Dallas’s southern half is desperate for some development. In fact, Mayor Mike Rawlings has dedicated the majority of his time in office, which began in June of last year, to improving the region south of the river.

As a means to achieve this goal, he established GrowSouth, a plan that involves raising funds, stimulating change, and guiding neighborhoods and schools into better and healthier routines. He explained that he hoped to raise one million dollars for the program.

Several companies have made contributions to his cause. In September, investment advisor Highland Capital Management in Dallas, founded by James Dondero, donated $50,000 to the GrowSouth Community Fund. Upon announcing the contribution, Mayor Rawlings said the gift would support a social services coordinator at Zumwalt Middle School. The coordinator’s responsibilities included basic things, such as ensuring children came to school in clean clothes.

Rawlings said:

“The social service coordinator is going to help go into the homes of these kids and make sure they are ready for school when they get there.”

Highland Capital wasn’t the only company to contribute. Comerica Bank also donated $50,000, and Rawlings challenged others to do the same.

Later this month, the Liberty Hyde Bailey Museum of South Haven, Michigan will launch its new photo exhibit of the works of ‘America’s Father of Modern Horticulture.’

Liberty Hyde Bailey, Jr. was born in South Haven in 1858. After graduating from the Michigan Agricultural College, now Michigan State University, Bailey became the assistant of Asa Gray, the famous botanist. He later moved to Ithaca with his wife and two daughters, where he founded the College of Agriculture and was elected an Associate Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. President Theodore Roosevelt later appointed Bailey chairman of the National Commission on Country Life.

According to Wikipedia, Bailey “represented an agrarianism that stood in the tradition of Thomas Jefferson, he had a vision of suffusing all higher education, including horticulture, with a spirit of public work and integrating ‘expert knowledge’ into a broader context of democratic community action.”

“Most people don’t know, but should know, the name Liberty Hyde Bailey,” said museum director Mr. John Stempien. “He was an environmentalist, author, teacher, poet and photographer. This exhibit gives us a window into the true American whose vision is timeless.”

The LHBM exhibit will feature more than twenty works by the cofounder of the American Society for Horticultural Science, including studies on plant life, family portraits, the Bailey estate and much more, all from the museum’s assortment of 100 glass-plate negatives. The exhibition will also feature archival materials such as documents, artifacts and books from the family’s library.

The museum is part of the Blue Star Museums project, allowing active-duty military and their families free admission to the exhibits.

Today, June 5^th, astronomers and space enthusiasts will be able to experience the transit of Venus, a rare planetary alignment that helped scientists map out our solar system many years ago. The second since 2004, the phenomenon won’t occur again until December 2117.

For centuries, astronomers have studied the transit with the goal of estimating the distance between Earth and the sun. Explorers competed for viewing locations, and watched the Venus crossed the sun over a six hour period.

Modern technology has allowed scientists to reach more accurate readings of the distance between our world and the sun, as well as the other planets in our solar system, but the transit of Venus remains an iconic event in astronomic development. The occurrence also aids astronomers in their search for other planets outside our solar system today.

Amethyst Cathedral Pair

This past weekend, a new “Meteorites and Minerals” exhibit was launched at Morrill Hall on the University of Nebraska-Lincoln City campus.

The event curator, Professor Robert Joeckel of the School of Natural Resources, explained that the exhibit was inspired by Roger Pabian, a geologist of the Conservation and Survey Division of the school.

Pabian, a dedicated rock, gem and fossil collector, passed away two years ago at the age of 75, and the new exhibit was established in part to commemorate him.

Joeckel said: “When Roger passed away, I felt somewhat obligated to take over.” He added that some of the minerals from the collection have a direct relation to everyday life. “The one that is most prevalent is the mineral fillers that make products what they are,” he explained. “Synthetic rubbers and plastics have a lot of mineral material in them.”

Joeckel continued, explaining his hopes that the exhibit would lead people to consider materials and their effect on daily life. “Our national security and our everyday lives depend on a flow of raw materials from the solid earth.”

Some of the minerals, however, are expensive and rare. One of the exhibit’s new purchases is the “Amethyst Cathedral Pair,’ a meteorite containing a big amethyst crystal.

According to University Museum Associate Director Mark Harris, Morrill Hall has never hosted an exhibit as impressive as this. It took over a year to organize, and the items on display were collected through various means. Some were loaned by private collectors, while others were purchased with the help of a Lancaster Country Visitors Improvement Fund grant.

Harris added that he was ecstatic about the new display. “The sheer beauty will blow people’s minds!” he said.

Forty Two chefs Michael Selig and Stephen Burrow recently visited Forest Park Elementary School in Little Rock as part of their mission to promote healthy eating in children. Their restaurant is located next to the William J. Clinton Presidential Center, and the partners have adopted former president Clinton’s efforts in that area.

“If we change just one of two kids from drinking so much soda or picking up carrots instead of chips, we’ve done something good,” Selig said. “The holidays are synonymous with overindulging on rich food. We don’t want to take away the fun in eating during the holidays, but we want to teach kids to make healthy food choices.”

As a means to achieve this goal, the two chefs have created a program and presented in central Arkansas schools on a monthly basis. Demand grew throughout the state, and now the pair are booked through the end of the school year. The idea was inspired by a culinary day camp which took place last summer at the Clinton Center to fight obesity. According to the foundation’s statistics, one in three adolescents is overweight or obese in the U.S. today.

“Childhood obesity is one of our country’s most pressing health issues, and the problem is even more prevalent in the South,” explained Stephanie S. Streett of the Clinton Foundation. “The Clinton Center and Forty Two are proud to be a part of the ongoing solution by educating and, more importantly, empowering children to understand food and lifestyle choices.”