The following is a roundup of political activity going on in Washington and across the nation. It is courtesy of Scott Wilk, Community Organizer, and Anchor Consulting group. The Beacon will be posting these daily as they become available. (more…)

(From the N.Y. Times) One of the world’s foremost experts on comparing national school systems told lawmakers on Tuesday that many other countries were surpassing the United States in educational attainment, including Canada, where he said 15-year-old students were, on average, more than one school year ahead of American 15-year-olds. (more…)

The following is a roundup of political activity going on in Washington and across the nation. It is courtesy of Scott Wilk, Community Organizer, and Anchor Consulting group. The Beacon will be posting these daily as they become available. (more…)

(From the N.Y. Times) The Supreme Court on Monday agreed to decide whether the father of a Marine killed in Iraq may sue protesters who picketed his son’s funeral with signs that read “God Hates You” and “Thank God for Dead Soldiers.” (more…)

(From the FT.com) A senior official at the Federal Reserve Bank of New York on Monday said the US central bank should shrink its balance sheet “in a gradual and passive manner” as it moves towards tightening monetary policy. (more…)

The following is a roundup of political activity going on in Washington and across the nation. It is courtesy of Scott Wilk, Community Organizer, and Anchor Consulting group. The Beacon will be posting these daily as they become available. (more…)

(From the N.Y. Times) Screw those that actually worked hard to buy a house they could afford! Let’s reward those that made bad choices or who can’t wait for property prices to come back. In an effort to end the foreclosure crisis, the Obama administration has been trying to keep defaulting owners in their homes. Now it will take a new approach: paying some of them to leave. (more…)

(From the FT.com) A broad range of industry groups, from advertising to food companies, are lobbying against a proposal that would give the US Federal Trade Commission new powers to issue regulations. (more…)

Young women are not safe today.  If a young woman decides to go to a concert because she wants to have a good time, but then lands up going missing, and finally is found dead in a field is just a tragedy. The war on women is getting out of hand.  When will it end?  We need to do something about it.  When a young woman can’t even go for a walk, then disappears without a trace, something is definitely wrong! (more…)

The following is a roundup of political activity going on in Washington and across the nation. It is courtesy of Scott Wilk, Community Organizer, and Anchor Consulting group. The Beacon will be posting these daily as they become available.

IN THE HOUSE

• The House is not in session.
• House ethics committee confirms probe of allegations against Massa  -  The House ethics committee confirmed Thursday evening that it is investigating Rep. Eric Massa, a freshman Democrat from New York who announced his retirement from Congress a day earlier. (Wash Post)

IN THE SENATE

• The Senate is not in session.
• Senate reins in finance reform, works on compromise  -  The Senate is scaling back President Obama’s plans to reform the financial system, enraging critics who wanted to see the government do a better job protecting consumers and preventing banks from growing too big to fail. (USA Today)

OTHER NEWS

• House Adopts $15 Billion Plan to Spur Job Creation  -  The House on Thursday approved a $15 billion measure intended to spur job creation by granting tax breaks to businesses that hire workers, as Democrats, bracing for new jobless figures, tried to show that Congress was doing something about stubborn unemployment. (NY Times)
• Obama looking to give new life to immigration reform  -  Despite steep odds, the White House has discussed prospects for reviving a major overhaul of the nation’s immigration laws, a commitment that President Obama has postponed once already. (LA Times)
• Snow expected to cloud February employment report  -  The government’s closely watched monthly employment report will be unusually hard to read this time. (AP)
• Education Finalists Picked  -  The Obama administration picked 15 states and the District of Columbia as finalists in a heated competition for extra federal education funds to shake up underperforming schools. (WSJ)
• Obama signs new law to help promote U.S. tourism  -  President Obama signed the Travel Promotion Act into law Thursday, which aims to reinvigorate the tourism industry but will require many international visitors to pay a fee to enter the U.S. (USA Today)
• Democrats mired in swamp they vowed to drain  -  A rash of ethics lapses has given Democrats an election-year headache: how to convince skeptical voters that they’re any cleaner than Republicans they accused of fostering a “culture of corruption” in 2006. (AP)

FEDERAL GRANT OF THE DAY

• NEA Learning in the Arts for Children and Youth, FY 2011- The National Endowment for the Arts is committed to providing leadership in arts education by inspiring all young Americans through rich arts experiences. A high quality education in the arts opens a critical gateway to a lifetime of appreciation and engagement. For two reasons, learning in the arts is an indispensable part of American education: 1) children celebrate and participate in their cultural inheritance, and 2) academic and social maturity follow directly from arts education experiences. The Learning in the Arts for Children and Youth category offers funding for projects that help children and youth acquire knowledge and understanding of and skills in the arts. Projects must provide participatory learning and engage students with skilled artists, teachers, and excellent art. For a list of eligible applicants and more information, see NEA. Application deadline: June 10, 2010

TODAY IN HISTORY

• March 5, 1982- On this day, comedian John Belushi died of a drug overdose in Los Angeles at age 33.

Source and thanks to www.anchor-consult.com / For more information or to opt-out of this list, contact Anchor Consulting at 703-333-6013 or beacon@anchor-consult.com  

U.S. Rep. Howard P. “Buck” McKeon (R-Calif.), the Ranking Member of the House Armed Services Committee, today joined with his counterpart on the Senate Armed Services Committee, Senator John McCain (R-Arizona), to introduce legislation that sets out a comprehensive policy for the detention, interrogation and trial of terrorists who are suspected of engaging in hostilities against the United States, such as the Christmas Day bomber who tried to blow up Northwest Flight 253 and kill nearly 290 people. (more…)

U.S. Rep. Howard P. “Buck” McKeon (R-Calif.), the Ranking Member of the House Armed Services Committee, and fifteen of his Republican colleagues on the committee today introduced legislation that would block the Administration from using U.S. military installations as venues to prosecute Khalid Sheikh Mohammed or his 9/11 co-conspirators in civilian courts. (more…)

The following is a roundup of political activity going on in Washington and across the nation. It is courtesy of Scott Wilk, Community Organizer, and Anchor Consulting group. The Beacon will be posting these daily as they become available. (more…)

(From the N.Y. Times) At least five justices appeared poised to expand the scope of the Second Amendment’s protection of the right to bear arms on Tuesday, judging from comments at an unusually intense Supreme Court argument. (more…)

(From the FT.com) Democratic lawmakers have launched a probe into one of the most controversial practices of US health insurance companies – the denial of coverage to individuals with preexisting conditions – as part of an endgame push to bolster their case for insurance reform. (more…)

The following is a roundup of political activity going on in Washington and across the nation. It is courtesy of Scott Wilk, Community Organizer, and Anchor Consulting group. The Beacon will be posting these daily as they become available. (more…)

Thanks to the blue votes of California and Michigan in the 2008 presidential election, not only did Barack Obama become president but he claimed to have earned a mandate. True to the patterns of other so-called mandates in recent presidential- election years – excluding the true mandates of truly strong Presidents Eisenhower and Reagan – this past year has been mostly wasted in partisan kitsch. (more…)

The following is a roundup of political activity going on in Washington and across the nation. It is courtesy of Scott Wilk, Community Organizer, and Anchor Consulting group. The Beacon will be posting these daily as they become available. (more…)