10/12/2012
U.S. Vice President Joe Biden, right, and Republican vice presidential candidate Paul Ryan depart the stage following their debate on Thursday, October 11. 
President Barack Obama watches the vice presidential debate aboard Air Force One with staff while heading home from Florida on Thursday. 
Vice President Joe Biden and U.S. Rep. Paul Ryan walk off stage after the vice presidential debate. 
Vice presidential candidate Ryan greets family following his debate with Vice President Biden. 
Vice President Joe Biden and Rep. Paul Ryan mingle with their families after the debate. 
Vice President Biden smiles during the debate. 
Rep. Paul Ryan listens closely during the debate. 
Vice President Biden and vice presidential candidate U.S. Rep. Ryan go head to head in the first and only vice presidential debate. 
Vice President Biden reacts to comments made during the debate. 
Vice presidential candidate Ryan lays out his views. 
Vice President Biden responds to points made. 
Vice presidential candidate Paul Ryan engages the moderator during the vice presidential debate. 
U.S. Vice President Joe Biden, left, engages in the first and only vice presidential debate on Thursday, October 11. 
Vice President Biden reacts during the debate. 
Vice President Biden and vice presidential candidate Paul Ryan face off. 
Vice President Biden greets Republican vice presidential candidate Paul Ryan as they take the stage. 
Vice President Joe Biden speaks during the vice presidential debate as moderator Martha Raddatz looks on. 
Vice President Biden, left, and Republican vice presidential candidate Ryan, right, participate in the debate. 
Ryan speaks during the debate. 
Biden presents his views on Thursday. 
Ryan awaits his turn to speak. 
Vice President Joe Biden, left, shakes hands with Republican vice presidential candidate Paul Ryan before the vice presidential debate. 
Janna Ryan, wife of Paul Ryan, waves to the crowd. 
Dr. Jill Biden, wife of Joe Biden, greets the crowd. 
An audience member holds a debate program. 
Debate moderator Martha Raddatz speaks to the crowd prior to the start of the vice presidential Debate. 
'Solar energy zones' created on federal land
| SAN FRANCISCO — Federal officials on Friday approved a plan that sets aside 285,000 acres of public land for the development of large-scale solar power plants, cementing a new government approach to renewable energy development in the West after years of delays and false starts. At a news conference in Las Vegas, Interior Secretary Ken Salazar called the new plan a "roadmap ... that will lead to faster, smarter utility-scale solar development on public lands." The plan replaces the department's previous first-come, first-served system of approving solar projects, which let developers choose where they wanted to build utility-scale solar sites and allowed for land speculation. The department no longer will decide projects on case-by-case basis as it had since 2005, when solar developers began filing applications. Instead, the department will direct development to land it has identified as having fewer wildlife and natural-resource obstacles. The government is establishing 17 new "solar energy zones" on 285,000 acres in six states: California, Nevada, Arizona, Utah, Colorado and New Mexico. Most of the land — 153,627 acres — is in Southern California. The Obama administration has authorized 10,000 megawatts of solar, wind and geothermal projects that, when built, would provide enough energy to power more than 3.5 million homes, Salazar said. Secretary of Energy Steven Chu said the effort will help the U.S. stay competitive. "There is a global race to develop renewable energy technologies — and this effort will help us win this race by expanding solar energy production while reducing permitting costs," Chu said in a statement. The new solar energy zones were chosen because they are near existing power lines, allowing for quick delivery to energy-hungry cities. Also, the chosen sites have fewer of the environmental concerns — such as endangered desert tortoise habitat — that have plagued other projects. Environmental groups like the Nature Conservancy who had been critical of the federal government's previous approach to solar development in the desert applauded the new plan. "We can develop the clean, renewable energy that is essential to our future while protecting our iconic desert landscapes by directing development to areas that are more degraded," said Michael Powelson, the conservancy's North American director of energy programs.
Some solar developers who already are building projects were complimentary of the new approach, saying it will help diversify the country's energy portfolio more quickly. Still, some cautioned that the new plan could still get mired in the same pattern of delay and inefficiency that hampered previous efforts, and urged the government to continue pushing solar projects forward. "The Bureau of Land Management must ensure pending projects do not get bogged down in more bureaucratic processes," said Rhone Resch, president of the Solar Energy Industries Association. Salazar said the country four years ago was importing 60 percent of its oil, and that today that number has dropped to 45 percent. "We can see the energy independence of the United States within our grasp," he said. A map of the new solar energy zones is at on.doi.gov/SWf5y1. Copyright 2012 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.  |
New US visa rush: Build charter school, get green card
| It's been a turbulent period for charter schools in the United States, with financial analysts raising concerns about their stability and regulators in several states shutting down schools for poor performance. The volatility has made it tough for startup schools to get financing. But an unlikely source of new capital has emerged to fill the gap: foreign investors. Wealthy individuals from as far away as China, Nigeria, Russia and Australia are spending tens of millions of dollars to build classrooms, libraries, basketball courts and science labs for American charter schools. In New York, foreign funds paid for the Health Sciences Charter School in Buffalo to renovate a 19th-century orphanage into modern classrooms and computer labs. In Arizona, overseas investment is expected to finance a sixth campus for the booming chain of American Leadership Academy charter schools. And in Florida, state business development officials say foreign investment in charter schools is poised to triple next year, to $90 million. The reason? Under a federal program known as EB-5, wealthy foreigners can in effect buy U.S. immigration visas for themselves and their families by investing at least $500,000 in certain development projects. In the past two decades, much of the investment has gone into commercial real-estate projects, like luxury hotels, ski resorts and even gas stations. Lately, however, enterprising brokers have seen a golden opportunity to match cash-starved charter schools with cash-flush foreigners in investment deals that benefit both. "The demand is massive - on the school side," said Greg Wing, an investment advisor. "On the investor side, it's massive, too." Two years ago, Wing set up a venture called the Education Fund of America specifically to connect international investors with charter schools. He is currently arranging EB-5 funding for 11 schools across North Carolina, Utah and Arizona and says he has four more deals in the works. And that's just the start, Wing says: "It's going to be explosive." Credit crunch Charter schools are publicly funded but privately run, sometimes by for-profit companies. They receive taxpayer dollars to educate each child who enrolls. Yet in most states, they get little or no public money to build classrooms, libraries and other facilities. Well-established and successful chains of charter schools, such as KIPP, Green Dot or Achievement First, receive hefty support from philanthropic foundations and private donors. The chains can also tap into financing provided by an array of for-profit and non-profit investment funds created for that purpose. But the charter school movement also includes hundreds of small, one-of-a-kind schools, often started by parents seeking a different educational environment for their children. Those mom-and-pop startups have always had a hard time securing funding to build their schools. Many have had to make do with makeshift classrooms in strip malls or church basements. And lately, experts say, the credit crunch has worsened. "It's a hard go," said Eric Hall, an attorney in Colorado Springs who advises charter school boards. Last month, Fitch Ratings warned it was likely to downgrade bonds backed by charter schools because the sector is volatile and the schools are highly leveraged. Such risks mean charter-school debt is typically considered speculative, rather than investment grade, said Eric Kim, a director at Fitch Ratings. Meanwhile, the IRS has signaled it plans closer scrutiny of charter schools' tax-exempt status if they rely on for-profit management companies to provide their classroom space and run their academic programs, Hall said. He sent his clients a long memo this summer warning that the stepped-up IRS oversight could put some at "significant risk." If that weren't enough to make investors wary, several well-known charter schools have run into significant legal and fiscal hurdles in recent months. Missouri regulators shut down six campuses run by Imagine Schools, one of the nation's largest for-profit charter chains, because of poor academic performance. A judge in California ruled that Aspire Public Schools, a large non-profit chain, hadn't secured the proper approval for six of its schools and would have to get permission from local boards of education to continue running them. Local officials yanked the charter of a high-achieving middle school in Georgia over concerns about mismanagement. All told, about 15 percent of the 6,700 charter schools that have been launched in the United States in the past two decades have since closed, primarily because of financial troubles, according to the Center for Education Reform, which supports charter schools. This fall alone, more than 150 established charter schools didn't open their doors to students. Such volatility "will spook people, no doubt about it," said David Brain, chief executive officer of Entertainment Properties Trust, which has historically owned movie theaters but branched out to invest in charter schools, including the six that were shuttered in St. Louis. Brain said the closures did not affect his company's bottom line and he remains convinced charter schools are a profitable sector. But even he's not ready to start backing untested startup schools. Charter school administrators say they know that wariness all too well. "Until you get that charter renewal that says you're doing good things" - typically after five years in operation - "banks won't even talk to you," said Hank Stopinski, principal of the Health Sciences Charter School in Buffalo. Without foreign investment, he said, "we would not have been able to do this project." Recession-proof Yet interest is surging. In the first nine months of this year, the government approved 3,000 petitions from foreigners seeking to participate in the program - nearly twice as many as were approved all last year, according to the Department of Homeland Security. Charter schools have become particularly trendy because they are pitched as recession-proof. An investor forum in China last spring, for instance, touted U.S. charter schools as a nearly fool-proof investment because they can count on a steady stream of government funding to stay afloat, according to a transcript posted on a Chinese website. Arizona educator Holly Johnson, who runs three charter schools and plans to open a fourth next year, said she couldn't believe how easy it was to secure $4.5 million in funding from abroad. "We didn't have to do anything at all," she said, other than open her schools to potential investors. They didn't ask many questions, she said. Their concern was more basic: "They wanted to come over and make sure it was real." Inner satisfaction Faisal, 37, is a Pakistani citizen who now lives in Calgary, Canada. He runs a technology consulting business that works with oil and gas companies and says he is eager to expand to the United States. He figures the best way to do that is to get a green card. And the best way to do that, he said, is the EB-5 program. Participants can get a temporary visa by investing $500,000 to $1 million in a federally approved business. If the business creates or preserves at least 10 jobs in two years, the investor and his immediate family are eligible for permanent residency in the United States. "It's a much easier path," Faisal said. He decided to put his money in a charter school, he said, because that way he felt he'd be serving society as well as helping himself. The schools he saw impressed him with their rigorous science curriculum and he said he hoped his investment would help nurture a new generation of American entrepreneurs. "Investing in some type of hotel," Faisal said, "will not give me that inner satisfaction." (c) Copyright Thomson Reuters 2012. Check for restrictions at: http://about.reuters.com/fulllegal.asp |
Gay teen denied Eagle Scout: 'Change is happening'
 John Makely / NBC News Ryan Andresen, 18, of Moraga, Calif., in New York on Oct. 12. After completing the requirements for the Boy Scouts' top honor, the Eagle rank, he was denied the award because he is gay. The organization has a longstanding, controversial policy banning gay Scouts and leaders. By Miranda Leitsinger, NBC News
NEW YORK -- On his 18th birthday, Ryan Andresen received a symbol of the Boy Scouts' highest honor, which the national organization had denied him because he is gay: an Eagle Scout pin. He got it on Monday from another Eagle Scout, Matthew Kimball, 30, who was also in his troop years ago and publicly came out as gay after learning about his fellow Scout's plight. "I look at it; it just gives me hope," Andresen, of Moraga, Calif., told NBC News on Friday during a visit to New York. "I see it as there's people out there that support me and care about me and believe that I earned it. And it also shows me that things are happening, change is happening, there's hope in the Boy Scouts to change this policy." Andresen learned more than a week ago from his father, Eric, that the Scoutmaster of Troop 212 would not be signing off on his Eagle application even though he'd completed the requirements. The father said the Scoutmaster told him he was grappling with the conflict between Ryan's sexual orientation and the policy set by the national organization that bans Gay Scouts and leaders. The Scoutmaster has not responded to emails or a phone call seeking comment. Andresen said he had found his father crying over the rejection, which he then explained to him. "It's not fair that gay people can't go through it and not get the recognition," he said. It's especially not fair that people like me can go through the whole entire program, you know, do everything and get all the way to the Eagle award and at the very last minute be told they can't get it. It's totally devastating, it's terrible … that's bullying." Andresen came out in July to his fellow Scouts in a letter that was focused on bullying in the troop. But he said his Scoutmaster knew before then that he was gay and had encouraged him to stick with the troop when he had thought about not pursuing his Eagle Scout rank.  John Makely / NBC News Andresen shows an Eagle pin given to him by Matthew Kimball, a fellow member of his Troop 212. Kimball, 30, publicly came out as gay after learning that Andresen was denied his Eagle award because he is gay. Kimball has asked other Scouts to send in their pins for the teen. His final Eagle Scout project focused on bullying. Named the "tolerance wall," it consists of 288 tiles depicting acts of kindness and is displayed at his middle school, where he says he endured name calling over his sexual orientation. He said he also was bullied in the Boy Scouts over his sexual orientation. Speaking about the bullying brought his mom, Karen, to tears. "It's hard … when you're a mom and your kids are, you know, suffering in pain," she said, adding that the Eagle Scout denial "was like the final straw because we were all in such shock about this decision. And I didn't want Ryan to go down to a bad place again and be so depressed, and so I just had to step in and be his advocate." The Boy Scouts of America have a longstanding policy denying membership to gay leaders and Scouts, which they reaffirmed in mid-July after a two-year confidential review of the ban. The organization said last week in a statement that because of Andresen's sexual orientation and because he did not agree to Scouting's principle of "Duty to God," "he is no longer eligible for membership in Scouting." But the family has disputed that, saying the only reason Andresen was denied the rank is "because the Boy Scouts of America has a problem with Ryan being gay." Andresen has had his emotional ups and downs since he learned he wouldn't get his Eagle, though is family is still appealing that decision and Karen Andresen started an online petition calling for him to get the award. He is also hurt that his Scoutmaster has not responded to a letter he wrote him. "He still won't talk to me and, it's sad," he said. "He was a huge role model to me so it's devastating. I really looked up to him." View more videos at: http://nbcbayarea.com. Andresen said he has received some critical messages online that he was bullying the Scoutmaster. "I apologized that it looked that way and I said that this is not what I'm trying to do and I'm very against bullying," he said. "I'm not targeting anyone. I love Boy Scouts. I love the boys in my troop and I really just want this policy to change." To earn the Eagle rank, which is in its 100th year, Scouts must progress through five lower ranks, earn 21 merit badges and serve six months in a leadership position, among completing other tasks. More than two million young men have received the Eagle rank. Kimball, who started a campaign to collect Eagle regalia for Andresen, said he has gotten up to 170 pledges of pins. Scouts for Equality said last week that some 300 Eagle Scouts had returned their regalia to the Boy Scouts in protest since mid-July. But many other Eagle Scouts have said they agreed with the policy. Brian Groenig, 36, of Lake Stevens, Wash., said he backs the BSA's decision. "This is an organization that has set 'their own' standards and set 'their own' values. All those (who) want to join are only asked that they live by those standards and values.We're not forcing it upon anyone … but it is a private organization that can choose what they will and will not accept," Groenig, a charter organization representative with his troop, told NBC News in an email. "I find comfort in knowing there are organization that won't bend and conform to the 'social norm' just because of peer pressure and political positioning." A spokesman for the Boy Scouts of America, Deron Smith, said 50,000 Scouts earn the Eagle rank every year. He said in August that a "few" had returned their medals, badges or certificates since the membership policy announcement. On Tuesday, he said he didn't have an update on numbers of regalia returned, but noted such items were either kept at the national office or stored in the National Scouting Museum. Andresen said he is looking forward to returning to high school and being out of the spotlight, though he knows this experience has changed the course of his life. He initially thought he would go into the family business after college, but now has some new ideas. "What if I could help people when I'm older and share my experiences?" he asked. "It's really just making me thing about all of that. … I don't have a good idea of what I'm going to do going forward, but I definitely think this is going to be a part of it." If you are a current or former member of the Boy Scouts and would like to share your thoughts on the membership policy, you can email the reporter at miranda.leitsinger@msnbc.com.
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Space shuttle trip through L.A.
CNN iReporter Wes Smith and other space enthusiasts get a close-up view of the space shuttle Endeavour early Friday, October 12, as it makes its final journey from Los Angeles International Airport to the California Science Center. Smith says he saw the shuttle about 5 a.m. PT after waiting in a Los Angeles parking lot across from Endeavour's overnight holding area. 
Computer-controlled transporters help move Endeavour across Los Angeles International Airport early Friday. In a trek of about two days, the shuttle will negotiate 12 miles of Southern California's roads and highways for its final resting place at the Los Angeles science museum, NASA officials say. 
Spectators take pictures of the shuttle Friday at the Los Angeles airport. Once it reaches the science museum, the shuttle will be on display for posterity. It had its first launch in 1992. 
Bystanders watch as Endeavour moves out of the Los Angeles airport and onto a public street. 
Members of the crowd reach over a fence for a glimpse of the shuttle. Endeavour, along with Discovery, Enterprise and Atlantis, became a museum piece after NASA ended its 30-year shuttle program last year. All four shuttles have been permanently retired from service. 
Firefighters and other spectators document the move early Friday. 
Fan Vivian Robinson rides her bicycle covered in shuttle memorabilia, American flags and an alien doll outside the Los Angeles airport as she waits to see Endeavour. Female vets coming home: Will US welcome them?
 Franz De Leon Veteran Julie Weckerlein and her family are shown last weekend in the Washington, D.C. area. She served in Iraq and Afghanistan in 2007 with the Air Force. While in Iraq, she was a few yards away from another female service member who was killed by incoming mortar round. By Bill Briggs, NBC News contributor Julie Weckerlein vividly recalls the horrid sounds that filled her base - and her head - after the incoming shell exploded: the radio call summoning the chaplain, the whirling blades of the chopper evacuating the burned remains of the Army sergeant killed in Iraq Five years later, she still remembers the name of that dead soldier: Trista Morietti. "Females died over there, too," said Weckerlein, who served in Afghanistan as well. She works today as a federal employee in Washington, D.C. "But there is a cultural disconnect in our society. People don't know: What is a female veteran? What does she look like? What does she bring to the table? What did we do over there?" Women compose 15 percent of homecoming U.S. troops and 15 percent of the U.S. armed forces, yet many Americans are unsure how to accept or view them, female veterans say. That applies to the job market, fueling a 19.9 percent unemployment rate among post-9/11 female veterans, while some VA hospitals seem unprepared to handle the heavy influx of women returning from war, contends a leading veterans group. "I'm the first female veteran that a lot of people know personally, and I'm becoming more aware of this lack of understanding of who we are," said Weckerlein, who spent nine years in the Air Force. Now, 31, she is an Air Force reservist with three children who works at the Pentagon. "There is no real example in society of a female veteran. In Hollywood, there's just the 'GI Jane' version – you know, like Demi Moore shaving her head. But that's about it.  Jim Varhegyi Julie Weckerlein waits for the all-clear in a shelter during a 2007 mortar attack at a U.S. post south of Baghdad. A moment after this photo was snapped, Weckerlein and others heard the radio call go out for a chaplain. A female sergeant was killed in the explosion. "We are a normal family. My husband is addicted to (the TV series) 'Pawn Stars.' My 9-year-old and I, we struggle with homework. I struggle with DC life and the commute. This is a female veteran." Last week, Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America, a nonpartisan and nonprofit group with more than 200,000 members, called on President Barack Obama and Republican nominee Mitt Romney to cast at least some of their attention on the mounting and - as IAVA sees it - unaddressed needs afflicting female veterans. That heightened focus, IAVA said, should begin with how the Department of Veterans Affairs provides health care to female ex-service members. "There aren't enough female health professionals in the VA system. There aren't enough folks specialized in female health, especially around reproductive health. We've got to push the system to work harder for them," said Paul Rieckhoff, chief executive officer and founder of IAVA "The bottom line is you need someone who recognizes that female veterans are a critical part of this population and that they have unique needs," added Rieckhoff, who served as a first lieutenant and infantry rifle platoon leader in Iraq during 2003 and 2004. "We've got women on our staff who say that a lot of times, when they walk into the VA, they get treated like a candy striper instead of like a returning warrior. As a country, we've got to go through a huge cultural shift." VA officials maintain, however, that their agency has launched multiple initiatives to cater to the rising number of female veterans using its hospitals. Last Friday, NBC News asked a VA spokesman to lay out some of those programs. On Wednesday, that spokesman emailed NBC News a series of Internet links describing the strategies, adding: "Nearly all of these programs are new in the past few years (2-4 years), and some have simply been enhanced. Of course, women vets are eligible for VA programs just as males would be too." For example, the VA's Women Health Services "addresses the health care needs of women Veterans and works to ensure that timely, equitable, high-quality, comprehensive health care services are provided in a sensitive and safe environment at VA health facilities nationwide," says the VA website. "We strive to be a national leader in the provision of health care for women, thereby raising the standard of care for all women." In 2007, the VA broadened the scope of Women Health Services to include the use of mammography machines, ultrasound and biopsy equipment, the VA reports. 'Didn't know what to do with me'  courtesy of Terri Kaas Terri Kass, an Air Force Veteran who lives in Washington State, has been job hunting for for a year and has more than 100 rejection letters to show for her effort. When she did go in for treatment, Kaas described the VA visits this way: "Here you have a young woman – who is not old – who mostly likely will have another child or two. But I think they're always amazed to see me. They're like, 'Oh, is your husband here?' I'm like, 'No, it's me. You're seeing me.' I'm used to being the only female in the lobby." Watch the Top Videos on NBCNews.com Kaas, who served for 10 years, spending time in Bahrain and Germany, also has been snared by the second critical pitfall facing one in five post-9/11-female veterans: unemployment. She said she has more than 100 rejection letters to show for her job hunt during the past year. More troubling, she said, numerous hiring managers have asked if she is "service disabled." "Every job I've applied for that required both my resume and their corporate application asked that question. Are we discriminating against our wounded warriors? Starbucks, Walmart, Macy's, Amazon, Target, and Lockheed Martin are just a few who asked," Kaas posted on Facebook. Amid looking for work, she is attending college with hopes of becoming a math or science teacher. "That question astounds me - and it's always the follow-up question to: Are you a veteran?" Kaas said in a phone interview. "If Walmart won't hire me at Christmas, when they're advertising, I kind of wonder what the reason is. I'm not trying to dime out Walmart. I've applied for work at many major department stores. But when I can't get work at Walmart, I wonder: Why not? There's other people getting hired there during the holidays." The disability question, Kaas suspects, is asked because some hiring managers "assume that most veterans have PTSD." "I don't know if it's legal to ask that but it certainly doesn't seem appropriate," said John E. Pickens III, executive director of VeteransPlus, a nonprofit that has offered financial counseling to more than 150,000 current and former service members. He agrees that such a query by hiring managers "is being driven by mental health concerns." Stay informed with the latest headlines; sign up for our newsletter Said Walmart spokeswoman Tara Raddohl: "That question is not standard practice or a part of our company interview process. We're looking into this specifically" (at the Walmart store where Kaas applied for a job). A number of Pickens' female-veteran clients have told him that although they served in war zones, they don't seem to earn the same level of prestige - or employability - as do U.S. male combat veterans, "and they don't carry home that same mantel as a warrior." 'Hey, I'm a female veteran' Just ask Julie Weckerlein.  Courtesy of Julie Weckerlein Veteran Julie Weckerlein and her husband, Martin. After nine years of active duty in the Air Force, she now works at the Pentagon. After the insurgent shell detonated at the coalition base in Nasir Lafitah, Iraq, Weckerlein didn't know the name of the casualty - Trista Morietti, 27 - until she returned to her own post in Baghdad and read the incident report. Several U.S. service members were wounded as well when that mortar round landed on a sleeping quarters just a few yards from Weckerlein's position. "I also spent a lot of time reading up all the hometown articles and blogs her friends wrote about her. Hers was the first death I experienced on my deployment, and that she was also a 20-something female NCO really affected me," Weckerlein said. "I felt so sick for the family members back in the states who had no idea what was going on at that moment. Later, actually seeing those family members and their pain ... it tore out my heart. "I think of all the awesome women who served alongside me, who are struggling to find work, and it just baffles me because they are so qualified," she added. "It just motivates me to want to go out there and say, 'Hey, I'm a female veteran.' " More content from NBCNews.com:
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