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A New Strategy For Getting Veterans Jobs

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soldier-swings.jpgThe U.S. Department of Labor is trying some new strategies to fight the 20 percent unemployment rate for veterans of Iraq and Afghanistan. One strategy made its national debut in Washington D.C. yesterday.

A jobs summit for female veterans was organized with employers who were matched with the veterans who registered and their particular skill sets.

Seventy-five women registered for the event — and the Department of Labor says the summit will be duplicated around the country if more than half the women here find jobs.

(WAMU.org News )

Obama Orders Lenders To Cut Mortgage Payments For Unemployed

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sold_sign.jpgThe Obama administration launches another program to attack the foreclosure crisis, by spending TARP funds from the emergency bailout program for the financial system, and requiring lenders to slash or eliminate monthly mortgage payments for the unemployed for between 3-6 months..

Economist Mark Zandi estimates it would be a significant boost to the US economy.

Banks and other lenders would have to reduce the payments to no more than 31 percent of a borrower’s income, which would typically be the amount of unemployment insurance, for three to six months. In some cases, administration officials said, a lender could allow a borrower to skip payments altogether.

(READ the good news for unemployed homeowners in the Washington Post)

10,000 New Jobs Added in Houston in One Month

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handshake-hand-up.jpgLocal unemployment is down and job creation is better than usual for this time of year in Houston, Texas.

Houston-area employers added 10,300 jobs from January to February, above the average 8,000 to 8,500 jobs added during the same one-month period.

(READ story in the Houston Chronicle)

Chef Sets Out to Heal the Unhealthiest City in America

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jamie-oliver-food-revolution.jpgJamie Oliver is not a doctor, but tomorrow he will launch a public revolution to heal the “Most Unhealthy City in America”. Jamie is a reknown chef who transformed the British school food system. Now, he takes his Food Revolution to Huntington, W.Va., where half of residents are obese, and local elementary school lunches are mostly fat, with breakfasts consisting of pizza.

Friday night, Jamie Oliver’s Food Revolution, a new television reality show premiers on ABC. His aim is to use information and education to reduce the epidemic of obesity in Huntingon, and across America. The show, a 2-hour premiere, airs at 7:00 PM Eastern and 8 o’clock Central time. Find full episodes, recipes and more at the website. Check out Jamie’s biograpy on ABC.

Chef Sets Out to Heal the Unhealthiest City in America

jamie-oliver-food-revolution.jpg

jamie-oliver-food-revolution.jpgJamie Oliver is not a doctor, yet he is launching a revolution to heal the “Most Unheathy City in America”. Jamie is a reknown British chef who transformed the British school food system. Recently, he took his Food Revolution on the road to Huntington, West Virginia, where half of residents are obese, and local elementary school lunches are mostly fat, with breakfasts consisting of pizza.

His uphill fight is the subject of a new weekly ABC-TV show airing Friday nights. The aim is to use information and education to reduce the epidemic of obesity in Huntingon — and across America. The show airs at 7:00 PM Eastern and 8 o’clock Central time. Find full episodes, recipes and more at the website. Check out Jamie’s biograpy on ABC.

Amazon Tour Guide Turned Medical Angel for Poor

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medical-angel-amazon.jpg Nearly 21 years ago, Patty Webster landed her dream job as an adventure tour guide in the Amazon jungles of Peru. But as she shared the area’s beauty and culture with tourists, she realized there was no medical service to native people in this rainforest paradise.

Since 1993, Webster has been bringing medical relief to some of Peru’s poorest and most remote areas through her nonprofit, now known as Amazon Promise

WATCH the video below, or read at CNN Heroes…

 

Stangers Become Blood Brother and Blood Sister (w/ Video)

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donor-blood-brother-sister.jpgCourtney joined the bone marrow registry as an undergrad at Georgia Tech. It was a quick process, a swab to her cheek. Two years later, she found out she was the only match out of 13 million donors on the registry for a father in his 50’s who would otherwise die of leukemia.

Courtney underwent the simple two-hour procedure, which she described as easy as giving blood. The hardest part for Scott, was finding the words to say thank you to a stranger who saved his life..

The bone marrow donor system is the only way to beat the horrific disease of leukemia. The story of a dying man and a grad student half a world away, who gave ten minutes of her time as a donor, illustrates how easy it would be to successfully treat leukemia and other blood diseases if everyone registered as a bone marrow donor.

Go to www.marrow.org to sign-up to be a marrow donor.

Watch the video below, or read the story at 11-Alive Atlanta

Formal Mens Choir Delights Audience with HOT Number (Video)

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cotton-chorus-sing.jpgEven a staid men’s choir can step out once in a while.

Watch as the Cottontown Chorus surprises their audience by belting out ‘Fat-Bottomed Girls” by Queen.

The chorus was formed in 1979 and has been the British Barbershop Champions three times in the last five years.

(Thanks to Nic DePalma for the link!) 

 

Formal Mens Choir Delights Audience with HOT Number (Video)

cotton-chorus-sing.jpg

cotton-chorus-sing.jpgEven a staid men’s choir can step out once in a while.

Watch as the Cottontown Chorus surprises their audience by belting out ‘Fat-Bottomed Girls” by Queen.

The chorus was formed in 1979 and has been the British Barbershop Champions three times in the last five years.

(Thanks to Nic DePalma for the link!) 

 

Wrong Number Turns College Student into Hero

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college-hero.jpgA college student received an honor Tuesday night for her selfless actions after receiving a phone call that according to authorities helped save the life of an elderly Richmond woman.

While the student didn’t know the woman who rang her in the middle of the night from hundreds of miles away last month, the two people are now forever linked by the fateful call.

(WATCH the video below, or READ the story at KTVU.com)

 

170,000 Foreclosures Averted by Obama Administration Fixes

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foreclosure-home-boarded-up.jpgMore than 170,000 troubled homeowners are breathing a lasting sigh of relief now that they’ve received permanent modifications under the Obama administration’s foreclosure prevention program.

Another 835,000 people are currently in trial modifications, a review period during which banks check whether borrowers can make the reduced payments.

The number of people receiving permanent help has been steadily rising as the administration increases the pressure on mortgage servicers to make decisions on those in the trial phase.

(READ the story at CNN.money)

Bridging a Class Divide, One English Lesson at a Time

In Honduras, Ana Carolina Ebanks was a public defender. But when she immigrated to the United States six years ago, the career did not come with her. Today, she has a job on the campus of American University, a short walk from its law school. She works in the student dining hall, making burritos, because of her lack of English-speaking skills.

But now Ebanks has help in her bid to resume her law career. Through a program called Community Learners Advancing in Spanish and English, or CLASE, AU students are teaching English to the workers who clean their dorm rooms and cook their meals. Students meet the employees where they work, or in dorm lounges and conference rooms, to eat, drink and conjugate. 

(READ the story in the Washington Post)

World Bank Lends Billion Dollars to India to Improve Education

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classroom-lebanon-irin.jpgThe World Bank on Thursday approved a record $1.05 billion line of credit to help get more children into schools in India, the largest ever investment in education by the poverty-fighting institution.

“This is going to be a game-changer for a number of the poorest households in India, who until now have been out of the system,” Carlson told Reuters.

Since that program’s launch in 2002, school enrollments have increased significantly.

(READ the story in Reuters)

In War Devastated Angola, Cheetahs are Back

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cheetah.jpgCheetahs have returned to a national park in Angola, after a three-decade civil war devastated their former habitat, according to a conservation group based in Namibia.

The cheetah’s prey of deer and oryx have also returned to the 3.8 million acre reserve in the years since peace was declared in 2002.

(READ AP story in Huffington Post)

Air Traffic Controllers Honored as Heroes for Guiding Newbie Pilot to Safety

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jet-sillouette.jpgFederal workers Lisa Grimm and Brian Norton were honored Monday by the National Air Traffic Controllers Association for guiding Doug White and his family to safety on April 12, 2009, when the pilot of their plane died during a flight.

Talking on the radio was the one bit of knowledge that may have saved White’s life — and the lives of his wife and two daughters who were with him. The controllers could hear the panic in his voice.

(READ the story in the Washington Post)

First Sikh U.S. Army Officer In Decades

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sikh-soldier.jpgFor the first time in twenty-three years, a religious Sikh was allowed to complete officer training for the U.S. Army after he was issued an individual exemption.

Capt. Tejdeep Singh Rattan, 31, was allowed to serve without sacrificing the turban and full beard mandated by his faith. An immigrant from India who arrived in New York as a teenager, Rattan said it was important for him to serve a country that has given him so many opportunities.

(READ More in the Huffington Post)

Red Kettle Donations Break Salvation Army Record

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the_salvation_army.jpgBy nickels, dimes, and dollars, Americans donated a record $139 million to the Salvation Army’s Red Kettle campaign during the holidays, despite a continued economic slump.

The tally represents a seven percent increase over the record set in 2008 of $130 million, and comes at a time when demand for social services has skyrocketed.

“America is an incredibly generous nation and philanthropy is alive and well, despite the current economic conditions impacting so many,” said Commissioner Israel L. Gaither, national commander of the Salvation Army, Religion News Service reports. “We are grateful for every donor, volunteer and corporate partner for supporting the Salvation Army’s mission during a time when some have so little to give.”

Experts Design Elastic Iron for Surgeries, Earthquake Homes

blue-laser.jpgResearchers in Japan have designed a super-elastic iron alloy which they hope can be used in sophisticated heart and brain surgeries and even buildings in earthquake zones.

In a paper published on Friday in the journal Science, the researchers said the metal’s super-elasticity allows it to return to its original form and gives it additional properties, such as ductility and a change in magnetization.

(READ More in article from Reuters)

Top Ten Immediate Benefits From Newly Passed Health Care Reform

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obama-pelosi-reed-applaud.jpgAs soon as President Obama signs the historic health care legislation that passed in the U.S. Congress, the American people will see immediate benefits, including a guarantee that children can get health insurance — even if they have a pre-existing illness — and a measure that would let young adults stay on their parents’ policies until they turn 26.

The legislation will (
either now, or in six months to one year):

  1. Prohibit pre-existing condition exclusions for children in all new plans (6 months);
  2. Provide immediate access to insurance for uninsured Americans who are uninsured because of a pre-existing condition through a temporary high-risk pool (one year);
  3. Prohibit dropping people from coverage when they get sick in all individual plans;
  4. Lower seniors prescription drug prices by beginning to close the donut hole, giving them $250 to help pay for drugs if they fall into that coverage gap;
  5. Offer tax credits to small businesses to purchase coverage;
  6. Eliminate lifetime limits and restrictive annual limits on benefits in all plans (6 months);
  7. Require plans to cover an enrollee’s dependent children until age 26 (6 months);
  8. Require new plans to cover preventive services and immunizations without cost-sharing;
  9. Ensure consumers have access to an effective internal and external appeals process to appeal new insurance plan decisions;
  10. Require premium rebates to enrollees from insurers with high administrative expenditures and require public disclosure of the percent of premiums applied to overhead costs.

Many of the plan’s most important benefits won’t kick in until 2014. Those include the guarantee that anyone can buy insurance; the exchanges where individuals and small businesses can shop for policies — and the subsidies to help pay for them.

Top Ten Immediate Benefits From Newly Passed Health Care Reform

obama-pelosi-reed-applaud.jpg

obama-pelosi-reed-applaud.jpgAs soon as President Obama signs the historic health care legislation passed by Congress tonight, the American people will see immediate benefits, including a guarantee that children can get health insurance — even if they have a pre-existing illness — and a measure that would let young adults stay on their parents’ policies until they turn 26.

The legislation will (either now, or in six months to one year):

  1. Prohibit pre-existing condition exclusions for children in all new plans (6 months);
  2. Provide immediate access to insurance for uninsured Americans who are uninsured because of a pre-existing condition through a temporary high-risk pool (one year);
  3. Prohibit dropping people from coverage when they get sick in all individual plans;
  4. Lower seniors prescription drug prices by beginning to close the donut hole, giving them $250-$500 to help pay for drugs if they fall into that coverage gap;
  5. Offer tax credits to small businesses to purchase coverage;
  6. Eliminate lifetime limits and restrictive annual limits on benefits in all plans (6 months);
  7. Require all plans to accept an enrollee’s dependent children until age 27 (6 months);
  8. Require new plans to cover preventive services and immunizations without cost-sharing;
  9. Ensure consumers have access to an effective internal and external appeals process to appeal new insurance plan decisions;
  10. Require premium rebates to enrollees from insurers with high administrative expenditures and require public disclosure of the percent of premiums applied to overhead costs.

Many of the plan’s most important benefits won’t kick in until 2014. Those include the guarantee that anyone can buy insurance; the exchanges where individuals and small businesses can shop for policies — and the subsidies to help pay for them.