InsureKidsNow.gov

If you need to find healthcare coverage for your children, check out InsureKidsNow.gov. The site will help you to locate no-cost or even low-cost health insurance for children and possibly their parents.

Click here for Alabama health coverage programs.

Got a Deer? How Old Is It?

Need to find out how old your deer is?

Flexibility - No Child Left Behind

I've pulled together a list of resources from the White House & Department of Education that mention the suggested flexibility to No Child Left Behind:

• President Obama: "Our Kids Only Get One Shot at a Decent Education" (White House Blog)
• Weekly Address: Strengthening the American Education System (White House Blog)
• What NCLB Flexibility Means for You (ED.gov Blog)
• Teacher Makes a Personal Case for NCLB Waivers (ED.gov Blog)
• Obama Administration Offers Flexibility from No Child Left Behind  (ED.gov Blog)
• ESEA Flexibility (Department of Education)

Food Safety Milestones

We've come a long way regarding food safety. Curious? Check out the Snapshot of Food Safety Milestones in the History of the FDA. 

Personal Income for Metropolitan Areas, 2010

Finding from the Bureau of Economic Analysis show that for 2010, personal income in metropolitan areas actually rose 2.9%. Read the report to learn which issues had an impact on personal income.

Free Museum Day!

Need something to do this weekend? Saturday, Sept. 24, 2011 is Free Museum Day! Visit the website to see which museums near you are participating & to obtain your free ticket. Note, this offer is for one person plus a guest. 

Don't Ask, Don't Tell Quick Reference Guide

Don't Ask, Don't Tell was repealed on September 20, 2011. The Quick Reference Guide answers questions about the repeal. The Department of Defense has pulled together a feature of the top stories, videos, and a history of the process.

What Are the Most Important 20 Minutes of Your Day?

If you have children in your house, the answer is reading. The Census Bureau has pulled together data that shows how poverty impacts the frequency of reading time. 

Get more data about our children by visiting the Children's section of the Census Bureau.

LoC Prints & Photos Blog: Picture This

Can't get enough of the Library of Congress? Add their prints & photo blog, Picture This, to your reading list. The latest post is a behind the scenes look at how they manage the collection.

The Night Sky

Fall is a great time to be outside, especially at night. Take a few minutes the next time you're out at night and look up at the sky. Is it dark or lighter due to nearby lights? Believe it or not, a dark sky (natural darkness) is becoming a rare thing. Learn how our National Parks Service is working to manage our natural darkness with their Natural Lightscape Management program.

The American Jobs Act of 2011

An authenticated  version of the American Jobs Act is now available on FDsys.

The White House has a blog post describing how the American Jobs Act will impact your community.

America Invents Act

Learn how the America Invents Act impacts the current processes and procedures followed by inventors, companies and the United States Patent and Trademark Office.

Is the Movie Contagion Making You Nervous?

Evidently the new movie Contagion is making some of us wonder how our country would handle an outbreak. Curious about how the CDC investigates possible outbreak? Check out the blog post, Outbreak Investigation: A Cheat Sheet, to learn more.

September 11: Remembering, Honoring

I've pulled together a collection of government sites that are remembering or honoring September 11th.

•  Remembering Sept. 11, 2011 10th Anniversary Honoring the Victims Department of Defense
• Ten Years Later: The Justice Department After 9/11
• Beyond "Where were you?"—let's talk about September 11 National Museum of American History
• 9/11 Tenth Anniversary includes commemorations USA.gov

Let's continue to remember and honor the event by teaching the details or virtually exploring the memorial.

• Teaching About September 11 Using Primary Sources from Library of Congress
• 9/11 Memorial app USA.gov

Heat Safety Tool

The new Heat Safety Tool app from the Department of Labor and OSHA will enable both employees & employers to determine the heat index which will then help employees to avoid heat stroke.

This is a welcome addition to the growing number of goverment apps.

Note, for now it's only available for Android users.

Should You Buy or Rent a Home?

If you're listing the pros and cons of buying versus renting a home, use this Ginnie Mae calculator to help with your final decision.

Note: Samford University is closed today, September 6, 2011. We'll see you tomorrow.

Labor Day 2011

The Department of Labor has put together a Labor Day 2011 site complete with a history of Labor Day, a collection of videos and a collection of tools.

Enjoy your Labor Day!

Are You Finding Mystery Fees on Your Phone Bill?

USA.gov's blog has provided an excellent resource on the topic of mystery phone bill fees. One reason for the fees? Cramming. Yes, that's right, cramming.

What do Andrew Johnson, the Starr Report & Infant Care all have in common?

Answer: The Government Printing Office (GPO).

This month we thought we'd explore the documents from the 150 year anniversary of GPO as our display. (Apology - this post didn't appear on the first of September as intended.)


All of the documents on display are mentioned in "Keeping America Informed: The U.S. Government Printing Office 150 years of service to the nation."

• Trial of Andrew Johnson
• The Jefferson Bible
• Style Manual: An official guide to the form and style of Federal Government Printing
• War of the Rebellion: Official records of the Union and Confederate Armies
• Indexes to the Public Papers of the Presidents: Nixon
• Indexes to the Public Papers of the Presidents: Kennedy
• Indexes to the Public Papers of the Presidents: Obama
• Infant Care
• The Medical and Surgical History of the War of the Rebellion. (1861-65)
• Report of the President's Commission on the Assassination of President John F. Kennedy
• 100 GPO Years, 1861-1961: A history of United States public printing
• The Federal Register: What it is and how to use it
• GPO/2001: Vision for a new millennium
• Informing the Nation: Federal information dissemination in an electronic age
• Budget of the U.S. Government
• The Starr Report: The findings of independent counsel Kenneth W. Starr on President Clinton and the Lewinsky affair
• From Red Tape to Results: Creating a government that works better & costs less
• Study to Identify Measures Necessary for a Succesful Transition to a More Electronic Federal Depository Library Program
• United States Code Title 44- Public Printing and Documents chapter 3 section 305 Public Printer: employees; pay
• Public Law 103-40 Government Printing Office Electronic Information Access Enchancement Act of 1993

Enjoy a video of the 150th anniversary exhibit at GPO: