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WASHINGTON – Assistant Secretary for Communications and Information and NTIA Administrator Lawrence E. Strickling today announced two American Recovery and Reinvestment Act investments to help bridge the technological divide, boost economic growth, create jobs, and improve education in Hawaii.

WASHINGTON – The Commerce Department’s National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) today announced a $10.6 million American Recovery and Reinvestment Act investment to help bridge the technological divide, boost economic growth, create jobs, and improve education and healthcare in New Mexico.

HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius today announced three sets of grants and cooperative agreements totaling nearly $17 million for patient-centered outcomes research (PCOR), or research that compares treatments and strategies to improve health outcomes for patients.

U.S. Commerce Secretary Gary Locke today announced 35 American Recovery and Reinvestment Act investments to help bridge the technological divide, boost economic growth, create jobs, and improve education and healthcare across the country. The investments, totaling $482.4 million in grants, will fund projects that pave the way to bring enhanced high-speed Internet access to millions of households and businesses and link thousands of schools, hospitals, libraries, and public safety offices to the information superhighway.

HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius today announced that Cincinnati and Detroit are the two final pilot communities selected under the new Beacon Community Program that is using health information technology to help tackle leading health problems in communities across the country.  At the same time, the program will also allow HHS to look for new ways to share the lessons learned by funded communities and, working with local and national health care foundations, develop support networks for other communities that want to employ similar innovative approaches.

The construction of the main facility is the final phase of NOAA’s Pacific Regional Center project. NOAA is partnering with the U.S. Navy to redevelop existing federal facilities on Ford Island to modernize and consolidate NOAA’s programs supporting management of coastal and marine resources and weather, tsunami, and climate prediction in the Pacific.

WASHINGTON, D.C.—The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) issued today its first Guidelines for Smart Grid Cyber Security, which includes high-level security requirements, a framework for assessing risks, an evaluation of privacy issues at personal residences, and additional information for businesses and organizations to use as they craft strategies to protect the modernizing power grid from attacks, malicious code, cascading errors, and other threats.

WASHINGTON — Secretary of Labor Hilda L. Solis issued the following statement on the August 2010 Employment Situation report released today:

"This past August, the economy gained 67,000 jobs in the private sector, and the unemployment rate increased to 9.6 percent. Total nonfarm employment declined by 54,000 over the month, as 114,000 temporary census jobs wrapped up between July and August and more than offset the private sector job gains.

Washington, D.C. - Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Janet Napolitano today announced the deployment of American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA)-funded advanced imaging technology (AIT) to 28 additional airports nationwide - strengthening security at airports throughout the nation while creating local jobs.

WASHINGTON—Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Janet Napolitano today announced approximately $23 million in American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) funding for an inline baggage screening system at Orlando International Airport (MCO)—enhancing the Transportation Security Administration’s (TSA) ongoing efforts to bolster airport security while boosting the local economy.

Mutations in a single gene can cause several types of developmental brain abnormalities that experts have traditionally considered different disorders. With support from the National Institutes of Health, researchers found those mutations through whole exome sequencing — a new gene scanning technology that cuts the cost and time of searching for rare mutations.

NHGRI-supported researchers streamlined DNA sequencing strategies to find rare disease genes quickly

Using a new, rapid and less expensive DNA sequencing strategy, scientists have discovered genetic alterations that account for most cases of Kabuki syndrome, a rare disorder that causes multiple birth defects and mental retardation. Instead of sequencing the entire human genome, the new approach sequences just the exome, the 1-2 percent of the human genome that contains protein-coding genes.

U.S. Commerce Secretary Gary Locke today joined U.S. Reps. Jay Inslee and Brian Baird at the Seattle Central Library to announce a $54.5 million American Recovery and Reinvestment Act investment to help bridge the technological divide, boost economic growth, create jobs, and improve education and healthcare in difficult terrain both east and west of the Cascades mountain range in Washington state.

U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan today announced that Mississippi will receive $47 million to turn around its persistently lowest achieving schools through the School Improvement Grants (SIG) program. These funds are part of the $3.5 billion that will be made available to states this spring from money set aside in the 2009 budget and the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act.

U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan today announced that Idaho will receive $12.6 million to turn around its persistently lowest achieving schools through the School Improvement Grants (SIG) program. These funds are part of the $3.5 billion that will be made available to states this spring from money set aside in the 2009 budget and the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act.

California Recovery Dollars Have Provided Funding For More Than 47,000 Education Jobs

U. S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan today announced that an additional $487,549,876 is now available for California under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) of 2009. To date, California has received $10,849,634,034 through the ARRA. The state recently reported that recovery dollars have been used to provide funding for more than 47,000 education jobs from April 1 to June 30, 2010, while also supporting programs that drive education reform.

Recovery Act Funds to Support New Renewable Energy Manufacturing Projects

Washington D.C. --- Energy Secretary Steven Chu announced today a new loan guarantee solicitation for renewable energy manufacturing projects. The Commercial Technology Manufacturing Systems and Components solicitation is supported by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act through Section 1705 of the Loan Guarantee Program.

Recovery Act Funded Project to Transform Scientific Research

Washington, D.C. - U.S. Energy Secretary Steven Chu today dedicated the Linac Coherent Light Source (LCLS), the world's first and most powerful X-ray laser, at the Department of Energy's SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory. The LCLS will play an essential role in addressing the scientific needs of the 21st century by exploring new ways to create better energy sources and enabling advances in a range of scientific fields.

WASHINGTON, DC - U.S. Energy Secretary Steven Chu announced today award selections for approximately 120 organizations across the country that will receive nearly $120 million to drive innovation under the Department of Energy's Weatherization Assistance Program.  These investments will enable successful weatherization agencies to expand their programs and will support new pilot projects to demonstrate innovative weatherization delivery and financial models and new technologies.  Secretary Chu also announced that the program reached a new milestone in June - weatherizing more than 31,600 homes across the country.

WASHINGTON, DC - Secretary Steven Chu announced today that the Department of Energy is extending the application deadline for the July 2009 energy efficiency, renewable energy and advanced transmission and distribution technologies solicitation. The Round 8, Part 1 application deadline is October 5, 2010. This gives companies an additional six weeks to apply for a loan guarantee under Section 1703, and if qualified, under Section 1705, provided by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act.