National Press Club

Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack described the effects of climate change on agriculture and detailed three new steps his department is taking to mitigate them at a National Press Club luncheon June 5.

“We have a climate that clearly is warming,” he said, adding that the consequent changes “threaten the future of agriculture, long term, as we know it.”

The United States is experiencing an increasing number of severe storms, invasive species and intense forest fires, he said. He noted that last year produced the second-most severe weather and the warmest year on record.

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Walt Cronkite took a long time to get to know his grandfather, the late, beloved broadcast journalist Walter Cronkite. And it took him even longer – a year after his grandfather’s death – to learn about his famous ancestor's life as a younger man.

Now an associate producer for politics at CBS News, Walt Cronkite admitted as much in in discussing the book about his grandfather he co-authored, “Cronkite’s War: His WWII Letters Home,” at a National Press Club Book Rap June 4.

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Dick Heller, the winning litigant in a gun-rights lawsuit at the Supreme Court, told a National Press Club Newsmaker event June 5 that the press is biased against responsible gun ownership.

“With multiple examples available of proper and appropriate use of guns by people across the nation, I can only conclude that many reporters are willfully biased by mainly reporting stories associated with illegal or inappropriate firearms usage," Heller said.

Many people in government and the media don’t want to learn about using guns for self defense, Heller said.

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Once the poorest of Spain’s colonies, Chile aims to be “the first Latin American developed country without poverty,” declared Chilean President Sebastián Piñera at a June 4 National Press Club luncheon.

Buoyed by what he said was a “very fruitful and useful” meeting with President Barack Obama earlier in the day, Piñera laid out a four-point plant for landing Chile in the developed-country club: strengthen pre-school education, triple investments in science and technology, create a million jobs and mitigate income inequality.

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John Dickerson, chief political correspondent for Slate and political director or CBS News, and Hal Bernton, reporter for The Seattle Times, were presented the 2013 Gerald Ford Journalism Awards at a packed National Press Club luncheon June 3.

Presenting the awards, made annually at a Club luncheon by the Ford Presidential Foundation, were two public figures with close ties to Ford – Rep. Fred Upton, R-Mich., and David Gergen, senior CNN political analyst.

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Young people interested in doing humanitarian-aid work in Africa should go, said Jessica Buchanan, a humanitarian-aid worker in Somalia who was kidnapped in 2011 and survived 93 days of captivity before being rescued by the U.S. military.

“Make sure you are well informed. Make sure you take security seriously. Make sure you assess the risks,” Buchanan said at a National Press Club Book Rap May 22.

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New studies on the unique learning experiences of young dual language learners (DLLs) indicate they require different tools and approaches to assure academic success compared to English-only speaking children, according to an extensive study released at a National Press Club Newsmaker on May 14.

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One of 12 men to walk on the Moon and return safely to Earth told a sold-out National Press Club Book Rap May 10 that the astronauts that eventually go to Mars should not plan on returning to Earth.

“The cost of bringing people back in terms of having the fuel there to be able to bring them back is not in keeping with the idea of establishing a permanent growing settlement,” said Buzz Aldrin, author of "Mission to Mars: My Vision for Space Exploration." “If you are not ready to do that, to commit to do that; don’t go then until you are.”

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Tennis legend Chris Evert, winner of 18 Grand Slam championships and No. 1 ranked women’s player for seven years, called tennis “the greatest sport out there” at a National Press Club luncheon Tuesday, May 7.

“It can be a passport to a better, happier and healthier life,” she said. “It can be played by people of every age and ability. It is a tool for connecting people of different backgrounds, for fostering friendships, and building more vibrant and better communities.”

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“In a normal budgetary environment, an efficiencies- and strategy-driven approach to defense ... would be sufficient, but this budgetary environment is anything but normal,” said Deputy Secretary of Defense Ashton Carter at a National Press Club Newsmaker event on Tuesday. “What is tragic in all this, this damage to readiness and national security, is that it is not a result of economic emergency or recession in this country ... it’s purely a collateral damage of political gridlock,” he emphasized as he spoke about problems from the sequestration.

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