KreweNews

Session Spotlight: Eyes of the Storm

When the streets of New Orleans flooded after Hurricane Katrina hit, photographers from the New Orleans Times-Picayune began documenting what was happening to their community. While doing so, they found themselves making difficult personal and professional decisions.

"Eyes of the Storm" is the name of a session that takes place at 10 a.m. Thursday, July 24 at NCSL's 2008 Legislative Summit in New Orleans. It's also the name of a special video presentation the newspaper produced that focuses on the recollections of the photographers in the early days of the flood. The NCSL session will feature three members of the newspaper's photography division.

It promises to be a very moving session. To be a part of this session, be sure to register for the Legislative Summit today!

Session Spotlight: Can We Afford Our Health Care?

America spends an astounding $2.4 trillion to keep us alive, productive and healthy -- a number that will rise another $175 billion in 2008. Some states want to take the lead in "fixing" key parts of this system—a daunting task for big-government and small-government experts alike.

"Can We Afford Our Health Care? New Directions and Solutions" will be a featured session at NCSL's 2008 Legislative Summit in New Orleans. The session will take place on Thursday, July 24 at 1 pm. Three national experts will discuss recent initiatives intended to control costs while preserving or improving health outcomes.

One of the speakers will be Robert Helms, an assistant secretary of Health and Human Services in the Reagan Administration, who played a key role in market-based reforms.

Register today to be a part of this session.

Speaker Spotlight: Paul Vallas

More than a year ago, Paul Vallas was named the superintendent of the Recovery School District in New Orleans. An article in The New York Times called him "one of the nation’s most prominent education reformers."

Vallas will be featured at two sessions at NCSL's 2008 Legislative Summit in New Orleans. On Thursday, July 24 at 1 p.m., he will be paired with Sol Stern to discuss "Two Decades of School Choice: What Have We Learned?" Then, at 8 a.m. Friday, July 25, he will be a panelist at a session entitled, "Lessons from the Trenches: Turning Around Poor Performing Schools."

Vallas is credited with making notable changes in Chicago and Philadelphia school districts. He has been featured in a PBS series on leadership. We couldn't find an official bio for Vallas on the Web, so here is a link to his Wikipedia entry.

To hear his views on education in America, be sure to register for the Legislative Summit today!

Session Spotlight: A New Life for Online Government

"A New Life for Online Government," a session that takes place 8 a.m. Friday, July 23 at NCSL's 2008 Legislative Summit, will take a look at new ways government can use the Internet to provide services and collaborate with citizens on health, education, public safety and civic life. 

Leigh Rowan of TheSLAgency, will guide you through Second Life (illustrated here), where a specialized microsite has been set up for attendees to use as a resource.  You'll also see Virtual Alabama, a powerful tool that pulls data from different sources throughout the state and overlays it on a 3D map.  Alabama Homeland Security Director Jim Walker will describe how this award-winning tool for ’s first responders has sparked a wave of interest from government and private sector organizations.  You'll also hear how the Utah Senate is using Web 2.0 tools to inform and engage Utah citizens.

To be a part of this session, register today to attend NCSL's Legislative Summit.

Speaker Spotlight: Major General Michael R. Lehnert

Strengthening the relationship between communities and military installations is the focus of a special session at NCSL's 2008 Legislative Summit in New Orleans. On Friday, July 25 at 2 p.m., Major General Michael R. Lehnert will be a featured speaker at the session called "Strengthening Military-Community Partnerships." He currently serves as Commanding General, Marine Corps Installation West.

The highly decorated Major General has more than 30 years of service to his country, including stops in Japan, the Philippines, Panama and Guantanamo Bay. In addition, he has served on numerous U.S. military installations and he will be able to provide a unique perspective on the military-community relationship at this NCSL session.

To be a part of this session, register for the meeting today!

Speaker Spotlight: Robert Hoopes

When Newt Gingrich and Lee Hamilton take the stage at NCSL's 2008 Legislative Summit in New Orleans, their discussion will be under the guiding hand of Robert R. Hoopes.

Hoopes, president and senior partner of Vox Global Mandate, is a nationally recognized expert on public policy, issue advocacy, and crisis management. His company focuses on providing bi-partisan advocacy and communications counsel to clients.

Robert has attended both the Republican and Democratic Conventions since 1992. He provides political commentary for Fox News, NPR, MSNBC, News Channel 8, Fox and BBC World News Radio and Television.

To be a part of this session, which takes place Thursday, July 24 at 2:45 p.m., register today!

Plan Your Week with Our Online Agenda

Hopefully by now you have registered for NCSL's 2008 Legislative Summit in New Orleans. With our improved online agenda, you can now plan your schedule before arriving in the Crescent City.

Our online agenda allows you to search for sessions by day, time, committee, topic, staff sections or other NCSL groups. Or, you can search for specific sessions or speakers.

With more than 150 sessions and nearly 500 speakers, the meeting offers several paths for you to take during the meeting. We encourage you to take some time, look over the agenda and plan your activities. You can start with the full agenda, or check it out one day at a time: Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday and Saturday!

Speaker Spotlight: Presidential Candidate Education Advisers

While the NCSL 2008 Legislative Summit has invitations out to the two major presidential candidates, we have secured a couple of key advisers who will share their candidate's perspective on education issues.

NCSL attendees can hear representatives Linda Darling-Hammond from the Obama and Lisa Graham Keegan of the McCain campaigns discuss the candidates' views on an appropriate federal role for K-12 education. The session will take place Wednesday, July 23 from Noon to 2:15 pm.

To be a part of this rare opportunity to compare the two candidates education issues side-by-side, register for the meeting today!

New 50-State Legislation Database Training

Special training for a new NCSL service that will allow members to search legislation in all 50 states will be available at NCSL's 2008 Legislative Summit in New Orleans. The database contains the full text of legislation in states, the District of Columbia and Congress. This new service, powered by StateNet, is available exclusively to state legislators and legislative staff.

Training will be available every half hour Wednesday, July 23, from 9 to 11:30 a.m., Thursday from 9 to 11:30 a.m., and Friday from 9 to 10 a.m.

Attendees will learn how to find legislation by topic, bill number, state and other categories. It will also allow access to legislative calendars, session summaries and other information.

To take advantage of this special training, register for NCSL's 2008 Legislative Summit today!

Speaker Spotlight: Alan Haley

by Meagan Dorsch and Janna Goodwin

The National Conference of State Legislatures is honored to have Alan D. Haley as a speaker during the 2008 Legislative Summit in New Orleans, July 22 - 26, 2008.

Haley has been a Preservation Specialist (Senior Rare Book Conservator) at the Library of Congress since 1993. He has been a member of the LC Collections Emergency Response Team for 12 years and been involved in emergency preparedness, disaster response assessments and on-site collections recovery efforts at the Library of Congress as well as in El Salvador after the 2001 earthquakes.  He most recently was in Iraq after the arson attacks on the National Library in Bagdad in 2003.  He has collaborated with colleagues to train LC custodial division staff in emergency response protocol and has given numerous collections salvage workshops at universities and museums in El Salvador, Puerto Rico, Alabama, New Orleans, and South Florida.

Haley will be speaking at the session ""In the Line of Fire and Flood: Protecting and Recovering Collections at Risk" on Tuesday, July 22. He will discuss generally accepted guidelines on preventative steps to minimize risk to institutional collections. He will describe and demonstrate procedures and techniques to minimize loss when disasters have damaged such historical materials. This session at NCSL Legislative Summit is sponsored by the Legislative Research Librarians Staff Section.

There is only one way to see Haley and all of our featured speakers at the 34th annual NCSL Legislative Summit in New Orleans. Make sure to register today!