With the NBA lockout still going strong and training camp already called off, the 2011-2012 NBA season is in question. Thus many stars are thinking about going to play overseas whereas many players already have.

Kobe Bryant is one of those players. The Los Angeles Laker, who led the team to five NBA Titles, was offered $6.7 million to player for one year for Virtus Bologna in Italy.

When he was a child, Bryant’s father played professional basketball in Italy. Bryant lived in Italy with his family during those years. So, the idea of playing in Italy is very attractive to the NBA superstar.

Reports from the Italian team indicate that talks have been going on between Bryant’s agent and the team to put together a deal.

In fact, Bryant has been given a few different potential deals. In addition to the one-year deal, he has also been presented with a one-month deal, a two-month deal, and a game-by-game deal where he would get $739,640 per game until he decides to leave.

The per game deal is the best for Bryant in the case that the NBA lockout ends while the thirteen time All-Star is still in Italy without any difficulty for the team. All the deals have options to let Bryant leave if and when the lockout ends.

G. Mathieson/FEMA News

Thursday, Hurricane Irene moved northbound across the east coast of the United States after hitting the Bahamas hard.

Hurricane Irene was moving at 115 mph winds today at five o’clock EST, making it a Category 3 Hurricane. A fear going into Thursday was that the path of the storm would move westward enough to threaten the Maryland area, including Washington D.C.

After already seeing the Bahamas lose power, endure flooding, and having multiple buildings damaged, the fears of the American citizens are completely founded.

According to Bill Read of the National Hurricane Center, the storm has the potential to hit New York and the surrounding area at a strength of a Category 2 and with approximately 100 mile per hour winds.

All across the east coast states, heavy rain is expected with as much as ten inches of heavy rain in some areas.

The Federal Emergency Management Agency is already getting ready to go to work in the event that major damage is done and people are in need of major help.

Every time we talk about a hurricane in the United States, we look back to Hurricane Katrina in New Orleans and along the Gulf states. While Hurricane Irene is not expected to be nearly as strong, the fear is always there in the minds of Americans.

The tornado that hit Joplin, Missouri ravaged the town in a merciless way that we have not seen a tornado do in years. Winds during the storm were registered at over two hundred miles per hour. Stable buildings were destroyed and everything that was not fixed to the ground was sent flying in the air. Even the bark off of trees was stripped off. Where beautiful buildings and homes once stood, now there is just debris. The natural disaster swept across thirteen miles in Joplin.

Sunday, one week after the tornado hit the Missouri town, President Barack Obama came to Joplin to speak to the survivors of the unforgettable event.

During his speech, Obama spoke of some of the men and women who put their lives on the line and ultimately lost them while trying to protect the lives of their friends, family members, and fellow human beings from the dangerous winds.

Obama said, “There are heroes around us all the time. And so, in the wake of this tragedy, let us live up to their example, to make each day count, to live with a sense of mutual regard, to live with that same compassion that they demonstrated in their final hours. We are called by them to do everything we can to be worthy of this chance we’ve been given to carry on.”

The death count is being reported at 146. The number comes from the total number of bodies collected as calculated by the Missouri Department of Public Safety. The number is not official as the authorities are still examining the bodies.

Jay Nixon, the Governor of Missouri, said that the event is unforgettable. He said, “This tragedy has changed us forever. This community will never be the same. We will never be the same.” He went on to speak of a positive message of rebuilding. Nixon said, “We can and we will heal,” and “we will restore this community and by God’s grace we will renew our souls.”

Obama touted the citizens of Joplin for their response to the disaster. He praised how the men and women worked quickly to help their fellow citizens and to tend to the injured.

The aftermath of a disaster is always the true story. Now the people of Joplin, Missouri are about to go through the hardest part of it all. The men, women, and children of Joplin now must rebuild.

Marvin Gentry/Reuters

It seems like this story has been written too many times in just sixteen short months since the year 2010 was rung in. We have spoken about earthquakes, tsunamis, oil explosions, and other tragedies. But then we always must turn our attention to the aftermath. The disaster itself is always more dramatic and attention grabbing than the true tragedy: the harm done to innocent people. Whether it is a natural disaster or a man made one, once the weather settles or the damage is done, the recovery phase kicks in and so does the pain.

And that is exactly the case in the south. Centered in Alabama, a string of storms and tornados ran through the south, hitting six states, and taking just under three hundred innocent lives with them.

As of Thursday, a total of 294 people have died as a result of the storms. In Alabama alone, 207 people have been reported missing. Tuscaloosa saw 38 people die. Search and rescue teams are still out looking for survivors and the death toll is feared to rise in the coming days.

In addition, physical damage to property was high as a result of the natural disaster. Buildings that once housed families and offices and stores have been demolished. In areas where homes were not destroyed, a total of one million people saw their electricity sources get knocked out.

Governor Robert Bentley of Alabama assessed the damage and addressed the media on Thursday. He told reporters, “People’s live have just been turned upside down. It affects me emotionally. When I fly over this, it is difficult.”

Walter Maddox, the mayor of Tuscaloosa, Alabama, said, “My heart is broken. We have a resilient spirit here and it will be on display for the world to see.”

Other states reported death counts as well. Mississippi had a death count of thirty-three, Tennessee reported thirty-four deaths, Georgia claimed that fifteen people lost their lives, five people died in Virginia, and one more was reported dead from the storms in Arkansas. Arkansas reported twelve more deaths from storms earlier this week.

Now search and rescues teams are going through the south trying to find as many survivors as they can.

Survivors are now taking a look around and seeing what they have lost, both materially and emotionally. People have lost their friends and family members. They have lost their homes and the places where they made so many memories. Once again, due to tragedy, another group of innocent people have had their lives swept away.

The last decade has been full of natural disasters. Due to the mainstream media, we tend to only notice the big events. We all know about the earthquakes that ravaged Haiti and Japan. We have read all about the tsunamis that took countless lives in Indonesia and Japan. And of course, we all remember the tragedy that was Hurricane Katrina and many Americans are still experiencing the aftermath of the catastrophe.

However, not all disasters are on such a grand scale and cause damage to such a high degree.

In Alabama, what seemed to be just a storm has grown to a full crisis in the southern state. Wednesday, the storm turned into a string of tornados. By the end of the day, the death count was reported to be at the very least 58.

In total, over seventy Americans have been reported dead in four states in the south as a result of the storms and tornados. Fifteen people have been reported to have been killed in Tuscaloosa, Alabama alone.

The devastation grew so large that the governor of Alabama, Robert Bentley, contacted President Barack Obama and asked the Head of State to help out in the time of urgent and desperate need.

Wednesday night, Obama told reporters that he did in fact talk to Governor Bentley and told him that he will approve his request for help. Obama is sending search and rescue teams and equipment as well as other disaster relief help.

Obama and his wife Michelle, the First Lady, said that they are very proud of “the heroic efforts of those who have been working tirelessly to respond to this disaster,” and that with the work of the Federal Emergency Management Agency, the crisis will hopefully not get out of hand.

Officials are worried about what may still come as the storms continue. Governor Bentley said, “This has been a very serious and deadly event that’s affected our state and it’s not over yet.”

All eyes are on the south this week as millions of Americans watch closely and hope that the worst of the storms and tornados is in the past and that no more lives are lost in the coming days.

As rescue teams continue to search the south, the only thing Americans can do is hope that more survivors are found than casualties. For the next few days, all we can do is wait and see.

As fears continue to rise in Japan and around the world about a potential nuclear disaster, Japanese officials are scrambling to find new ways to cool the nuclear reactors, and prevent a full scale nuclear meltdown. After Thursday’s attempts to cool the fuel rods failed, military fire trucks are now spraying cold water onto the rods to help expedite the cooling process.

While nuclear plant officials try to do everything that they can to help prevent a meltdown, the United State’s top nuclear official warned that it will more than likely “take some time, possibly weeks,” to repair the plants. Not only is the inability to cool the fuel rods at reactor No. 3 a major problem at the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Station, but U.S. officials feel that the threat that reactor No. 4 poses is even greater than the threat posed by reactor No. 3, which Japanese officials have led us to believe is the main threat.

However, Japanese officials continue to focus their efforts on prevented a full scale meltdown of reactor No. 3 since it contains a mixed fuel known as mox, which stands for mixed oxide. If mox is released into the atmosphere, the damage that can be done to the environment surrounding the reactor could be catastrophic.

It is too early to tell how effective the military fire trucks are when it comes to cooling the fuel rods, but helicopters and water cannons are also being deployed to help with the efforts.

The Japanese government officially asked the United States to assist with the country’s growing nuclear reactor emergency. Earlier today the nuclear reactor crisis grew large as there was another explosion at the no. 3 reactor at the Fukushima Daiichi power plant in northern Japan. This new explosion is another in a line of blasts that have Japanese nuclear officials fearing the worst.

In order to help prevent a nuclear meltdown at the plant, the Japanese government filed a formal request with the United State’s Nuclear Regulatory Commission to help stabilize the nuclear reactors. It appeared that emergency crews were starting to get a handle on the situation Sunday, but trouble with the water pumps that are supplying the seawater to submerge the fuel rods caused the water levels to dip and the reactors to heat up.

While Japanese officials claim that the situation is under control, they continue to warn citizens that the situation could change at any moment, and that the worst is not behind us yet. Summoning the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission for assistance was a necessary step as a disaster of this magnitude has never been seen. The way that the nuclear reactors are failing is not something any country has had to deal with. The Japanese government is hoping that the two countries can devise a plan to help prevent the world’s worst nuclear meltdown since Chernobyl.

Dharapak/AP

San Francisco (Obama.net)- At a time when the Midterm Election is less than a month away and most would expect President Barack Obama to be working day and night to make sure that the Democratic Party maintains the majority in both the House of Representatives and the Senate so that he can get his initiatives passed with greater ease, the President of the United States is not forgetting other important issues.

The BP oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico may not be headline news anymore and many may even be considering it yesterday’s news already, but President Obama is still working hard to make sure that the regions affected by the disaster get the help and support that they need in the ever important recovery effort.

Obama has instituted a task force that will have the duty to help the Gulf Coast recover. Named the Gulf Coast Ecosystem Restoration Task Force, it will be made up of representatives from the United States federal government, state governments, and local officials who are located in the Gulf region. They will come from Alabama, Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi, and Florida as well.

Obama issued an executive order that said the “ecosystem restoration will support economic vitality, enhance human health and safety, protect infrastructure, enable communities to better withstand impact from storms and climate change, sustain safe seafood and clean water, provide recreational and cultural opportunities, protect and preserve sites that are of historical and cultural significance, and contribute to the overall resilience of our coastal communities and nation.”

Obama also said that he will use the proper scientific measures and technological resources to make sure that the process will be “well-coordinated to minimize duplication and ensure delivery of services.”

The goal of the task force is to come up with a successful recovery plan within a year and have it in full force rebuilding the regions affected by the oil spill of last spring.

After the oil spill ravaged the area, the world was in shock and dismay at the unfortunate situation. After the leak was sealed and the disaster itself came to an end, so did much of the national attention. But President Obama realized that the aftermath would require a much more complex and longer fix.

Despite the looming elections on November 2^nd that are proving to be a potential turning point for the Obama era, the President realizes that his priorities lie with assuring the well-being of the American people before securing his party’s dominance in Congress.

Charles Dharapak/AP

San Francisco (Obama.net)- Throughout the United States of America, debates over energy have been going on for decades. Citizens have been arguing over using gas, oil, nuclear energy, and other cleaner sources of energy such as solar and wind power. In a time when the call to protect the environment, which we have punished brutally for centuries, it makes all of the sense in the world for the leaders of this nation to lead by example.

Thus is why President Obama is taking a page out of former President Jimmy Carter’s playbook. Carter is the only Head of State in American history to install solar panels on the roof of the White House.

Carter put them on the roof of the capital building in 1979 as a symbol of the need to find new means for energy as the country was going through oil problems via tensions in the Middle East, which limited supplies to the United States. The energy from the panels was used to heat the water in the White House.

The solar panels were removed by Carter’s successor, Ronald Reagan in 1986.

But now, President Barack Obama is reinstalling solar panels to the White House roof.

According to Steven Chu, the Energy Secretary, “by the end of this spring, there will be solar panels that convert sunlight into electricity and a solar hot water heater on the roof of the White House.”

Chu further stressed that “around the world the White House is a symbol of freedom and democracy,” and that the way the Obama Administration sees it, “it should also be a symbol of American commitment to a clean energy future.”

Obama has made it clear that when it comes to him, his administration, and the entire United States government, they will lead by example. As Obama is pushing for alternative energy initiatives and new jobs in the clean energy industry, he believes it is only right that the White House be a part of that movement and in a very visible way such as solar panels on the roof.

Even though they will not be installed until the spring of 2011, the hope is that once they are installed, many of the other clean energy initiatives will also be up and running and the United States will be well on its way to being the model of excellence in terms of using clean energy and protecting the environment.

San Francisco (Obama.net)-

Mainly, Obama spoke about clean energy initiatives. Those new projects have to do with both solar and wind power. Obama is making the case clear that focusing time and money on these fields would create numerous jobs. In addition, Obama is saying that they are better for the environment and would help improve the economy due to them being cheaper, but efficient sources of energy.

Obama also blasted Republicans for trying to take down such measures and play political games with such an important issue just because of how close we are to the Midterm Elections, which are now just barely over four weeks away.

Obama said that we can agree with the Republicans and “we can go back to the failed energy policies that profited the oil companies but weakened our county. We can go back to the days when promising industries got set up overseas. Or we can go after new jobs in growing industries. And we can spur innovation and help make our economy more competitive.”

Obama’s stimulus package of one year ago set out $90 billion for clean energy, but now the Senate Republicans are saying that if they take over the majority in Congress, they will work to freeze the spending on the package, including the clean energy aspects.

Obama is already touting the successes of the new technology initiatives with the opening of new plants around the country. The President said, “we’re putting Americans to work producing clean, homegrown American energy that will help lower our reliance on foreign oil and protect our planet for future generations.”

Conversely, in the Republican weekly radio address, Mitch McConnell, the Senate Minority Leader, spoke about the tax cuts. He was adamant that all of the Bush era cuts be renewed. However, Obama is standing his ground on the issue and will not bend.

With the Midterm Elections less than one month away, the Obama Administration and the Democratic Party are working hard to maintain office positions throughout the country as Republicans, as well as Tea Party candidates, are trying to take over those positions in order to secure a majority in Congress so they can implement their own policies to go against the current Head of State.