankee Stadium, finishing No. 4 would obviously be a step back from its current ranking. Still, can you imagine all the Syracuse support at that potential game? I see USF landing here, especially after taking down Cincy. Dec. 21: Beef ‘O’ Brady’s Bowl, St. Petersburg, Fla.: Cincinnati — No. 5 Big East Just one year removed from running the table in the Big East, Cincinnati has had much different results this year. Quarterback Zach Collaros might be out this weekend and beyond, which doesn’t bode well for a team that has struggled even with him in the lineup. Jan. 8: Birmingham Bowl, Birmingham, Ala.: Rutgers — No. 6 Big East Grabbing the final spot is the Scarlet Knights, which has been up and down this season. Connecticut and Louisville both have a legitimate chance of becoming bowl-eligible but have not played nearly consistent enough to finish any higher than No. 6. aljohn@syr.edu REBUTTAL: Andrew L. John Goin’ Hog wild Comments BLOG POST: Tony Olivero Purify the colors Published on October 27, 2010 at 12:00 pm Facebook Twitter Google+
Published on March 2, 2011 at 12:00 pm Comments In all three years of the program’s existence, the season has finished the same way for Syracuse. It faces Niagara in the first round of the playoffs.By now, head coach Paul Flanagan and his teams are used to the routine.‘There are no unknowns,’ Flanagan said of the matchup with Niagara. ‘Sometimes when you watch tape on a team you haven’t played, it’s hard to pick little nuances up. So I think just the fact that we’ve competed means we know each other pretty well.’Syracuse’s playoff stretch, a stretch that will be started and completed in a matter of three days, begins Friday at Tennity Ice Pavilion. Robert Morris and Wayne State will meet in Thursday’s play-in quarterfinal with the right to take on top-seeded Mercyhurst. Meanwhile, the winner of the Syracuse-Niagara matchup Friday will reach the conference title game Saturday to face the winner of Robert Morris-Wayne State and Mercyhurst.Winners of its final two regular-season games, Syracuse (13-15-6, 7-6-3 College Hockey America) enters the playoffs perhaps with increased expectations. The four Saturday goals marked SU’s highest scoring output since Jan. 14.AdvertisementThis is placeholder text‘That was a good precursor for what to expect now Friday,’ junior forward Megan Skelly said. ‘We definitely have positive energy going in, and we have some confidence because we did beat them both nights.’Recent momentum aside, the back-to-back victories weren’t enough to leapfrog Niagara in the conference standings, as the Purple Eagles (11-6-5, 8-6-2) will enter the playoffs as the second seed. SU is 2-2 against Niagara this season, so the success of late certainly doesn’t warrant overconfidence.‘But we also can’t get too confident in our abilities,’ Skelly said. ‘Because, you know, we have to get ready and prepare. Perfect our passes and come together as a team.’The two schools have split the previous two playoff meetings. As a No. 4 seed in 2009, SU fell to the Purple Eagles 3-2. As a No. 3 seed last year, it won 5-3.Although Niagara’s stronger playoff seed this season will give them a technical home-ice advantage, Syracuse will be playing in its home building. Something that certainly bodes well for the Orange. Niagara finished this year 4-10-4 on the road (3-4-1 in conference), and the Orange season concluded with an 8-7-3 mark at home (6-2 in conference).In 2011, the two schools split their four-game season series with each team sweeping the other playing at home. Including the playoffs, SU leads the all-time series by a slim 7-4-2 margin.‘We’re pretty familiar,’ goaltender Kallie Billadeau said of Niagara. ‘But the main thing we’re focusing on is driving the net and crashing for rebounds. They collapse into their goalie, so they block a lot of shots. Getting a lot of shots on net is our main goal.’Billadeau, a first-year player who will get her first look at the in-state postseason match up this weekend, finished the season with a 2.87 goals-against average after playing in 20 of the team’s 34 games. Her 541 saves trail her Niagara counterpart, Jenni Bauer, who had 702 saves in eight more games.Though Syracuse and Niagara are separated by a difference of 165 miles, the two schools are much closer on the ice. Only three wins separate the teams in the all-time series, and they’ve each scored seven total goals in the four games this season.Friday’s playoff game will be commonplace for two teams that have both been there before. It might come down to which team can throw in a new wrinkle that provides even the slimmest advantage.‘Well, there’s no secrets between either team,’ Flanagan said. ‘We played each other four times this year and also most recently. They might throw a couple twists from last weekend, but I think we’re pretty evenly balanced. We match up well against each other.’zoirvin@syr.edu
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Published on March 9, 2017 at 12:39 pm Contact Matt: mcschnei@syr.edu | @matt_schneidman Facebook Twitter Google+ Since there are no more Syracuse games to watch before Selection Sunday, we’ve got you covered with which contests the Orange and sweating SU fans should keep an eye on. Jim Boeheim’s team seems to be sitting square on the bubble after Wednesday’s 62-57 loss to Miami in the second round of the ACC tournament. The Orange has six wins against teams in the BPI Top 50 – three coming against opponents that were in the AP Top 10 when SU won – but also a 2-12 record away from home and losses to Connecticut, Georgetown and St. John’s out of conference.Here are 10 games Syracuse should keep an eye on Thursday, with whom the SU fan should be pulling for in each.Illinois vs. Michigan, noon, Big Ten NetworkAfter a scary plane incident yesterday for the Wolverines, John Beilein’s team flew to Washington D.C. early Thursday morning for a noon tip against the Fighting Illini. Michigan is firmly in the field as a No. 9 seed, according to bracketmatrix.com, while Illinois is one of the first four teams out.Who SU should root for: MichiganAdvertisementThis is placeholder textUT San Antonio vs. Middle Tennessee, 12:30 p.m.Syracuse’s NCAA Tournament round of 32 opponent from a season ago has the best chance to get in of any mid-major, but to avoid the sweat SU needs the Blue Raiders to win the Conference USA tournament and prevent a bid-stealer. Getting by UTSA is the first step to doing that.Who SU should root for: Middle TennesseeIndiana vs. Iowa, 6:30 p.m., ESPN2The Hoosiers started off the year knocking off Kansas and reaching the top 10 but have since taken a nosedive. Now, Tom Crean’s team could play spoiler since its well on the outside of the field, while Iowa is bracketmatrix.com’s third team outside the field in between Kansas St. and Illinois.Who SU should root for: IndianaTexas A&M vs. Vanderbilt, 7 p.m., SEC NetworkThe Aggies 8-10 record during SEC play has it firmly outside the bracket, but the Commodores would presumably hurt Syracuse’s chances at squeaking into the field with a win in its tournament second round. Right now, Vandy is barely favored more than SU on bracketmatrix.com.Who SU should root for: Texas A&MXavier vs. No. 18 Butler, 7 p.m., Fox Sports 1Chris Mack’s team narrowly avoided disaster against DePaul in the second round of the Big East tournament Wednesday night, and now the Musketeers get a chance for a signature win that could solidify its berth in the field of 68. Bracketmatrix.com currently projects Xavier as a No. 11 seed, four spots overall above Syracuse but still close enough that a loss might make it a close call come Sunday.Who SU should root for: ButlerKansas State vs. No. 9 Baylor, 9 p.m., ESPNUThe Wildcats can firmly put themselves in the field with a top-10 win in the big 12 quarterfinal but also make the wait until Selection Sunday especially strenuous with a loss. Bracketmatrix.com has KSU as the second team outside the field, so it’s pretty clear who Orange fans should pull for.Who SU should root for: BaylorUSC vs. No. 3 UCLA, 11:30 p.m., ESPNThe Bruins are the No. 3 team in the nation and not even projected by most as a top-two seed. That’s how bad the Pac-12 was this season. USC’s 24-8 record with a 10-8 mark in league play has it resting uncomfortably on the bubble, and a win against Steve Alford’s squad would push it firmly into the field. A loss, however, may make things interesting.Who SU should root for: UCLAOther teams Syracuse should root for, but don’t need as badly:Tennessee – against Georgia, 1 p.m., SEC NetworkUtah – against California, 5:30 p.m., Pac 12 NetworkCreighton – against Providence, 9:30 p.m., Fox Sports 1 Comments