When you take a deep breath, you’re inhaling the highest quality of air in the U.S. in a decade. According to a new report released by the American Lung Association (ALA), tougher emissions standards have made a positive impact on the quality of air. Pollution has fallen to its lowest levels recorded since 2000.

The Clean Air Act

Steady progress in reducing pollution can be credited to the Clean Air Act, says Charles Connor, president of the ALA. Since 1990, the Clean Air Act sought cleanup of coal-fired power plants and gas-guzzling SUVs, pick-up trucks, and diesel engines. 

Last year, the EPA required that states control wind and weather-borne pollution across state lines. While some lawmakers protested that the initiative undermined economic growth and energy production, the EPA stated that the overall health benefits of millions of Americans was well-worth any lost profits in the energy sector.

Most Memorable Albums of 2012…So Far

We’re not even halfway into the year, but there have been some memorable releases that have the possibility of becoming classics. Here are some popular choices:

Jack White – Blunderbuss

This album was released in April from the former White Stripes member and contains 13 tracks. Some critics say it is his most personal album, while others compare it to some of the best that the White Stripes have produced. White has updated his sound without being disloyal to the Stripes.

Leonard Cohen – Old Ideas

The 10 tracks on this album are melancholy, allusive, and thought provoking. Many of them could become classics with universal subjects like broken relationships and death. The 77 year-old rock and roll hall of famer has made only his 12^th album since 1967, but many say it is his best in years.

Whether you are a parent or a coach, you know how serious a concussion can be.  Any trauma to the head can cause serious damage, even years later.  While you may not be able to prevent every injury to a player, there are some precautions that can be taken to protect the head from damage.

Prior to the Start of the Season

Make sure that there is a policy in the league or school on concussions.  It should include a statement about maintaining safety, procedures in place to prevent concussions, and when a player can return to play following a concussion.  This statement should be signed by all parents and/or players before the season begins.

Educate players, coaches, and parents on concussions.  Before the season begins, there should be training on how to identify a concussion, how to prevent one, and possible long-term consequences of them.  

During the Season

Once the season begins, there should be teaching and monitoring for safety procedures.  Each sport has their own procedures on how to protect against concussions and these should be followed throughout the year.  For instance, in baseball it can be required that players wear helmets in batting practice.  Cheerleaders would only perform tumbles on mats.

Is it time for your child to go off to college? Are you thinking about ways to save money? There is a way that might not have occurred to you, to help your child through college and make money, too.

Many parents are opting to buy a house rather than pay for a dorm room or apartment rental while their kids are in college. This may seem like a major decision for a few years of savings, but there are many benefits...

Invest for Your Retirement

Once your child graduates and moves out, you can rent the house and put away the money for your retirement. Once the house is paid for, you can get a good return on your investment. When you retire, you can either continue to get rental income to supplement other retirement funds, or you can sell the property. Since property usually increases in value, you could end up making a good profit.

Save Money on College Expenses

Besides saving on the cost of a dorm or an apartment, you will save money on food, too. Your student can skip the cafeteria plan and eat at home. 

Google has finally joined the ranks of cloud storage servers by creating their own version - Google Drive. It has been anticipated for some time, but delays have held it back. It has finally been released and here are some of the things that users can expect to see with Google Drive.

Free Storage

Users get 5GB of storage for free. For most people, that will be plenty to store photos, documents, and files. They can keep all of their important information on Google Drive and even scan regular paperwork for backup.

For those who need more storage, prices are reasonable. At only $2.49 a month you can get 25GBs of storage, and prices increase with the plan. Your Gmail storage will also increase to the same amount if you choose to upgrade.

Powerful Search Capabilities

Google has created their Webapp to use OCR (Optical Character Recognition), which allows you to search for text in PDF and other files. This makes it easier to find what you need without searching through every document.