Articles by Heather Rogers

Lines of applicants for the Deferred Action Program outside the Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights of Los Angeles in Los Angeles on Wednesday. Credit: US News On Wednesday the DREAM Act (acronym for Development, Relief, and Education for Alien Minors) went partially into effect. Prompted by the Obama Administration’s Deferred Action policy, which began accepting applications yesterday, thousands of young undocumented immigrants are now waiting to obtain deportation relief. According to the ...

Source: bloomberg.com On Monday, President Obama visited farmers in Iowa affected by this summer’s severe drought. In a speech he talked about how Congress has, so far, failed to provide emergency relief to farmers or pass a new farm bill. The president blamed House Republicans, like Vice Presidential candidate Paul Ryan, for Congresses failure to act. President Obama said of the congressman, “He's one of those leaders of Congress standing in the way." He went on to say, "If you happen to see ...

Credit: ABC News NASA successfully landed its latest rover, Curiosity, late on Sunday night, within Gale Crater on the Martian surface. This is a huge triumph for the NASA team members who were prepared for the possibility of a landing failure. Over two-thirds of the previous Mars landing attempts have failed, making this mission's achievement an even bigger triumph. Curiosity was designed to collect samples of mountain layers, as well as send color photos back to Earth. Researchers hope to ga...

Credit: NewsDay A unique example of bipartisan teamwork, the Fix Congress Now Caucus has been founded in the House to attempt to pass legislation through compromise. The caucus was initiated by Rep. Scott Rigell (R-VA), and co-founded by Rep. Reid Ribble (R-WI), Rep. Kurt Schrader (D-OR), and Rep. Jim Cooper (D-TN), making it an even group of two Democrats and two Republicans. They have developed a mission statement defining the purpose of the caucus which is to, Identify, agree upon, and mov...

UN-Arab League envoy for Syria, Kofi Annan, has resigned after a failed attempt to gain Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s acceptance of his peace plan. The UN is in currently involved in discussions with the Arab league to appoint a successor. Whoever follows Mr. Annan will have a tough order to fill, as the  former UN secretary general and Noble Peace prize winner quit only after immense frustration from the country’s escalating civil war. After being appointed to the position in February of ...

Credit: The New York Times The 535 members of Congress are about to take a break for summer recess, free from the rigors of government. Some argue it is an undeserved repose. Beginning on August 9th, the legislators of our nation will leave the capitol, not to return for five weeks. So what do the members of Congress do while on recess? Put in long days at the district office? Host campaign fundraisers? Trips to the Bahamas? A recent Gallup poll measured public approval of Congress at just 16 ...

Credit: usnews.com The drought that has been plaguing vast areas of the nation this summer, has intensified dramatically over the past week according to the U.S. Drought Monitor. The unrelenting heat and dryness of the regions most severely affected has caused the increased drought conditions stretching across 29 states. Drought Monitor author, Brian Fuchs, stated that the recent jump is the highest ever recorded since the inception of the nation’s drought monitor. The states in which drought ...

The United States has the loosest gun control laws of all developed countries. In the US, there are virtually as many guns as there are people. According to FBI crime statistics, 8,775 of the 12,996 murders that occurred in the U.S. in 2010 were caused by firearms. With a gun being the weapon of choice in so many of the homicides in the United States, consider other countries, with stricter gun control laws, and how murders involving firearms there are much lower. Japan - In Japan, most kinds ...

Credit: muckrack.com Last month saw widespread drought across the United States, as 54.6% of the country experienced drought conditions. According to a recent report from the Washington Post, last month’s drought easily makes it onto the list as the most expansive drought in the United States since the 1950’s. Currently, more than 80% of the land surface throughout the country is abnormally dry. Droughts occur on a regular basis throughout the United States. With growing evidence of global war...