Perez has the track record to lead Labor Department

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President Obama has nominated long-time public servant Thomas E. Perez to serve as our nation’s next secretary of Labor. As leaders of Maryland’s Workforce Investment Board, we had the opportunity to work closely with Perez when he served as secretary of the Maryland Department of Labor, Licensing, and Regulation.
 
As Congress considers reauthorization of the Workforce Investment Act, the federal legislation key to so many of the state and local programs we worked on in Maryland, Perez' experience working on this and related issues can be a crucial addition to the national debate.

Perez’s lengthy public service experience and extensive record of collaboration with businesses to address critical workforce development needs makes him uniquely qualified to head the U.S. Department of Labor.
 
During Perez’s time in Maryland, we worked directly with him to institute a set of reforms to strengthen Maryland’s workforce system that helped both businesses and workers. Perez worked to expand training for those already on the job, engage business and industry in workforce training policy, and connect unemployed and underemployed workers to much-needed education, training and, most importantly, good jobs.
 
In the past, a college education or advanced training beyond high school was not required to earn a decent living and to meet the demands of the labor market. But in today’s economy, education and training beyond high school is the difference between poverty and family-sustaining careers. Perez understood that educating and preparing workers for skilled jobs would not only help Maryland’s families, but also its employers and its economy.
 
In the next five years, nearly 80 percent of the jobs in Maryland will require some skills or credentials beyond a high school education. Most of them will be positions that require more than a high school diploma, but not necessarily a four-year degree. These are the jobs we are struggling to fill here in Maryland, and we know it’s the same for other employers throughout the country. If we can’t find people with the latest technical credentials to fill those positions, we cannot expand or compete. We cannot create new jobs.
 
Perez worked with us and other employers in Maryland to ensure industry-driven solutions to this critical issue. Under his leadership, the state convened hundreds of businesses from health care, manufacturing, construction, biotech, and information technology to develop the partnerships needed to address the problem.  
 
He ensured that workforce development efforts were inclusive of all Marylanders, and fit the needs of both workers and businesses – whether it was re-training ex-offenders transitioning out of jail and into a new life; helping qualified foreign-born nurses get licensed so they could help meet immediate hospital needs; or strengthening Science Technology, Engineering and Math education for workers in Maryland’s high tech sector.
 
He took a creative and innovative approach to expanding training options for dislocated workers, veterans, and low-wage, low-skilled and non-English speaking adults, including those who needed better reading, math or English-language skills.
 
Perez brought together all those with a vested interest in a better skilled workforce – businesses, workers, educators, union leaders and community and support service providers – to find solutions that were good for workers, helped businesses grow, and strengthened Maryland’s economy. With his experience, we know he can make a substantial impact on ensuring that our nation’s workforce is well trained, highly skilled and second to none in the world. We look forward to his confirmation, and to the leadership he will bring to this effort in Washington, D.C.

Robertson is the former chairman and Peterson is the former vice chairman of the Governor’s Workforce Investment Board (Maryland).
 
Note: Robertson is the president and CEO of Adventist HealthCare in Rockville, Maryland. Peterson is president of Johns Hopkins Hospital and Health System and executive vice president of Johns Hopkins Medicine in Baltimore, Maryland. Their opinions do not represent official positions of either institution.
 

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FDA seeks to fast track Novartis lung cancer drug

* LDK378 treats non-small cell lung cancer

* Compound seen as potential future blockbuster

* Novartis sees first regulatory filing in early 2014

ZURICH, March 15 (Reuters) - The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has designated a compound developed by Novartis AG to treat a type of non-small cell lung cancer for fast-track development and review, the Swiss drugmaker said on Friday.

Novartis said the FDA had given "breakthrough therapy" designation to its LDK378 compound, a process aimed at speeding up the review of drugs that treat life-threatening conditions if the therapy has demonstrated efficacy.

LDK378 - seen as a potential future blockbuster - is designed to treat anaplastic lymphoma kinase positive (ALK+) metastatic non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). Sufferers tend to be non-smokers and younger than other lung cancer patients.

Novartis said two Phase II trials were under way and it planned to launch several Phase III trials later this year with first regulatory filing expected by early next year.

"This breakthrough therapy designation will allow us to collaborate more closely with the FDA and potentially to expedite the availability of an important new treatment option for patients with ALK+ NSCLC," said Alessandro Riva, Novartis head of oncology development.

(Reporting by Emma Thomasson, editing by William Hardy)

((+41 58 306 7311)(Reuters Messaging: emma.thomasson.thomsonreuters.com@reuters.net))

Keywords: NOVARTIS/LUNGCANCER

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White House monitoring track of Nemo snowstorm

President Obama and federal officials are monitoring the winter snowstorm barreling down on the Northeastern U.S., The White House said Friday.

The storm, dubbed "Nemo" by the Weather Channel, is expected to deposit up to two feet of snow and shut down travel along the nation's most populated corridor.

"The president will obviously be updated on this regularly," White House spokesman Jay Carney said Friday, adding that the Federal Emergency Management Agency was working with partners to monitor the storm.

"FEMA’s regional offices in Boston and New York City are in contact with state emergency management counterparts," Carney said. "FEMA’s National Watch Center here in Washington continues to monitor the situation and hold regular operational briefings with regional and federal partners as the severe winter weather advances and as impacts are felt throughout -- through the overnight hours into Saturday."

Officials on the ground in Northeastern cities and states are warning local residents against travel and updating them on emergency efforts.

During the worst of the storm, stay off the streets, stay out of your cars, and in your homes: bit.ly/14YBwJP #Nemo

— Mike Bloomberg (@MikeBloomberg) Feb. 8, 2013

Please be safe out there today. For real-time traffic info, including weather-related incidents, visit 511nj.org. #Nemo

— Governor Christie (@GovChristie) Feb. 8, 2013

Check in with elderly neighbors & family & make sure they're prepared for the #blizzard w flashlights, extra food, meds, etc. #nemo

— Andrew Cuomo (@NYGovCuomo) Feb. 8, 2013

In Massachusetts, Gov. Deval Patrick ordered the roads closed Friday afternoon. The Associated Press reported that 4,000 flights had been canceled as major airports in the Boston and New York areas shuttered.

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