Congress.gov Launched Today – New Website for Finding Free Legislative Information

The Library of Congress unveiled Congress.gov today. It’s a new website that will eventually replace THOMAS.gov as the government’s site for accessing free, fact-based legislative information.

The Congress.gov site includes bill status and summary, bill text, House and Senate member profiles, and a number of new features, including effective display on mobile devices. Learn more about the new site.

Explore Congress.gov now.

Pollution Prevention Week – Find Out How You Can Prevent Pollution

It’s Pollution Prevention Week. The best way to protect the Earth and its people is to stop creating pollution in the first place – that realization became America’s official policy in 1990 with the Federal Pollution Prevention Act’s, declaration that, “Pollution should be prevented or reduced at its source, whenever possible.”

Learn how to prevent pollution at home, work and at school.

Current Travel Warnings from the State Department

The U.S. State Department recommends that Americans avoid or consider the risk of travel to certain countries.

These travel warnings are issued when:

• long-term, protracted conditions make a country dangerous or unstable.
• the U.S. Government‘s ability to assist American citizens is constrained due to the closure of an embassy or consulate or because of a drawdown of its staff.

See the current list of countries.

2014 Diversity Visa Lottery Registration is from October 2 – November 3

Online registration for the 2014 Diversity Visa Lottery will begin on Tuesday, October 2, 2012 at 12:00 noon, Eastern Daylight Time (EDT) (GMT-4), and end on Saturday, November 3, 2012 at 12:00 noon, Eastern Daylight Time (EDT) (GMT-4).

This congressionally mandated program makes available up to 55,000 diversity visas every year. Winners are randomly drawn from the people who enter and meet strict eligibility requirements. In order to be eligible, you must be from a country with low rates of immigration to the United States and meet the education or work experience requirements.

If you plan to apply, watch out for fraudulent websites posing as official U.S. government websites. Some companies posing as the U.S. government have sought money in order to “complete” DV entry forms. There is no charge to download and complete the Electronic Diversity Visa Entry Form. To learn more, see the Department of State warning.

Find out if you’re eligible to enter the Diversity Visa Lottery and learn how to apply.

If You’re Feeling Anxious or Depressed, You Can Find Help

More than 350,000 people took their own lives in the past year, and today we are losing more military soldiers to suicide than battle, according to Secretary of Army, John McHugh, who recently briefed America on the National Suicide Prevention Strategy.

If you or someone you know is feeling anxious or depressed, you can call the National Suicide Prevention Hotline 24 hours a day at 1-800-273-TALK (8255) or you can chat with a counselor online.

Veterans and their families can call 1-800-273-8255 or go to Veterans Crisis Line for help preventing suicide.