The number of homeowners installing solar panels leased from third parties is skyrocketing in the US, particularly in states like California with an incentive program like "One Million Solar Roofs. This week comes news that third-party-owned solar transactions have pumped more than $938 million into California's economy in 2012, a record-high annual amount equal to that of all the previous five years combined.
Minnesota this month became the first state in the country to ban the germ-killer triclosan from antibacterial soaps, toothpastes, body washes and other cosmetics.
Earlier this month, workers at France's national railway company, SNCF, delivered extraordinary customer service to help an elderly woman who boarded the wrong high speed train and was headed 250km in the wrong direction.
A U.S. ship carrying enough wheat to feed more than one million people for four months was delivered for distribution to the Syrian people. The United Nations World Food Program received the contribution, worth more than $19 million, on April 21 in Beirut, Lebanon. The ship's cargo gave the WFP the ability to add flour to the monthly food basket of more than one million people.
54 children from across the country were invited to the White House today for the first ever Kids' State Dinner to celebrate healthy eating and the First Lady Michelle Obama's Let's Move campaign. The entire menu was created using recipes submitted by the children in a contest.
The numbers are coming in, and it appears that for many Americans the health-insurance plans bought under the new government program (known as Obamacare) are fairly affordable.
Not only is she one of the historic class of 2012 women elected to the US Congress this week. Not only is she the first Thai-American woman to be sent to Capitol Hill. Tammy Duckworth is an Iraq War veteran, a U.S. Army helicopter pilot who lost both of her legs in combat. The impressive Duckworth was born in Bangkok, Thailand, to an American father, a U.S. Marine Corps officer.
The economy of Iceland is growing at a clip that has surprised many people. A number of carefully planned steps has brought its fiscal deficit of more than 10 percent back to a near balance.
Congressional leaders unveiled a more conciliatory tone of cooperation in the face of a new Washington landscape that is suddenly more Democratic. In an 11-minute speech, House Speaker John A. Boehner (R-Ohio) hinted that the days of stranglehold partisanship may be over. Reading from a teleprompter, he suggested that he would work with Obama on the imminent fiscal issues.
On June 6, 2006 the Brazilian government announced the creation of protected areas of the Amazon rainforest totaling 6.2 million acres, including The Juruena National Park, now the third largest park in Brazil (4.7 million acres).
A new type of financial instrument is challenging the idea that giving and investing are separate and distinct. The social impact bond (SIB) is an experimental hybrid that applies a profit motive to some of the most intractable social problems. The government of Canada added itself to a short list of agencies around the world considering SIB programs, which can be seen as an alternative to charitable donations -- great for investors looking to place capital in a way that will generate economic and social value at the same time.
California did the impossible, declared Gov. Jerry Brown in his State of the State address. California has once again confounded its critics, he said, basking in the glow of a new optimism from a recovering economy, budget surplus and fresh political victories.
The controversial government bailout of the huge global insurer, AIG, during the worst days of the financial crisis in 2008, will yield billions of profit for the US treasury and taxpayer. The treasury department announced Tuesday that it will sell 234 million shares in American International Group (AIG), bringing the estimated profit on the original AIG TARP assistance to $22.7 billion.
Farmers, like Earl and Clarisse Snell of Alabama, can still grow summer squash and tomatoes as if it were summer, thanks to their new high tunnel built with financial assistance from the US government. Also called hoop houses, seasonal high tunnels look a lot like greenhouses but require no artificial energy source—all they need is natural daylight. With their natural pest controlled environment, farmers across the country are now able to sell organic, locally grown produce throughout the year in states as cold as Minnesota, Wisconsin and even Alaska.
More than 16,000 low-income kids who faced losing their subsidized child care next year will get some good news from Mayor Bloomberg Friday. The mayor plans to announce that he's found $40 million to continue providing child care to all kids now receiving the subsidy their working parents depend.
The House of Representatives last week managed a landslide victory for the little guy passing the Entrepreneur Access to Capital Act by a vote of 407-18. The bill would allow entrepreneurs to crowdfund. That means they could raise money over the Internet through relatively small donations from people they don't know.
London is using its plans for the 2012 Olympic games to revitalize neighborhoods, clean up a polluted industrial site and generate a large urban park with wetlands that will attract birds, otters and other wildlife, while leaving a legacy of sustainability for East Londoners.
Those who make sport out of denigrating the federal workforce should meet the winners of this year's Samuel Heyman 'Service to America Medals'. For the 10th year, public servants were honored at a black-tie gala, presented by the nonprofit Partnership for Public Service.
Federal health authorities Monday added 58 types of cancer to the list of covered illnesses for people who were exposed to toxins at the site of the World Trade Center in the aftermath of the September 11 attacks.
A world away from the chaos, violence and abuses of elections under Hosni Mubarak's rule, Egyptian voters queued in huge, orderly lines on Monday, many still in disbelief that they could now play a part in shaping their nation's future.
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