The Commission advising the president on the April BP Deepwater Horizon well blowout has released its final report. The 380-page report, Deep Water: The Gulf Oil Disaster and the Future of Offshore Drilling, details the events that killed 11 workers and dumped nearly 5 million barrels of crude oil in the Gulf of Mexico. The report also outlines changes that should be made in company behavior, government oversight, and energy investments in the wake of the spill. The National Commission on the BP Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill and Offshore Drilling also released a separate 63-page report with its recommendations.

How safe is the nation's food supply? Preventing food borne illness and regulating the food industry has been the subject of spirited debate in recent years, and Congress took a key step recently in approving the Food Modernization Safety Act. To read the text of the act, visit the link for H.R. 2751 at Thomas, the website for Congress. A summary of the legislation is posted at the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA)'s website. For additional information on food safety, visit FoodSafety.gov, the federal gateway to food safety facts and information; the Food Safety section of the federal Centers for Disease Control (CDC); the Food page of the FDA; the Safety and Inspection Service of the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA); and the USDA's Food and Nutrition Services page.

The Royal Oak Public Library was pleased to present the 12th annual Royal Oak Area Preschool and Child Care Directory in conjunction with its annual Preschool and Child Care Information Night on January 24.

The Tax Relief, Unemployment Insurance Reauthorization, and Job Creation Act of 2010 was signed on December 17, 2010. President Obama signed the $858 billion tax bill into law that extends the Bush tax cuts for two more years and extends unemployment benefits for the long-term unemployed for 13 months. Obama has called it a compromise plan and it has generated spirited political debate.