President Barack Obama speaks with students in the State Dining Room prior to the White House Student Film Festival in the East Room of the White House, Feb. 28, 2014. (Official White House Photo by Pete Souza)

Back in November, we asked K-12 students across the country to create short films on the role that technology plays in their classrooms. We asked them to tell us why technology is so important, and how it will change the educational experience for kids in the future.

And they responded with nearly 3,000 films.

Today, in collaboration with the American Film Institute, we hosted more than a dozen of the young filmmakers at the first-ever White House Student Film Festival, where we presented our 16 official selections. Special guests included Kal Penn, Bill Nye, and Neil deGrasse Tyson, along with Conan O’Brien who addressed the students by video.

In September 2009, the President announced that—for the first time in history—White House visitor records would be made available to the public on an ongoing basis. Today, the White House releases visitor records that were generated in November 2013. Today’s release also includes visitor records generated prior to September 16, 2009 that were requested by members of the public in January 2014 pursuant to the White House voluntary disclosure policy. This release brings the total number of records made public by this White House to over 3.47 million—all of which can be viewed in our Disclosures section.

First Lady Michelle Obama joins children for a Super Sprowtz show, a "Let's Move!" event at La Petite Academy child care center in Bowie, Md., Feb. 27, 2014. (Official White House Photo by Chuck Kennedy)

Ed. note. This is cross-posted from the Let's Move blog. See the original post here.

This week, First Lady Michelle Obama visited a local child care center to highlight the progress of Let’s Move! Child Care and recognize a new child care provider signing on to support the program. Since launching in 2011, over 12,000 providers have committed to fostering healthy environments and instilling healthy habits among our nation’s preschoolers that will last a lifetime. Through Let’s Move! Child Care, providers are increasing physical activity, limiting screen time, serving healthier food and beverages, and supporting breastfeeding mothers. More than 1 million children are being reached by early childhood education networks that have committed to Let’s Move! Child Care.

This week, the President announced two new manufacturing hubs, and his "My Brother's Keeper" initiative, toured a new light rail system in St. Paul, Minnesota, and spoke on the importance of supporting American infrastructure jobs. The First Lady celebrated the fourth anniversary of her "Let's Move" Initiative with both Will Ferrell and Amy Poehler, while the Vice President kicked off the inaugural episode of Late Night with Seth Meyers.

President Barack Obama delivers remarks at an event to highlight "My Brother's Keeper," an initiative to expand opportunity for young men and boys of color, in the East Room of the White House, Feb. 27, 2014. (Official White House Photo by Pete Souza)

This afternoon, in the East Room of the White House, President Obama delivered remarks at the launch event for My Brother's Keeper -- his new initiative aimed at helping young men and boys of color facing tough odds reach their full potential. The initiative will bring together private philanthropies, businesses, governors, mayors, faith leaders, and nonprofit organizations that are committed to helping them succeed.

As the President said in today's remarks, ensuring that young men of color can reach their full potential is the only way "America can reach its full potential."

President Obama announced that philanthropies and corporate leaders have pledged to invest at least $200 million over the next five years -- on top of $150 million that they have already invested -- to figure out which programs are the most successful in helping young men of color and replicate them in communities across the country. He also signed a presidential memorandum directing the federal government to determine the best methods to improve the odds for young men of color.

A student eyes the Emancipation Proclamation as the President gave students from William R. Harper High School in Chicago a tour of the Oval Office, June 5, 2013. (Official White House Photo by Pete Souza)

Today, from the East Room of the White House, President Obama will launch a new effort aimed at empowering boys and young men of color, a segment of our society which too often faces disproportionate challenges and obstacles to success. These obstacles are found in our schools, our communities, our criminal justice system, our families, and even in the minds of our young people themselves. The President is committed to build a broad coalition of backers to help break down barriers, clear pathways to opportunity, and reverse troubling trends which show too many of our boys and young men of color slipping through the cracks in our society. 

To launch the “My Brother’s Keeper” initiative, the President will be joined by local and national leaders in philanthropy, business, government, faith communities, and media.  The challenges facing boys and young men of color are broad and multidimensional, and so must be the team we bring to the table to begin fostering solutions.  

On hand today will be General Colin Powell, Mayor Michael Bloomberg, Adam Silver, Congresswoman Marcia Fudge, Mayor Rahm Emanuel, Congressman Ruben Hinojosa, Magic Johnson, and many more leaders from key national and regional philanthropic foundations and major businesses, all of whom understand what is at stake with this effort.  When we let this many boys and young men fall behind – we are crippling our ability to reach our full potential as a nation.

Crime doesn’t pay when it comes to defrauding Medicare or Medicaid. But our crime-fighting efforts do.

Over these past three years, every dollar we’ve invested to fight fraud and abuse has returned $8.10 to the American taxpayer. We recovered a record-breaking $4.3 billion last year and $19.2 billion over the last five years.

Today, we released a joint HHS-Justice Department report that tells more of this story. Click here to read it.

Ed. note: This is a crosspost from Energy.gov. See the original post, and a gallery from the Secretary's travels, here.

During his recent State of the Union address, President Obama reiterated the importance of American energy: “One of the biggest factors in bringing more jobs back is our commitment to American energy. The all-of-the-above energy strategy I announced a few years ago is working, and today, America is closer to energy independence than we’ve been in decades.”

In the month since the President’s speech, I’ve been traveling across the country to highlight the Administration’s efforts to promote production of domestic energy, create jobs and opportunities for American families, and address the serious issues posed by climate change. The President’s all-of-the-above energy strategy is a path to progress on all three points.

Four weeks ago, I was in Virginia to talk about science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) education and job creation in the energy field. I visited Hampton University, a historically black university that has evolved into an impressive research university -- partly by drawing on collaboration with nearby Energy Department and NASA facilities. While there, I was able to announce that Hampton’s President, Bill Harvey, has become an Ambassador for the Energy Department’s Minorities in Energy program.

Earlier this month, President Obama made his first movie on a trip to Buck Lodge Middle School in Adelphi Maryland. And on Friday, although we’re not showing the President’s movie,  we might be showing yours. 

On Friday, February 28, the White House is hosting the first-ever Student Film Festival, featuring the work of more than a dozen young filmmakers who created short films celebrating the role of technology in the classroom.

The Filmmaker-in-Chief was at Buck Lodge to celebrate progress on ConnectED, an ambitious project to connect 99% of American students to next-generation broadband and wireless technology within five years. In Adelphi, he announced that some of America’s largest companies answered the President’s call to action towards that goal by pledging more than $750 million in commitments to deliver cutting-edge technologies to classrooms, including devices, free software, teacher professional development, and home wireless connectivity.