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WASHINGTON (Sept. 27) -- Students beware: The summer vacation you just enjoyed could be sharply curtailed if President Barack Obama gets his way.

President Obama wants kids to spend more time in school. Students in the U.S. need more class time to remain competitive with students around the world, the President said. Obama advocates schools adding time to classes, extending hours into evenings and weekends, and shortening summer vacation. "Now, I know longer school days and school years are not wildly popular ideas, not with Malia and Sasha, not in my family, probably not in yours. But the challenges of a new century demand more time in the classroom," Obama said. Some schools that extended their hours have seen positive results. Early results...

WASHINGTON – Students beware: The summer vacation you just enjoyed could be sharply curtailed if President Barack Obama gets his way. Obama says American kids spend too little time in school, putting them at a disadvantage with other students around the globe. "Now, I know longer school days and school years are not wildly popular ideas," the president said earlier this year. "Not with Malia and Sasha, not in my family, and probably not in yours. But the challenges of a new century demand more time in the classroom." The president, who has a sixth-grader and a third-grader, wants schools...

WASHINGTON – Students beware: The summer vacation you just enjoyed could be sharply curtailed if President Barack Obama gets his way. Obama says American kids spend too little time in school, putting them at a disadvantage with other students around the globe. "Now, I know longer school days and school years are not wildly popular ideas," the president said earlier this year. "Not with Malia and Sasha, not in my family, and probably not in yours. But the challenges of a new century demand more time in the classroom." The president, who has a sixth-grader and a third-grader, wants schools...

WASHINGTON – Students beware: The summer vacation you just enjoyed could be sharply curtailed if President Barack Obama gets his way. Obama says American kids spend too little time in school, putting them at a disadvantage with other students around the globe. "Now, I know longer school days and school years are not wildly popular ideas," the president said earlier this year. "Not with Malia and Sasha, not in my family, and probably not in yours. But the challenges of a new century demand more time in the classroom." The president, who has a sixth-grader and a third-grader, wants schools...

This is already the hottest summer in Austin's history — shattering the previous record — but the sweltering city might not be done setting dubious milestones in 2009. Two more days of triple digits will tie the record for the most 100-degree temperatures in a year: 69 days of lawn-killing, air conditioner-straining heat. A typical year has 12 triple-digit days. The 1925 record appears safe for at least the next few days, with highs forecast in the 90s.

The season without a summer. (Video)

The WH and Congress have severely overestimated the charm of President Obama. They believe that when the President speaks the public all feel a tingle running up their legs... The public is smarter than for which the bureaucrats in Washington give them credit… In the old days, when Americans took civics, and took civic life seriously, every schoolboy/schoolgirl knew what a yellow dog was. The phrase, which almost certainly came from Alabama more than three-quarters of a century ago, grew out of the notion that some Southerners would (gladly) vote for a yellow dog if he ran on the Democratic...

The New York Times had an amazing front page story yesterday which I would have thought would have jumped to the top of every cable news cycle except for the Senate's confirmation of Justice Sonia Sotomayor. The headline of the story was: "White House Affirms Deal on Drug Cost" by David Kirkpatrick. I want you to read the lead paragraph very slowly: Pressed by industry lobbyists, White House officials on Wednesday assured drug makers that the administration stood by a behind-the-scenes deal to block any Congressional effort to extract cost savings from them beyond an agreed-upon $80 billion. Whoa! Check...

Chocolate-covered bacon, anyone? Food on a stick means kabobs on the grill, ice cream bars on the run, caramel apples for Halloween. You know where we’re going with this, right? Fair-weather fans crave oddball food during this time of year, and that can mean collecting sticks during all meal courses. The lines don’t begin and end at the Pronto Pup stand. Food-on-a-stick menus are getting fatter, embracing cotton candy and hot dogs to deep-fried Oreos and chunks of cheese. Expect more than three dozen choices when the Wisconsin State Fair opens Aug. 6 in West Allis, and the most outrageous...

(AP) — DES MOINES, Iowa - The Iowa climatologist says temperatures are the coolest this July than any other on record in the state according to preliminary statistics. Climatologist Harry Hillaker says that's good news for Iowa's agricultural crops like corn and beans. Hillaker says the best crop yields are during cooler summers. The lowest July average temperature in Iowa was in 1891 at 68.3 degrees. This July the average has been 68.1 degrees. But Hillaker says more temperature reports could alter that number. There was a low temperature of 42 degrees in Sheldon, Sibley and Spencer on July 19...

On July 1, the high temperature reached 64 degrees and it drizzled all day. Things didn't get much better after that. July 2009 has gone down in the record books as Chicago's coldest July in almost seven decades, and the third coldest since the National Weather Service started keeping records in 1872. How cold was it? It was so cold that: • The average temperature was 69.4 degrees, the same average temperature as Fairbanks, Alaska. • The high temperature was below 80 degrees for 14 of the 31 days (45 percent). • In the early morning hours of July 20,...

July 2009 goes down as the hottest month ever recorded, Lower Colorado River Authority meteorologist Bob Rose said Friday.

(CBS) You’re trying your best to enjoy an evening cookout, but a constant swarm of mosquitoes follows you from grill to poolside. The threat? A pierce to your skin, leaving behind an itchy red welt and possibly even a serious illness. As you swat madly at the pests, you notice that others seem completely unfazed. Could it be that mosquitoes prefer to bite some people over others? The short answer is yes. Mosquitoes do exhibit blood-sucking preferences, say the experts. "One in 10 people are highly attractive to mosquitoes," reports Jerry Butler, PhD, professor emeritus at the University of Florida....

How much sweat does it take to set a new heat-wave record? Sticky Seattleites may find out this week. If temperatures stay at 90 degrees or higher through Saturday, that will add up to six sweltering days in a row. And if Seattle's high reaches 100 degrees today, as forecast, it will tie the city's all-time temperature record. The region's previous record hot spells lasted five days, in August 1981 and July 1941. "We're certainly in the running," said Brad Colman, local meteorologist-in-charge for the National Weather Service.

Average Temperature Only 68.9 Degrees! Have you left your air conditioner in the closet this summer, and worn long pants more often than shorts? If so, you may not be surprised to find out that Chicago is seeing its coldest July in more than 65 years. The National Weather Service says 2009 has seen the coldest July since the official recording station was moved away from the lakefront in 1942. The average temperature this month in Chicago has been a mere 68.9 degrees. Even in the years before 1942, when the National Weather Service recorded temperatures at the cooler lakefront,...

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Here are some stats and maps regarding the unusually cold July that is happening over a large portion of the U.S., especially the Northeast quadrant (yes, it's been unusually hot in the SW, see below). Note: Since I am on vacation at the end of the month, I will not be able to update these but AccuWeather.com will be running news articles about how cool July was in these areas, come the first week in August. First, some stats. 1,044 daily record low temperatures have been broken this month nationwide according to NCDC -- count record "low highs" and the...

The Obamas will rent the stunning 29-acre Blue Heron Farm, on Martha's Vineyard, Chilmark, a glamorous spread featuring spectacular views, the Vineyard Gazette reported. Features a Victorian farmhouse, 5-bedroom "guest house," reconstructed Pennsylvania barn and NH shed.... owned by Mississippi timber magnate William Van Devender and wife Mollie.....had $20 million pricetag in 2005. Prior owners hosted the Clintons in 1998. The Obamas can stroll to a private saltwater pond or take a dip in the Atlantic from a private beach. Other features: a private dock with a Boston Whaler, a catamaran and several kayaks, a pool, and a hot tub...

Though frequently quoted, Mark Twain probably didn’t say the coldest winter he ever spent was July in San Francisco. But someone did. No one would mistake Lincoln for San Francisco. It’s not that foggy. But this July is proving to be one of the coolest on record in both Lincoln and Omaha. On average, the temperature reaches 90 degrees or higher at least 15 days in July in Lincoln. So far this July: once. The best chance for 90 this week is Friday. Monday’s high was only 75. Omaha has yet to reach 90 this month. Lincoln set record lows...

Keep that towel handy. California parks officials can enforce a ban on nudity at any state beach, even in areas that have been informally designated as "clothing optional," a state appeals court says. The new policy will take effect immediately, although officers will decide whether to warn, cite or arrest violators, said Roy Stearns, spokesman for the state Parks and Recreation Department. "I'm pretty sure that we will try to tread lightly to get compliance at first," he said Monday, three days after the appellate court in Santa Ana published its ruling as a statewide precedent. "We're not in the...

The largest utility in southern California urged consumers on Monday to conserve power to help keep air conditioners running without interruption as hot weather sends demand soaring over the next few days. Temperatures in Los Angeles will reach the low 90s Fahrenheit (low 30s Celsius) Monday and Tuesday with the humidity making it feel more like the low 100s F (high 30s C), according to AccuWeather.com. Edison International's Southern California Edison utility said its transmission system was performing well but the continuing multi-day heat wave and lighting caused some isolated equipment failures and scattered outages. As the heat continues, the...

1816 was the "year without a summer." There were several causes of the abnormally cold weather that year, as this source recounts: The year 1816 is still known to scientists and historians as "eighteen hundred and froze to death" or the "year without a summer." It was the locus of a period of natural ecological destruction not soon to be forgotten. During that year, the Northern Hemisphere was slammed with the effects of at least two abnormal but natural phenomena. These events were mysterious at the time, and even today they are not well understood. First, 1816 marked the midpoint...

Introducing a new series to Needs of the Many … “Things I Hate.” They are numerous, and they need to be shared. In the inaugural post of “Things I Hate” I will take aim at the scourge of female fashion … capri pants. I don’t know where the capri came from, and I don’t give a damn. They have all the glamor and charm of a bucket full of vomit, and that opinion is nearly universal among men. I have yet to meet a man who likes his woman to wear capris. The irony is how ‘cute’ women seem to...

The Obamas will be proving their presidential worth by summering in the moneyed seclusion of Martha’s Vineyard, off Cape Cod, Massachusetts, the island retreat beloved of John F Kennedy and Bill Clinton. The requirements are comfort and mobility – cookouts, cycling and sailing are favourite island pastimes – but remember, Vineyard vacationers are power players back home (Meg Ryan, Reese Witherspoon and Beyoncé Knowles are also regular visitors), so wardrobes need to be sharp and stylish – in a nonchalant, no-time-taken-to-dress kind of way. Barack Obama is JFK's 'inspirational' heir, says former Kennedy aide Ted Sorensen“I can wander around in...

A blaze of blooms to send your spirits floating like a butterfly By FIONA MACRAE 10th July 2009. Just a few yards from the noise and fumes of one of the nation's busiest motorways stands an oasis of dazzling natural colour. Twenty acres of grassland have been transformed by an explosion of summer blooms into Britain's biggest and brightest wildflower meadow. Designed to attract butterflies and naturelovers alike, it was created in only 12 weeks and boasts 65 different species of flower from around the world. [Pic in URL] Dazzling: Sunflowers form the centrepiece of the massive wildflower meadow that...

Note: The following text is a quote: THE BRIEFING ROOM THE WHITE HOUSE Office of the Press Secretary ___________________________________________________________________ FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE July 9, 2009 NATIONAL SUMMER LEARNING DAY, 2009 - - - - - - - BY THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA A PROCLAMATION Like an athlete out of practice, a child who takes long breaks from learning can face academic setbacks. This problem is especially prominent during the summer, when students may lose more than two months of progress. Children must remain engaged to maintain and build upon their current academic achievement. Learning loss can...

Sunday is the Lord’s Day. Jesus rose from the dead on Sunday morning, so Sunday is reserved as the “Lord’s Day,� the day to remember the Resurrection and to offer our praise and worship. Sunday is the Christian “Sabbath,� a shift from the Jewish Sabbath that runs from sunset on Friday to sunset on Saturday. God gave us the Third Commandment as a solemn obligation, not a suggestion or an option: “Keep holy the Sabbath day (Ex 20:8-11; Dt 5:12-15) (see the Catechism of the Catholic Church, Numbers 2174 – 2178).Regular Sunday worship dates back to the first generation...

Not since 1965 has it been so hard for teens to get work. Think an unemployment rate of 9.5% is bad? It could be worse. You could be a teenager. For teenagers, the summer job market has not been so bleak in generations. During what should be the start of the bustling summer job season, the unemployment rate for 16- to 19-year-olds who want work is 24%--the worst since 1965. The outlook for teen jobs is so bleak that it's weighing down the entire employment report, which the Bureau of Labor Statistics released on Thursday. The country is headed for...

Capri pants bare scourge of summer: ‘cankles’Cheeky gym campaign gives us yet another body part to worry about By Jacqueline Stenson updated 9:31 a.m. ET, Wed., July 1, 2009 Still obsessing about how your dimpled thighs, jelly belly or flappy arms look in a swimsuit? That’s so last summer. This year, there’s a new body part to fret over: the cankle. Hmmm, you may be wondering, what’s a cankle? Gold’s Gym, which has designated July as “Cankle Awareness Month,” defines it this way: “The word comes from the combination of ‘calf’ and ‘ankle.’ It occurs when the calf merges with...

President Barack Obama's news conference Tuesday was moved inside because the Rose Garden is too humid. Now, he'll take questions in the James S. Brady Briefing Room. The White House announced the new location for the 12:30 p.m. ET news conference at 9:34 a.m. Aides in the Rose Garden discovered it was already sticky, which would have made for miserable journalists and unflattering video. So will the reporters stand when the president enters the room? By tradition, reporters stand in the more formal setting of the East Room. In the briefing room, sometimes they do and sometimes they don't —...

Summer solstice beings in the UK on June 21, 2009 at 5:45 UT Sol + stice derives from a combination of Latin words meaning "sun" + "to stand still." As the days lengthen, the sun rises higher and higher until it seems to stand still in the sky. As a major celestial event, the Summer Solstice results in the longest day and the shortest night of the year. The Northern Hemisphere celebrates in June, but the people on the Southern half of the earth have their longest summer day in December. http://www.chiff.com/a/summer-solstice.htm

So today, I had the first serious round of my great grandmother Hale’s sliced tomatoes, a recipe from the Hale House tea room in Glastonbury, CT from– I’m not sure– the twenties? It’s simple but guaranteed if the ingredients are exactly right– garden fresh tomatoes and basil, in particular. I’m posting this in part to taunt a regular reader in Maine, where high Summer has apparently not arrived to this extent....

It was a raw, even wintry, weekend for residents and travelers in the northern Rockies. The cold air streaming southward from Canada will get cut off this week, and temperatures will begin to rebound over the next few days. Several inches of snow fell in the higher elevations of Montana, Wyoming and North Dakota this past weekend. Snow totals neared a foot near Meeteetse, Wyo. Chilly rain fell elsewhere in the northern Rockies and northern Plains, while violent thunderstorms rocked the central and southern Plains. The recent cold weather has slowed the progress of crops in Montana in comparison to...

I know, another day, another economic photo op and pledge of hopeychangeyness from The One, but really...this one's gonna make ya laugh (or cry buckets) WASHINGTON (AP) - Eager to show action on the ailing economy, President Barack Obama promised Monday to speed federal money into hundreds of public works projects this summer, vowing that 600,000 jobs will be created or saved. Surrounded by his Cabinet, Obama emphasized what has become a dominant issue of public concern—an economy that keeps bleeding jobs—on the day after returning from a week of diplomacy and sightseeing in the Middle East and Europe. Did...

Getting a toy to maintain flight used to be difficult, with the possible exception of some well-folded pieces of paper. Now, would-be miniature aviators have it a lot easier. A number of consumer robotics and toy companies offer products that take little more than a full charge and a clear line of sight to reach flight. Little assembly, but maybe some batteries, required. Here are six of our favorite new flying toys.

Email sent to Overland Park KS pool nazi at oppr@opkansas.org Re: finger scans... You have told us that in addition to the photos, you want finger scans for us to be able to use our tax payer supported pools. Please cite to me immediately the city or state regulation which entitles the city of Overland Park to require this invasion of our privacy to allow us to use this facility. If you cannot do so by this coming Wednesday, I must insist on a full refund of the fees I have paid you

WASHINGTON – Gasoline prices are expected to be relatively low this summer, so motorists might want to take to the road despite the dismal economy if the federal government projections hold. The Energy Information Administration said regular-grade gasoline is expected to average $2.23 a gallon during the April-through-September driving season, although it will likely fluctuate and could jump to more than $2.30 a gallon during the peak driving period in late summer. But that's still a bargain compared with last summer, when gasoline cost an average of $3.81 a gallon. Much lower crude oil prices, which are projected to averaged...

WASHINGTON, April 14, 2009 – For military students who can’t squeeze enough learning into the school year, the Department of Defense Education Activity has the perfect solution. For the fifth year, the agency is offering eligible students in kindergarten through 8th grade a free, four-week summer enrichment program with a curriculum emphasizing math and language arts. DoDEA officials expect enrollment of about 10 percent of all the 6,500 students in kindergarten through 8th grade in the activity’s school system, Joel K. Hansen, DoDEA’s special projects coordinator, said. “It’s not a remedial program. It’s not a program to help students...

Gas prices may not go up as much this spring and summer as expected. Traditionally prices jump in the spring and summer and AAA Auto Club South had offered $2.50 and $3 as potential summer prices. But the increase may not grow as much as previously predicted as U.S. gasoline inventories ended in March higher than normal for this time of year. The auto club pointed to a U.S. Department of Energy report that listed a continued decline in demand for gas, along with the availability of imported gas and the increasing use of ethanol as factors that have reduced...

THE South Australian Government is urging people not to use their air conditioners as the state swelters in three days of 40C-plus ((104 F). Citing the community's environmental responsibilities, the State Government today put our a press release saying there were many alternatives to using air conditioners, urging South Australians to instead insulate ceilings and use external blinds or a pergola to shade windows, AdelaideNow reports. The Transport, Energy and Infrastructure Department's energy division's press release said residents should close curtains and use portable and ceiling fans instead of air conditioners. "The department ... is advising householders that there are...

KABUL (Reuters) – The United States is looking to send 20,000 to 30,000 extra troops to Afghanistan by the beginning of next summer, the chairman of the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff said on Saturday. Washington is already sending some 3,000 extra troops in January and another 2,800 by spring, but officials previously have said the number would be made up to 20,000 in the next 12 to 18 months, once approved by the U.S. administration. "Some 20 to 30,000 is the window of overall increase from where we are right now. I don't have an exact number," Admiral Mike...

Architecturally Awesome Sand Castles for Summer's End The best buildings sculpted from sand require the skills of an architect—sudden structural collapse is a significant risk—and the details depicted by some well-packed granules rival the most ornate towers and palaces you'd find on terra firma. Any of the examples here could be widely regarded as significant structures—if only they hadn't washed away hours after their completion. According to Ted Siebert's 1990 book, The Art of Sandcastling, "Seawater is an ideal bonding agent for a sand castle. As seawater in a sculpture evaporates, salt crystals remain, forming a thin crust over the...

The President is spending a few days at his ranch in Texas and Gordon Johndroe, a spokesman for the National Security Council, updated reporters in Crawford today on international events that President Bush in monitoring from his nearby ranch. Vice President Dick Cheney visited the Georgian Embasssy in Washington. Pray for President Bush -- Day 2896

Major Highlights NOAA: U.S. Temperature Above Normal in July, Fifth Warmest July on Record for Globe July 2008 was the 30th warmest July for the contiguous United States, based on records dating back to 1895, according to an analysis by NOAA's National Climatic Data Center in Asheville, N.C. The average July temperature, 74.9°F, was 0.7 degrees above the 20th century mean, based on preliminary data. The combined average global land and ocean surface temperature for July 2008 tied with 2001 and 2003 as the fifth warmest July since worldwide records began in 1880, according to an analysis by NOAA's National...

<p>BRESSANONE, Italy - Serenaded by an oompah band and chiming church bells, Pope Benedict XVI ended a two-week vacation in the Italian Alps on Monday and returned to his summer residence in the hills outside Rome.</p> <p>The 81-year-old pontiff looked well rested as he said goodbye from the main window of the seminary in the northeastern town of Bressanone where he was staying.</p>

1. Is Harry Reid keeping the Senate open again? It doesn't seem like it.... 2. In that case - is Bush making recess appointments? He ought to. Thanks.

The White House has rejected calls from House Republicans that it convene a special session of Congress on energy, saying it wouldn’t make a difference. “We don't have plans to call Congress into session -- it won't make a difference if Democratic leaders are unwilling to bring up a bill for an up-down vote,” said White House spokesman Tony Fratto. Republican Study Committee Chairman Jeb Hensarling (R-Texas) and Rep. Mike Pence (R-Ind.) asked President Bush to convene the special session in an Aug. 1 letter. The same day, House Republicans launched an unusual protest on the House floor urging...

Summer is half over. Know why? Because Maine's blueberry harvest is underway. And blueberry growers are expecting a pretty good crop this year. University of Maine experts expect an average or slightly above average yield of 80 million to 100 million pounds of berries, thanks to adequate rain in May and June. Blueberry specialist David Yarborough says the hot, humid, but largely dry first few weeks of July stressed crops to some degree. But he says recent showers are refreshing them. Love to head out and pick the little blue bubbles of yummy, juicy goodness? If you are in southern...

Expanded Learning Time or Money? by: Rachel Paulk, July 24, 2008 The Center for American Progress recently held a panel pushing for the implementation of and lauding the benefits of expanded learning time (ELT) programs in schools nationwide. Most programs involve either lengthening the actual school day or increasing the number of days in a school year; to date, mostly charter schools and some elementary and middle schools have been able to integrate a functional ELT program into their curriculum. Proponents assert that the added time helps teachers expand and further expound on core classes like reading and math, though...