STEARNS VISITING SEVEN SITES ON TUESDAY, APRIL 11TH

Washington, Apr 10, 2006 - "Alachua County has a number of important resources, among them the University of Florida, Santa Fe Community College, and innovative businesses, that contribute to our state and to the nation," stated Rep. Cliff Stearns (R-Ocala). "I am proud that I was able to obtain funding for these important projects, and I look forward to visiting these projects."

In addition to visiting the sites, Stearns will present checks for the funding he obtained for each project. These events will be held in Alachua County on Tuesday, April 11, 2006. These are the projects and their locations:

* Invivo Corporation, $500,000 to develop advanced Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) technology and Magnetic Resonance Angiography (MRA) for the accurate diagnosis of Traumatic Brain Injury (9:00 a.m., 3545 SW 47th Ave., Gainesville).

* University of Florida, $1.25 million for advanced research on broadband electronics for use in electronic surveillance (10:00 a.m., 226 Tigert Hall, University of Florida).

* City of Gainesville/Alachua County, $150,000 for police and fire departments to coordinate effective responses to local, state and national threats (11:00 a.m., Alachua County Building, Jack Durrance Auditorium).

* Gainesville Airport, $2 million for infrastructure improvements needed to accommodate and ensure access to scheduled air service and air cargo activities (1:30 p.m., Gainesville Airport).

* Banyan Biomarkers, $1 million for continuing work on Traumatic Brain Injury research in cooperation with the University of Florida (2:45 p.m., 12085 Research Drive, Suite 180, Alachua)).

* City of Alachua, $25,000 for the Veteran's Memorial Park (3:30 p.m., Alachua City Hall).

* Santa Fe Community College, $250,000 for the expansion of the Fine and Applied Arts Educational Building to strengthen the curriculum and opportunities for students to obtain a broad-based education (4:45 p.m., Santa Fe-Robertson Administrative Building).