Washington, D.C
AgVentures Challenge finalists visit Washington, D.C. – Texas Farm Bureau
By Emmy Powell
Communications Specialist
Finalists of Texas Farm Bureau’s (TFB) 2023 AgVentures Challenge: Pitch It, Market It, Sell It state contest recently traveled to Washington, D.C. to meet with elected officials on Capitol Hill and visit historical sites.
The students on the trip included Mattison Smith of Wood County, Joe Polster of Hamilton County, Whitley Anderson of Scurry County, Justin Hill of Moore County, Jhett Davis of Johnson County and Aubrey Ellis of Rush County.
The expense-paid trip was part of the prize package the students received for being finalists in the state contest.
“The trip gave them a chance to meet congressional leaders, bringing the contest full circle for the students,” McKenna Bush, TFB Youth Outreach coordinator, said. “It is important for young adults to understand constitutional government and the free enterprise system.”
During the trip, the finalists met with U.S. Reps. Pete Sessions, Jake Ellzey, Lance Gooden, Ronny Jackson, Nathaniel Moran and Jodey Arrington.
The students also met with U.S. Sens. Ted Cruz and John Cornyn.
They visited the American Farm Bureau Federation office and had an evening tour of the U.S. Capitol.
They also met with congressional interns from Texas A&M University, Texas Tech University and current staffers who are alumni from the intern programs.
The trip doubled as an opportunity for networking and learning about American history.
“This trip is an opportunity to reward them for their hard work, broaden their network and participate in experiential learning. This group of young adults are bright, and the trip allowed them to gain deeper knowledge of not only the nation’s government, but experience the capital while making memories,” Bush said.
Each student brought home a different lesson from the trip.
“It’s definitely a blessing to grow a deeper understanding of the role congressional members play,” Smith, the contest winner, said. “This trip has me looking at my future a little differently because being in D.C. and seeing everything at work at the Capitol is really different than what you see and learn about in school.”
Smith also put emphasis on the importance of agriculture in D.C.
“It’s important that farmers, ranchers and people who are passionate about agriculture go to D.C. because you’re able to share a story that they might not really understand unless it’s coming from you,” Smith said.
Polster, the contest runner-up, has always been interested in politics and noted he gained new perspectives while at the nation’s capital.
“It was truly an awesome experience,” he said. “We visited with my congressman, met their staff and learned about the different positions that are within government and how legislation is created and passed.”
The trip helped students understand grassroots advocacy and how one voice can help make a difference.
“If lawmakers aren’t representing agriculture properly, we’re not going to be able to grow food and raise livestock. It’s important we have congressmen and senators who are willing to meet with us so we can show the importance of agriculture in their everyday life” Polster said.
They visited the International Spy Museum and United States Holocaust Memorial Museum. The group also toured Old Town Alexandria, Arlington National Cemetery and Mount Vernon, as well as attended the Congressional Baseball Game at the Washington Nationals Park.
Contest details
This was the first year for the contest and open to high school seniors who completed TFB’s Thrive experience last August.
Thrive is part of TFB’s Student Success Series, which includes virtual and in-person programs for students in eighth through twelfth grade. The Student Success Series aims to help students develop a better understanding of advocacy, learn more about Farm Bureau and grow personal and professional skills they can use in the classroom and future careers.
Ten finalists participated in the state AgVentures Challenge where they created an agricultural product, developed a marketing pitch and presented their ideas to a panel of judges.
The state contest took place at TFB’s Conference and Training Center in Waco Jan. 26.
For more information about the Student Success Series, visit texasfarmbureau.org/student-success-series.
Washington, D.C
Storm Team4 Forecast: A chilly, gusty Sunday before a cool start to the week
4 things to know about the weather:
- Chances of rain in the morning
- Gusty Sunday
- Chilly Monday
- Temps will rise again through the work week
Download the NBC Washington app on iOS and Android to check the weather radar on the go.
After a nice and warm Saturday, changes arrive for part two of the weekend.
The first half of your Sunday will have a chance for showers. Winds will pick up with our next system and are expected to gust to about 20-30 mph. Cooler air will settle in, and lows Sunday night fall into the 40s.
Highs temps Monday will reach only into the mid to upper 50s.
However, temperatures will rise through the week, so you won’t need your jackets every day.
QuickCast
SUNDAY:
Showers, then partly cloudy
Wind: NW 10-15 mph
Gusts @ 30 mph
HIGH: Lower 60s
MONDAY:
Partly cloudy
Wind: NW 10-15 mph
Gusts @ 25 mph
HIGH: Upper 50s
Stay with Storm Team4 for the latest forecast. Download the NBC Washington app on iOS and Android to get severe weather alerts on your phone.
Washington, D.C
‘It’s a twilight zone’: Iran war casts deep shadows over IMF gathering in Washington
The most severe energy shock since the 1970s, the risk of a global recession and households everywhere stomaching a renewed surge in the cost of living – hitting the most vulnerable hardest.
In a sweltering hot Washington DC this week, the message at the International Monetary Fund meetings was chilling: things had been looking up for living standards around the world. But then came the Iran war.
“Some countries are in panic,” said the fund’s managing director, Kristalina Georgieva, addressing the finance ministers and central bank bosses in town for the IMF and World Bank spring meetings. “The sooner it [the Iran war] ends, the better for everybody.”
Such gatherings are not typically used to fight geopolitical battles. “You don’t get people shouting at one another at these things,” one senior figure remarked. But, as a record-breaking April heatwave swept the US capital, no one could ignore the mounting damage from the Iran war.
Those familiar with the mood over breakfast at a meeting of the G20’s representatives on Thursday, which included Donald Trump’s treasury secretary, Scott Bessent, and the outgoing US Federal Reserve chair, Jerome Powell – said the atmosphere in the room was sombre amid an open exchange of serious views.
“It is such a twilight-zone meeting,” said Mohamed El-Erian, a former IMF deputy managing director who is now chief economic adviser at the Allianz insurance group. “There are several shadows hanging over it: one is the shadow that comes from concern about the global economy as a whole.
“The second is that some countries are going to be particularly hard hit, and it’s mostly countries that very few people are talking about. But the third concern is the adding of insult to injury: the fact that the US, which started a war of choice, is going to be hit, but by a lot less than elsewhere in relative terms.”
Before Thursday’s breakfast, Rachel Reeves had started her day with an early-morning jog. Joined by her counterparts from Spain, Australia and New Zealand for a run down the iconic National Mall, she posted an Instagram selfie with a not-so-subtle dig: “Friends that run together – work together.”
A day earlier, the chancellor had told a CNBC conference that she thought “friends are allowed to disagree on things” as she criticised Trump’s Iran war as a “mistake” and a “folly” that had not made the world safer.
Speaking at a venue just steps away from the White House, before a one-on-one meeting with Bessent, she said this “fair message” was needed because UK families and businesses were feeling the pain from higher energy prices triggered by the conflict.
Those close to Reeves insist her meeting remained cordial. Britain and the US have significant shared interests in AI, financial services and trade. The chancellor also said the UK government had little time for the Iranian regime.
But with the IMF having warned on Tuesday that the Iran war could risk a global recession – in which Britain would be the biggest G7 casualty – it was clear Reeves had travelled to Washington ready to pick a fight.
“I’m struck by how vocal she has been and the words she used,” said one global financier. “We know the disagreement between Bessent and [European Central Bank president] Christine Lagarde earlier in the year. But that was in private.”
At a cocktail party held at the British ambassador’s residence for hundreds of diplomats and financiers – including the Bank of England’s governor, Andrew Bailey, the chief executive of Barclays, CS Venkatakrishnan, and dozens of senior figures – this transatlantic tension, weeks before King Charles’s US state visit, was a major topic of conversation.
The other, in the balmy residence gardens, was one of its former occupants, Peter Mandelson, as revelations about the former ambassador’s appointment threatened to further rock the UK government.
Before the war, the agenda for the IMF had been about global cooperation; the adoption of AI, jobs and work to eradicate poverty. Each of those tasks had now been complicated, but not least the task of countries working together.
For many at the meetings, the focus was on forging closer global cooperation without the world’s pre-eminent superpower.
“Everybody is talking about how you hedge against American decisions,” said David Miliband, the former UK foreign secretary, who now runs the International Rescue Committee. “You can’t do without them, because they’re 25% of the global economy. But, in a lot of fora, they’ve pulled out.
“So everyone has to think, how does one structure international cooperation? The old west is not coming back. And so everyone has to figure out how to position themselves for that world.”
For those gathering in Washington, there was irony in the fact that they were meeting in the halls of institutions founded, under US leadership, to promote global cooperation after the second world war. The whole idea of the Bretton Woods institutions was to avoid the dire economic conditions and warfare of the 1930s and 1940s. Yet this year’s meeting was taking place amid these intertwining problems.
In their conversations about the best economic policy response to the shock of conflict, the economists also knew the real power to make a difference lay two blocks across town from the IMF and the World Bank – behind the security cordons and construction equipment blocking the White House from public view. “It is not clear they can do anything about it,” said El-Erian.
Still, with a booming economy driven by AI – including Anthropic’s powerful Mythos model, the topic of much conversation – most countries cannot afford to completely break off US ties.
“People want to find ways to insulate themselves from the mess. But, on the other hand, they admire the US private sector,” El-Erian said. “The best way I’ve heard it put, is: they want to go long the private sector and short the mess. But it’s almost impossible to do.”
Washington, D.C
Rosselli opens in DC, serving classic Italian flavors from chef Carlos
Washington, D.C. (7News) — Rosselli is the newest restaurant to open in DC.
Bringing in classic Italian flavors, Chef Carlos explained how he hopes his food is a unique addition to the Italian food scene in the DMV.
Chef also demoed a signature dish with Brian and Megan.
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You can learn more and book your table here.
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