FEMA has unveiled the National Emergency Family Registry Locator to help Gulf Coast residents search for their families in the aftermath of Hurricane Gustav. The online system aims to replace piecemeal attempts, through personal Web sites and nonprofit aid agencies, to locate missing relatives. The tool can be accessed through the agency's Web site.

In the wake of high profile food scares, the Food and Drug Administration has approved the use of radiation to kill microorganisms like E. coli and salmonella in leafy green vegetables. Critics of this technique cite concerns about safety, nutrition, and taste concerns. However, advocates tout irradiation as a proven tool in decreasing food borne illness, and point to its widespread use for meat and dairy items.

To help investors find accurate information about public companies and mutual funds, the Securities and Exchange Commission is replacing its electronic database of scanned paper documents with an Internet-based platform that places unique identification codes on financial information. The new platform—"Idea" (interactive data electronic applications)—allows for more complete and accurate filing and disclosure of financial data. With Idea, data can be instantly collated, compared, and exported into a spreadsheet format. The old system required users to sift through pages of documents to determine a company's net income, executive compensation figures, and line items on financial statements.

California drivers will have the option of paying for the miles they drive under new insurance plans that will include premiums based partly on the number of miles they drive each year. Under these plans, insurance companies will verify mileage by odometer readings, automotive repair records, or devices placed in vehicles to track the miles driven. Advocates hail the measure as being both environmentally friendly and reflecting driving habits more accurately.

Cities are finding innovative ways to ensure that big box stores do not become major liabilities when they downsize or expand elsewhere. Increasingly, communities are introducing policies that require big-box retailers to help redevelop the spaces they leave behind. Some require them to demolish stores if they are vacant for more than a year. Others have required that the stores meet new design standards, including landscaping and having more than one main entrance. Such measures will make the it easier for the building to accommodate multiple tenants in the future. Still others are converting them into senior citizen centers, Head Start centers, and charter schools.

Third graders in the Ann Arbor Public Schools system will learn Spanish next year under a new partnership with the University of Michigan. Elementary school students will receive 30-minute sessions twice each week from students in the University of Michigan teacher education program who are fluent in Spanish. This program will also allow the university to offer a K-12 foreign language teaching certification and its students to receive credit toward gaining this teaching certification. Expectations are that the program will expand to all fourth- and fifth-grade classes by the fall of 2010.

The US Army has opened the Army Experience Center in a mall in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, to give potential recruits a virtual experience of Army life. The 14,500 square-foot facility features advanced simulators that immerse visitors in missions aboard helicopters or Humvees; visitors are then "debriefed" on their missions with current soldiers. Interactive displays explain the many careers, training, and educational opportunities available in the Army.

Apple Valley, Minnesota, has been chosen—along with three other cities in Wisconsin and Michigan—to participate in a two-year pilot program to create energy-efficient communities in both rural and urban areas. Funded by a foundation grant, the cities will work with a local electric company and nonprofits to test a variety of strategies and technologies that measure energy and cost savings, and ultimately create a guidebook for other cities and suburbs to use.

Colleges and high schools are giving strong incentives to students to use bicycles instead of cars on campus, helping them to save money on gas, protect the environment, and promote physical fitness. In Wisconsin, Ripon College is offering freshmen free mountain bikes in exchange for a promise not to bring a car to campus. Auburn University, in Alabama, has put a bike maintenance shop in the student union and will create its own bike-sharing program. And Wisconsin's Howards Grove High School is using a federal grant to create a walking and biking path to the campus, currently accessible only by car or bus.

School districts, architects, and design groups are partnering to create and remodel classrooms and schools that enhance learning environments through natural lighting, acoustics, space flexibility, and indoor air quality. Following research that confirms that classroom design can contribute to positive learning and behavioral outcomes, schools in Nebraska are being designed with floor plans that include multipurpose spaces, moveable walls, and L-shaped classrooms. Such changes can help children feel less crowded and foster small group work. Others schools will have vegetation placed on roofs to slow rain runoff, receive heat from geothermal wells, and give teachers the ability to control their own classroom temperature.