On her way home from Mexico, Michelle Obama made a pit-stop in San Diego to visit the New Roots Community Farm. She changed out of the white suit she wore for her departure and into a pair of wide-leg trousers and a J. Crew cardigan. (AP Photo) First Lady Michelle Obama, center, examines vegetables grown by Somali immgrant Khadija Musame, second from right, as interpreter Bilal Muya, right, farm coordinator Amy Lint, second from left, and Dr. Robert Ross, President and CEO of The California Endowment, look on Thursday April 15, 2010 in San Diego. (AP Photo/Lenny Ignelzi) Read more: J. Crew , Michelle Obama , Michelle Obama J. Crew , Michelle Obama Style , Style News

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Michelle Obama In San Diego: FLOTUS Gardens In J. Crew (PHOTO)

President Obama signed a Presidential Memorandum launching the America’s Great Outdoors Initiative today, which focuses on promoting community-level efforts to conserve outdoor spaces. As part of the initiative, members of the administration will host regional sessions with groups and individuals across the country to discuss ideas on how to protect America’s natural landscape and form a 21st century strategy conservation agenda. The President said that the initiative is not a “big federal agenda being driven out of Washington,” but an effort to collect the best ideas on conservation that local communities support and reconnect Americans to the outdoors. He explained that the initiative will build on successful conservation efforts being lead by local and state governments, tribes, and private groups, while helping farmers, ranchers, and property owners to protect their lands. The outdoors initiative will also help families spend more time outdoors by building on the First Lady’s Let’s Move initiative. America’s Great Outdoors Initiative will be lead by the Secretaries of the Interior and Agriculture, the Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), and the Chair of the Council of Environmental Quality. They will work in coordination with the Departments of Defense, Commerce, Housing and Urban Development, Health and Human Services, Labor, Transportation, Education, and the Office of Management and Budget. President Barack Obama signs a presidential memorandum at the America’s Great Outdoors Conference at the Department of the Interior in Washington, D.C. Watching, from left, are Chair of the White House Council on Environmental Quality Nancy Sutley, Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Lisa P. Jackson, Interior Secretary Ken Salazar, Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack, Assistant Secretary of the Army Jo-Ellen Darcy, Under Secretary of Commerce for Oceans and Atmosphere Jane Lubchenco, and Deputy Undersecretary of Defense Dr. Dorothy Robyn. The initiative follows a public lands bill that the President signed into law last year that designated 2 acres of wilderness, over 1,000 miles of wild and scenic rivers, and three national parks, marking the most significant lands bill in decades.

The President gives his support to those rallying to give full voting representation to residents of the Nation’s Capital: On this occasion, we remember the day in 1862 when President Lincoln freed the enslaved people of Washington, DC – nine months before he issued the Emancipation Proclamation.

The President gives his support to those rallying to give full voting representation to residents of the Nation’s Capital: On this occasion, we remember the day in 1862 when President Lincoln freed the enslaved people of Washington, DC – nine months before he issued the Emancipation Proclamation.

As we noted earlier this week , the attacks from some quarters that the President’s Wall Street Reform proposal somehow opens the door to perpetual bailouts comes straight out of a now-infamous polling memo on how to defeat reform by pretending it doesn’t go far enough.

As we noted earlier this week , the attacks from some quarters that the President’s Wall Street Reform proposal somehow opens the door to perpetual bailouts comes straight out of a now-infamous polling memo on how to defeat reform by pretending it doesn’t go far enough.

Welcome to the third episode of the West Wing Week, your guide to all things 1600 Pennsylvania Ave.

All morning the

Cross-posted from the Department of Education Blog . Today, as hardworking Americans across the country file their taxes or await their return, middle class families and students paying for college loans will find a larger refund coming their way. The American Opportunity Tax Credit alleviates up to $2,500 of federal income tax owed for individuals paying for college loans and making up to $90,000 a year or for couples making up to $180,000. This is just one of the many ways this Administration is giving back to students. When President Obama signed into law historic healthcare legislation, he not only improved the availability and quality of health care services for thousands of uninsured and under-insured Americans, he made a tremendous investment in our nation’s students. The Health Care and Education Reconciliation Act of 2010 ended wasteful subsidies to banks and freed up nearly $68 billion dollars for college affordability and deficit reduction. Over the next 10 years, the Act will make important investments in higher education, help make college more affordable for hardworking Americans and give back to the American tax payer by: Expanding the Pell Grant program by $36 billion. Investing $2 billion in community colleges. Increasing support for minority servicing institutions by $2.55 billion. Investing $750 million to bolster college access for students over the next 5 years.

This afternoon, President Obama visited the Kennedy Space Center in Florida to discuss the Administration’s goal to seek new frontiers for human space flight . The President declared that he is “100 percent committed to the mission of NASA and its future,” and laid out steps and investments that the Administration is making towards space exploration. He announced a $6 billion increase in NASA’s budget over the next five years, focusing on making cuts elsewhere as the government instituted a freeze on discretionary spending. The President said that this investment will increase exploration of the solar system and also Earth-based observations that will increase our understanding of the world and its climate in order to protect the environment for future generations. The President explained that the Administration will extend the life of the International Space Station by more than five years in order to conduct research that will help improve our daily lives while working with the private sector to make reaching space more affordable. He also announced a $3 billion investment into developing an advanced “heavy lift rocket,” aiming to finalize the design for the rocket by 2015. The President said that “nobody is more committed to manned space flight, to human exploration of space than I am,”