September 11, 2008

Hurricane Ike is expected to make landfall late Friday evening or early Saturday morning, affecting areas of Texas and Louisiana. As the Red Cross continues moving relief supplies to Texas, its message to residents is urgent: listen to the directions of local officials; prepare to evacuate if told to do so; and register on the Red Cross Safe and Well Web site. Full release

Struggling communities and the low-income residents that live there are able to take advantage of high-quality affordable housing, family asset-building opportunities, innovative youth programs, economic development and job training programs thanks to the national service commitment of participants in AmeriCorps, the 15-year old federal program in which volunteers help fuel high-impact community revitalization around the country. Full release

The first of three planned national September 11, 2001 Memorials was dedicated today by President George W. Bush at the Pentagon this morning. The Pentagon Memorial, which honors the 184 lives lost in the attack on the Pentagon, was dedicated in a ceremony that featured remarks by President Bush, Secretary of Defense Robert Gates, former Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld and Pentagon Memorial Fund President James J. Laychak. At 9:37, the time of Flight 77's impact, there was a moment of silence followed by the reading of the names of those who lost their lives seven years ago steps away from where the airline crashed into the Pentagon. Full release

As Hurricane Ike threatens the Gulf Coast of Texas, many Louisiana residents are still reeling from the effects of Hurricane Gustav. Tens of thousands of people who evacuated the region returned to find damaged homes and electrical outages, and are now without resources to help them recover. Feeding America (formerly named America's Second Harvest) is helping to meet these residents' urgent need for food, water and cleaning supplies. Full release

The National Commander of The American Legion says his organization strongly opposes a plan to hand over the administration of new GI Bill educational benefits to private contractors. Full release

With people turning to new media - blogs, YouTube and social networking sites - in this presidential campaign, are they signaling a change in how people get their news about the politics? The impact of this new media on journalism will be examined at a forum on Sept. 15 at the National Press Club co-sponsored by the West Virginia University's P.I Reed School of Journalism. Full release

The Michigan GOP has announced plans to use a list of housing foreclosures as the basis for a broad voter-caging operation, as reported yesterday by Eartha Jane Melzer in The Michigan Messenger. James Carabelli, chairman of the Republican Party in Macomb County, Michigan, has announced plans to assign "election challengers" to polling places to question the eligibility of home foreclosure victims based on residency. "We will have a list of foreclosed homes and will make sure people aren't voting from those addresses," Carabelli told the Messenger. Full release

This Friday and Saturday, Governor Howard Dean will continue his voter registration efforts in Oregon and Washington. Governor Dean kicked off his cross country registration effort in mid-July in George Bush's backyard in Crawford, Texas. Since its launch, Gov. Dean's Register for Change tour has campaigned in 18 states and the District of Columbia making dozens of campaign stops, recruiting hundreds of volunteers and registering thousands of voters. The tour continues to build on the overwhelming enthusiasm and voter turnout seen during the primaries as Democrats mobilize and organize voters for the fall election. Full release

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