The Federal Emergency Management Agency has extended the application deadline for its Assistance to Firefighters grants to September 16 at 5 p.m.  FEMA issued the one-week extension to allow potential applicants to maintain their focus on any response and recovery activities related to Hurricane Irene.

Those of us on the East Coast have a serious beef with Mother Nature right now after experiencing an earthquake, hurricane and severe flooding — all within one week! Still, there are lessons to be learned here. It’s times like these that grantees should be reminded about keeping their documents safe.

(This post is excerpted from a story in the Sept. 5 issue of Local/State Funding Report.) The past two decades have brought both tremendous progress and periodic setbacks in child well-being at national, state and local levels, according to a recent report from the Annie E. Casey Foundation. With economic insecurity rising, the need is greater than ever for services for low-income children, even as federal, state and local budgets tighten.

First of all, I hope that you’re safe and dry, wherever you are.  Second, speaking from personal experience, never take a Caribbean island vacation during hurricane season.  Third, if you ever have a Plan B that includes a spontaneous road trip through the mountains of West Virginia (on a calm day), do it – it’s truly beautiful, and it may end up being the most enjoyable and relaxing part of your Caribbean island vacation.

It’s that time again. We’ve picked our fourth product giveaway winner. Check out the video below to see who won.

The East Coast earthquake is over, the hurricane’s just about to start and Congress is still in recess — what better time to catch up on a few things you may have missed.

(This post is based on an upcoming article in the Single Audit Information Service.) The Government Accountability Office is taking a unique approach to issuing the 2011 revision of the Government Auditing Standards. At press time, the GAO released an interim version of the 2011 revision with an eye toward releasing the final version later this year.

Many organizations depend on volunteers to keep things running smoothly. Funding is a crucial resource, but it’s not the only resource an organization has to draw from.

Don't panic! It was only a "minor" earthquake.

Here she is! The second winner of our new grants publications giveaway was Colleen Campbell, statewide single audit coordinator for the Alaska Department of Administration, Division of Finance. I got in touch with her recently to find out more about her professional duties, what grant and audit issues most concern her and how she benefits from Thompson’s publications.