VietNamNet Bridge - Live music in HCM City is never far away. Whether you are looking for relaxing background melody or a rip roaring rock session, Vietnams largest city has a place for you. And here are the best live music bars in the city.

Acoustic Bar

The Acoustic Bar is the venue of choice for Vietnams up and coming rock musicians. This is the place where legends never die and you can hear amazing renditions of amongst others Jimi Hendrix, The Doors and John Lennon. But its not limited to the classics; the international roster of musicians is free to rock on with anthems from any era.

The place itself is part bar, part cafe, with plenty of sofas for chilling with a coffee in the early evening and standing room for when it heats up at night there is no food served at The Acoustic Bar though so be sure to fill up beforehand.

This place is packed practically every night with a pleasant mix of Vietnamese and foreigners so if you only have one night for live music in HCM City, it should be The Acoustic Bar. Youll have no trouble finding the bar, just look out for an artistically upturned VW Beetle to guide the way.

Opening Hours: 18:00 24:00 (live music from 21:00, except on Sunday)

Address: 6E1 Ngo Thoi Nhiem Street, District 3

Sax n Art Jazz Club

Dark and smoky, this live jazz bar is unique in Ho Chi Minh City somewhere to listen to contemporary jazz with subtle Vietnamese influences thanks to the talented owner who plays several traditional instruments on stage.

Sax n Art is more expensive than most bars in the city, but that is the price you must pay to listen to Vietnams best jazz band in a compact and personal space.

The house band weaves between jazz standards and into some more avant-garde compositions, and many touring musicians have been known to frequent the club owned by Vietnams foremost jazz saxophone player.

Opening Hours: 19:00 24:00 (live music from 21:00)

Address: 28 Le Loi, District 1

Hard Rock Cafe

Hard Rock Cafe is a bar that needs no introduction creative cocktails, huge portions of tex-mex favourites, memorabilia on the walls and a kick ass live band to entertain you after dinner.

Its a formula that has won plaudits from New York to New Deli and keeps tourists returning again and again.

The live bands at Hard Rock Cafe in Saigon are technically excellent and play a varied and middle-of-the-road selection of rock ballads and a few anthems to get people out of their chairs and singing along.

Hard Rock Cafe HCM City is tourist and family-friendly with a bar menu of Western classics that could quell the hunger of a wildebeest. Particular favourites include the intimidating barbeque rack of ribs and their legendary burgers.

Opening Hours: Weekdays 11:00 24:00, Weekends 11:00 02:00 (Live music from 21:00)

Address: 39 Le Duan Street, District 1

Yoko Bar

A short moto-taxi out from HCM Citys tourist centre, Yoko Bar plays host to an assortment of bands playing rock and acoustic jazz pop in a smallish bar with a unique lived in style.

This is a true live music bar so there are bands playing every night of the week with a regular crowd of Ho Chi Minh City scenesters and expats.

Expect to hear some classic rock tunes along with some singer/songwriter type songs and if the feeling grabs you, you are free to go up and sing with the band! There are plenty of comfy sofas and a small upstairs space with a great view of the performers.

Opening Hours: 19:00 24:00 (Live music from 21:00)

Address: 22A Nguyen Thi Dieu Street, District 3

Seventeen Saloon

Seventeen Saloon Saigon is a Western Saloon themed bar and one of the best live music bars, hosting two different bands every day.

In the bar upstairs you can listen to a Filipino band playing Western songs and some Vietnamese on request, while downstairs in the main area a rock, heavy metal band is rocking the stage.

Seventeen Saloon is a nice place to spend some hours after a long day in the city if you love rock music, guitar shredding and loud sing-a-longs.

Opening Hours: 19:00 02:00 (live music from 21:00)

Address: 103A Pham Ngu Lao Street, District 1

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Saigon's best live music bars - VietNamNet Bridge

By David Zimmerman / Tazewell County Board Chairman

Often in talks with friends and family we come to a point in the conversation where one of us asks, Whats new? Fortunately, we rarely run out of things to talk about when it comes to the new things happening in Tazewell County. Our County is a vibrant and integral part of the region with fun activities and new developments occurring on a regular basis. I would like to highlight just a few of the new events and businesses that you can participate in this summer.

On Memorial Day of this year, two of our communities dedicated new veterans memorials honoring those who served our country. In Hopedale, the Hopedale Area Veterans Memorial was dedicated with a stirring speech by Pekin native and astronaut Scott Altman. This beautiful monument contains six large granite stones listing the names of those who served in the armed forces going back to the Civil War including the 109th Infantry. The memorial also has a bronze statue of Marine Captain Reid Nannen, a Hopedale native who lost his life in an F/A-18 accident in 2014. You can find this display near the entrance of the Hopedale Medical Center.

The Memorial Plaza in Morton was also dedicated before a large crowd this past Memorial Day. The Plaza is designed as a gathering place for the community and has as the focal point, the Veterans Memorial with pavers honoring Morton area vets. In addition to the memorial, a waterfall, sitting areas and a childrens play area are also featured.

One old, new thing I look forward to every year is the return of the farmers markets. East Peoria has one every Friday from 3-6 p.m. in the Levee District on the pedestrian promenade near the Target. Thirty separate vendors offer a wide variety of fresh foods and locally sourced goods. In addition, the market will feature local musicians showcasing their talent.

For those with a creative bent, Old School Arts just opened their doors in Morton with the goal of teaching and connecting generations through the arts. Scott and Heidi offer a fun, retro studio where individuals and groups can come paint, draw, write and create in a relaxing, open atmosphere. Are you looking for something for the kids to do this summer that is both fun and educational? Check OldSchoolArts.com and see where your imaginations can take you.

New also this year in Tazewell County is the Fourth Friday Art Loop. As the name implies, every fourth Friday Pekin, Delavan, Tremont and Morton will feature local artists playing their music, displaying their art and other exhibits and demonstrations. Of course there will be food and beverages at each location and everyone is encouraged to explore and shop in each community. What better way to spend a relaxing Friday after a long week in the workplace.

Pekin will be hosting the HOI Food Truck and Music Festival 2017 the weekend of June 24th and 25th. The festival will feature over one dozen bands and awesome eats from area food trucks will be serving delicious meals. This event will be at the Pekin VFW and additional information can be found at EnjoyPekin.com.

The events listed above only scratch the surface as to whats new in Tazewell County. The list could also include the fireworks displays, festivals that each community hosts, camping, floating down the Mackinaw River, fun runs, new restaurants and many other things that keep this area an exciting place to live and play. The next time you are talking with someone and they ask, Whats new, you will have plenty to talk about in answering the question.

David Zimmerman is the Tazewell County Board chairman.

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What's new in Tazewell County? - Pekin Daily Times

For years, Amazon ( amzn ) has been the specter looming over retail, as once-dominant department stores and specialty chains fell on harder and harder times. But up until now, the e-commerce titan has managed to irrevocably alter the industry without making much of a dent in retails biggest moneymaker of allthe $800 billion grocery business.

That changed on June 16 when Amazon announced its intention to acquire Whole Foods , the upscale supermarket chain that played a pivotal role in taking organic and natural foods mainstream. Whole Foods ( wfm ) itself may have been under duress, pressured by an activist investor and softening sales, but the healthy-food movement and the meticulously curated store experience that it pioneered is alive and well. Amazon is placing its bet on the future of the food industry, says Errol Schweizer, a former Whole Foods executive who is now an industry adviser, and they see Whole Foods as the leadership.

Most Amazon watchers are focused on the some 450 stores the e-commerce behemoth scoops up in the deal. These brick-and-mortar locations instantly give it a national physical presence, as well as a network of mini distribution centers for fresh produceby far the most challenging part of the grocery delivery business because of spoilage and the fragility of fruits and vegetables. (Upon news of the bid, grocery stocks took a nosedive accordingly.)

But Amazon isnt just trying to change how we buy groceries. Remember the companys original disruption: bookselling. Jeff Bezos not only shifted how and where books were sold; he also changed how they were made, by forcing publishers, authors, and everybody else along the book supply chain to cut their costs. The same thing could very well happen in food, and the outcome for food manufacturers could be as dire it was for book publishers. I would be terrified if I were a consumer packaged-goods company right now, says Benzi Ronen, CEO and founder of food hub management software startup Farmigo. Indeed, packaged-goods producers businesses are already under stress, with manufactured-food volumes at large companies declining 4% this year, as consumers seek out less-processed fare. And on the long-shot chance that Walmart ( wmt ) , playing defense, swoops in with a bigger bid, the same pressures will still be in play.

The overlooked asset Amazon gets in the deal is Whole Foods 365 house brandone of the most coveted in the organic and natural space, private label and otherwise. This is not your mothers generic box of cornflakes, with its bad design and perceived quality issues. A Piper Jaffray survey last spring found that 365 is customers favorite organic-food brand, ahead of premium names like Kelloggs-owned Kashi and General Mills Annies. The 365 brand is virtually unavailable online, but that will change if Amazon is smart about it. The opportunity to use the 365 brand as a mainstay of their online offering is really profound, says Bernstein analyst Alexia Howard. It puts a huge amount of pressure on branded food sales.

Amazon has tried to develop its own private label in food for years. In 2016 it rolled out its Happy Belly coffee, Mama Bear baby food, and Wickedly Prime snacks. These brands are available only to Amazon Prime members, who pay $99 a year for free two-day shipping, among a litany of other benefits. In a sign of how powerful its private label can be, analytics company 1010data found that for a 12-month period ending last year, 94% of all batteries sold online went through Amazon sites, and Amazons own brand made up about a third of all online battery sales. Its Amazon Elements baby wipes, introduced in 2014, have managed to capture 16% of online market share, despite being available only to Prime members.

Amazon and Whole Foods might seem like they are on opposite ends of the retail spectruma relatively small, high-end grocer vs. the massive e-commerce Everything Storebut they overlap in the power of their brands. Thats a rarity for a purveyor of food. Under the old model of food retailing, the brand you trusted was the manufacturer, Ronen says. Today you go onto Amazon and filter everything by whats Prime. Similarly, Whole Foods acts as a curator for shoppers by banning ingredients like saccharin and bleached flour from the products it sells. Together, the two trusted brands should create an even more powerful one. That could fundamentally alter the way grocery aisles lookand even make the aisles themselves obsolete.

A version of this article appears in the Jul. 1, 2017 issue of Fortune with the headline "The Deal That Made an Industry Shudder."

Originally posted here:

Why Amazon's Whole Foods Deal Is Terrifying Food Makers - Fortune

As a longtime farmer, I work hard to ensure that food I sell with a U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) certified organic logo lives up to that labels stringent standards. And I know the vast majority of organic farmers, processors, and handlers are equally committed to adhering to those high standards. The value of our business depends on customers trusting that they get what they pay for.

Thats why Ive been infuriated and troubled by recent investigative reports revealing gaps in the organic certification process. These articles have suggested that milk from a major domestic producer as well as imported corn and soybeans have been sold as certified organic, even though they reportedly failed to meet the USDA standards for that coveted label.

Stories like this should sound an alarm for Congress and the USDA. Failing to uphold the organic standards could blow a hole in one of the fastest-growing areas of agriculture. Inaction also harms certified organic farmers who are helping to grow the rural economy in states like mine by using the label to draw buyers and remain competitive.

Meeting organic certification standards costs farmers time and money. For instance, Abby Sadauckus and Jake Galle raise a variety of certified organic livestock at Apple Creek Farm in Bowdoinham, Maine. Among their expenses for meeting USDA standards are organic feed for their livestockwhich costs them about 50 percent more than conventional grainannual certification fees, and inspections.

When we allow rule-breakers to sow seeds of doubt about the organic labels integrity, it hurts farmers like Abby and Jake who are committed to organic practices. It also jeopardizes the future of the industry as a whole. Consumers are willing to pay a premium for certified organic products because they value the sustainable practices that go into thembut only if we can keep their trust.

While maintaining the integrity of the USDA organic label wont require a total change of the third-party certification system, a number of steps are needed to strengthen the system.

One is establishing clearer standards. Too many grey areas have allowed for their inconsistent and widely varying application. A new organic animal welfare rule, for example, would clearly spell out how livestock and chickens should be treated to ensure their health and well-being throughout life, including transport and slaughter. In the making for about a decade now, this rule was recently delayed by the Trump Administration right before going into effect.

Its also clear that USDA must strengthen its oversight of the organic certification process, and they need the resources to do so.

The agency charged with this responsibilitythe National Organic Programhas a paltry budget compared to the size of the industry. And things could get even worse. The Trump Administrations budget proposal would cut the agency by 11 percent and leave three vacant positions unfilled.

Last month, I had the chance to ask Secretary of Agriculture Sonny Perdue about those cuts. While I appreciate his pledge to double down on enforcement, I dont know how it can be done with fewer resources.

The budget proposal also eliminates funding for the Organic Transition Program and the Organic Cost-Share Program, both of which are vital to helping farmers make the transition to certified organic production.

Amid a draconian budget proposal that hits many people very hard, these cuts may seem insignificant. But to me they seem especially foolish and shortsighted. Organic food is arguably the biggest market opportunity in our agricultural economy right now. The Organic Trade Association just reported another record-breaking year for the industry, growing more than 8 percent and posting $43 billion in 2016 sales.

These sales benefit certified organic farmers who have reported increased revenue and new jobs in rural economies that very much need them. But keeping up this positive trend means maintaining the integrity of the organic labelsomething the Trump Administration and my colleagues in Congress would be wise to get behind.

Congresswoman Chellie Pingree (D-ME) is a member of the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Agriculture and owns Turner Farm, which grows certified organic vegetables, herbs, and flowers, and produces pasture-raised beef and pork.

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Rep. Chellie Pingree: We Must Act to Protect Integrity of the Certified Organic Label - Civil Eats

"We are losing them. They are getting out of our shops, out of our brands. They are going for food without the food industry. Not only without us, but maybe against us," he said.

Danone has bought U.S. organic food producer WhiteWave in a $12.5 billion (9.87 billion pounds) deal, bringing the company more into line with healthier eating trends.

The deal also aims to boost growth at Danone, whose shares trade at a discount to rivals. The company's depressed valuation was highlighted this week as a reason for it being touted as a potential bid target.

Faber told Reuters that Danone, which has no large controlling shareholder, was "no more and no less than usual" vulnerable to a possible takeover bid.

Danone is seeking to build on the WhiteWave deal with a campaign to promote itself as a leader in terms of healthy eating habits.

"The global industrial food system is reaching its limits," Faber told Reuters in a phone interview before his speech in Berlin. He said evidence of this included obesity and malnutrition, wasting water and food, soil depletion, and climate change.

"Everywhere people want to regain control over their food," said Faber, a rock climber and campaigner for corporate social responsibility.

BUYING INTO THE FUTURE

WhiteWave's products have outsold mainstream packaged food businesses in recent years, highlighting the consumer shift toward natural foods and healthier eating. The deal should also help Danone to cope with tougher market conditions in dairy products in Europe, and babyfood in China.

WhiteWave makes Danone the world's biggest producer of organic food and gives it a stronger foothold in North America, which is becoming its biggest market, accounting for $6 billion, or around 25 percent of group sales against 13 percent previously.

Faber said he hoped the new Danone signature would help to address a general consumer mistrust of big, corporate brands.

"Small brands communicate on their intentions, they are activists. It is key that big brands also state their intentions," he said.

Faber, the first Danone CEO from outside the founding Riboud family, is pushing on with a dual economic and social agenda, which - like that of many blue-chip companies - aims to not only boost shareholder value and profits but also meet other targets on the environment and social policies.

"The big risk is to avoid transforming ourselves and end up only cutting costs to return cash to shareholders," he said.

A pledge at the annual shareholder meeting in April for Danone to be certified as a for-profit corporation that commits to positive social and environmental goals - was in line with that strategy, he said.

BID TALK

Bid speculation around Danone pushed its shares sharply higher this week. Broker Exane said it could be an acquisition target for Kraft Heinz, also citing PepsiCo and Coca Cola as credible suitors.

Analysts at Berenberg wrote in a research note that investors would need concrete evidence of Danone's progress in its new areas.

"We believe investors will need to see further evidence of organic growth and margin momentum to agree with the CEO that Danone is 'uniquely placed to embrace the food revolution' and for its valuation discount to the sector to close fully."

Faber is confident Danone will deliver. "I am absolutely convinced our strategy creates value for the long-term but also the short-term," he said, adding he expected sales growth to improve in the third quarter.

(Reporting by Dominique Vidalon, additional reporting by Emma Thomasson in Berlin; Editing by Sudip Kar-Gupta and Jane Merriman)

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Danone Looks to Ride Healthy Food Revolution Wave - New York Times

Whole Foods Buy Out May Increase Sales of Organic and Non-GMO Food

The way food is being marketed and sold to consumers is changing, and this will have an impact on farmers and food producers. The purchase of Whole Foods by Amazon is just the beginning of a revolution in the food retailing industry. According to Richard Feinberg, professor of consumer science at Purdue, It is difficult to overstate the impact that this is going to have in the grocery industry.

Feinberg says Amazon has the ability to deliver food to people quickly, no matter where they are. Amazon brings a technology and distribution ability that no grocery retailer has. This will allow Whole Foods to do what it does, but better and more profitably. Grocery chains like Kroger, Target, and Wal-Mart are not ready for what Amazon brings to the table with the new and improved Whole Foods.

With the purchase of Whole Foods, Amazon will now be able to do that with the unique food products Whole Foods has. Whole Foods is a chain that does not sell GMO food products and stresses organic, antibiotic free, and less processed food items. Amazon will now have the ability to offer and deliver those kind of products anywhere. Whole Foods currently has 430 stories, but after the acquisition, they will have 350 million stores because they will be on every desktop, Feinberg says. About 50 percent of U.S. households have an Amazon Prime membership. Prime membership for groceries cements a relationship with a grocery store, and it encourages members who have not shopped there to shop in Whole Foods.

Feinberg says other retailers will be quick to react and adapt, Other food retailers will have to make changes or disappear. He added that Amazons goal is to be bigger than Wal-Mart in the food business. He predicts this change will come quickly, within the next 3 to 5 years.

Feinberg also says that Amazon has a test store called Amazon Go in Seattle that is displaying how Amazon does groceries. Two features are significant, Customers swipe their Amazon Prime Card when they enter. When they take something off the shelf and put it in their cart, it registers in their account. If they put the item back it, takes it off their account. When they walk out of the store, the payment is instantaneous. No more waiting to check out, which is the biggest complaint that consumers have of grocery stores.

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Whole Foods Buy Out May Increase Sales of Organic and Non-GMO Food - Hoosier Ag Today

When the news broke last Friday morning that online retailer Amazon had purchased organic supermarket chain Whole Foods Market for a cool $13.7 billion, the jokes immediately began to fly. Several people tweeted that maybe Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos had accidentally placed an order for Whole Foodsthe entire companyon his Amazon Echo. Comedian Stephen Colbert quipped on Twitter that Amazon bought Whole Foods, insuring farm to market to door to UPS to redelivery attempt to UPS to missed package to UPS back to market food!

But for many, this is a huge dealand dead serious. If it happensand there are at least a few observers and a congressman who think the merger may violate antitrust lawsAmazons move into the grocery marketplace signals that the giant appears poised to realign consumer habits around how we buy quinoa, cereal, and meat in precisely the same way it changed the way we buy books, clothes, and detergent.

That prospect sent shockwaves through the set-in-its-ways grocery industry, wreaking havoc on the stocks of brick-and-mortar food retailers like Walmart, Target, and Kroger. (Kroger saw its stocks plummet an unbelievable 28 percent Thursday and Friday.)

This is the first step to changing just how society shops for food in general, says Mike Lee, a product consultant and founder of The Future Market.

And, provided the sale doesnt face antitrust challenges, a successful merger of the two companies will likely be a mixed bag for the sustainable food movement in America.

Food Retail is Shifting Toward Healthy, Sustainable

Whether its a trend or shift that is here to stay, food that is perceived to be better for people and the planet is hot. The AmazonWhole Foods deal confirms what organic and other natural food sales trends have been showing us for years. According to the Organic Trade Association, Americans spent $43 billion on organic foods in 2016an increase of more than eight percent over the previous year. And Whole Foods has positioned itself as an alternative to the mainstream, even as it has worked to reach an increasingly mainstream audience over the last decade. And since the hedge fund Jana Partners upped its stake in Amazon in April, a move like this has been on the horizon.

Several CEOs of natural and organic brandseven the companies direct competitorssaid the merger validated their core principles, as they double-down on differentiating themselves.

Bentley Hall, CEO of online grocery-delivery service Good Eggs, shared an internal memo that includes the sentiment The game is on and I am honestly excited and honored to compete against such a worthy new opponent.

Gunnar Lovelace, co-founder of online food retailer Thrive Marketa retailer selling only organic, non-GMO products onlinesays his executive team was not in panic mode Friday morning. Instead, he said the company had recommitted to its principles of high-quality food, environmental sustainability, and fair labor standards in a way they feel goes above and beyond Whole Foods.

Thats a very different value proposition to the consumer who wants value and conveniencebut also wants real alignment with doing better in the world, he says. [Disclosure: The author has in the past worked as a writer for Thrive Markets blog and has written a feature for Whole Foods Magazine.]

Increased Access to Healthy Food

Though the numbers have never been made public, analysts estimate that more than 50 million Americans, from all walks of life, pay for Amazon Prime. By joining forces with an organic grocer like Whole Foods, Amazon is poised to bring natural and organic food directly to more Americans than ever, at prices that could be more competitive with conventional foods. Reports are already surfacing to this effect. Bloomberg is reporting that Amazon wants to shed Whole Foods Whole Paycheck image and make it more competitive with larger retailers like Walmart. If this happens, affordable organic food could become the rule, rather than the exceptionand find its way into more kitchens than ever.

This includes those of many low-income Americans who lack access to affordable, healthy food. Already, John Foraker, CEO of organic food company Annies, has called on Jeff Bezos to commit to ending food desertsurban and rural neighborhoods containing few healthy food optionsby 2027.

The ability for low-income Americans to use supplemental nutrition assistance program (SNAP) benefits online could assist this cause immensely. The United States Department of Agriculture is piloting a program, expected to launch in early 2018, allowing SNAP recipients in seven states to use their benefit to buy food online. Amazon is one of the retailers selected for the program.

Amazon Could Singlehandedly Transform Our Food System

Chef Alice Waters, a leader in the good food movement, expressed her hope for the merger in a strategically crafted open letter to Bezos on Friday.

You have an unprecedented opportunity to change our food system overnight: It is time to demand that produce comes from farmers who are taking care of the land, to require meat and seafood to come from operations that are not depleting natural resources, and to support the entrepreneurial endeavors of those American farmers and food makers who do not enjoy federal subsidies, she wrote.

Its time to do the right thing for our country, our farmers, and our planet, she continued. And were all here to help you do it!

Of course, by essentially asking Amazon to bring its standards up, however, Waters goal may be at odds with the idea of bringing prices of this kind of food down for consumers.

Concerns Abound

If an AmazonWhole Foods deal is allowed to go through, every food retailerbig-box stores, online retailers, and even farmers marketswill feel the crunch, says Future Markets Lee. Meal-kit delivery services like Blue Apron and Plated could suffer the most in the short term. Swallowing up lifestyle services like these would be easy pickings for the new grocery behemoth, Lee says, given Whole Foods access to quality food and Amazons logistics prowess.

According to Barry C. Lynn, Director of the Open Markets Program at New America, thats too much power for one corporation. Lynns organization condemned the deal Friday, calling it anti-competitive and asking regulators to reject the merger.

This private corporation already dominates every corner of online commerce, and uses its power to set terms and prices for many of the most important products Americans buy or sell to one another, Lynn said in a statement. Now Amazon is exploiting that advantage to take over physical retail.

While he does think anti-trust regulators must be vigilant, Parke Wilde, associate professor at the Friedman School of Nutrition Science and Policy at Tufts University, suggested the combined company is unlikely to be able to control prices as a monopolist does. In a healthy food system, he says, smaller farms and retailers would play a growing role, and he has mixed feelings about a merger of major corporations.

We should never forget that these are big corporations, pursuing their own profits foremost, but I still see some potential in a merger of Amazon and Whole Foods, Parke said.

For others, the deal could create a labor war. Bloomberg reported over the weekend that Amazon may be planning to lay off Whole Foods cashiers and replace them with machines. But beyond in-store employees, Michele Simon, the executive director of the Plant-Based Foods Association and author of Appetite for Profit, worries about the additional pressures being placed on farmers and food manufacturers to lower prices at a time when most of our food prices are not reflective of their true cost.

The driving down of food prices could come at a cost to farmers and every worker throughout the supply chain, she told Civil Eats.

And even as demand for organic food increases in America, less than 1 percent of domestic fields are certified organicand when domestic demand outstrips domestic supply, the practices that underlie USDA Organic-certified foods are sometimes put at risk. Expanding the supply of U.S.-grown organic foods is hampered by federal incentives that give the upper hand to conventionally grown food. So even if tens of millions more Americans begin to demand more humane and environmentally friendly food, the supplyat least here in the U.S.will likely fall short.

We still need a host of policy reforms to fix this problem, Simon said. Will Amazon and Whole Foods join us in that effort? I hope so.

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Will the Amazon-Whole Foods Deal Mean Better Food for All? - Civil Eats

Earlier this month, the North Florida School of Special Education (NFSSE) announced a new partnership with The Arc Jacksonville Village, which would bring organic fruits, vegetables and herbs grown at the schools farm into the residential campus dining hall.

More than 120 adults over the age of 18 with diagnoses including Down syndrome, autism, Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorders, cerebral palsy and other developmental disabilities, call The Arc Jacksonville Village home.

Debbie Johnson, board member at The Arc Jacksonville, said prior to the partnership with NFSSE, residents were fed by a full-time chef.

We have been in operations at the village for a year and we were evaluating the cost effectiveness of the food service program here, she said. During those series of conversations, we talked to the NFSSE because we knew about their Berry Good Farms culinary program.

NFSSE launched Berry Good Farms in 2011 and it not only provides sustainable food, it serves as a training opportunity for students who are transitioning out of the school, as well as compensated employment for post-graduates.

Johnson said the partnership came out of several conversations with Sally Hazelip, executive director of NFSSE.

We felt that because of the experience the school had with a culinary program that what theyd offer here would be delicious, healthy meals for our residents and that they would offer these quality meals at an affordable price, she said. We saw an opportunity for the school to come here and expand their Berry Good Farms program.

In addition to providing meals to The Arc Jacksonville Village residents, NFSSE will offer a culinary program starting in August.

We want to teach kids how to function in the kitchen as well as learn culinary skills, Hazelip said. The culinary school will be open to The Arc residents and our own students.

The Berry Good Farms launched On the Gos food truck in 2015 as a compensated employment opportunity for students.

Hazelip said the caf at The Arc Jacksonville Village will be an additional opportunity for compensation.

Within a year, well have about 15 to 20 students who will work there and get paid to cook in the afternoons, she said. Well have a caf manager, assistant manager, catering and food truck manager who will be housed there to supervise students.

Johnson said the partnership between the two entities is a natural fit.

Theres a common thread with whom we serve and, oftentimes, NFSSE students come and live here at our village, she said. Over the years, there have been other partnerships and things weve done together, and I can almost say with 100 percent certainty that this isnt the last partnership with the school.

Johnson anticipates expanding the culinary program in the future.

If we see that many of our residents and students are interested in the program, then itll get bigger, she said. If our residents learn that youre not simply watering a leafy plant, but thats a sustainable source of food, that education and awareness is so valuable.

Hazelip said the culinary program is another opportunity that has been given to students.

Whats offered here is so different than 50 years ago and our students are given opportunities they never would have had, she said. Its a gift to have a kitchen that we didnt have to raise money to build and that we can provide this service.

Hazelip added, Im excited for the possibilities of whats to happen in the next year.

Moving forward, Hazelip said volunteers will be crucial to the success of the caf and culinary program at The Arc Jacksonville Village.

Volunteers are an important aspect because we really believe so much in reverse inclusion, which means that instead of typical inclusion where our students are included in activities, people come to us, she said. Id encourage people to volunteer and work alongside our students to give them assistance reading a recipe and using a knife.

To volunteer, contact Ellen Hiser, director of Berry Good Farms, at (904) 724-8323 or ehiser@northfloridaschool.org.

Ann Friedman: (904) 359-4619

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The Arc partners with special education school to bring organic ... - Florida Times-Union

NEVADA COUNTY, Calif. -- Sheriff's deputies are investigating a case of a man who drowned while apparently practicing a face-down meditation technique in a Northern California river, CBS Sacramento station KOVR-TV reports.

Deputies identified the victim as 33-year-old Yoav Timmer of Israel.

"There was nothing at that scene that led them to believe that it was suspicious," Nevada County Sheriff's Capt. Shannon Moon said.

Moon said the death was unlike any she's seen before.

"Face-down meditation is the first one I've heard of in 27 years," Moon said. "Kind of blocking out the distractions of mindfulness in a face-down position under water."

Deputies said Timmer drowned in a section of the Yuba River where the water pools and there's no strong current.

The man's body was discovered by his friend. They were practicing the same meditation technique side by side.

People using the river, where temperatures are colder than normal, were surprised anyone would attempt the risky move.

"If you love your life and love being here," Lucca McCaleb said, "then sometimes I think it's not worth it to kind of take big risks."

Moon said in this particular case the move wasn't safe.

"Don't do this," she said.

The sheriff's department has contacted an Israeli consulate to get in touch with Timmer's family.

2017 CBS Interactive Inc. All Rights Reserved.

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Man dies while performing face-down meditation in river - CBS News

But this process can drain mental resources, she says, just as physical labor tires the body. In past studies at her lab and elsewhere, researchers have found that military recruits and other people experiencing periods of unusually high and sustained stress, especially if the stress is both physical and emotional, begin to perform more poorly on tests of their attention and general happiness.

So for the new study, which was published in April in the Journal of Cognitive Enhancement, she and her colleagues wondered whether teaching people to relax or to hone their focus might improve their overall well-being. In effect, they wanted to find out whether training the athletes minds while they were also taxing their bodies might help to mitigate some of the undesirable effects of exercise on their thinking and emotions.

To find out, she and her colleagues turned to a group of athletes who face reliably outsize levels of physical and mental stress: Division I football players.

With the cooperation of the teams coaches and student captains, Dr. Jha and her colleagues gathered players for the University of Miami team just as they were about to start four weeks of preseason training. During this time, the players would be attending summer classes while also undertaking a grueling regimen of aerobic and strength training, culminating in evaluations from coaches about starting positions. It is a particularly stressful period for the athletes.

Dr. Jha and her colleagues asked each player to complete a computerized test of his ability to focus and rapidly respond to various combinations of numbers flashing on the screen. The players also filled out questionnaires about their current mood and sense of well-being.

The researchers then divided 100 of the athletes into two groups.

One began a program of supervised relaxation training, during which they listened to calming music and learned to systematically relax their muscles.

The other group was taught mindfulness meditation, which involves paying close attention to breathing and to the present moment.

These sessions, whether of relaxation or meditation, were short, lasting for about 12 minutes, and usually took place immediately after the players had finished strength training and were still gathered in the team gym. The students also were asked to practice the same mental techniques on their own throughout the week.

The mental training was voluntary, though, and some players attended more sessions and practiced more frequently at home than others.

At the end of four weeks of the intense preseason, the players repeated the original tests of their attention and happiness.

The results showed that, in general, they were feeling the strain. For most of them, performance on the test of sustained attention dropped significantly, meaning that they were far more apt to lose focus now. They also were gloomier, according to questionnaires about their moods.

But there were differences. The more an athlete in the relaxation group had practiced relaxing, the less his mood had tended to decline, the researchers found.

And those in the meditation group, if they had practiced often, showed considerable mental resilience, with higher scores than the other athletes in either group on the measures of both attention and mood.

Over all, these data suggest that mental training of almost any kind may help to alleviate some of the emotional and cognitive strains that otherwise occur during physical training, Dr. Jha says.

But mindfulness meditation was more effective than simple relaxation at helping athletes to maintain their ability to focus, she points out.

This study was, of course, specialized, involving young, male, elite football players, whose lives and bodies are not representative of those of the rest of us. The study was also short-term and its scope limited. The researchers did not examine whether mental training improved players performance on the field, although Dr. Jha says that they hope to study that issue in the future.

Still, the results are promising, she says, in part because the commitment required was so slight.

We only asked for about 12 minutes a day of mental training, Dr. Jha says.

For the rest of us, she says, the studys message would seem to be that if we plan to substantially ramp up our normal exercise routine, perhaps in anticipation of our first triathlon or a faster 5-kilometer race time, we might wish also to learn to mindfully meditate. (You can find advice about how to start in the Well Meditation Guide.)

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To Train an Athlete, Add 12 Minutes of Meditation to the Daily Mix - New York Times