• Collecting and Assessing Storm Damage Goes High Tech
• BY: Brian Heaton   |   December 5, 2012
• A new Web-based application made incident reporting more efficient and cut down the time it took to compile an assessment report in the wake of Hurricane Sandy.

• California AG to Police: Federal Deportation Program is Optional
• Source: Los Angeles Times   |   California   |   December 5, 2012
• California Atty. Gen. Kamala Harris told local law enforcement agencies that they were not obligated to comply with a federal program whose stated goal is to deport illegal immigrants convicted of serious crimes. It was Harris' first public assessment of Secure Communities.

• Christie to Lobby Congress for Sandy Relief
• Source: Politico   |   New Jersey   |   December 5, 2012
• First, New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo came to Washington to press Congress for Sandy relief money. Next up is New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie.

• Global Warming Puts the Heat on State Climatologists
• BY: Leigh Ann Renzulli   |   December 2012
• Extreme weather events have intensified the climate change debate and made climatologists’ job more high profile and more controversial than ever before.
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• Obama Opposes GOP Immigration Bill
• Source: The Hill   |   Nation   |   November 29, 2012
• The Obama administration announced its opposition to an immigration bill that is designed to boost the number of visas for foreign-born graduates with advanced technical degrees from U.S. universities, saying it fails to fulfill the President's long-term goal of achieving comprehensive immigration reform.

• Dream Act Alternative Introduced by GOP Senators
• Source: Los Angeles Times   |   Nation   |   November 28, 2012
• Under political pressure to take action on immigration reform, three Republican senators introduced an alternative version of the Dream Act that would give legal status for young immigrants brought to the U.S. unlawfully as children.

• Immigrants' Applications for Deportation Relief Have Slowed
• Source: Washington Post   |   Nation   |   November 28, 2012
• As many as 1.7 million people are potentially eligible, but only about 264,000 applied between August, when the government began accepting applications, and the end of October.

• Sandy "More Impactful" Than Katrina, Says Cuomo in Aid Appeal
• Source: New York Times   |   New York   |   November 27, 2012
• New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo acknowledged that more people had been killed by Hurricane Katrina, but said that Hurricane Sandy had had a greater economic impact because of the dense population in the New York City area.

• Maryland a Hub for Cybersecurity
• Source: Politico   |   Maryland   |   November 27, 2012
• Maryland lawmakers have jockeyed for years to position their state as an epicenter for protecting the nation’s digital defenses.

• Human Error Caused Natural Gas Explosion in Springfield, Massachusetts
• Source: Boston Globe   |   Springfield, Mass.   |   November 26, 2012
• Human error was the cause of Friday’s natural gas explosion in downtown Springfield that leveled a strip club, damaged dozens of other buildings, and injured at least 19 people, officials said.

• Immigration Bill's Biggest Hurdle May be Guest Workers
• Source: Raleigh News & Observer   |   Nation   |   November 26, 2012
• The debate over how to manage future flows of legal immigration, particularly the size and scope of some kind of temporary worker program, could just as easily derail any type of immigration overhaul.

• Hurricane Sandy Cost New Jersey Nearly $30B, Christie Says
• Source: Newark Star-Ledger   |   New Jersey   |   November 26, 2012
• Gov. Chris Christie said that Hurricane Sandy caused $29.4 billion in damages to New Jersey but cautioned the estimate would probably rise once next summer’s tourism season, populations shifts and the effect on real estate values were taken into consideration.

• Storm Protection on Cities, States' Minds
• Source: Reuters   |   Nation   |   November 20, 2012
• Numerous U.S. municipalities and states are looking to make small steps to fend off the higher seas and more frequent storms forecast to accompany climate change. Sandy's destructiveness is only likely to increase those efforts.

• Engineers Test Balloon to Keep Tunnels from Flooding
• Source: New York Times   |   Nation   |   November 20, 2012
• The three-minute procedure was the latest test of a device that may someday help guard real tunnels during disasters like Hurricane Sandy, whose wind-driven surge of water overwhelmed New York City’s subway system, shutting it down for days.

• New York City to Demolish Hundreds of Homes Hit by Sandy
• Source: New York Times   |   New York City   |   November 19, 2012
• New York City is moving to demolish hundreds of homes in the neighborhoods hit hardest by Hurricane Sandy, after a grim assessment of the storm-ravaged coast revealed that many structures were so damaged they pose a danger to public safety and other buildings nearby.