More than 60 leaders in national defense urged Congress today to reform the way it oversees homeland security, saying that the current system jeopardizes national security and leaves the nation vulnerable to cyber-attacks, bioterrorism, and other threats.

Working memory, the ability to hold information in your mind and use it to guide behavior, develops through childhood and adolescence and is key for successful performance at school and work. A new study has found that parents’ education is related to children’s performance on tasks of working memory and that neighborhood characteristics are not.

Better driver training and closer parental supervision of young drivers could reduce some of the major risks that lead to teen driver crashes, according to a review of recent studies published online this month in the Journal of Adolescent Health. “A lot of crashes involving adolescent drivers are due to inexperience, as opposed to recklessness or the inability to pay attention to the road,” said the lead author, Daniel Romer.

Olga Kamenchuk, Ph. D., is a visiting scholar from the Moscow State University of International Relations, where she chairs the Sociology of Mass Communication department. She talks about her public polling work at VCIOM, the leading Russian opinion research center, her international research interests, and her work at APPC.

Bryce Pinkham, a 2012 Leonore Annenberg Arts fellow, has been nominated for a Tony Award for lead actor in a musical for his performance in “A Gentleman’s Guide to Love and Murder.” “It’s just one of those moments you are always dreaming about as a little kid, practicing in front of the mirror," Pinkham told Broadwayworld.com.

FactCheck.org was named best Politics website for the 18th Annual Webby Awards. The Webbys, called “the Oscars of the Internet,” are presented by the International Academy of Digital Arts and Sciences.

Amy B. Jordan, adjunct professor of communication at the Annenberg School for Communication and Associate Director of the Annenberg Public Policy Center, has been named a 2014 recipient of the Provost’s Award for Teaching Excellence by Non-Standing Faculty.

A bass-baritone opera singer raised amid rough surroundings in a trailer park in Virginia; a violinist from a family of Philadelphia Orchestra string players; a first-generation Serbian-American actor who won acclaim in an offbeat Off Broadway musical. These are among the seven arts fellows who will receive 2014 grants from the Leonore Annenberg Fellowship Fund for the Performing and Visual Arts. In addition, eight schools will receive grants. (At left: opera singer Ryan Speedo Green)

The Leonore Annenberg Funds announce 2014 awards for seven artists and eight schools

The Leonore Annenberg Funds announce 2014 awards for seven artists and eight schools