Vice President Joe Biden announced that Lynn Rosenthal would be the first White House Adviser on Violence Against Women. Rosenthal, the former executive director of the National Network to End Domestic Violence, will advise the president and vice president and coordinate policy with various agencies to help victims of domestic violence and sexual assault.
Obama announced in his weekly radio address that Virginia Technology Secretary Aneesh Chopra would become the nation's first chief technology officer.
On his first full day in office, Obama signed an executive order preventing executive branch employees from accepting gifts "from registered lobbyists or lobbying organizations."
The Obama family will be getting a Portuguese water dog. The new pet is a gift from Massachusetts Sen. Edward Kennedy and has been named "Bo" by Malia and Sasha. Although the first family has already met the dog, it has yet to take up residence in the White House. Bo will move in on April 14.
The final version of the stimulus package retains the expansion of the child tax credit to families making at least $3,000.
The final rule for the Country of Origin Labeling program went into effect.
The Department of Justice announced that the U.S.' largest mortgage fraud sweep resulted in "191 civil enforcement actions" and the "recovery of more than $147 million."
Obama used an executive order to create the National Declassification Center. He wrote: "While the Government must be able to prevent the public disclosure of information that would compromise the national security, a democratic government accountable to the people must be as transparent as possible and must not withhold information for self-serving reasons or simply to avoid embarrassment."
The Edward M. Kennedy Serve America Act, signed into law on April 12, provides for the creation of the Clean Energy Service Corps. As outlined in the bill, the Clean Energy Service Corps will carry out activities including "weatherizing and retrofitting housing units," "building energy-efficient housing," "conducting energy audits" and "providing clean energy-related services" for low-income communities.
Medical marijuana users who are following state law are no longer a federal law enforcement priority, the Justice Department announced today. The department said it would still go after related offenses in the 14 states with medical marijuana provisions on the books, including weapons charges and illegal trafficking.
