Posts Tagged ‘Federal
Let’s Get Dialing
The President’s Day
President Barack Obama adjust his suit jacket as he walks across the tarmac before boarding Air Force One at Moffett Federal Airfield in Mountain View, Calif
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President Barack Obama laughs with Ellen DeGeneres during a commercial break while taping a segment of the Ellen DeGeneres Show
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Juliet Eilperin: Obama Has Vastly Changed The Face Of The Federal Bureaucracy
Friday afternoon announcements in Washington are usually aimed at attracting as little attention as possible, but last Friday was different. President Obamaβs decision to nominate Eric Fanning β an openly gay man β to head a branch of the military which only four years ago did not allow gays and lesbians to serve openly, was both historic and attention-grabbing.Β And it underscored an often-overlooked feature of the Obama presidency: Obama has presided over the most demographically diverse administration in history, according to a new analysis of his top appointments. The majority of top policy appointments within the executive branch are held by women and minorities for the first time in history.Β The shifts are significant enough, experts say, that they may have forever transformed the face of government.Β The Obama White House, by contrast, has established specific programs to boost diversity among appointees.
The Presidential Personnel Office targets historically black colleges and universities, as well as minority-serving institutions, as part of a new campus recruitment program. It has a liaison to identify candidates by working with leaders from underrepresented groups, including those who are LGBT or have disabilities.Β The impact of Obamaβs diversity efforts could reverberate for decades in people such as Michael Blake, a son of Jamaican immigrants who was homeless as a child but worked on Obamaβs two presidential campaigns and in the White House as associate director of public engagement. Last year, Blake won election to the New York State Assembly, with the help of a lot of other Obama alumni, including Marlon Marshall, who is now Hillary Rodham Clintonβs director of state campaigns and political engagement. Blakeβs campaign slogan was about his transformation: βNo House to the White House.β Β Obama, Blake said, has helped create a new network of people of color now climbing the ranks of government.Β βHe did that,β Blake said. βHe grew that.β
More here
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The President’s Day
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President Barack Obama speaks from the Oval Office on the shooting in Chattanooga, Tennessee, vowing to conduct a prompt and thorough probe of the shooting
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President Barack Obama speaks after touring the El Reno Federal Correctional Institution in El Reno, Oklahoma. President Obama is the first sitting US President to visit a federal prison, in a push to reform one of the most expensive and crowded prison systems in the world
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As part of a weeklong focus on inequities in the criminal justice system, President Barack Obama will meet separately Thursday with law enforcement officials and nonviolent drug offenders who are paying their debt to society at the El Reno Federal Correctional Institution, a medium-security prison for male offenders near Oklahoma City
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The President’s Day
President Barack Obama announces more than $240 million in pledges to boost the study of STEM fields. This year’s White House Science Fair is focused on diversity.
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President Barack Obama laughs as Stephanie Bullock, 15, of Saint Croix, Virgin Islands, far right, explains her team’s rocket design during the President’s tour of the White House Science Fair. With Bullock are Maria Haywood, 12, and Shimeeka Stanley, 14
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President Barack Obama poses with six-year-old Girl Scouts from Tulsa, Okla. during the White House Science Fair. The Girl Scouts, including, Emily Bergenroth, Alicia Cutter, Karissa Cheng, Addy OβNeal, and Emery Dodson, used Lego pieces and designed a battery-powered page turner to help people who are paralyzed or have arthritis
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Sahil Doshi, 14, of Pittsburgh shows his carbon-dioxide powered battery idea to President Barack Obama
President Barack Obama tries out a wheelchair with a design modification that makes wheelchair movements easier by Kaitlin Reed, 16, of Dover, Mass., next to Mohammed Sayed, 16, of Cambridge, Mass., who is originally from Afghanistan, and designed a 3D-printed modular arm. Obama will announce more than $240 million in pledges to boost the study of those fields, known as STEM. This year’s fair is focused on diversity.
Harry Paul, 18, of Port Washington, N.Y., shows President Barack Obama his “growing spine implant” that helps in the treatment of scoliosis
President Barack Obama deadpans a remark to reporters about how impressed he is by the work of Anvita Gupta, 17, from Scottsdale, Arizona, about developing a computer algorithm to assess drugs’ effectiveness in the fight against Ebola, Cancer, and Tuberculosis
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President Barack Obama looks at the invention of Sergio Corral and Isela Martinez from Phoenix, Arizona, leaders of the robotics program from Carl Hayden High School
Tiye Garrett-Mills, of Denver, Colorado, shows President Barack Obama her technique for scanning leaf structures
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Victor Cruz of the NFL’s New York Giants smiles as President Barack Obama mentions him in his remarks
President Barack Obama reacts while listening attentively to Nikhil Behari, 14, from Sewickley, Pennsylvania, who is designing a biometric security system for computers to help identify a user by their typing style
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Bill Nye ‘The Science Guy’ acknowledges applause as U.S. President Barack Obama mentions him in his remarks
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President Barack Obama speaks withΒ Kristian Sonsteby and Corine Peifer of Pennsylvania, about their invention of a power generator which stores energy created by the natural motion of a floating dock moving up and down with a lake’s natural currents
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President Barack Obama speaks with Ruchi Pandya from San Jose, California, about her nanotechnology project to test biological samples
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President Barack Obama speaks at the SelectUSA Investment Summit in National Harbor, Md. SelectUSA, created in 2011, is the first-ever federal effort to bring job-creating investment to the United States, promoting the United States as the world’s premier business location, and providing easy access to federal-level programs and services related to business investment
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The President’s Day
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President Barack Obama speaks at an event for the Senior Executive Service at the Washington Hilton in Washington, DC. The Senior Executive Service (SES) is composed of the senior leadership of the Federal workforce
President Barack Obama takes a question about immigration reform during a visit to Casa Azafran in Nashville, Tennessee. Casa Azafran, located in Nashville’s most international and socially diverse district, is a community center and home to a number of immigrant-related nonprofits
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The President is greeted by Lilia & Carlos Yepez at their restaurant in Nashville after he spoke on immigration reform.
The President’s Day
@petesouza: Pres Obama and Medal of Honor recipient SSG Pitts during benediction as his wife and son watch
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Text of the President’s remarks here
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Rabbi David Saperstein claps as President Obama approaches to sign an executive order to protect LGBT employees from federal workplace discrimination
Surrounded by LGBT supporters, including Virginia Governor Terry McAuliffe, President Barack Obama signs executive orders to protect LGBT employees from federal workplace discrimination in the East Room of the White House. President Obama’s executive orders prohibit discrimination against gay and transgender workers in the federal government and its contracting agencies, without a new exemption that was requested by some religious organizations
President Obama arrives to make a statement on the situation in Ukraine and Gaza
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Text of the President’s remarks here
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President Obama attends a town hall meeting to discuss his My Brother’s Keeper initiative while at the Walker Jones Education Campus in Washington.Β President Obama announced that leaders of 60 of the largest school systems have pledged to expand minority boys’ access to better preschools and advanced classes and to try to prevent grade retention, suspensions and expulsions
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President Obama listens as he is introduced by the president of the NBA Players Association and Los Angeles Clippers point guard Chris Paul
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President Obama bestows former Army Staff Sergeant Ryan M. Pitts with the Medal of Honor in the East Room of the White House. Pitts is the ninth living recipient of the nation’s highest decoration for battlefield valor for actions in Iraq and Afghanistan
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Chips butting in on Nerdy’s post:
A year ago today, the weirdest thing happened: Manchester United and Chelsea teamed up.
Well, me and Nerdy.
Yup, it’s exactly 12 months since Chelsea Girl took over the running of TOD with me, and I don’t have to tell you how much she has contributed since then, or how much work she has put in to the site with wonderful posts like this, every single day. And without her, TOD honestly wouldn’t even exist any more.
Nerdy?
Thank you for everything – your intelligence, your energy, your passion, your determination, your dedication, your friendship, and your support.
It was a very, very happy day when you came in to TOD’s life, and mine.
Thank you Chelsea Girl.
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Valerie Bauman: Federal Money Adds 24 New Medical Residencies In Washington Stateβs Most Doctor-Starved Regions
As of this year, 24 new primary care residency spots will have been created in Washington through a five-year federal program dedicated to getting doctors to regions that need it most.Β The latest influx of federal money is $6.3 million, reported earlier this week, more than the combined $2.55 million that the program provided for Washington residencies between 2011-2013. Each new residency position is the equivalent of a three-year, guaranteed residency spot for one new doctor.Β Itβs never been more important for Washington to grow its pipeline of new doctors, particularly in underserved urban and rural areas. The stateβs projected doctor shortage has Washington State University considering opening its own medical school in Spokane.
It is unique because it partners medical residents with community health clinics that typically work with low-income or underserved populations. It benefits the resident by giving a new doctor real world experience, and helps communities by getting more doctors where they are needed most.Β The program was created in 2010 as part of the Affordable Care Act, and brought the first round of new residency spots to Washington in 2011. Initially, Yakima and Ellensburg received the funding for residents, but as more money has come in through the program, itβs been expanded to Tacoma, Spokane and to the Puyallup Tribal Health Authority.
More here
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White House: A Historic Day For Our Judiciary
This morning, the Senate confirmed three federal judges. On the one hand, they are not unique; like all of the Presidentβs judges and judicial nominees, they have the necessary intellect, experience, integrity, and temperament. But they are special in that each of them is a trailblazer on their courts:
Judge Darrin Gayles, confirmed to the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida, is the first openly gay African American man to be confirmed as a lifetime-appointed federal judge in our nationβs history.
Judge Salvador Mendoza, confirmed to the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Washington, is the first Hispanic judge to serve on his court.
Staci Yandle, confirmed to the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Illinois, is the first African American to serve on her court and the first openly gay lifetime-appointed federal judge in Illinois.
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Todayβs confirmations also set historic milestones: For the first time in history, the Senate has confirmed two openly gay judges on the same day.Β President Obama has now appointed more female judges than any other President, breaking the record previously set by President Clinton.Β President Obama also has now appointed more Hispanic judges than any other President, breaking the record previously held by President George W. Bush. As weβve said before, these βfirstsβ β and these milestones β are important, not because these judges will consider cases differently, but because a judiciary that better resembles our nation instills even greater confidence in our justice system, and because these judges will serve as role models for generations of lawyers to come. Congratulations to our newest federal judges, who we are confident will serve with honor, distinction, and fidelity to the rule of law.
President Barack Obama smiles as he is shown wooden art made using a laser etcher by James Gyre during his tour of TechShop, in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. President Obama traveled to Pittsburgh and visited TechShop, a fabrication and prototyping studio open to the public via paid memberships, to deliver remarks on the economy
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President Barack Obama makes remarks after touring Bakery Square’s TechShop, a membership-based manufacturing workshop in Pittsburgh, that’s a model for the kind of sharing of resources he wants to see more of. The president announced a plan to open the doors of more than 700 federal labs across the country to give innovators access to more than $5 billion in equipment, research and resources to develop new technologies. Additionally, he outlined a $150 million investment in research to support the Materials Genome Investment, a public-private endeavor that aims to reduce the time it takes to develop new materials that can be used in advanced manufacturing
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President Barack Obama is shown an example of a 3-D printer by Andy Leer
President Barack Obama speaks about the capture of Libyan militant suspected of killing Americans in Benghazi
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James O’Toole: President Obama Speaks In Pittsburgh About Technology
On a stop at Bakery Square’s TechShop in Larimer this afternoon, President Barack Obama announced a plan to give fledgling businesses expanded access to high-tech resources whether from the government or through wider sharing of private and university-based data and facilities. Administration officials said the access to expensive equipment and facilities is designed to lower the barriers to innovation. The president announced the initiative after a tour of TechShop, a membership-based manufacturing workshop thatβs a model for the kind of sharing of resources he wants to promote. Coming the day after Mr. Obama announced an executive order to ban discrimination against members of the LGBT community in federal contracting, the innovation order was one more example of the administration’s efforts to pursue policy initiatives that don’t depend on action by Congress.
During his visit, the president also described new manufacturing investment commitments from 90 mayors cross the country, as well as a plan to provide private-sector innovators with access to expensive federal equipment such as wind tunnels at NASA and supercomputers at the Department of Energyβs Oak Ridge National Laboratory. The plan would provide access to more than $5 billion worth of research, prototyping and testing equipment at more than 700 federal facilities. The presidentβs plan aims to give innovators β dubbed βmakersβ by the White House β access to equipment that no individual or small business could afford on its own, said Jeff Zients, director of the National Economic Council. β[We are] talking about using spare capacity when itβs available to give access to local makers and entrepreneurs,β he said. Mr. Zients said the presidentβs plan does not require legislative approval and has no cost to the federal government.
More here
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President Barack Obama points to a replica of the Presidential seal that Terry Sandin made during a tour of TechShop
President Barack Obama takes a drink as he listens to a question
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President Barack Obama tours TechShop Pittsburgh with Matt Verlinich, General Manager of TechShop Pittsburgh
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President Barack Obama shakes hands with workers
President Barack Obama holds up a wooden snowflake made on a laser etcher
President Barack Obama responds to questions from workers
The Obama Diary 
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