Donna Green-Townsend
Multimedia Productions
Aired on WUFT on May 13th, 2011
The 27th annual Windsor Zucchini festival gets underway tomorrow morning. Activities get underway at 8:00 a.m. in front of the fire house on CR 234. It’s a day for “everything squash” in the little town of Windsor to benefit the volunteer fire department there. Donna Green-Townsend talked with the fire chief and president of the volunteer fire department Jim Arnett about the history and importance of the festival to the community.
Aired on WUFT on May 13th, 2011
Less than a year ago 26 year old Andres Farfan fulfilled a dream when he received a degree from the University of Florida with a major in photojournalism. His love for taking pictures took on an added dimension when he had the opportunity to travel to Haiti with a non-profit organization taking care of orphan refugees. It’s been just over a year since the 7.0 magnitude earthquake killed more 200-thousand people and left 300-thousand injured. Nearly a million people ended up in tent cities. Farfan talked with WUFT-FM’s Donna Green-Townsend about the trip sponsored by the group 62kids. (To see some of the pictures taken of the 62 orphans living in the tent near Jacmel, Haiti and to find out more about the not-for-profit organization trying to help them, go online to 62kids.org or you can see a gallery of the pictures on Andres Farfan’s webpage at Farfanphoto.com.)
Aired on WUFT on May 12th, 2011
U.S. Democratic Senator from Florida Bill Nelson says photos of slain Osama bin Laden should eventually become part of the public record. Senator Nelson today reviewed the still-classified photographs showing the deadly wounds inflicted by Navy SEALS during their mission eleven days ago. Nelson is a senior member of the Senate Intelligence Committee. He viewed several of the photos at the headquarters of the Central Intelligence Agency in Langley, Virginia. In a press release issued today, Nelson stated:
“There is no doubt in my mind nor should there be in anyone else’s that we got the terrorist who orchestrated the insane and murderous acts that took place on September 11, 2001.”
Nelson adds he agrees with President Obama’s decision not to release the pictures right now.
“Satisfying skeptics and conspiracy theorists isn’t worth inflaming radicals or putting our troops in even more danger,” says Nelson.
Nelson added he felt releasing the pictures at some point should be part of the free flow of information that is tantamount to the country’s democracy. He also encouraged the public to be vigilant at home and abroad.
Aired on WUFT on May 5th, 2011
In an effort to reduce America’s reliance on imported oil, the University of Florida has been awarded $5.4 million from the USDA and Department of Energy for Biomass Research and Development Projects. According to U.S. Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack and U.S. Energy Secretary Steven Chu, the funding is designated to help develop sustainable, renewable biofuels in the U.S. and is considered part of President Obama’s comprehensive plan to address rising gas prices.
The University of Florida’s share of the funds will go towards research on ways to improve the production and sustainability of sweet sorghum as an energy crop. Seven other organizations and institutions have received part of the overall $47 million dollars available for the production of biofuels, bioenergy and high-value biobased products from a variety of biomass sources. The projects are funded through the Biomass Research and Development Initiative and will help increase the availability of alternative renewable fuels and biobased products to diversify the nation’s energy resources. Funding is provided through USDA’s National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA) and DOE’s Biomass Program. Each award was made through a competitive selection process.
Grant recipients are required to contribute a minimum of 20 percent of matching funds for research and development projects and 50 percent of matching funds for demonstration projects. Awardees must pursue projects that integrate science and engineering research in three areas: feedstocks development, biofuels and biobased products development, and biofuels development analysis.
Here is the list of funded projects around the country:
• Cellana LLC, Kailua Kona, Hawaii, $5,521,173. Cellana will work to develop a protein supplement from algae as a byproduct of algal biofuels production, by demonstrating its nutritional and economic value in livestock feeds. The project will characterize types of algae, assess the nutritional values of algal proteins, assess the potential for algal proteins to replace soybean meal, and develop algal protein supplements.
• Domtar Paper Company, LLC, Fort Mill, SC, $7,000,000. This three-year project will work to build a demonstration plant using two technologies to convert low-value byproducts and wastes from paper mills into higher-value sugar, oil, and lignin products.
• Exelus Inc., Livingston, N.J., $5,185,004. Exelus will work to develop energy crops with improved tolerance to drought and salt stress to enhance yields on marginal lands. The project will also redesign a process to make hydrocarbon fuels using new catalysts and chemistry that avoids the high temperatures and large energy inputs required by current processes.
• Metabolix, Inc., Cambridge, Mass., $6,000,001. Metabolix will enhance the yield of bio-based products, biopower, or fuels made from switchgrass. The project will use high temperature conversion to produce denser biomass and other products that can be further processed to make fuels such as butanol, chemicals such as propylene and other materials to improve the economic competitiveness of future biorefineries.
• University of Florida, Gainesville, Fla., $5,430,439. The purpose of this project is to improve the production and sustainability of sweet sorghum as an energy crop. The University will identify genetic traits in sorghum associated with drought tolerance through genetic mapping and will select strains that produce high biomass yields and can be easily converted to fermentable sugars.
• University of Kansas Center for Research, Lawrence, Kan., $5,635,858. The purpose of this project is to demonstrate a novel, sustainable technology at a pilot scale that produces diverse products, including advanced fuels, industrial chemicals and chemical intermediates.
• University of Kentucky, Lexington, Ky., $6,932,786. The purpose of this project is to improve the economics for biorefineries by using on-farm processing to convert biomass to a mixture of butanol, ethanol, acetone and organic acids. The product can then be easily transported to a biorefinery for further processing. The project will integrate input from experts in a variety of disciplines, including plant and soil scientists, horticulturists, chemical engineers, and economists.
• U.S. Forest Service, Rocky Mountain Research Station, Missoula, Mont., $5,309,320. This project will develop an integrated approach to investigate biomass feedstock production, logistics, conversion, distribution and end use centered on using advanced conversion technologies at existing forest industry facilities.
More information is available at the Biomass Program website at www.eere.energy.gov/biomass
Aired on WUFT on May 5th, 2011
The Director for Education at the Hippodrome State Theatre, Kim Berry, says she and her husband will be driving a truck full of relief items to an emergency shelter in Tuscaloosa for victims of the recent devastating tornado. Items can be dropped off at the box office at the Hippodrome State Theatre until 6:00 tonight in downtown Gainesville. The emergency shelter is being run by the Tuscaloosa Parks and Recreation Authority. Berry talked with WUFT-FM’s Donna Green-Townsend about what items are needed.
Aired on WUFT on May 3rd, 2011
Former U.S. Senator from Florida Bob Graham chaired the Senate Intelligence Committee during Nine-eleven. He has closely monitored the latest developments in the killing of Osama bin Laden….the mastermind behind the plan to bring down the World Trade Center and Pentagon on September 11th. Graham talked with WUFT-FM’s Donna Green-Townsend about national security in light of bin Laden’s death and what he expects will happen with al-Qaida now
White House sources report ground troops in Pakistan have killed Osama bin Laden, the mastermind behind the plan to fly jets into the World Trade Center and the Pentagon. Bin Laden is responsible for the deaths of 2,974 Americans nearly a decade ago. He’s been called the number one enemy of the United States and a face of evil. Reports from Washington indicate the United States has his body and his identity has been confirmed through DNA tests.
U.S. President Barack Obama told the families of the victims of September 11, 2001 that he never forgot who was responsible. He says with the killing of Osama bin Laden, one of the top 10 fugitives in the world, justice has been done. Bin Laden is blamed for the murders of thousands of people in the United States and around the world. The President said since taking office it has been his goal to disrupt, dismantle and defeat bin Laden, but bin Laden has avoided capture for nearly a decade. The President says through a successful operation, U.S. military personnel engaged in a fire-fight at a compound deep in Pakistan and killed the leader of Al-Qaeda operations and took custody of his body. In his televised speech just after 11:30 EST, the President said the U.S. is not at war with Islam, but with Al-Qaeda. He asked everyone to remain vigilant at home and abroad because of possible retaliation from other Al-Qaeda operatives.
Singing “God Bless America” and shouting “U.S.A.” thousands of people are pouring into the streets around the White House in Washington D.C. and Ground Zero in New York. They’re celebrating the news that Osama bin Laden, the mastermind behind the events of September 11, 2001, has been killed in a U.S. military operation at a compound in Pakistan.
Aired on WUFT on April 11th, 2011
What do you get when you take a childrens’ book about a “Big Bunny” and blend it with a national ballet company? That’s what is happening this afternoon at the Pofahl Dance Studio where local author and illustrator Colleen Rand is signing copies of her new children’s book and donating proceeds to the Dance Alive National Ballet organization. WUFT’s Donna Green-Townsend talked with the resident choreographer for Dance Alive, Judy Skinner about the book and the effort to keep Dance Alive going.