In the wake of Superstorm Sandy, cities on the East Coast are enduring widespread power outages, infrastructure complications, and even gasoline shortages. As a consequence, New Jersey Governor Chris Christie issued an executive order late Friday that instituted an odd-even gas rationing system in 12 northern New Jersey counties.

A lengthy and far-reaching study being bankrolled by the U.S. Department of Treasury will deliver environmentalists and other liberal groups ammunition for their rigorous campaign to curb so-called “global warming,” possibly including a new carbon levy weaved into the U.S. tax code. In short, it’s an analysis determined to advocate a “green” tax code for American businesses and individual taxpayers.

The birth rate in the United States reached an all-time low last year, while over 40 percent of all babies born in 2011 were born to unmarried women, according to a report issued last month by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). While the overall birth rate dropped to a record low, the birth rates for women in the 35-to-39 and 40-to-44 age brackets actually spiked from 2010 to 2011.

Protesting the Obama administration’s “nanny-state” approach to curbing U.S. obesity, House Education and Workforce Committee Chairman John Kline (R-Minn.) is demanding a government investigation of the contentious new school lunch standards implemented this fall. The rules promote healthy foods while establishing limits on calorie intake for school lunches as a component of the 2010 Healthy Hunger-Free Kids Act — the first major overhaul of school lunches in 15 years — which authorizes funding and enacts policy for the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) core child nutrition programs.

In the wake of Hurricane Sandy’s devastating rush on the East Coast, which is estimated to cost upwards of $20 billion, January’s sequester budget cuts have sparked a political hailstorm, as November’s two presidential candidates spar over federal funding for disaster relief.

In an effort to embolden the next generation of cyber professionals, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) is devising an initiative to encourage and equip young Americans with knowledge and skills in the science of cybersecurity. Writing in a blog entitled, “Inspiring the Next Generation of Cyber Professionals,” DHS Secretary Janet Napolitano announced a plan to extend “the scope of cyber education” beyond the federal labor force through the National Initiative for Cybersecurity Education, targeting students from kindergarten all the way up to post-graduate school.

As the deadline to extend the Bush-era tax cuts looms, economists have agreed that the pending tax hikes would be devastating to the economy, and that permitting their expiration would have about twice the impact on economic growth as government spending cuts under the sequester.

Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano announced October 24 that about 200,000 young illegal immigrants have applied to defer their deportation, and more than 3,000 young illegals are applying every day under the Obama administration’s new immigration policy.

The U.S. oil and natural-gas rush is hacking away at unemployment, manufacturing a total of 1.7 million jobs this year, according to a study released Tuesday by economic forecaster IHS Global Insight. 

Another 300 suspected non-citizens are on Colorado’s voter rolls, Secretary of State Scott Gessler disclosed Tuesday in what has contributed to a heated national debate over voter fraud and so-called “voter suppression.” Gessler’s figures stem from the roughly 3,900 people who were sent letters in August which inquired about their citizenship status. This new 300-person group has been added to a list of another 141 people who were identified as possible non-citizens based on federal immigration data.