ECONOMY

learm about the stimulus, taxes, jobs, auto bailout, reform, and signs of success

HEALTH CARE

The affordable Care Act helps families, reduces cost, and deserves our support.

EDUCATION

When government, teachers, parents and the community working together, our schools improve.

ENVIRONMENT

Americans conserve, stimulus boosts economy, discoveries are made daily

COMMUNITY

Working with neighbors, non profits and government agencies we can make a diference.

Sunday, January 1, 2012

Major health care changes took effect in 2011

Posted by Linda H on 1:49:00 PM

WASHINGTON - In a year that included an attempted House repeal of the federal health care law, several court cases challenging its constitutionality and Republican candidate debates proposing a replacement plan, it can be difficult to dig through the rhetoric to determine just what the 2010 health care law has done.
"It's complicated, but there are very many benefits affecting millions of people," said Don Berwick, who served as administrator of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services until the beginning of December. "They will not know it's the Affordable Care Act, but it is."
In 2011, the law targeted specific groups of people — mostly the young and senior citizens — while the most argued about pieces won't come until 2014. Then, assuming the Supreme Court doesn't rule against the "individual mandate," the provision that requires most Americans to buy health insurance, millions more people will be affected.

Because of You :: OFA CA

Posted by Linda H on 9:10:00 AM

The aide next to me motioned me forward and announced, “Mr. President, this is Juan Penalosa.” The President of the United States of America and I made eye contact and I walked forward in a daze. I had spent the night before practicing what I would say and had it down to a polished 15 second sound bite. But, as I walked forward, I had drawn a blank. The President shook my hand and looked at me expectantly. I whispered the first thing that came to my mind. “It’s an honor, Mr. President. My father would have been so proud.” As I spoke, tears began to well in my eyes.

Old Growth Redwood Forest Protected in the Santa Cruz CA

Posted by Linda H on 6:40:00 AM


For 105 years, the towering Davenport cement plant on Santa Cruz County's rural north coast produced the cement that built Northern California, including such varied and prodigious projects as the Golden Gate Bridge, BART, Oakland City Hall, Folsom Dam, Candlestick Park and the Stanford University Medical Center.

But now the plant, shuttered last year, is leaving a different kind of landmark. In one of the largest land preservation deals in the Bay Area in a generation, five conservation groups have signed an agreement to buy 8,532 acres around the plant for $30 million.

Teachers union leads effort that aims to turn around West Virginia school system

Posted by Linda H on 6:32:00 AM

By Lyndsey Layton Published: December 15
McDOWELL COUNTY, W.Va. — The American Federation of Teachers, vilified by critics as an obstacle to school reform, is leading an unusual effort to turn around a floundering school system in a place where deprivation is layered on heartache.

The AFT, which typically represents teachers in urban settings, wants to improve education deep in the heart of Appalachia by simultaneously tackling the social and economic troubles of McDowell County.

The union has gathered about 40 partners, including Blue Cross Blue Shield, Cisco Systems, IBM, Save the Children, foundations, utility companies, housing specialists, community colleges, and state and federal governments, which have committed to a five-year plan to try to lift McDowell out of its depths.

Once-homeless Miami man earns master’s degree

Posted by Linda H on 6:03:00 AM



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