- Author: Jeannette E. Warnert
Many people think of June when planning their weddings. This year, for a number of UC Cooperative Extension academics, the early summer month is time to retire from a long and distinguished career.
The four retirement releases I wrote this June represented a combined 111 years of experience with UC Cooperative Extension, and these aren't the only retirements to take place this month. The advisors' stories are being picked up by the media.
The Fresno Bee included Dave Snell's retirement in its Business Briefs.
- Author: Jeannette E. Warnert
When I first heard that UC Cooperative Extension farm advisor Morgan Doran would be training sheep to clean up weeds in vineyards, I knew it would be a great story. I personally enjoyed visiting Doran and his cooperators in the study at the beautiful UC Hopland Research and Extension Center, getting the details of the research and writing a piece for the UC Web site and to share with the media.
I have also enjoyed what the media have done with the story. The Central Valley Business Times led their article, published June 2:
"Who knew? It turns out that sheep can be trained to be vineyard workers,...
- Author: Jeannette E. Warnert
The recent rise in gas prices has many folks thinking about biofuels. In fact, in the last week, the Associated Press reported that the push from Congress and the White House for hugh increases in biofuels is prompting the oil industry to scale back it plans for refinery expansions -- which could keep gas prices high for years to come. (AP stories appear in many media outlets and Web sites. Use the seven-day free search with the keyword "biofuel" to find this story.) The article, by H. Josef Hebert, says oil industry executives no longer believe there will be the demand for gasoline over the next decade to warrant billions of dollars in refinery expansions.
As politicians and...
- Author: Jeannette E. Warnert
Just today I learned of an extremely helpful article that ran in the Sacramento Bee a week ago which includes "nagging points" for parents who are dealing with teenagers this summer. As the mother of two adolescents, I feel empowered by the story and can now more comfortably justify my parenting actions.
For the first section of the article, reporter Alison apRoberts (yes, that's the spelling given for her last name), went to Katherine Heck, specialist at the 4-H Center for Youth Development at UC Davis. (apRoberts identified Heck as a "survey researcher.")
Heck told the newspaper that the vast majority of teens in one recent...
- Author: Jeannette E. Warnert
The Orange County Register ran a 1,200-word story this week on a demonstration project at the UC South Coast Research and Extension Center in Irvine. The project was created to show homeowners how they can control urban runoff, which can wash pesticides, fertilizer and other contaminants into coastal waters and cause unwanted algae blooms.
The article, by reporter Pat Brennan, describes three small buildings made to look like homes centered on three different landscapes -- one that is "typical," which shows the problems with many residential landscapes, one that is "retrofitted," which...
