Mental Health Parity House Bill Passage Applauded by National Council
The recent House of Representatives passage of mental health parity bill recognized by The National Council, as the non-profit organization continues to fight to end discriminatory health insurance policies. 2008-03-13

Softening State & Local Government Spending Requires Savvy Vendors   Despite slowing growth and FY2009 budget woes, the State and Local (S&L) IT market still holds opportunity for federal contractors able to identify and capitalize on opportunities in the market. According to a recent report from the INPUT Executive Program (IEP), the S&L market is still a viable avenue for organic growth, as long as contractors educate themselves about the nuances between the federal and S&L markets, as well as those between individual states. 2008-03-13

Southern California Based Technology Leadership Political Action Committee Names Alvaka Networks' CEO, Oli Thordarson as their Chairman.
on February 22nd, Orange County's newly formed Technology Leadership Political Action Committee (TLPAC) named Oli Thordarson their Chairman. Mr. Thordarson, CEO and Founder of 25 year old Information Technology company Alvaka Networks, and a long standing vocal member of the technology industry, was honored to accept this leading role in an organization that he believes will revolutionize how Orange County and Southern California are viewed by the global technology industry. 2008-03-13 (Friend of Issues Wire: 17)

Bookshare.org Partners with Don Johnston to Provide Free Text Reader for Print Disabled Students
Special education publisher (Don Johnston) partners with non-profit online library (Bookshare.org) to provide free assistive technology software for students with print disabilities. 2008-03-13

Ecos-Designed Programs Score Two ENERGY STAR® Awards
EPA Salutes Two Regional Utilities for Outstanding Energy-Savings Programs Created by Portland-Based Marketing and Consulting Firm 2008-03-13

Registration Now Open for BlueCielo ECM Frontiers 2008 Americas - June 1-3, 2008, Coral Gables, FL
Register before April 11 to enjoy early-bird discount; Visit website for conference details and online registration. 2008-03-13

Pacific Northwest College of Art Presents Untraceable, Featuring Work of: Nubar Alexanian, Hans Haacke, Adam Helms, Natasha Mayers, Walid Raad and Susan Seubert '92
Untraceable is an exhibition of artists' responses to political control, violence and torture, inspired by the work of Reed College political science professor Darius Rejali, an internationally recognized expert on modern torture and the author of Torture and Democracy (Princeton, 2007). It explores political violence and oppression, specifically the symbolism and psychology of torture. The group exhibition runs February 28 - March 28 at Pacific Northwest College of Art's Feldman Gallery, which is open to the public daily from 9am-9pm. 2008-03-13

American Citizens Abroad Announces Annual Fundraising Auction Date in April 2008
American Citizens Abroad (ACA) announces the date of the organization's 16th annual fundraising auction, which will be held on Friday, April 11th, 2008, in Geneva, Switzerland. Prizes to bid on include stays in luxury hotels, houses and apartments in Italy, Greece, France, Switzerland, the UK and the Dominican Republic, meals at gourmet restaurants around Geneva and in people's homes, antiques, walking tours of Geneva, wine and much more. An idea of the items to be auctioned off can be found on the ACA web site at www.aca.ch, and bids can be sent by e-mail in advance. 2008-03-13

American Citizens Abroad Announces the Winners of the 2008 Thomas Jefferson Award
American Citizens Abroad announces that the winners this year of the ACA Thomas Jefferson Award are Maura Harty, former Assistant Secretary of State for Consular Affairs, and Michael Parmly, Chief of Mission in Cuba. This distinction honors State Department employees who have given exemplary service to American citizens residing abroad. ACA serves US citizens living outside of the United States on subjects such as taxation, citizenship, voting, Medicare, Social Security, education and many more. 2008-03-13

Merit Software Introduces New Online Versions of Its Award-Winning Writing Programs, 'Paragraph Punch' and 'Essay Punch'
100% web-based editions of Paragraph Punch and Essay Punch provide the complete programs over the Internet. 2008-03-13

Denver, Site of the 2008 National Democratic Convention, to Host Popular Counter-Terrorism Workshop
The Denver Urban Area Security Initiative (UASI) task force will host Security Solutions International's (SSI) Jihad 2.0 workshop for First Responders on March 17&18th. This is particularly important for federal, state, and local law enforcement agencies preparing for the Democratic Convention taking place in the city on August 27&28th. 2008-03-13

Book Signing Focuses on McGovern-Dole Global School Lunch Program
Author William Lambers will be signing copies of his book "The Spirit of the Marshall Plan: Taking Action Against World Hunger: School Lunches for Kids Around the World" at Borders Bookstore on 9459 Colerain Avenue on Saturday, March 22nd from 1-3:30. The McGovern-Dole Food for Education program, currently before Congress in the Farm Bill, is featured in the book. 2008-03-13

Secondary Data and HIT Highlights Opening Morning of Collaborative Communications Summit in May
The Spring Collaborative Communications Summit: Transforming Healthcare through Health Information Technology will take place May 5-7, 2008, at the Mandarin Oriental Washington D.C. (www.collaborativecommunicationssummit.com). One of the most anticipated panel sessions at the Spring CCS HIT explores secondary uses of data and how HIT is being incorporated into operational workflow. The esteemed participants of this panel include: William A. Fera, M.D., Director of Medical IT Software/Solutions, University of Pittsburgh Medical Center; Leslie Lenert, MD, MS, Director, National Center for Public Health Informatics, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention; Jonah Frohlich, MPH, Senior Program Officer, California HealthCare Foundation; and Charles Safran, MD, FACP, FACMI, Chief Division of Clinical Computing BIDMC and Senior Scientist, Harvard Medical School and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The panel is being moderated by John Murphy, who is an Executive Advisor for Booz Allen Hamilton. 2008-03-13

Pinpoint Labs Releases MetaDiscover
Extract, scrub and analyze Microsoft Office Metadata. 2008-03-12

News Prediction Website, Hubdub.com, Selected for Web Mission 2008   Hubdub.com, the news prediction website, is selected to take part in Web Mission 08, a prestigious showcase of the best of the UK's internet start ups to be held in Silicon Valley next month. 2008-03-12

ELAvate: Neighborhood America's Collaborative Technology Solution Helps Public Sector Meet Rising Demand for Citizen Engagement   Collaboration and problem solving just got easier for the public sector. ELAvate enables customers in government, health care, education, and not-for-profit to engage citizens through enterprise-appropriate Web 2.0 technologies. This latest release of Neighborhood America's award-winning platform enables the public sector to "elevate" internal communications and speed the flow of information. 2008-03-12

Top Colleges Come Out to Recruit Gay and Lesbian High School Youth This April; Princeton, USC, Penn Among Names to Attend National Gay-Friendly College Fair   Upcoming Gay-Friendly National College Fair this April 11 in San Diego, CA provides rare opportunity to recruit out lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender youth. In addition, new online LGBT-Friendly Campus Climate Index ranks gay-friendliness of colleges and grows in national attention as more campuses find value in reaching out to this no longer invisible demographic. 2008-03-12

American Security Project Board Members Join Bipartisan Group of Political and Former Military Leaders in Calling for an End to U.S. Torture in the Latest Washington Monthly Magazine   Top political leaders from both parties have written essays in the current issue of the Washington Monthly magazine calling for an end to the use of torture by any government agency, including the CIA. Many of the authors, including U.S. Senators John Kerry and Chuck Hagel and former Bush administration official Richard Armitage, as well as former U.S. Senator Gary Hart, Kenneth M. Duberstein, Vice Adm. Lee F. Gunn, Brigadier Gen. Steve Cheney, and Lt. Gen. Claudia Kennedy, are board members of the American Security Project, a bipartisan think tank in Washington D.C., which collaborated on the project. The essays form the cover package of the magazine's latest issue, which was released this week. 2008-03-12

American Security Project Report Finds Progress In Iraq and the War on Terror "Fundamentally Disconnected"
Worldwide Jihadist Violence Increasing Despite Iraq Troop Surge 2008-03-12

Find, Review, Compare and Join a Canadian Book Club at Canada-Book-Clubs.com   Canada-Book-Clubs.com announces the addition of the new Guide and Reviews section to make finding the perfect Canada book club easier than ever. Extensive reviews of each book club, as well as articles on finding the best book club to suit reader interests are available to ensure highly satisfied club members. With a wide variety of clubs, Canada-Book-Clubs.com is the best source for finding the right book club for your reading needs. 2008-03-12

RM Tracking releases NavIQ in Spanish   "Launching a Spanish NavIQ is part of our perennial campaign to bring the immense benefits of GPS tracking to more and more customers," says Brad Borst of RM Tracking. "The Spanish version of the software is not only for use in the U.S. but also in Mexico, where we have excellent map coverage and network communication." 2008-03-12 (Friend of Issues Wire: 12)

Greenwood County, SC Upgrades 9-1-1 Software and Services With InterAct Public Safety Systems and EMBARQ   InterAct Public Safety Systems and EMBARQ provide Greenwood County with a new map-centric computer aided dispatch system, pairing superior software and great customer service. 2008-03-12 (Friend of Issues Wire: 11)

Ethisphere Institute Ranks Ethical Practices of Top U.S. Government Contractors   Elite Ranking Recognizes 'Excellent' Corporations, Notes 'Below Standard' Companies 2008-03-12 (Friend of Issues Wire: 10)

Capella University's accreditation is reaffirmed by The Higher Learning Commission (HLC)
The online university's accreditation was reaffirmed through the AQIP process without any stipulations 2008-03-12