Recently in OBAMA Category

After dealing with the current state of the economy, national debt, and plenty of other topics, the government finally received a big relief this week when an estimated $1.6 billion was saved on this year's census. The 2010 census came in 22 percent under budget thanks to a myriad of factors according to officials. The savings is attributed to several factors such as contingency money for disasters wasn't needed, better-than-expected productivity by field personnel, and an advertising campaign targeted at "hard-to-count" populations. Mail-participation was also a huge success, saving roughly $650 million, exceeding projections. According to the data retrieved, 72 percent of households nationwide mailed in their census questionnaires, meaning only 47 million households needed to be visited by census workers. The Census Bureau believes that for every one percentage of households that mailed back a completed form, taxpayers saved about $85 million. And while the census is not 100 percent complete, it is winding down, as only a small percentage of households may need to be visited by census workers for verification of address or other checks. The census, which is due to President Obama by December 31st, is important because it determines the number of seats each state is allocated in the U.S. House of Representatives as well as allocating more than $400 billion in federal funds each year.

June showed a loss of 125,000 jobs, but also saw the unemployment rate in the U.S. drop to 9.5 percent. Temporary workers for the U.S. Census Bureau resulted in many of the layoffs, which were the most layoffs since October, but private employers added enough jobs to help bring the unemployment rate to its lowest level in nearly a year. Temporary workers for the U.S. Census Bureau resulted in 225,000 job losses, but businesses added a net total of 83,000 workers to improve on May's totals. The amount of added jobs in June still fell short of March and April though. President Obama stayed optimistic saying June was the sixth consecutive month of job growth in the private sector, resulting in about 600,000 private economy jobs created in 2010. The numbers can be a little tricky though. While the rate for those unemployed fell to the lowest it has been since July 2009, it was because 652,000 people quit attempting to search for jobs and left the labor force. According to the data, people who are no longer looking for work aren't counted as unemployed. While private payrolls are set to rise about 110,000, employment for private sectors has slowed. To keep pace with new entrants into the work force, the economy will need to add approximately 125,000 jobs every month, and analysts say that number needs to be more like 250,000 a month if the unemployment rate is really going to fall. 

President Obama has announced his new nomination for the open Supreme Court Justice position. Obama nominated Solicitor General Elena Kagan to replace retiring Justice John Paul Stevens on the Supreme Court. The 50-year-old Kagan, while rather young for the position, could influence decisions for the next several decades. She becomes the 4th female Supreme Court Justice and the 112th Supreme Court justice overall. Her nomination marks the first time in history that there have been three women on the Supreme Court. Kagan is a native of New York and was a finalist last year for the high court vacancy when when David Souter retired and Justice Sonia Sotomayor was chosen to replace him. Kagan served during the Clinton presidency as associate White House counsel, and she clerked for Thurgood Marshall. She received her law degree from Harvard University and later served as dean of the law school. She becomes the first justice without judicial experience in nearly 40 years. The last two were William H. Rehnquist and Lewis F. Powell Jr., both of whom joined the court in 1972. 

The new healthcare law has changed more than just healthcare. The newly-passed federal Health Care and Education Reconciliation Act has now left many employees and students at ASU working to adjust student loans after the act was signed into law. ASU news director Jane Nicholson said the new law requires all higher educational institutions to switch to the Federal Direct Loan Program by July 1, which means guaranteed loans that were previously awarded by commercial lenders will now be made by the federal government. Nicholson said students who currently receive federal loans will be considered new borrowers and will have to fill out a new promissory note before loan money can be awarded.  She said ASU students are being notified of these changes through their campus e-mail accounts. Last year, 52 percent of ASU's student body received a federal student loan. 

After the devastation of the worst mining disaster in the United States since 1972, when 91 miners died in a fire at the Sunshine Mine in Kellogg, Idaho., families of those lost in the tragedy  in West Virginia can finally have some closure after the last of the bodies of the 29 men killed were removed from the mine early today. High methane levels in the mine prohibited authorities from being able to recover the remaining bodies sooner, but authorities were able to redirect airflow in the mine to decrease the methane levels that had impeded recovery efforts on Sunday. The bodies of seven victims were recovered shortly after the explosion last week, and 13 bodies were removed Sunday. With the bodies retrieved, authorities can now begin a state and federal investigation to fully study conditions inside the Upper Big Branch South Mine. U.S. Attorney Charles Miller announced that federal prosecutors were "ready, willing and able" to pursue an investigation saying, "If the investigation undertaken by the Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA) reveals that criminal violations have occurred, we will work vigorously with investigators to pursue those offenses to the fullest extent of the law." Massey Energy Co., which owns the mine, said that it will conduct "extensive" reviews of the mine accident "to ensure that a similar incident doesn't happen again." But some have pointed to Massey's safety record in the wake of the blast. The company said the mine has had less than one violation per day in inspections by MSHA and added the rate is "consistent with national averages." President Obama, in wake of the tragedy, has ordered that U.S. flags on all federal buildings in the state  be kept at half-staff until Sunday. 

Labeled as the most liberal justice in the Supreme Court and definitely the oldest, 89-year-old Justice John Paul Stevens, announced today that he will retire this summer. Stevens served on the high court for a near record breaking 34 years, giving President Barack Obama his second chance to name a Supreme Court justice. Stevens said, "Having concluded that it would be in the best interests of the Court to have my successor appointed and confirmed well in advance of the commencement of the Court's next Term, I shall retire from regular active service as an Associate Justice." 

Stevens wrote in a letter to the president, stating his retirement would be "effective the next day after the Court rises for the summer recess this year." The last day of oral arguments is April 28 and the last day of the court will be sometime in the last week of June. The announcement comes 11 days before Stevens' 90th birthday. When he turns 90, Stevens will become just the second Supreme Court Justice reach the milestone while on the bench. With Stevens departure, President Obama will be under pressure to replace the soft spoken and polite Midwesterner with someone who will deliver the same consistently liberal votes on the major social issues of the day.

Chief Justice John Roberts praised Stevens, saying in a statement that Roberts has "enriched the lives of everyone at the Court through his intellect, independence, and warm grace. We have all been blessed to have John as our colleague and his wife Maryan as our friend." 

President Obama is making a visit to North Carolina today. Obama is visiting Charlotte to tour Celgard, a battery-parts maker that has received $49 million in stimulus money. The governor's office has said the money will help create about 300 jobs over the next five years, but Celgard still has yet to spend any of the stimulus money, according to federal documents. Nationwide, the federal government says that stimulus spending created up to 2.1 million jobs as of Dec. 31, with 62,000 of those new jobs coming in North Carolina. President Obama's visit highlights his administration's focus on using the stimulus money to create new jobs and promote energy efficiency. 

North Carolina is hoping to receive some help to boost a struggling economy. The U.S. Department of Labor announced today the 2010 allotments to states and outlying areas under the Workforce Investment Act and Wagner-Peyser Act. The act accounts for nearly $4 billion in funds that will go to help Americans get back to work by creating jobs and training services, which are delivered largely through the department's national network of One-Stop Career Centers. The state of North Carolina has been allocated a total of $92,779,852 for program year 2010, an increase of $12,794,104 (13.8 percent) over the amount the state received in 2009. You can access services provided through this funding via One-Stop Career Centers. To find a local center, visit http://www.servicelocator.org or call 877-348-0502 or TTY 877-348-0501. Online resources to support job searches, career exploration and planning for education and training can be found at http://careeronestop.org. If you would like more information on the range of Department of Labor employment and training programs, visit http://www.doleta.gov. 

Count Senator Kay Hagan in on the people that support the new healthcare bill. Hagan spoke on the Senate floor this week about how she believes the new healthcare reform law will benefit North Carolinians, saying "Right now in North Carolina, we have 1.7 million people without insurance. They will now have access to family doctors. This bill provides immediate benefit to small businesses, middle class families and seniors in North Carolina. The small business owners I've talked to want to provide healthcare for their employees, but the costs are prohibitive. Starting today, 112,000 North Carolina small businesses will be eligible for tax credits to provide healthcare to their employees. Within the next six months, hardworking middle-class families will be able to add their children up to the age of 26 onto their healthcare plan. This will benefit about 870,000 young adults in my state." Hagan added that the Senate is also mulling over the passage of another reform bill. She said,"The new and historic law combined with the bill that we are now considering in the Senate now is going to reform our healthcare system to reduce the cost and improve healthcare for those families across North Carolina, across Virginia, and families across America."

After President Obama signed the new U.S. health care bill into law on Tuesday, officials from 14 states have gone to court to block the historic overhaul of the U.S. health care system, arguing the law's requirement that individuals buy health insurance violates the Constitution. Thirteen of those officials filed suit in a federal court in Pensacola, Florida, minutes after Obama signed the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act. The complaint calls the act an "unprecedented encroachment on the sovereignty of the states" and asks a judge to block its enforcement. The case was filed by Florida Attorney General Bill McCollum pictured in that video and he was joined by 11 other Republican attorneys general, along with one Democrat. McCollum's lawsuit was joined by his counterparts in Alabama, Colorado, Idaho, Louisiana, Michigan, Nebraska, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, South Dakota, Texas, Utah and Washington. Virginia's attorney general, Ken Cuccinelli, filed a separate case in his state Tuesday afternoon. All but, Louisiana's Buddy Caldwell, are Republicans, but McCollum said the case is not a partisan issue and predicted other Democrats would join the suit.

White House spokesman Robert Gibbs said Monday that lawyers have advised the administration it would win the lawsuits. And Democratic Party spokesman Hari Sevugan called the lawsuit "a waste of state funds during the worst economic crisis in a generation." Ryan Wiggins, a spokesman for McCollum, said the case was filed in Pensacola because "we were told that out of all of the places to file in Florida, Pensacola would move the quickest on it." Separately, legislatures in three dozen states are considering proposed legislation aimed at blocking elements of the health care bill. But Cal Jillson, a political science professor at Southern Methodist University in Texas, said the Constitution says laws passed by Congress trump state laws. "We've got a very conservative Supreme Court, but they're not about to overturn 200 years of Constitutional history and interpretation and declare that the supremacy clause is no longer in effect," Jillson said.