First Lady Michelle Obama Recognizes the Healthier US School Challenge Participants

Continue »

Thanks Obamacare

Continue »

A Solar Barn Raising For the 21st Century

In bygone years, neighbors in rural America would share their time, tools and talent to “raise a barn” for a neighbor in need. This year, Benton County, Oregon residents demonstrated this same commitment to community at the Benton County Fairgrounds, but they didn’t build any ordinary barn. They constructed a livestock building powered by 306 roof-top solar modules funded by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act.

“This building was built in the spirit of the traditional barn raising,” said Eric Thompson, past chair of the Benton County Fair Board and current Fairgrounds Foundation member, referring to the aspect of a community coming together to build something of utility.

The array will meet nearly a quarter of the fairgrounds’ annual energy needs and cut energy costs by $4,200 per year. The 82,700 kiloWatt hours of solar-generated electricity will avoid 1.1 million pounds of greenhouse gas emissions - equivalent to reducing automobile travel by 121,724 miles a year or planting 7.7 acres of trees.

Continue »

Wireless Users Will Get Alerts on Excess Use

WASHINGTON — Users of cellphones and other wireless devices who are nearing their monthly limit for voice, text or data services will receive alerts when they are in danger of being charged extra, under an agreement reached by carriers and the Federal Communications Commission.

Tens of millions of wireless phone users are hit with overage charges each year, the F.C.C. estimates, based on its own studies and work by the Government Accountability Office and private research firms. The new agreement binds all of the members of the industry’s largest trade group, and therefore covers virtually all of the country’s more than 300 million wireless accounts, according to the F.C.C. chairman, Julius Genachowski.

Continue »