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Club Members Win Polk Award
A Bloomberg News team, including NPC members Alison Fitzgerald and Craig Torres, won the George Polk Award national reporting award. Their articles challenged the Treasury Department and the Federal Reserve Board to open their books on trillions of dollars in bailout aid that went to financial institutions. A federal court ordered disclosures under the Freedom of Information Act, but an appeal is pending.
Type: News
Bankers Unveil Savings Inducements
An effort to prepare millions of Americans to save for their rainy days and for retirement was launched by a group of large banks and consumer organizations at a Newsmaker Feb. 18. "There really is a savings crisis. and it ranges from low to middle class families," BNYMellon Asset Management President and CEO Ronald P. O'Hanley said. "They blow out a tire in their car, they need to take care of a leak in the roof, but they have no money to handle that. “More people in the world today are over 65 than the people ever had reached the age of 65,” he cautioned about the retirement group emerging…
Type: News
Guatemalan President Welcomes Clinton Offer For Bilateral Help
Guatemalan President Alvaro Colom said he is satisfied with the results of his meeting with Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, who offered a “complete and integral way” to address issues like security and justice and growing institution of government in Guatemala. At a Newsmaker Feb. 18, Colom said the fight against narcotics also was on the agenda.Through an interpreter, he said Clinton also offered to incorporate “new proposals like undertaking tax reforms, rural development and agriculture sector” in the bilateral cooperation ventures. Colom said he agreed to strengthen the rule of law…
Type: News
Haiti Scenario Poses Challenges, Relief Organizations Say
There is a tremendous gap between the difficulty of the operation on the ground and the strong desire of the world for things to immediately improve in Haiti, Nan Buzard of the American Red Cross said at a Newsmaker Feb. 18. Buzard said there is a need to look beyond the statistics of the relief operation. "We have all said this is off the charts," she said. "This is much harder than the tsunami, which is remarkable." She also emphasized the importance of the Haitian people's involvement in the recovery. Gordon Duguid of the Department of State denied any knowledge of a request from the…
Type: News
Ag Sec'y Says Both Too Little, Too Much Food Challenge Child Nutrition
Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack named both too little food and too much food as challenges for Congress to address in reauthorizing the child nutrition programs at a Club Luncheon Feb. 23. While 16.7 million children live in households that have difficulty obtaining enough food, one third of all children are overweight or obese, he said. Vilsack called obesity rates an epidemic and endorsed First Lady Michelle Obama’s “Let’s Move” initiative to add exercise to good nutrition in combating the problem. Vilsack underlined the importance of nutrition in USDA programs by noting that food…
Type: News
Please Welcome 32 New Members
NEW & NOTEWORTHYPosted by Sylvia Smith - 02/24/2010 | Email the editorPlease Welcome 32 New Members The Board of Governors approved 32 member applications Feb. 22. The new members are: ActiveSilvia Adriana Pisani - La Nacion Newspaper, International Correspondent; Simon Mann - The Age (Melbourne)/The Sydney Morning Herald, U.S. Correspondent; Mickey Thompson - Hill Rag/Social Sightings, Reporter, Photojournalist/PublisherActive ReinstatePatricia Guadalupe - WTOP Radio, ReporterActive Non-ResidentChristopher Gunty, Baltimore, Md. - The Catholic Review, Associate Publisher/Editor; Ian…
Type: News
NIH Director Says US Lax in Cultivating New Scientists
The director of the National Institutes of Health oversees a $30 billion budget, 325,000 university researchers and 6,000 NIH scientists at 27 institutes and centers devoted to finding answers to some of the world's most pressing medical and scientific problems. But Dr. Francis S. Collins also sees himself as an advocate for science by trying to explain the complex and technical to a larger society of non-scientists. It's difficult to break through Americans' aversion to hard science, Collins said at a Luncheon Feb. 26. Fifteen-year-olds in the United States ranked 29th in science achievement…
Type: News
Landmines a Continuing Problem in Vietnam, Retired General Says
Vietnamese veterans of the war with the U.S. embrace an attitude of reconciliation and mutual respect, members of U.S. veterans who visited Vietnam reported. But unexploded land mines are "a contionuing disastger," said delegation leader retired Gen. Barry McCaffrey. McCaffrey and Jan Scruggs, president of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Fund, headed the 26-member delegation that included U.S. Vietnam veterans and their families. They reported on the trip at a Feb. 26 Newsmaker. "It's time to heal the scars of war. It is time for reconciliation,” McCaffrrey said. He said the delegation had…
Type: News
Are More College Graduates Needed? Experts Debate
Debating whether the United States needs more college graduates, the "pros" cited equal opportunity and equality while the "cons" argued cost and benefits in a program at the Club Friday, Feb. 26. The event was jointly produced by the Miller Center of the University of Virginia, the Club, and MacNeil/Lehrer Productions. It will air on PBS. Margaret Spellings, former Secretary of Education, opened the "pro" side, saying college education "breaks the chains of generational poverty.” Her partner on the "pro" side, Michael Lomax, president and CEO of the United Negro College Fund, cited the…
Type: News
Novelist Says Potential Disaster Victims Should be Taught Emotional Balance
People should be taught how to open up, share and speak about feelings in addition to pragmatic steps detailed in the Obama administration's preparedness plans to face natural disasters, author Chitra Divakaruni said at a Newsmaker press conference Feb. 24. Citing the recent Haiti earthquake, Divakaruni said disasters are "a part of human existence." As a volunteer with Hurricane Katrina refugees in Houston in 2005 and as an evacuee as Hurricane Rita rushed toward Houston, she faced these first-hand and wrote about them in a novel. "When I was volunteering with Hurricane Katrina refugees in…
Type: News