On February 17th, the Grant Programs Directorate (GPD) announced the availability of the Fiscal Year 2012 Program Funding Opportunity Announcements (FOA).

Seven FY 2012 preparedness grant programs being made available representing $1,381,476,000 in FY 2012 federal assistance.

UASI grants totaled $490 million, more than many expected.

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Last week, President Barack Obama unveiled his fourth federal budget proposal, a $3.8 trillion proposal that, among other things, would provide $50 billion for immediate transportation investments, $30 billion to modernize schools, $30 billion to hire teachers and first responders and $2.9 billion to support workforce development training programs.

NLC President Ted Ellis, mayor of Bluffton, Ind., said that city leaders are pleased with the overall direction of the budget, which tries to mix spending cuts with important investments in infrastructure and human capital. However, more can be done to give city governments the flexibility and resources to create opportunities at the local level.

“Federal investments in cities do not stay in City Hall. They go to local businesses and service providers who act as partners in transforming their neighborhoods and delivering services,” said Ellis. “While it is important that Congress and the Administration continue to tackle the budget deficit, they also must still focus on creating an environment for private sector growth on the local level.”

The President’s proposal is a step in that direction, calling for $476 billion over six years for highways and mass transit, as well as initiatives that would enhance start-up access to credit, promote entrepreneurship and cut taxes for small businesses.

Read more @ www.nlc.org

Through a spate of storms last year that flooded homes and knocked out power to wide swaths of the region, Hunterdon County’s social media accounts buzzed.

Its Facebook page told viewers how to report power outages and where to get showers and shelter. Its Twitter page steered viewers to websites with more information.

While it sounds counterintuitive to send emergency alerts through outlets that need electricity that might be knocked out, emergency management offices are increasingly using social media to let people know about crises big and small.

Read more @ www.lehighvalleylive.com

The call came into the London Metropolitan Police bomb squad in the early hours of the morning. Isolated at the East Midlands airport in central England was a UPS package dispatched from Yemen, containing a laser printer that Saudi intelligence believed had been converted into a bomb.

Before dawn a bomb squad arrived on the scene. The plane had been cleared and left at 4:20 am, without the package identified by its waybill number as the laser printer. Officers inspected the printer and lifted out the ink cartridge but found no explosive device. According to security sources, they also brought in specially trained dogs and passed the printer through an X-ray scanner, but those, too, failed to locate any explosives.

The security cordon around the area where the laser printer had been isolated was lifted. But Saudi counter-terrorism officials implored British authorities to re-examine the printer. When they did, they found 400 grams of the high-explosive PETN inside the ink cartridge.

Read more @ cnn.com

This year’s annual GovSec Security Conference and Expo aims to train the nation’s law enforcement officials on how to tackle the most pressing national security threats facing the United States.

“Law enforcement agencies around the country have a great desire to keep their leadership and officers apprised of the latest techniques and strategies, but tight budgets often limit their ability to send their staff to all the training sessions they’d like,” said Don Berey, GovSec’s event director, in a statement. “We’ve designed the program for GovSec and the U.S. Law Enforcement Conference to address law enforcement training needs.”

Read more @ www.homelandsecuritynewswire.org