As the US inches closer to being in default many are wondering if the multibillion dollar stimulus worked. That answer seems to depend on which side of the political spectrum one is on. Ask Obama and he’ll say yes, ask the congressional Republican leadership and surely you’ll get a no. However, there are clear facts that sort out the political claims.

First, the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, colloquially known as the stimulus, must be evaluated for what it was created for. It was designed to save and create jobs. It was also written to create economic growth and increase accountability and transparency in government spending. Lastly, the stimulus was designed to be a multiyear spending package, designed to reduce the likelihood of a double dip recession.

Most students spent their snow break eating more than usual, According to an online poll at NOVAFortnightly.com. Behind that students evidently grew bored spending more time than usual “Twittering or Facebooking.” With the grass and mud starting to peak through the snow pack and memories of Snowmageddon I and II fading fast we’ve added a few pictures contributed by the staff of the Fortnightly. For the snow lovers voraciously ogling these pictures, we may have more snow as local meteorologists are calling for a possible blizzard on Thursday.

Getting a credit card is about to become a lot harder for those younger than age 21. New regulations intended to clean up the credit card industry include additional measures to protect young people. The so called Credit CARD Act will go into effect on Feb. 22.  The new law was championed by President Obama to protect consumers from unfair practices of the credit card industry.
The CARD act requires those younger than 21 to prove they earn enough money to pay off a credit card. Otherwise, a person age 21 …

A man was fatally shot in a residence near NOVA’s Annandale campus on Monday night around 10:30 p.m. When the police arrived they found a man with head trauma from a gunshot. According to a press release from the Fairfax County Police Department there were others in the residence at the time who police were able to identify and then determine there was no threat to public safety.

The victim was identified as Nathan Smiler of 8317 Little River Turnpike. The shooting occurred in the 8300 block of Little River Turnpike, if it was at the victim’s home was not made clear.

The most important aspect of communication is listening. This was the message a broadcast executive had for several NOVA communications classes. On a Jan. 26 visit to the Alexandria campus, Brian Lamb, founder and CEO of C-SPAN, shared his insights with students.

Lamb started the day visiting Professor Lucy Holsonbake’s communication class. He was greeted with the sounds of country music playing – a surprising contrast considering the rainbow of students present. The class had been thoroughly prepared for Lamb’s visit, remembering that he liked country music from a biography they had read on him.

NOVA will be closed all day on Thursday as the region tries to dig out from Snowmageddon II, according to a text message alert. This will be the seventh straight day NOVA has been closed since its noon closing last Friday.

The DC region broke the all time historical record for snow, with 54.9 inches of snow fall this Winter at Ronald Reagan National Airport. The snow from the December 19th storm, and the February 5th storm contributed to the record, with a 9.8 inch dump in the past two days pushing up the record. The previous record snow was 54.4 inches from the Winter of 1898-99.

Dr. Terry Alford has received Virginia’s prestigious Outstanding Faculty Award from the State Council of Higher Education for Virginia. Just 12 faculty members out of 177 were chosen from Virginia’s public and private colleges for the state’s higher education award.

Alford routinely receives glowing teacher evaluations for his “enthusiasm, passion, energy and dynamic teaching style,” as Dr. William Kinsella, Assistant Dean of History noted. One student declared him the “best history teacher I have ever had,” while another applauded him for bringing “enthusiasm, wealth of knowledge and a fabulous sense of humor to his chosen subject.”

“There’s no line of demarcation between us and the world,” Professor Joseph E. Windham said in his introduction to a video presentation from the founder of Kiva, an international aid organization. Members of Northern Virginia Community College and Phi Theta Kappa gathered on a Saturday afternoon to learn about the impact of microfinancing on developing countries, particularly through the organization Kiva.