Archive for October, 2009

President and his wife invited 2000 children to the White House.

Earlier in the week, President Obama announced the largest-ever investment in the nation’s electric grid—more than $3.4 billion in grants distributed among 100 grantees.  Though the immense scale of the investment was clear during the President’s announcement, the flood of reports from news outlets across the country has been overwhelming.  A sample of those stories are linked below, detailing new projects in South Dakota, Vermont, California, and several other states:
 
Arizona,  Arizona Republic, 10/27/09
 
SRP gets $56.9M boost from feds for customer ’smart meters’: Salt River Project will receive a $56.9 million grant from the federal Recovery Act to speed up the installation of "smart meters" for customers, the Energy Department announced Tuesday.
 
California, Sacramento Business Journal, 10/28/09
 
SMUD receives $128M in smart-grid …

PARAMUS, N.J. (AP) — It sounds like another New Jersey joke. Except it’s not funny if you actually live here.

For the privilege of living in perhaps the nation’s most-maligned state, New Jerseyans pay the highest property taxes in America.

That…

WASHINGTON (AP) — It’s the ultimate trick-or-treating treasure, that one house on the block that offers the coolest candy and surprises galore.

This year it’s the big gated place on Pennsylvania Avenue, No. 1600. Welcome to the White House, boys…

WASHINGTON (AP) — Celebrities George Clooney and Oprah Winfrey and prominent lobbyists, corporate executives and Democratic fundraisers were among the first to score visits with President Barack Obama, his wife Michelle or top aides at the White…

ABU DHABI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — U.S. hopes of reviving Mideast peace talks appeared shaky Saturday after a senior Palestinian official said the Palestinians are unlikely to resume negotiations if Israel does not halt Jewish settlement…

WASHINGTON (AP) — Lady Bird Johnson said walking through the White House was like walking “through history.” Hillary Clinton called the home “a repository of America’s storied past.” Michelle Obama has called it “awe inspiring.”

The authors of a…

KABUL (AP) — Afghan President Hamid Karzai’s challenger plans to call for a boycott of next Saturday’s runoff election in hopes of forcing a postponement of the vote until the spring.

That’s the word from Abdullah Abdullah’s campaign manager…