The National Space and Aeronautics Administration (NASA) is celebrating its birthday. Fifty years ago, on July 29, 1958, President Dwight D. Eisenhower signed the National Aeronautics and Space Act and NASA was born. Since the agency officially began in October of 1958, the people at NASA have drastically increased our knowledge of space and have even taken us to the moon.
The first high profile project NASA was responsible for was Project Mercury, an effort to see if humans could survive in space. Perhaps the most famous project NASA developed was the Apollo Program – the program that ultimately took astronauts to the moon. Since the mid-1980s, NASA has been working on projects such as the Space Shuttle program, which continues to build the International Space Station. NASA also works on research dealing with aerodynamics and wind shear and has done “pioneering work in space applications satellites,” according to its website.
For more information about NASA’s anniversary, check out the new website created for the occasion or attend NASA’s 50th Anniversary Conference, from October 28-29, 2008. For an interactive look at NASA’s first fifty years, see NASA’s First Fifty Years: An Interactive Journey.
NASA 50th Anniversary: http://www.nasa.gov/50th/home/index.html
First Fifty Years: An Interactive Journey: http://www.nasa.gov/50th/home/index.html
50th Anniversary Conference: http://history.nasa.gov/50thannnasaconf/
NASA History homepage: http://history.nasa.gov/
CLIFF PROGRAM FOR DEBILITATING ADDICTION
The Indiana Department of Correction has developed a special initiative it calls Clean Lifestyle is Freedom Forever (CLIFF). The program targets state prison inmates who face addiction to methamphetamine, or meth. The first of its kind in the U.S., CLIFF began at the Miami Correctional Facility, in Bunker Hill, Indiana. According to the May 2006 Indiana State Government Performance Report, the first CLIFF class graduated from the program in October 2005.
CLIFF is based on an inmate’s history of methamphetamine use. The heaviest users are given priority. Inmates must also have a positive record of behavior during their period of incarceration. CLIFF has the ultimate goal of remitting sentences and counseling addicted inmates in a growth-based environment. CLIFF is administered at Indiana State Prison sites including the Rockville Correctional facility (a program for women), Logansport Juvenile Correctional Facility, Wabash Valley Correctional Facility (Carlisle, IN), and the Miami Correctional Facility. In July, WISH TV 8 featured coverage of the program’s benefits to a recently released man.
The U.S. Bureau of Prisons preceded CLIFF with a national program called TRIAD. TRIAD stands for Treatment to Inmates Addicted to Drugs; and it is broader in scope than CLIFF, which seeks to rehabilitate those inmates who are addicted to methamphetamine only. For further national information and statistics about TRIAD, see the Federal Bureau of Prisons Current Research Projects website.
Indiana Department of Corrections, CLIFF http://www.in.gov/idoc/2357.htm
Program helps inmates addicted to meth, WISHTV: http://www.wishtv.com/Global/story.asp?S=8744236
Bureau of Prisons, TRIAD project: http://www.bop.gov/news/research_projects.jsp
NATIONAL ARCHIVES RELEASES WWII OSS FILES
Yesterday, the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) released 750,000 pages of official personnel files for members of the Office of Strategic Services (OSS). In an August 7th media alert, NARA announced that the press office would also distribute a limited number of CDs containing selected files of notable OSS members on the day of the opening, “including former CIA directors Allen Dulles and William Casey, famed chef Julia Child, Supreme Court Justice Arthur Goldberg, Arab/Israeli peace negotiator and civil rights advocate Ralph Bunche, and Hollywood actor Sterling Hayden.”
According to the National Archives website, the OSS was established under the Joint Chiefs of Staff “by a military order of June 13, 1942, as the principal successor to the Office of the Coordinator of Information”. The government organization was for “(1) gathering, evaluating, and analyzing intelligence in support of the war against the Axis Powers; and (2) planning and executing operations in support of intelligence procurement.” The organization was liquidated on September 14, 1945.
The U.S. Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) website provides access to a book detailing a history of the OSS, published by the CIA in 2000, The Office of Strategic Services: America’s First Intelligence Agency. According to the “Research and Analysis” chapter, besides government and civilian employees, nearly 900 scholars were involved in this division of the agency. “Professors all over America welcomed the chance to serve the war effort with their academic skills. R&A’s roster reads like a Who’s Who of two generations of scholars: Arthur Schlesinger, Jr., Walt W. Rostow, Edward Shils, Herbert Marcuse, H. Stuart Hughes, Gordon Craig, Crane Brinton, John King Fairbank, Sherman Kent, Ralph Bunche, and a host of distinguished colleagues and students joined the Branch. R&A veterans included seven future presidents of the American Historical Association, five of the American Economic Association, and two Nobel Laureates.”
National Archives to Open Official Personnel Files of the Office of Strategic Services (OSS): http://www.archives.gov/press/press-releases/2008/nr08-130.html
The Office of Strategic Services: America’s First Intelligence Agency https://www.cia.gov/library/center-for-the-study-of-intelligence/csi-publications/books-and-monographs/oss/index.htm
See Table of Contents for links to chapters.
The OSS and the London “Free Germans”: Strange Bedfellows https://www.cia.gov/library/center-for-the-study-of-intelligence/csi-publications/csi-studies/studies/vol46no1/article03.html
STATE AND FEDERAL RESPONSE TO MORTGAGE CRISIS
Does your mortgage broker pass the test? How do you and your patrons know who to trust when you’re looking to buy a new home? The current housing crisis has prompted the Indiana Office of the Secretary of State to revoke over 600 licenses of mortgage brokers who failed to comply with the new law as of August 5th, 2008.
According to a July 7th press release from the Indiana Secretary of State Todd Rokita’s office, “Responding to a need to reform the mortgage brokerage industry even before the bulk of the sub-prime mortgage crisis hit, Rokita worked with leaders in the General Assembly to pass a law requiring each licensed mortgage office doing business in the state to employ a Principal Manager to supervise the business affairs of the office and the staff.” The effective date for the Principal Manager requirement was July 1, 2008.
It is more important than ever to protect your future by investigating who finances your home loan, or to comply with the law if you are a loan broker. Visit http://www.in.gov/sos/ to search the database and determine which loan brokers have passed the Principal Manager Exam. Find also a list of mortgage brokers who have had their licenses revoked as of Wednesday, August 13, 2008. For loan brokers who received a Summary Revocation of a Loan Broker License in July, visit the Secretary of State’s Information for Loan Brokers webpage.
If a patron’s mortgage is delinquent or if they face foreclosure, please tell them about the Indiana Foreclosure Prevention Network and visit their website. Also, for information about the U.S. Housing and Urban Development (HUD) Federal Housing Administration (FHA) mortgage assistance program beginning in October, please visit their website and/or contact your Indiana HUD office.
Indiana Secretary of State: http://www.in.gov/sos/
July 7, 2008 Indiana SOS press release: http://www.in.gov/sos/press/2008/070708.html
Information for Loan Brokers: http://www.in.gov/sos/securities/info_brokerrev.html
Indiana Foreclosure Prevention Network: http://www.in.gov/ihcda/3112.htm
FHA to Provide Additional Mortgage Assistance to Struggling Homeowners: http://www.hud.gov/fha/home080730.cfm
WHAT’S HAPPENING IN YOUR COUNTY
The State of Indiana has created an interesting and useful interactive map via Indiana Governor Mitch Daniels’ homepage, to let you and your patrons know what State government is doing in your county. Data in the What’s Happening in My County? map goes back to 2005 and is updated frequently. Projects slated for the future, like the Governor’s Major Moves (road construction) initiative, are included as well. A layering feature allows you to select up to six categories to view at one time.
Color-coded pins show locations where economic development projects and Major Moves (road construction) projects have been initiated. You can also see where grants and contracts have been awarded within the county. Additional pins signify trips made to your county by the Governor, activities in the county that involved State Representatives, and visits the Governor made with soldiers from your county during his trip to Iraq.
Looking for basic information about your county? Statistical information or links to city, town, school corporations, local government, and community web sites are available via the My Local County Map feature.
State of Indiana, What’s Happening In My County?: http://www.in.gov/gov/2950.htm
State of Indiana, My Local County Map: http://www.in.gov/mylocal/county_select.htm
by Katharine Springer, & Elisabeth O’Donnell