But, will Inslee respond favorably?
FRONT PAGE COMMENTARY
By Peter Ripley
Editorial Note: It will be interesting to see if Inslee would grant this "bread crumb" to help our rural communities to reopen business, churches, and so on or not. Given this governor's need to control on the state, and his desire to destroy all of Washington State's economy in an effort to destroy President Trump chances? That's the latest conspiracy that's been forwarded that the states run by Democrats are deliberately, trashing their state's economies to destroy Trump, if that's the case, you thing this governor is going to give this bread crumb to us? Thus far he has been slow to reopen the entire state like a slug making it's way down a sidewalk. While jobless rates go up, more and more businesses closing their doors for good! Does this sound like someone who really cares about Washington's economy? Or, more for his need to conform to the DNC agenda?
According to the news paper of record here in Port Angeles Wa, the Peninsula Daily News, with the head line dated 5/ 6/ 20
Legislators urge Clallam County be added to Phase 2 list
Other District 24 counties eligible for earlier opening.
OLYMPIA — The three state legislators representing District 24 want to see Clallam County added to the list of those that can apply for an earlier roll-out of Phase 2 activities than other counties in the recovery from COVID-19 restrictions.
Quoted from Article: Said Chapman of Port Angeles in a phone interview Tuesday: “Our economy is really struggling out here. We are at the end of the line. … We have got to have people back to work.”
IS IT TIME TO KICK INSLESS OUT OF OFFICE?
Yes, sign to petition to impeach Governor Inslee!
Governor Jay Inslee has been elected into office and has not done anything for Washington State. We are currently experiencing RIOTS in our streets but he has not publicly done or said anything about what is going on except about a racist remark spray painted on a MLK building in Spokane, Inslee keeps on beating around the bush to not stir any conflict up.
Inslee also would like and wants to go through with a state income tax as well. Under Inslee's belt our public schools are not getting funded the way we the tax payers voted for and the state is getting find thousands of dollars a day that it is not funded.
Why should we allow a govenor who is not doing anything for our state sit back, and kick his feet up , collecting a paycheck with our tax payer dollars paying his salary when he's afraid to get his feet wet not doing anything. Inslee is taking credit for creating jobs as well when it was by the work of others. We don't need another Hillary Clinton in our state capital!
( Yes I signed this)
Senator Murray Urges USDA to Target Relief to Local Farmers in Coronavirus Food Assistance Program.
Press release issued 5/ 4/ 20(Washington, D.C.) – U.S. Senator Patty Murray (D-WA), joined a bipartisan group of senators in urging the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) to target COVID-19 relief provisions to reach local farmers in Washington state and across the country in the new Coronavirus Food Assistance Program (CFAP). USDA created CFAP to administer relief funding Congress provided in the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act. While the CARES Act specifically provides direct assistance to local food producers, USDA has not announced specific details on how this relief will be targeted to local farmers. In a letter to USDA Secretary Sonny Perdue, Senator Murray and her colleagues urged USDA once again to take steps to reach local farmers with assistance.
“While USDA mentioned that the direct producer assistance program would be made available to producers of all sizes – including local producers, as required by the CARES Act – we are disappointed that there were no specific details on how this assistance will be tailored to the unique challenges that local producers face, or how the Department will conduct outreach to beginning and undeserved farmers,” the senators wrote.
Senator Murray and her colleagues also specifically urged USDA to support local farmers by:
Adjusting the CFAP payment calculations to better reflect the business models of local producers;
Amending the covered time period to better reflect when local producers experienced losses; and
Developing a robust and inclusive outreach plan to ensure all local food producers – including those with limited internet access and those for whom English is not their first language – are aware of the benefits available to them under the CFAP.
“While we appreciate USDA’s efforts to implement the CFAP with local food producers in mind, we encourage you to incorporate these recommendations as you finalize the CFAP program to ensure local producers are able to participate. By adjusting the mechanism USDA uses to calculate CFAP payments for local food producers, changing the covered time period to reflect those losses experienced after April 15, 2020, and implementing a robust and inclusive outreach plan to reach all local food producers, including new farmers, we can help minimize the significant burden COVID-19 has placed on our local producers,” the senators wrote.
Additionally, Senator Murray and her colleagues pressed USDA for information it has yet to provide on how it will conduct outreach to ensure the participation of beginning, underserved, and local food producers in the direct producer assistance program. The lawmakers urged USDA once again to develop a robust outreach plan that provides technical assistance and ensures local farmers are able to participate in the direct producer assistance program.
Earlier this month, Senator Murray and her colleagues sent a letter urging the Trump Administration to provide relief for local farmers who are struggling, and pushed USDA to ensure that a portion of the $9.5 billion they secured in the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act goes to local farmers who sell directly to consumers, schools, institutions, food hubs, regional distribution centers, retail markets, farmers markets and restaurants. USDA has yet to respond.
Letter sent:
Dear Secretary Perdue,
We write to follow up on our April 9, 2020 letter regarding U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) relief for local food producers, and to urge USDA to incorporate provisions specific to local food producers as the Agency finalizes the Coronavirus Food Assistance Program (CFAP). Specifically, we urge USDA to provide support for local food producers by: 1) adjusting the CFAP payment calculations to better reflect the business models of local producers; 2) amending the covered time period to more appropriately reflect when local producers experienced losses; and 3) developing an inclusive outreach plan to ensure all local food producers – including those with limited internet access and those for whom English is not their first language – are aware of the benefits available to them under the CFAP.
On April 17, 2020, USDA announced the new CFAP, which will provide a total of $19 billion in COVID-19 relief provided by the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act, including $16 billion for direct assistance to producers and $3 billion for commodity purchases and food distribution. While USDA mentioned that the direct producer assistance program would be made available to producers of all sizes – including local producers, as required by the CARES Act – we are disappointed that there were no specific details on how this assistance will be tailored to the unique challenges that local producers face, or how the Department will conduct outreach to beginning and underserved farmers.
Many local food producers sell a wide variety of crops, specialty crops, and livestock to a variety of local and regional markets. Often, specific records of sales are generalized into broad categories such as produce or livestock but not broken into specific sales by commodity. For example, these producers may have $100,000 in produce sales a year but may not be able to distinguish how much of a specific type of produce is sold at a farmers market versus directly to a restaurant or school. This type of commerce makes it extremely difficult for local food producers to participate in a generic “one size fits all” direct assistance program.
Given this complexity, we recommend that USDA calculate payments based on total farm revenue and consider price premiums for diversified producers, organics, and value-added producers. We also recommend implementation of flexible paperwork requirements that allow more producers to participate in the program and account for different types of record keeping that may be used to sell into local markets.
During USDA’s public announcement, it was suggested that the direct producer assistance would cover up to 85 percent of losses incurred between January and April 15, 2020 and cover up to 30 percent of losses incurred after April 15, 2020. Many producers selling directly to restaurants or schools did not see an economic impact of the COVID-19 disaster until states began issuing stay at home orders and closed non-essential businesses. This occurred in most places starting in mid-March and could continue for several months into the future. We recommend USDA adjust the window of 85 percent coverage to reflect the time period during which farmers have experienced – and continue to experience – significant losses and additional costs as a result of widespread closure of businesses and institutions during the COVID-19 disaster.
In addition, USDA has not provided information on how it will conduct outreach to ensure the participation of beginning, underserved, and local food producers in the direct producer assistance program. Some of these producers already face existing barriers to entry including limited access to internet, English as a second language, and limited technical skills. We recommend USDA develop a thorough outreach plan that provides technical assistance and ensures these producers are able to participate in the direct to producer assistance program.
On top of these existing challenges, local food producers are in the middle of high planting season and many do not have existing relationships with USDA. These producers may struggle to learn a new federal program in time to participate before funding runs out so we request that USDA track farmer program participation and require receipt for service at local Farm Service Agency offices.
While we appreciate USDA’s efforts to implement the CFAP with local food producers in mind, we encourage you to incorporate these recommendations as you finalize the CFAP program to ensure local producers are able to participate. By adjusting the mechanism USDA uses to calculate CFAP payments for local food producers, changing the covered time period to reflect those losses experienced after April 15, 2020, and implementing an outreach plan to reach all local food producers, including new farmers, we can help minimize the significant burden COVID-19 has placed on our local producers.
Thank you for quickly implementing the CFAP; we appreciate your attention to the specific needs and serious challenges faced by local food producers and look forward to working with you on additional targeted relief efforts.
Editorial Note: Farmer's wouldn't need food assistance if the State of Washington under Jay Inslee hadn't shut down the state in the first place. In my opinion!
WORLD NEWS HEADLINES:
From the UN news service.COVID-19: UN and partners launch $6.7 billion appeal for vulnerable countries
Humanitarians are seeking nearly $7 billion to protect millions of lives and halt the spread of COVID-19 in more than 60 of the world’s most fragile countries.
Coronavirus: Health system overload threatens pregnant women and newborn.
The UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) estimates that 116 million babies have been born since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, and on Thursday called for governments to maintain lifesaving services for pregnant women and newborns that are under increasing threat from strained health services and supply chains.
Protecting the displaced in the time of COVID-19
Refugees and displaced people living in camps are amongst the most vulnerable communities across the world and more likely to catch COVID-19 than others, according to the International Organization for Migration (IOM).
Senior UN official calls for universal basic income to tackle growing inequality.
The COVID-19 pandemic is not only a health crisis, but it is also proving to be an economic disaster for huge numbers of people worldwide. A senior UN official with the UN Development Programme (UNDP) is calling for countries to provide citizens with a universal basic income, to help the millions who have lost their jobs, because of measures to curb the virus, combined with increasing levels of inequality.
Venezuelans ‘teetering on the brink of survival’ warn UN human rights experts
United Nations independent experts demanded on Wednesday that the Venezuelan Government take concrete actions to tackle the devastating impact on basic human rights of the country’s economic crisis.
Corruption, political blockages, threaten international efforts to help Bosnia and Herzegovina weather coronavirus.
Bosnia and Herzegovina is weathering the COVID-19 outbreak better than some other nations, but there’s a real danger that corruption will undermine global efforts to help it contain the pandemic, the international community’s High Representative to the Western Balkan country told the Security Council on Wednesday.
Attacks on civilians, arbitrary arrests, top list of abuses in Libya: ICC Prosecutor.
Unabated violence, particularly in and around the Libyan capital, has now been raging for more than a year, the Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court (ICC) told the Security Council in a virtual briefing on Tuesday, warning that war crimes may have been committed.
Commentary: The two bug threat---Killer Hornet, and Gypsy Moth! ( page 7)
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