Grants up to $7,500 available to St. Lucie County small businesses from CARES Act funds

About $4 million of the $28 million received as St. Lucie County’s share of federal COVID-19 relief funding is being made available to small businesses in the county that are struggling to stay in operation during the viral pandemic.

Grants of up to $5,000 are available to small businesses with up to three employees, and grants of up to $7,500 are available to businesses with 4-10 employees. The funding is available on a first-come, first-served basis, but businesses that have not already received government funding will be given priority.

Business owners can apply for the grants starting Aug. 3 at the county’s Recover St. Lucie website.

In order to qualify for the grants, business must be physically located in St. Lucie County and must have been deemed “nonessential” by government order. Total annual revenues may not exceed $1 million. Grants must be used to cover operational and working capital expenses incurred during a forced closure or slowdown, between March 1 and December 30, 2020. Businesses may not use the funds to replace lost revenue, or to cover losses already covered by insurance or reimbursed by any federal program.

Qualifying expenses include:

• Mortgage, rent, utilities, and insurance premium costs incurred while the business is closed.

• Reopening costs, such as business interruption resulting from limited accessibility to the public, and the costs for signage announcing requirements such as directional floor markings.

• Costs for personal protective equipment required for the safety of employees and the public.

• Businesses may also use these funds to cover payroll during a closure.

The grants are open to nonessential business such as restaurants, bars, short-term lodging establishments and vacation rentals, and businesses covered under the State of Florida Safer at Home Guidance document, as well as any business subject to St. Lucie County’s Emergency Order.

Complete eligibility requirements and a list of the documents necessary for the application process are available online. The deadline to apply is Sept. 3. A committee will review the applications, and applicants will notified by email whether the application has been accepted or denied. Funding will be made by direct deposit.

A free webinar hosted by the St. Lucie County Economic Development Council (EDC) instructing businesses how to apply for the grants is scheduled for 9 a.m. July 31. Click here to register for the webinar.

“We want this critical infusion of capital in the hands of small business owners who need it the most,” said EDC President Pete Tesch. “Beyond this grant funding, we also have many other support programs for small business owners.”

The assistance is provided through the county’s Virtual Business Recovery Center. Workforce development and training services also are offered through the Florida Small Business Development Center at Indian River State College and CareerSource Research Coast, Tesch said.

For more information about COVID-19 consulting services and other programs for businesses, call 772-336-6285 or send an email.

Tim McGraw surprises nurses in COVID-19 unit with performance

The country crooner sang the praises of front-line workers and then belted out his new single for them.

There’s just no way to adequately thank front-line workers for the tremendous risks and sacrifices they’re making amid the coronavirus pandemic — but country music star Tim McGraw didn’t let that stop him from trying his best!

The 53-year-old hit-maker joined forces with Spotify for a new installment of the streaming series “The Drop In” to surprise a group nurses working in a COVID-19 unit by singing their praises before literally singing for them.

TODAY had a first look at the touching scene on Wednesday morning.  Check out the video here: https://www.today.com/video/tim-mcgraw-performs-new-song-i-called-mama-for-health-care-workers-88116805854

 

July 22, 2020 / Source: TODAY

Nonprofit Flips Abandoned Prison into Sustainable Farm With the Help of At-Risk Youth and Jobless Veterans

On the grounds of an abandoned and decommissioned prison in North Carolina, vegetables are being tended by hands that, if not for the opportunity to learn the world’s oldest occupation, might have ended up in a real prison with nowhere to go but down.

But Growing Change is an organization that believes the best solution to a problem is one that strikes at the root, not at the stem—and they have been tilling that soil since 2011.

In converting old prisons to year-round-farming and education centers, Growing Change solves several problems at once. The program synergistically brings together young men on the edge of the criminal justice system, and jobless wounded veterans returning from deployment.

Recruiting the discipline and leadership skills of the latter to teach and guide the former, Growing Change creates an environment whereby at-risk youth who need to fulfill long hours of community service can learn life skills, sustainable farming practices, and animal husbandry, with an opportunity to receive clinical therapy in an environment much more suited to young men.

“North Carolina is one of the last two states in which youth are adjudicated as adults for all charges at age 16,” explains the founder Noran Sanford. “By the time some 16 year-olds arrive in the courts they are permanently limited in their employment due to their ‘adult’ criminal record.”

In 2016, the farm in Wagram also began admitting young men facing chaos at home, failure at school, trouble with mental health or substance abuse—to salvage lives before the criminal justice cycle begins.

Sanford’s model of intensive therapy and “flipping their prisons” has seen a 92% reduction in recidivism rate among youth participants, while the national average of criminal recidivism is 43%.

“At the core level, we are instilling hope,” Sanford explains to Civil Eats. “When hope is gone, it creates a pretty vicious void that a lot of other grimmer things can get pulled into. And as low-wealth rural America is left further behind, then that vacuum is stronger. We’re breaking that stream.”

Meanwhile, the veterans work toward university degrees in environmental sciences and sustainable agriculture. Together, these individuals young and old who may have been on the fringes of society work to rehabilitate abandoned brownfields (land that might be contaminated and must be cleaned before future use) and the prison property decaying into dysfunction.

Bringing hope to all the dark places

The number of societal areas Growing Change has the capacity to reform is rare among nonprofit work. Along with the boon to the individual participants’ lives, it stands to benefit the North Carolina counties it operates in, many of which experience the consequences of poor health outcomes arising from a diets of mostly processed foods.

This is because some of these counties have no locally grown produce, a fact that has produced some startling facts about a part of the country most are not familiar with.

Wagram’s Scotland County, is one of the poorest counties in NC with the state’s highest unemployment and food insecurity rate.

Because the incarceration rate in the U.S. is at its lowest level in more than two decades—with imprisonment among black Americans down by 34% since 2006—North Carolina is shuttering prisons and correctional facilities across the state, with dozens of such facilities already closed.

Along with offering a collection of buildings to be repurposed into education and art centers, prisons are ideal for conversion into farms because of their sturdy, gopher-and-sheep-proof fences, and large open spaces. With the properties belonging to the state in decay, officials are more than happy to consign the land to such projects.

The prison kitchen has been converted into a commercial-grade community kitchen where the county will provide training on preparing and preserving food, while also serving as a classroom for students receiving training in foodservice and culinary arts, and to offer Farm-to-Classroom trips to educate children on nutritious foods.

The crops produced by GrowingChange farm are also sold to local restaurants, a business enterprise aspect of the project that allows the program be self-sustaining for years, fertilizing entrepreneurship into the hearts of all who work here.

WATCH a video and learn how you can help at GrowingChange.org…

Port St. Lucie named safest large city in Florida for tenth straight year

For the tenth year in a row, Port St. Lucie’s crime rate makes it the safest Florida city with a population of more than 100,000 people, according to a news release. In that category, Port St. Lucie experienced the lowest number of crimes in 2019, according to the Florida Department of Law Enforcement’s Uniform Crime Report.

The city earned the distinction 15 out of the past 17 years, said Port St. Lucie Police Chief John Bolduc. “I am pleased to report crime rates in the city of Port St. Lucie continue to decline.”

The city’s overall crimes dropped by 3.9% last year, despite a population increase of approximately 6,000, a city news release states. The crime rate is the number of crimes adjusted for population. Population is 191,903. Crime in Port St. Lucie dropped 14% in 2017, and 10.5% in 2018.

Total index crimes in 2019 – which are the eight crimes the FBI combines to produce its annual crime index – were the lowest they’ve been in the city since 1999. There were 1,989 index crimes reported to police in 2019. By comparison, there were 2,422 index crimes in 2000 when Port St. Lucie’s population was just 88,769.

The number of estimated larceny thefts dropped by 5.58% in 2019. Bolduc said he attributes the department’s success to a close working relationship with city residents, the use of evidence-based crime reduction strategies, and the relentless follow-up of reported crimes.

The city’s crime clearance rate is 47.2%, compared to a statewide average of 25.7%, Bolduc said.

 

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Port St. Lucie Council approves reduction in City's millage rate for fifth year in a row

The Port St. Lucie City Council has approved a reduction for the City’s millage rate, which is the amount of taxes paid per $1,000 of taxable property value.

At its summer retreat, the Council thoroughly reviewed the City Manager’s draft budget. They set a tentative millage rate of 5.9240 for the fiscal year that starts in October.

This is a reduction from this year’s City of Port St. Lucie total millage rate of 6.0740 mils. Council will vote on the final rates after two public hearings at 6:30 p.m. Sept. 14 and Sept. 28 at City Hall.

This is the fifth year in a row Council has approved a millage rate decrease.

When looking at a tax bill in St. Lucie County, it is important to keep in mind that the City of Port St. Lucie’s millage rate represents just one portion of it. Because of that and rising property values, the total amount paid by homeowners can vary every year.

Other local taxing authorities include, the St. Lucie County School District; St. Lucie County; St. Lucie County Fire District; and the South Florida Water Management District.

Bella Abzug: This woman’s place is in the House - the House of Representatives.

100 years ago today, Bella Abzug was born in New York City. A lawyer nicknamed ‘Battling Bella,’ she was a social activist for peace, a U.S. congresswoman, and a fierce fighter for women’s rights—chairing several White House commissions, and founding organizations that worked around the world.

In 1970, Abzug’s first campaign slogan was, “This woman’s place is in the House—the House of Representatives.” She was later appointed to co-chair the National Commission on the Observance of International Women’s Year created by President Gerald Ford’s executive order, presided over the 1977 National Women’s Conference, and led President Jimmy Carter’s National Advisory Commission for Women.

Bella Savitzky was born on July 24, 1920, in New York City. Both of her parents were Russian Jewish immigrants. Her mother, Esther (née Tanklefsky), was a homemaker, and her father, Emanuel Savitzky, ran the Live and Let Live Meat Market on Ninth Avenue. Even in her youth, she was competitive and would beat others, including boys, in all sorts of competitions. She ran the cash register at her father’s deli as a young girl.

When her father died, Abzug, then 13, was told that her Orthodox synagogue did not permit women to say the (mourners’) Kaddish, since that rite was reserved for sons of the deceased. However, because her father had no sons, she went to the synagogue every morning for a year to recite the prayer, defying the tradition of her congregation’s practice of Orthodox Judaism.

Abzug graduated from Walton High School in New York City, where she was class president, and went on to Hunter College of the City University of New York and simultaneously attended the Jewish Theological Seminary of America. She later earned a law degree from Columbia University in 1944.

Nicknamed “Battling Bella”, in 1970, she challenged the 14-year incumbent, Leonard Farbstein, in the Democratic primary for a congressional district on Manhattan’s West Side. She defeated Farbstein in a considerable upset and then defeated talk show host Barry Farber in the general election. In 1972, her district was eliminated via redistricting and she chose to run against William Fitts Ryan, who also represented part of the West Side, in the Democratic primary. Ryan, although seriously ill, defeated Abzug. However, Ryan died before the general election and Abzug defeated his widow, Priscilla, in a party convention to choose the new Democratic nominee. In the general election Priscilla Ryan challenged Abzug on the Liberal Party line, but was unsuccessful. In the general election she was reelected easily in 1974. For her last two terms, she represented part of The Bronx as well. In 1976, she left her seat in the House in favor of an unsuccessful campaign for a seat in the U.S. Senate.

Always wearing her characteristic hats, she was the author of two successful books, including, Bella: Ms. Abzug Goes to Washington. Bella Abzug died at age 77 after complications from heart surgery.

Life without barriers: Man makes see-through masks to help deaf and hard of hearing communicate

“The mask is required. But it is a barrier. Why don’t we adopt this idea of masks with a window for open communication?”

When Asli Knowles saw Dr. Brian Travers’ clear masks on Instagram she had to have one. Knowles works at a grocery store and wanted people to see her face. And, she wanted to communicate with deaf and hard of hearing customers without risking their health. When she requested a mask, Travers’ felt so moved that he wrote a letter to her managers.

“Alsi texted, ‘I like to smile, and I think this pandemic is making everyone upset and I want to make my customers happy with my smile,’” the 53-year-old Florida resident wrote in the letter. “Alsi’s reason for wanting my clear, see-through facial covering with a plastic window is the most selfless reason I have ever come across. She is clearly an asset to her organization.”

Travers shared the letter with her and her managers and on social media and thought little of it. But then Some Good News posted the mask and letter and suddenly thousands fell in love Knowles and Travers’ story. But for Travers, the experience felt personal.

“That just resonated with me. Being deaf all these years, a person’s smile tells me right from the get-go (what they’re like),” Travers told TODAY. “She wanted to make everyone comfortable.”

While it often takes Travers weeks to fill an order, he sent Knowles her mask immediately. He sews about eight to 10 masks an hour but demand for Anchor Made Design masks is high. Only one see-through mask is FDA approved for health care workers and it’s tough for others to find masks with clear panels.

“I wasn’t looking for recognition. I wanted her to be recognized. She is a leader and I want other people to see leaders,” he said. “There are no words, there is no dollar value to being able to make a difference.”

Travers, a former doctor who lost his hearing in 2002, started sewing the masks with clear panels after he struggled to communicate with people in masks. He relied on lip reading and masks meant he no longer understood people around him. He often felt helpless like when he tried picking up his daughter’s school laptop. While he asked the employees if they could lower their masks so he could read their lips, they refused. He certainly understands that’s safer. But, he was stuck. They had no pens and paper and he wasn’t sure how to communicate. Then another parent pulled his mask down so Travers could read his lips.

“I wish I had his name. He was the reason I was able to walk out of there with a laptop,” Travers said.

Soon, he felt himself pulling away from activities where he might have to communicate with masked people, such as at the grocery store. Travers suspected that other deaf and hard of hearing people had similar experiences. The former physician knew there had to be something to make communicating easier.

“The mask is required. But it is a barrier,” Travers said. “Why don’t we adopt this idea of masks with a window for open communication?”

He sat at his dining room table and examined the masks made since learning to sew in March. Soon, he designed a prototype with an opening covered by clear plastic.

“I fell in love with sewing,” he said. “I completed a few hundred orders. I have a few hundred orders that are waiting and still coming it. It is not just the product, it is the purpose. I am honored about that.”

In May, Travers received bilateral cochlear implants. Travers had lost his hearing because of a rare condition, osteogenesis imperfecta (OI), also called “brittle bone disease.” He broke his first bone at 6 months old and has suffered between 70 and 80 fractures throughout his life. Hearing loss also occurs commonly with people with OI, he said. In 2008, he experienced a spontaneous subdural hematoma and was in a coma for a month. His situation was so dire that his wife Erin was preparing to donate his organs before he woke up.

“I spent nine months learning how to walk and talk,” he explained. “I’m still a full-time dad, house husband and now business owner, mask maker. My whole life has been giving back to people.”

Travers loves hearing from people who want his masks about why they need them. And, he appreciates that they bring people closer together.

“How great is life when there are no barriers? A smile is the greatest way to introduce yourself,” he said. “All these times we may have taken granted interacting with people.”

 

July 17, 2020 – Source: TODAY

Watch Zoo Penguins Delight in Their New Bubble Maker

…a Gift From Staff During Quarantine

 

Without human visitors to keep them entertained, these penguins have been gifted an adorable new form of entertainment during their time in quarantine.

Staffers at the Newquay Zoo in Cornwall, England had been trying to find new ways to keep their feathered residents entertained when a zoo patron suddenly donated a bubble machine.

Penguin caretaker Dan Trevelyan said the bubbles help to keep the penguins’ predatory reflexes sharp.

“In the wild, these guys are marine predators who are very sensitive to objects and movement,” said Trevelyan. “The bubble machine is fantastic, as all the movement and new shapes and colors really stimulate these guys. They have a great time chasing them around. And all these donations are really appreciated.”

The bubbles, which cause no harm to the animals, have in the past also proved popular with the Zoo’s squirrel monkeys and Sulawesi crested macaques.

Animal enrichment programs are used to provide zoo animals with specialized stimulation designed to encourage their natural behaviors and prevent them from getting bored.

Enrichment usually consists of branches and foliage, but can also come in the form of food hidden in hard-to-reach places for the animals to find.

Research has shown that animal enrichment program are as important for the wellbeing of zoo animals as a nutritious diet and good veterinary care. These birds in particular are usually kept occupied by feeding shows and guests visiting the zoo, but due to the novel coronavirus, their daily routine was forced to change. Thankfully, Newquay Zoo fully re-opened to the general public on July 1st.

Click here to watch the adorable video

A look at the effectiveness of masks!

The video presentation below takes a look at various activities with and without a mask and the effectiveness of masks.  This includes talking, singing, coughing and sneezing from a distance of 2, 4 and 6 feet.

WKHQ Q6 out of Spokane Washington led the investigation along with Providence Medical Center.   The results were quite surprising and definitely exol the benefits of wearing a mask?

Link

Time to Visit the Downtown Fort Pierce Farmers Market

The Fort Pierce Farmers Market is open EVERY Saturday, 8am until 12pm (rain or shine) since 1997

 

The Downtown Fort Pierce Farmers Market provides a venue for the sale of produce or products to residents of, and visitors to, St. Lucie County and surrounding counties. The Market is a 501 C-3 organization whose tax-exempt status is directly related to its encouragement of commerce, entertainment and trade in Downtown Fort Pierce. The Market strives to display the city’s history, uniqueness, charm, and potential, in order to enhance St. Lucie County.

The Market seeks to have a mixture of produce, seafood, sauces, plants, food, beverage and product vendors that maintains the unique character of a Farmers’ Market. The ideal Market vendor will have grown the product he or she sells; or will have produced the item out of locally grown products. Another Market vendor could be someone who provides enhancement to the Market experience, for example, vendors who sell beverage and food products for consumption at the Market for the on-site enjoyment of the patrons.

Enjoy the extraordinary Downtown Fort Pierce Farmers’ Market where over 70 friendly vendors offer a wonderful and diverse selection of delicious foods, exotic plants, savory spices, and so much more! Bring the whole family to the Downtown Fort Pierce Farmers’ Market EVERY Saturday, 8am until 12pm (rain or shine). Enjoy our special events and live bands! There is always great music, fresh food, and fun waiting for you!

The following vendors will be at the Downtown Fort Pierce Farmers market at the Marina this Saturday 7/18/20! Come join us!

• A&E Family Farms


• Barefort Gourmet Coffee


• Cider Donuts


• Docs Popcorn


• Dog Days


• First Wave Coffee


• Gibbons Organics


• Gruwell Apiary


• Importicos


• Kats Southern Twang


• Lavender Lady


• Local Seas East Fisharies


• Oils Original


• Palm Queen


• PJ Ranch


• Rio Coco


• TC- Palm


• The Mushroom Guyz


• Tony’s Gyros


• Wicked Good Spices

 

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Treasure Coast Ribs and Wings Festival This Weekend at Causeway Cove Marina

If you are a fan of BQ Ribs and Chicken Wings, then you cannot miss the Treasure Coast Ribs and Wings Festival July 17-19, 2020

 

Ft Pierce, Florida… If you are a fan of BQ Ribs and Chicken Wings, then you cannot miss the Treasure Coast Ribs and Wings Festival on Hutchinson Island. The Treasure Coast Ribs and Wings Festival invites BBQ lovers to a family friendly adventure at the beautiful riverfront Causeway Cove Marina at 601 Seaway Drive on Hutchinson Island in Ft Pierce, Florida on July 17-19. 2020..

Rounding out this family oriented event, vendors will offer unique merchandise and services, artists and craftsmen will display and sell their original works, live music will entertain on stage all three days, kids will enjoy rides and a kids zone just for them, and local businesses and nonprofit organizations will provide information on services available.

Speaking on the location, event promoter Larry Burdgick said, “The Causeway Cove Marina is the perfect venue since its right in the heart of The Treasure Coast. It offers the space we need along with plenty of great parking for our guests.”

The Causeway Cove Marina is located at 601 Seaway Dr, Ft Pierce, Florida. The Treasure Coast Ribs and Wings Festival on Hutchinson Island is easily accessible from I-95 and the Florida Turnpike. Although delicious BBQ Ribs & Wings will be the highlight of this festival, craft beer, wine, and drinks will also be available at a full service bar to quench the thirst of patrons enjoying food, live music, rides and fun.

 

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St. Lucie County Offers CARES ACT Funding To Residents That Need Assistance

The St. Lucie County Board of County Commissioners has received $13.8 million in CARES Act funding from the State of Florida with the potential to receive an additional $41.6 million in reimbursements. A portion of these dollars are being distributed directly to residents to help those facing financial difficultly as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Any St. Lucie County resident who has suffered an economic hardship caused because of COVID-19, and who earns less than 120 percent of the area median income (as shown in the table below) is eligible to apply.

Household Size 1 2 3 4 5 6

Income Level $58,440 $66,720 $75,120 $83,400 $90,120 $96,840

Residents can received up to $4,000 in CARES Act funding from St. Lucie County to help with:

• Rental Payments;

• Mortgage Payments (Primary Residence Only)

• HOA Payments (Primary Residence Only);

• Homeowners/Flood Insurance Payments (Primary Residence Only);

• Utility Payments;

• Car Payments; and

• Car Insurance.

Residents will need to provide documentation of past due payments to support the need for assistance.

Those seeking assistance can apply online at www.recoverstlucie.org starting Wednesday, July 8 at 8 a.m. Anyone with questions is encouraged to call the St. Lucie County CARES Public Information Line at 772-462-1705 or email comm_info@stlucieco.org. The CARES Public Information Line will be open Monday through Saturday from 7 to 11:30 a.m. and 1 to 7 p.m.

St. Lucie County is allocating CARES Act funding in phases with the first phase going directly to residents. The second phase, which will include direct payments to the business community, is expected to be available later this month. Additionally, a portion of these funds will be available as reimbursements to local governmental agencies that spent funds on preventative measures relating to COVID-19.

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Minions usher French cinema-goers back after COVID-19

PARIS — French movie fans ventured back into cinemas on Monday for the first time since the COVID-19 lockdown, helped by a new safety feature: minions placed at intervals in the seats to ensure social distancing is observed.

Stuffed toy versions of the yellow, pill-shaped characters were deployed at the MK2 cinema in the south of Paris for a showing of the 2015 movie “Minions” — a spin-off from the “Despicable Me” franchise that made them famous.

The minions, dressed in their trademark goggles and dungarees, were placed strategically around the auditorium to enforce a rule that viewers leave at least one place free between them and their neighbors.

The reopening of cinemas across France on Monday was part of a phased relaxation of the lockdown measures that were imposed in March to curb the spread of COVID-19.

Nathanael Karmitz, chairman of the MK2 cinema chain, said the numbers showing up for matinee screenings on Monday showed how much the French public had missed going to the movies.

“They love cinema,” he said. “It’s much less risky spending two hours in a cinema than traveling on public transport or taking a train.”

Monday’s cinema outing was not the first time the Minions have been enlisted to help keep people safe from COVID-19.

They featured in a public service announcement, developed in conjunction with the World Health Organization (WHO), encouraging people to wash their hands and keep their distance to stay safe.

 

Link

Boy Created a Word Puzzle to Help Entertain The Queen in Lockdown

–And Was Thrilled to Get a Letter Back…

 

An adorable seven-year-old boy created a word-search puzzle and sent it to the Queen the keep her entertained during lockdown—and was delighted to receive a letter back from royal staff.

Little Timothy Madders, from Billericay, Essex, was worried that the Queen may be bored or sad during lockdown, so created a happiness-themed puzzle to keep her busy.

In his best handwriting, the youngster had hidden words such as ‘happiness’, ‘love’, ‘family’, and ‘sunshine’ throughout his royal puzzle.

He was amazed when he got a letter back from one of Her Majesty’s ladies-in-waiting, thanking him for his kind and thoughtful puzzle.

The letter, dated July 3 and hand-signed by Philippa de Pass, reads:

“Dear Timothy, The Queen wishes me to write and thank you for your kind letter, and for the puzzle you have created especially for Her Majesty.”

“Your thoughtfulness is greatly appreciated,” continued the letter. “The Queen hopes that you too are keeping safe and well in the current situation.”

Timothy’s mum, Jo Madders, said her son is always thinking about other people.

“He wanted to do something to cheer her up and he did it in his neatest handwriting,” Jo told the BBC.

“He kept saying to me not to send the original to anyone else because that was for the Queen.”

Timothy sent his word-search to the Queen at the beginning of May and said it took him about a day to make.

“It made me feel special and happy,” the boy said, of the reply from Windsor Castle. “I wanted the Queen to be happy, I was trying to think of what to do to cheer her up.”

 

By Good News Network Jul 12, 2020

Vermont Becomes First State to ‘Ban’ Food Waste, in Favor of Composting

…Cutting Landfill Waste in Half

 

Short of creating a new police department consisting of ‘Oscar the Grouch’ and his friends, Vermont has done almost everything it can to eliminate food waste ending up in state landfills.

A new piece of legislature called the Food Waste Ban prohibits the disposal of compostable food waste like egg shells, coffee grounds, old bread, and fruit skins. While it’s obviously difficult to enforce such a ban, Vermont is the first state to enact such a law, and state officials see it as an opportunity to spread awareness—and they’re hoping for voluntary compliance from Vermont’s environmentally-conscious citizens.

It’s one objective of the state’s overall plan to cut 50% of all trash that ends up in landfills, diverting it instead to facilities where it can be reused, recycled, or composted. With only 36% of that target reached, it is believed the goal can only become a reality if food waste is widely addressed.

Every five years, Vermont state officials take a survey of what’s being thrown out. The most recent survey found that around 20% of household waste is food scraps which could be composted into fertilizer for the state’s fields and farms.

Along with missing out on an opportunity for high quality compost, food waste which ends up in state and county landfills produces methane as it decomposes. While methane only survives in the atmosphere for about 10-12 years compared to potentially thousands of years the way CO2 does, the former is up to 32-times stronger when it comes to intensifying the sun’s rays and creating the conditions for accelerated global climate change.

“People say, ‘What does this mean with a food waste ban? [Are] people going to be out there looking in my garbage for my apple cores?’” says Josh Kelly, materials management section chief with the Vermont Agency of Natural Resources.

Speaking to Fast Company, Kelly explains that the state will not be policing people’s roadside garbage. The ban is more a plan to take advantage of the already widespread act of private composting, to push through investments in private and public composting infrastructure, and allow businesses that handle drop-off or curbside pick up of compost to buy more equipment and build more facilities.

Vermont is also supporting its composters by releasing detailed guides and information on what can be recycled—and what should be composted. They are also providing support for food rescue programs that help divert edible food to people in need.

It’s not perfect, but Kelly believes it’s a good ‘next-step’ to help The Green Mountain State reach its goal of cutting landfill waste in half.

Be Sure And Share The Eco News With Your Friends On Social Media…

FHFA EXTENDS TENANT EVICTION PROTECTION FOR FANNIE & FREDDIE LOANS IN FORBEARANCE

The extension applies to multifamily owners with a Fannie- or Freddie-held mortgage in forbearance. The loans can now be extended if owners agree not to evict tenants.

 

The Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) extended a forbearance program for multifamily owners, saying it wants to support them and “help renters in multifamily properties stay in their homes.”

FHFA’s extension applies to multifamily property owners that have a Fannie Mae- or Freddie Mac-held mortgage in forbearance. Under the extension, owners with an existing forbearance agreement can extend it for an additional three months for up to a total of six months.

Qualified properties are ones that experienced a financial hardship due to the coronavirus national emergency. In an extended forbearance, the borrower may receive up to 24 months to make up their missed payments after the forbearance period ends.

FHFA places limitations on multifamily owners while their property is in forbearance, however, including one about evictions. If the forbearance is extended, the schedule modified, or a new forbearance agreement executed, the borrower must provide the following tenant protections during the repayment period:

• 
  

  Give the tenant at least a 30-day notice to vacate

  
  


• 
  

  Not charge the tenant late fees or penalties for nonpayment of rent

  
  


• 
  

  Allow the tenant flexibility to repay back rent over time and not in a lump sum

  
  

 

“The multifamily mortgage forbearance extension announced today will help renters stay in their homes and help property owners retain their properties,” FHFA Director Mark Calabria says.

FHFA says it will keep monitoring the coronavirus’ impact on renters, borrowers and the mortgage market, suggesting more updated policies are possible.

To understand government protections and assistance, visit the joint Department of Housing and Urban Development, FHFA, and the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau website at cfpb.gov/housing.

 

Source: Florida Realtors®

Bald Eagles Are No Longer Endangered

Once in danger of extinction due to hunting and pesticides, the bald eagle is now thriving throughout much of North America. One of the first species protected under the Endangered Species Act in the 1970s, America’s national symbol is now a conservation success story.

Here’s how this iconic bird became endangered — and how it rebounded with the help of smart environmental measures.

 

History

It’s an often-told story that founding father Benjamin Franklin would have preferred a turkey rather than an eagle as the national symbol. However, the Franklin Institute explains that tale is mostly a myth. Instead, Franklin was writing to his daughter, criticizing the original eagle design on the national seal when he mentioned the turkey in passing as a more respectable bird.

Franklin had quite a few choice words for the bald eagle. He wrote that the “[b]ald eagle…is a bird of bad moral character. He does not get his living honestly…[he] is too lazy to fish for himself.”Others felt this powerful, plentiful bird was a good choice for a mascot. When the bald eagle was adopted as the U.S. national symbol in 1782, there were as many as 100,000 nesting birds in the continental U.S., including Alaska, according to the American Eagle Foundation.

 

Threats

But the eagle numbers did not stay abundant for long. Gradually the eagle population declined. They were threatened by hunters and pesticides until the bird was nearly wiped out in the U.S.

Hunting

Hunters often shot bald eagles for sport, for their feathers, or because they considered them a threat to livestock or the salmon they fished.

Alaskan fox farmers and salmon industry workers claimed that eagles were preying on their animals, affecting their livelihood. In response, the Alaska Territorial Legislature imposed a bounty on eagles in 1917, reports the Alaska Department of Fish and Game. Their claims were later discredited, but the bounties led to the killing of a confirmed 120,195 eagles. No doubt many others were killed without bounties.

The bounty wasn’t removed until 1953. Bald eagles came under the federal Bald Eagle Protection Act when Alaska became a state in 1959. The act prohibits anyone to possess eagles or any of their parts, including feathers.

Pesticides

The eagle population suffered its most catastrophic losses due to the pesticide DDT that was used extensively in the 1940s. The chemicals run off crops and into waterways where they collect in fish, which make up most of an eagle’s meals, says National Geographic.

When the DDT is absorbed into a female eagle’s bloodstream, it causes her to create eggs with thin, weak shells. Those eggs break easily, rarely surviving. Because the babies don’t make it to adulthood, the cycle limited the eagles’ ability to reproduce.

Hunting and DDT had an enormous impact on the bald eagle population. By the mid-1960s, only 417 nesting pairs were found in the lower 48 states.

The government began regulating the use of DDT in the late 1950s and 1960s because of “mounting evidence of the pesticide’s declining benefits and environmental and toxicological effects,” reports the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). Rachel Carson’s 1962 book “Silent Spring” is credited with raising the alarm about DDT. In 1972, the EPA banned the use of DDT in agriculture.

 

How to Support Bald Eagles

With the DDT ban, government protections, and the growth of captive breeding programs, eagle numbers have rebounded. In June 2007, the bird was removed from the Endangered Species List. The bald eagle is listed as “least concern” on the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List with numbers increasing.

But that doesn’t mean the bald eagle doesn’t still need protection. According to the Cornell Lab of Ornithology, the bald eagle faces threats from lead poisoning when they consume prey that contains hunter ammunition. They often get into collisions with vehicles and structures, and they face habitat destruction from development. They are also vulnerable to environmental pollution and wind turbines.

 

Defenders of Wildlife suggests organizing clean-ups of eagle habitats, encouraging hunters to use lead-free ammunition, and promoting technology that keeps birds from turbines.

To continue conservation efforts, you can symbolically adopt an eagle through the National Wildlife Federation or donate to the American Eagle Foundation.

FLORIDA EXTENDS EVICTION AND FORECLOSURE BAN TO AUG. 1

Governor DeSantis extended the ban on evictions and foreclosures only hours before a scheduled restart. It’s the third extension for a ban first announced on April 2.

 

On Thursday, April 2, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis signed Executive Order 20-94 effectively halting evictions and foreclosures in the state for 45 days.

Since that time, the ban has been extended three times, with the latest one issued Tuesday evening, just hours before evictions and foreclosures were scheduled to begin again. It follows extensions announced on May 14 and June 1.

Under the original Executive Order that has been extended, DeSantis said he would “suspend and toll any statute” providing for “an eviction cause of action under Florida law solely as it relates to non-payment of rent by residential tenants due to the COVID-19 emergency.”

While the order impacts evictions and foreclosures for 45 days, it does not change Florida law, nor does it relieve tenants or parties to a transaction from their obligations under existing contracts.

The order itself makes that clear, saying, “Nothing in this Executive Order shall be construed as relieving an individual from their obligation to make mortgage payments or rent payments.”

Happy 4th of July

The 4^th of July is a special time for Family & Friends.  However you spend the day, Mortgage Masters wishes you and yours a safe, happy and fun Independence Day.

'One Of The Best Nature Shows': A River Transformed After Dams Come Down

Along central Maine’s Sebasticook River, the first thing you’ll notice are the birds. Eagles are everywhere, wading on gravel bars and chattering from the trees.

“A whole bunch of birds, they’re bald eagles, those are all bald eagles!” says conservationist Steve Brooke.

It’s a dramatic sight, as the bald eagles swoop to catch fish from the river. And it’s a sight that Brooke predicted for this region, more than 20 years ago. That’s when he began advocating for the removal of a large hydroelectric dam downstream, on the Kennebec River. The Edwards Dam came down in 1999 after the federal government ordered its removal, saying the ecological costs outweighed the benefit of the power it provided.

That was the first such order and it boosted what is a growing trend. Now, dozens of aging dams are removed from U.S. rivers every year.

When Brooke and others began talking about getting rid of the Kennebec dam and another dam at the mouth of this tributary, many Mainers didn’t see the point. There were hints of the Sebasticook’s former productivity; 3,000 year-old fish traps built by the Wabanaki people were found in an upstream lake. But Brooke says many people had never seen a large river system in its natural state.

“In the Pacific, they’re restoring rivers because they still have runs of Pacific salmon,” Brooke says. “Here on the East Coast the rivers have been dammed since the 17th century, and so it’s very hard for people to understand what’s missing.”

Part of what’s missing from many Northeast rivers: alewives.

The half-pound herring swim up from the ocean to spawn in May and June. Brooke says alewives, and their close cousins blueback herring, are keystone species in their native habitat, fundamental building blocks of the ecosystem. They funnel millions of pounds of protein from the ocean into the rivers and everything that moves, it seems, will eat an alewife.

Gail Wippelhauser is a fisheries biologist with Maine’s Department of Marine Resources, and has been working in the Kennebec watershed since 1995. She’s had a river-level view of the recovery. Wippelhauser says in some places, it looks like this river is paved with fish, just like in historical accounts from before the Industrial Revolution.

“And the expression is you could walk across the river on the backs of fish,” Wippelhauser says. “And it looks like you could, because it’s solid fish, all the way across, and all the way downstream for as far as you can see.”

Wippelhauser says after two dams came down — the large one in 1999 and a smaller at the mouth of the Sebasticook in 2008 — fisheries managers helped the fish over other dams further upriver. Then the alewife population exploded.

“The increase was just amazing,” she says. “From 400,000 to like a million, then three million, five million, just amazing.”

Now the Sebasticook has the nation’s largest run of alewives and blueback herring. There’s even a commercial harvest, mostly for lobster bait.

And many other migratory fish are using the river. Striped bass school in the deeper runs, seeming out of place many miles above the ocean. American shad hang on the edges of the current, sea lamprey build big nests on the gravel bars, and juvenile American eels, just in from the Sargasso Sea, wriggle upstream in the shallows.

Dave Scott lives nearby and has fished along the Sebasticook River for 19 years. Although he’s fished all over the state, he says this is one of his favorite spots because, since the dams came down, there is always something to see. Sometimes he just puts his rod down and watches.

“Right about two miles from my house is one of the best nature shows,” Scott says. “I just come down here to relax sometimes, just to watch the birds fly.”

A count in mid-June found 190 eagles along the river. It’s quite a change from a dozen years ago, when the lower Sebasticook was a pretty, but unremarkable dammed river.

Steve Brooke says the Sebasticook shows what could happen elsewhere, when other dams come out, to bring back free-flowing rivers and wild, native fish.

June 21, 20207:01 AM ET – Weekend Edition Sunday

Port St. Lucie Creates a Welcome Guide for Residents

Inside Port St. Lucie’s Welcome Guide, you will find a glimpse of what it’s like to live in this vibrant and diverse city. From parks and culture to public safety and education, the City of Port St. Lucie has an energy all its own.

An electronic version is available now in magazine style on-line at www.cityofpsl.com/welcome.

Or download as a PDF at https://www.cityofpsl.com/Home/ShowDocument?id=9158.