Healthy coral reefs support commercial and subsistence fisheries as well as jobs and businesses through tourism and recreation. Approximately half of all federally managed fisheries depend on coral reefs and related habitats for a portion of their life cycles. The National Marine Fisheries Service estimates the commercial value of U.S. fisheries from coral reefs is over $100 million. Local...

Minnesota. Maine. Upstate New York. The Allegheny Mountains of Pennsylvania and West Virginia. Practically anywhere in Idaho. And of course, the Rockies or the Sierra Nevada Mountains. These are the parts of the Lower 48* where weather history suggests you want to be if you're looking for the best chance of a white Christmas. For those of you dreaming of a white Christmas, you can find places that...

The 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act is two years old this week. A key element of the bipartisan bill is the Opportunity Zones initiative. Since January 2017, EDA has invested $341.9 million in 236 projects across the U.S in or near Opportunity Zones. An Opportunity Zone is an economically-distressed community where private investments, under certain conditions, may be eligible for capital gain tax...

We’re excited to celebrate the quarter-century birthday of our partnership with the Census Bureau on a survey about consumer use of computers and the Internet! Last month, across all fifty states and the District of Columbia, Census interviewers talked to 52,000 households for this comprehensive survey, which collects data every two years on who goes online, what computing devices and technologies...

The size of every county’s economy with industry detail will be officially released for the first time by the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis on Dec. 12. BEA will estimate annual gross domestic product, or GDP, for the years 2001 through 2018 for more than 3,000 counties. The data will include contributions to GDP by 34 industries, such as manufacturing, retail trade, and health and social...

The following is a cross-post from the Small Business Administration Saturday, November 30, 2019 is Small Business Saturday – a day to celebrate and support small businesses and all they do for their communities. Every year since 1963, National Small Business Week has been recognizing the critical contributions of America’s entrepreneurs and small business owners. More than half of Americans...

The first American Indian Day was celebrated in May 1916 in New York. Red Fox James, a member of the Blackfeet Nation, rode horseback from state to state to get endorsements from 24 state governments to have a day to honor American Indians. In 1990, President George H.W. Bush signed a joint congressional resolution designating November 1990 as “National American Indian Heritage Month.” Similar...

In the fall of 1621, the Pilgrims — early settlers of Plymouth Colony — held a three-day feast to celebrate a bountiful harvest. Many regard this event as the nation’s first Thanksgiving. The Wampanoag Indians in attendance played a key role but historians have recorded harvest ceremonies of thanks among other groups of European settlers in North America, including the British colonists in...