February 25, 2009

he United States Agency for International Development (USAID) and Coca-Cola have formed a global alliance -- the Water and Development Alliance (WADA) -- to provide clean, potable water to Mozambique's sixth largest urban region, Chimoio. This alliance brings together funding commitments from all partners totaling about $1.79 million, of which $500,000 comes from USAID. Full release.

Parents of autistic children and their families joined Consumer Watchdog today in warning California regulators not to side with health insurance companies that are scheming to avoid paying for autism treatment that is required by state law. Full release.

In last week's decision in the case of 17 Chinese Uighur Muslims held at Guantanamo, a federal appeals court reiterated the exclusive control over immigration by the political branches of government. The court quoted late Supreme Court Justice Felix Frankfurter that immigration matters are "wholly outside the concern and competence of the Judiciary." Full release

- Disease prevention and health promotion programs provide good value to the health care system, but the Congressional Budget Office has largely overlooked this in its assessment of potential health reforms, according to a white paper released today by Partnership for Prevention. Full release.

A favorable market for U.S. exports proved to be a highlight of an otherwise tumultuous year for small businesses. The Pennsylvania Small Business Development Centers (SBDC) report client overseas sales increased over 100 percent in 2008, representing a $52 million boost. Full release.

Penn State's College of Education has found that only 18 of Pennsylvania's 500 school districts - comprising less than 3 percent of the state's total public school enrollment - appropriately measure whether their students can read and do math at the 11th grade level in order to award high school diplomas, according to a study released today. Full release.

Teens are confident that the Obama administration will be able to resolve the current economic crisis, according to a recent study from the Scarborough Kids Internet Panel (S.K.I.P.), an Internet panel tracking youth behavior and sentiment. Three-quarters (75%) of teens in the study said they are optimistic that the new administration will help solve current economic problems. African-American and Hispanic teens appear to be more optimistic than Asian and Caucasian teens. Almost half (46%) of African-American teens are "very optimistic" about President Obama's ability to help the economy, versus 31 % of Hispanic teens, 24% of Caucasian teens and 20% of Asian teens. Full release.

Earlier this month in Munich, Vice President Biden said that it is time for a "reset" of our relationship with Russia. The Partnership for a Secure America (PSA), a bipartisan group of top foreign policy and national security officials has provided a concrete list of steps the Obama Administration can take to renew cooperation between the two countries. Full release.

According to the latest statistics from the U.S. Census Bureau, 98 percent of all U.S. firms have less than 100 employees. Ninety percent of all firms in the U.S. have less than 20 employees and are responsible for over 97 percent of all new jobs in America. These 27 million firms employ over 50 percent of the entire private sector workforce. (http://www.inc.com/news/articles/200708/data.html) Full release

Tonight, President Obama laid out his comprehensive vision for addressing the challenges our nation faces, from the economy to energy independence to health care reform, education, and laying the foundation for long-term growth in the 21st Century. As he addressed those challenges, he reminded Americans of the boldness and courage our nation must now summon as we have throughout our history saying, "We will rebuild, we will recover, and the United States of America will emerge stronger than before." Full release

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