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NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory: U.S.-India Satellite Delivers Data, Reveals 'Hummingbird' in Antarctica
PASADENA, California, July 22 (TNSres) -- NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory issued the following news:
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US-India Satellite Delivers Data, Reveals 'Hummingbird' in Antarctica
Data from NISAR, one of the most powerful radar systems ever launched, is now available to the world. A vivid image of Antarctic ice showcases what the satellite can do.
As of July 20, the public can access data from the two powerful radar instruments aboard the NISAR (NASA-ISRO Synthetic Aperture Radar) satellite. Teams in the United States and India will release files processed from the satellite's L-band and S-band
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PASADENA, California, July 22 (TNSres) -- NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory issued the following news:
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US-India Satellite Delivers Data, Reveals 'Hummingbird' in Antarctica
Data from NISAR, one of the most powerful radar systems ever launched, is now available to the world. A vivid image of Antarctic ice showcases what the satellite can do.
As of July 20, the public can access data from the two powerful radar instruments aboard the NISAR (NASA-ISRO Synthetic Aperture Radar) satellite. Teams in the United States and India will release files processed from the satellite's L-band and S-bandradars on an ongoing basis, helping researchers and other users track the movement of Earth's land and ice masses, monitor changes in ecosystems like forests and wetlands, and respond to natural hazards such as landslides and earthquakes.
The release comes as NASA and ISRO (Indian Space Research Organisation) prepare to celebrate the first anniversary of NISAR's July 30, 2025, launch from India's Satish Dhawan Space Centre. Since that time, the mission engineering and science teams have been busy calibrating instrumentation, refining algorithms, and monitoring nearly all the planet's land- and ice-covered surfaces twice every 12 days. Along the way, the team has captured scenes from around the globe -- urban street grids, agricultural fields, landslides, earthquakes, and sinking land in Mexico City.
An early image released Tuesday revealed the fractured, barren surface of an Antarctic landscape in stark detail. In a merging of science and serendipity, it also resembles something else entirely: a hummingbird.
Despite its otherworldly quality, the Antarctic image shows a very real geographical feature called Nunatak Zaterjavshijsja, a mountaintop in East Antarctica, poking out amid a stream of ice flowing northeast to the ocean. As the moving glacier passes the obstruction, the mountain's topography causes stresses in the ice, heavily fracturing the surrounding surfaces with deep cracks, called crevasses, which show as sharp green lines in the image.
"First, it's a beautiful image, with rich details of features that provide insights to how the glacier is moving. Then, because radar can often see through snow and deep into the ice, NISAR can observe fundamentally different properties of Antarctic ice than can be seen in optical imagery," said Seongsu Jeong, the signal analysis engineer who produced the image at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California. "With NISAR we're seeing what's hidden beneath the surface."
Story in magenta, green
Generated with measurements that NISAR's L-band instrument gathered in August 2025, as U.S. and Indian mission teams tested the satellite's systems, the "hummingbird" exemplifies one of the young mission's hallmarks: intricately detailed imagery that is both informative and eye-catching.
The colors show differences in the way polarized microwave signals, which vibrate in different directions, interact with and reflect from the ice. Over Antarctica, NISAR transmits radar waves toward Earth with a horizontal polarization. The orientation of the signals that return -- either horizontal, vertical, or both -- provide clues about the object or surface that reflected them.
Signals that come back with a horizontal polarization likely bounced off a more regular surface, such as smooth ice. Those signals appear magenta in the image. Signals that return with vertical polarization may have refracted as they partially penetrated the snow and ice or scattered at different angles as they reflected off irregular surfaces, such as the faces of crevasses. Called volume scattering, these observations are displayed in green.
The white represents areas in which magenta and green signals scatter back strongly, a possible indication that there is an equal blend of surface and volume scattering.
The same scene viewed in optical light is almost entirely white with ice and snow. Slight shadows and rippling indicate the presence of the mountaintop, and textures in the surrounding area suggest the ice is not completely smooth.
Access to data
The NISAR satellite is the first free-flying space mission to feature two radar instruments: an L-band system and an S-band system. The systems are complementary due to their differing wavelengths. For example, the longer-wave L-band can pass through tree canopies, imaging the ground beneath. Meanwhile, depending on leaf sizes, S-band can collect observations of those canopies.
The Indian science team, based at ISRO's Space Applications Centre in Ahmedabad, recently started releasing S-band data via the Bhoonidhi portal.
On July 20, the U.S. side of the mission started releasing calibrated products continuously for all L-band measurements collected since June 17. By the end of the year, the team expects to have released all data acquired earlier during science operations. The NISAR project science team previously had two limited releases of L-band data, the first in January of about 25 sample products and a release in February of thousands of pre-calibrated products.
As with the earlier releases, data users will be able to download the latest files at the Alaska Satellite Facility Distributed Active Archive Center in Fairbanks, which hosts and distributes all NASA synthetic aperture radar data.
The NISAR mission's science data output is vast, on the order of dozens of terabytes a day, due to the satellite's frequent coverage of nearly all the land and ice surfaces on Earth. It scans from within a few degrees of the South Pole in Antarctica to 77.5 degrees north latitude, above the Arctic Circle.
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More about NISAR
Managed by Caltech, JPL leads the U.S. component of the project and provided the satellite's L-band SAR and antenna reflector. The spacecraft bus and its S-band SAR were provided by ISRO.
The NISAR satellite is the first to carry two SAR instruments at different wavelengths, collecting data using the spacecraft's giant drum-shaped reflector, which measures 39 feet (12 meters) wide -- the largest radar antenna reflector NASA has sent into space.
To learn more about NISAR, visit:
https://science.nasa.gov/mission/nisar/
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Original text here: https://www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/us-india-satellite-delivers-data-reveals-hummingbird-in-antarctica/
CSB Releases Bio-Lab Conyers Final Investigation Report
WASHINGTON, July 22 (TNSrep) -- The U.S. Chemical Safety Board issued the following news release on July 21, 2026:
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CSB Releases Bio-Lab Conyers Final Investigation Report
U.S. Chemical Safety Board Releases Final Investigation Report on the Catastrophic 2024 Chemical Fires and Toxic Gas Release at the Bio-Lab Facility in Conyers, Georgia
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Today, the U.S. Chemical Safety and Hazard Investigation Board (CSB) released its final investigation report into the massive September 29, 2024, chemical fire and toxic gas release at the KIK Consumer Products Bio-Lab Plant 12 warehouse in Conyers,
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WASHINGTON, July 22 (TNSrep) -- The U.S. Chemical Safety Board issued the following news release on July 21, 2026:
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CSB Releases Bio-Lab Conyers Final Investigation Report
U.S. Chemical Safety Board Releases Final Investigation Report on the Catastrophic 2024 Chemical Fires and Toxic Gas Release at the Bio-Lab Facility in Conyers, Georgia
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Today, the U.S. Chemical Safety and Hazard Investigation Board (CSB) released its final investigation report into the massive September 29, 2024, chemical fire and toxic gas release at the KIK Consumer Products Bio-Lab Plant 12 warehouse in Conyers,Georgia. The incident occurred when water leaked from a corroded sprinkler and came in contact with highly reactive pool-treatment chemicals stored in the warehouse, causing a chemical reaction that resulted in off-gassing, significant heat, fires, and a massive plume of toxic smoke that contained chlorine, hydrogen chloride, bromine, and other substances. Local media reported that roughly 17,000 people in the surrounding community were evacuated and that 90,000 people in the Atlanta metropolitan area were advised to shelter in place due to the toxic smoke from the fires.
CSB Chairperson Steve Owens said, "The conditions and circumstances at the Bio-Lab Conyers warehouse were completely unacceptable. There were nearly 14 million pounds of reactive chemicals stored in the warehouse without proper safeguards in place. These hazardous chemicals were packaged in roughly 5,000 giant sacks, each weighing more than a ton, and some of them were stacked in such a way in the warehouse that responders were not able to keep the initial situation from developing into a catastrophic fire and massive plume of toxic smoke that put thousands of people potentially at risk."
Bio-Lab, Inc., which is a subsidiary of KIK Consumer Products (KIK), produces water treatment products for swimming pools and spas. The Conyers warehouse, known as Plant 12, was constructed in 2019. In June 2019, prior to the construction of the warehouse, documentation was submitted to local authorities stating that an "average inventory" of approximately 6.2 million pounds of raw materials, including oxidizers, was anticipated to be stored in the warehouse. At the time of the incident in September 2024, however, nearly 14 million pounds of chlorinated isocyanurates and other reactive chemicals, were stored in the warehouse, more than twice the amount initially indicated to local officials.
Chlorinated isocyanurates are used as sanitizers for swimming pools, spas, and industrial water applications due to their available chlorine content. However, high chlorine content in these compounds can also make them hazardous to handle and store. They must be stored in a cool, dry, well-ventilated area. Exposure to heat or small amounts of water or moisture can cause oxidizers, such as chlorinated isocyanurates, to undergo a dangerous decomposition reaction, which can release toxic vapors and produce intense heat that can lead to fires or explosions.
Inventory records indicate that at the time of the incident, approximately 5,000 "super sacks" containing between 2,205 to 2,805 pounds of chlorinated isocyanurates each were present inside the Plant 12 warehouse. The super sacks' woven polypropylene outer bags were not waterproof and did not prevent moisture from coming into contact with the chlorinated isocyanurates in the sacks. The warehouse was not air-conditioned, and its ventilation system was insufficient to effectively manage humidity (moisture) levels inside the building, especially in light of the large quantities of oxidizer chemicals stored there.
The CSB's investigation found that components of the sprinkler system inside Plant 12 had been experiencing significant corrosion and leaking since shortly after Bio-Lab began storing chlorinated isocyanurates in the warehouse in 2019. The huge super sacks containing the chlorinated isocyanurates would naturally off-gas chlorine fumes that combined with ambient humidity in the warehouse and condensed as hydrochloric acid droplets on metal surfaces such as sprinkler heads - leading to corrosion of the metal. In fact, during an annual sprinkler inspection held in December 2023, nine months prior to the incident, over 1,100 sprinkler heads in the Plant 12 warehouse were visually observed to be corroded.
The CSB's investigation further found that around 5:00 am on the day of the incident, a corroded sprinkler system component failed, allowing water to contact the chlorinated isocyanurates inside the Plant 12 warehouse, initiating a decomposition reaction. The reaction generated significant heat and activated other sprinkler heads in the warehouse, wetting more chlorinated isocyanurates and other chemicals, including cyanuric acid, aluminum sulfate, and sodium bromide, some of which also reacted. The multiple reactions generated substantial additional heat, which further led to the decomposition of products and, subsequently, caused significant plumes of smoke, toxic vapors, and fires within the building.
In addition to the reported evacuation of approximately 17,000 nearby residents and the initial shelter-in-place order for about 90,000 people in the Atlanta metropolitan area (according to local media), nightly shelter-in-place warnings were issued to residents and the surrounding community within a 2-mile radius over the ensuing 17 days during the emergency response phase. There also were school closures for nearly two weeks.
Ultimately, the warehouse was destroyed. On May 15, 2025, KIK decided to cease operations at the Bio-Lab Conyers facility.
The CSB found five key safety issues that led to the severity of the incident: 1) run to failure, 2) identification of storage hazards, 3) risk management and oversight, 4) industry guidance for pool-treatment chemicals, and 5) regulatory coverage of reactive hazards.
CSB Lead Investigator Vonzella Vincent said, "There have been several other incidents in recent years involving pool-treatment chemicals that resulted in the release of chlorine gas or other potentially toxic by-products, including the September 2020 incident at the Bio-Lab Lake Charles facility in Westlake, Louisiana, that was investigated by the CSB. Although the chlorinated isocyanurates and other substances involved in this incident have reactive characteristics and the inherent ability to produce toxic gas, they are not covered by the U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration's Process Safety Management standard or the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's Risk Management Plan rule."
As a result of its investigation, the CSB reiterated recommendations that the agency previously has made to OSHA and the EPA to expand regulatory coverage of reactive hazards that could have catastrophic consequences. The CSB also made recommendations to KIK and the National Fire Protection Association (NFPA).
CSB Board Member Sylvia Johnson said, "The CSB has been calling for greater regulatory coverage of reactive chemicals since 2002. We urge OSHA and the EPA to act to expand coverage of these hazardous chemicals so that severe incidents, like the one at Bio-Lab Conyers, do not keep happening. These incidents negatively impact workers and the surrounding communities."
The CSB is an independent, nonregulatory federal agency charged with investigating incidents and hazards that result, or may result, in the catastrophic release of extremely hazardous substances. The agency's core mission activities include conducting incident investigations to identify root cause of releases; formulating preventive or mitigative recommendations based on investigation findings and advocating for their implementation; issuing reports containing the findings, conclusions, and recommendations arising from incident investigations; and conducting studies on chemical hazards.
The agency's board members are appointed by the President subject to Senate confirmation. The Board does not issue citations or fines but makes safety recommendations to companies, industry organizations, labor groups, and regulatory agencies such as OSHA and EPA.
Please visit our website, www.csb.gov. For more information, contact Director of External Affairs Hillary Cohen at Hillary.Cohen@csb.gov.
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View report here: https://www.csb.gov/file.aspx?DocumentId=6332
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Original text here: https://www.csb.gov/csb-releases-bio-lab-conyers-final-investigation-report/
National Gallery of Art: Remember Me - Picturing African Americans in Early Photography
WASHINGTON, July 21 -- The National Gallery of Art issued the following news release on July 20, 2026:
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Remember Me: Picturing African Americans in Early Photography
National Gallery of Art, Washington, November 7, 2026-March 14, 2027
Remember Me: Picturing African Americans in Early Photography charts the evolving understanding of portrait photography as a tool of representation among African Americans and illustrates the richness and complexities of Black life and culture in the 19th and early 20th centuries. Featuring some 70 works drawn from the National Gallery's collection, the exhibition
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WASHINGTON, July 21 -- The National Gallery of Art issued the following news release on July 20, 2026:
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Remember Me: Picturing African Americans in Early Photography
National Gallery of Art, Washington, November 7, 2026-March 14, 2027
Remember Me: Picturing African Americans in Early Photography charts the evolving understanding of portrait photography as a tool of representation among African Americans and illustrates the richness and complexities of Black life and culture in the 19th and early 20th centuries. Featuring some 70 works drawn from the National Gallery's collection, the exhibitiontraces African American photographers and portrait subjects in the nascent days of photography's development, chronicling the evolution of the medium as a means to define Black community, aspiration, and identity.
Unfolding over the course of three thematic sections, the exhibition is arranged chronologically and explores how portrait photography was both embraced as a means of self-empowerment and utilized to exert control over representation. The first section, Black Entrepreneurs, tells the story of James Presley Ball, Glenalvin Goodridge, and Augustus Washington, three leading early African American portrait photographers who established thriving studios soon after the medium was introduced in the United States in the 1840s and 1850s. Understanding that their portrait studios could be incubators--places for opportunity but also risk--they photographed a wide range of clientele, both white and Black, offering insight into societal change and daily life in the years surrounding the Civil War. These artists each chose to credit the resulting portraits with their names, a somewhat unusual practice among daguerreotypists, asserting their authorship and the role of Black entrepreneurship within the struggle for equality and justice.
The second section, Portraits, explores depictions of African Americans in largely white-owned studios in the years both before and after the Civil War, revealing how photography of the period both reinforced and disrupted stereotypes. Portraits of both free and enslaved men, women, and children on view exemplify the complexities of agency and consent during this time. After the abolition of slavery, portraits of African Americans reflect a new sense of individuality and dignity for many of the pictured subjects.
The final section, Studios, examines the rise of Black-owned studios in the late 19th and early 20th centuries and the opportunities these environments offered the photographers to create affirming pictures. It presents work by renowned studio photographers such as Addison Scurlock and James Van Der Zee, alongside lesser-known artists, such as G. Addison Turner and Daniel Freeman. This section features individual portraits, depictions of couples and families, and community groups. Collectively they demonstrate how Black Americans took ownership of their own image in the late 19th and early 20th centuries and created works that celebrated their identities, communities, and values.
Remember Me marks the first time many works from the Ross J. Kelbaugh Collection, an important holding of early American vernacular photography, will be on view at the National Gallery since its acquisition in 2023.
Exhibition Organization and Support
Remember Me: Picturing African Americans in Early Photography is organized by the National Gallery of Art. The exhibition is made possible through the leadership support of the Trellis Charitable Fund. Additional support for this exhibition was provided by Nion McEvoy and Leslie Berriman.
Exhibition Curators
Diane Waggoner, acting head and curator of photographs, National Gallery of Art, with Sarah Greenough, former senior curator and head of the department of photography, National Gallery of Art.
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About the National Gallery of Art
The National Gallery of Art welcomes all people to explore art, creativity, and our shared humanity. Millions of people come through its doors each year--with even more online-- making it one of the most visited art museums in the world. The National Gallery's renowned collection includes over 160,000 works of art, from the ancient world to today. Admission to the West and East Buildings, Sculpture Garden, special exhibitions, and public programs is always free.
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Original text here: https://www.nga.gov/press/remember-me-picturing-african-americans-early-photography
NASA Earth Missions Gear Up to Start Science Flights
PASADENA, California, July 21 (TNSres) -- NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory issued the following news:
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New NASA Earth Missions Gear Up to Start Science Flights
The first of six new venture-class missions will hit the skies this summer to chase dangerous and little understood pyrocumulonimbus storms out West.
Landslides in Alaska. Air quality in Atlanta. Fire clouds out West. From the Arctic fringes to farm country, NASA's newest class of suborbital Earth Venture missions is gearing up to deliver science that will benefit communities in the United States and beyond.
The six projects will
... Show Full Article
PASADENA, California, July 21 (TNSres) -- NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory issued the following news:
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New NASA Earth Missions Gear Up to Start Science Flights
The first of six new venture-class missions will hit the skies this summer to chase dangerous and little understood pyrocumulonimbus storms out West.
Landslides in Alaska. Air quality in Atlanta. Fire clouds out West. From the Arctic fringes to farm country, NASA's newest class of suborbital Earth Venture missions is gearing up to deliver science that will benefit communities in the United States and beyond.
The six projects willmobilize hundreds of scientists and pilots from NASA, the U.S. Navy, universities, and other institutions over the next several years. While the investigations range across topics, a defining feature of suborbital missions is the use of sensors mounted on aircraft.
Airborne remote sensing serves as a bridge between ground-based instruments and satellites. Data collected via planes, helicopters, drones, and balloons can fill in gaps in computer models used by weather forecasters, city planners, and others.
When wildfires create their own weather
The first project to take wing this summer is Injected Smoke and PYRocumulonimbus Experiment (INSPYRE), led by the Naval Research Laboratory. From mission headquarters in Colorado, the team will chase one of the least understood forms of severe weather on Earth: towering "fire clouds" generated when extreme wildfires burn hot enough to brew their own thunderstorms.
Smoky and crackling with lightning, these unique storms can create blind spots for aviators above and spark new blazes below. Measuring and mapping the dangerous storms as they develop in real-time will help scientists forecast them in the future. Several aircraft, including NASA's high-altitude ER-2, flying out of Montana, will carry a large suite of instruments over wildfire-generated storm systems. Among them will be two state-of-the-art infrared wildfire trackers, which were developed at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) in Southern California and will be flying as part of the agency's FireSense program.
Testing the air over farmland, megacities
Agricultural emissions represent an important and understudied part of Earth's land and atmosphere systems. The FarmFlux mission, which kicks off this year, will deploy more than a dozen sensors to measure ozone, methane, ammonia, particulates, and other pollutants rising from agricultural lands and animal farms stretching from the Midwest to California's Central Valley. These emissions affect human health, global climate, and stratospheric ozone. The mission is led by NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, along with Colorado State University, and Boston University.
Two North American cities with air quality concerns are Atlanta and Mexico City. But the causes differ, with weather and terrain playing a role. To explore these differences, the Hemispheric Airborne Measurements of Air Quality (HAMAQ) mission will investigate areas of poor air in the two capitals and test how satellite information can help forecasting and mitigation efforts. The team will deploy two aircraft at different altitudes: NASA's P-3B will fly close to the surface, directly measuring fine particle and gaseous pollutants, while the recently acquired 777 science jet will soar high above, mapping pollution with remote sensors. NASA's Langley Research Center in Hampton, Virginia, is leading the mission.
Fast-changing north
As the Arctic warms at least twice as fast as the rest of Earth, data collected today can help guide communities on the front lines of change.
The Snow4Flow campaign, led by the University of Arizona, seeks to measure and model how far and fast glaciers are retreating in the far north. Traversing remote icescapes across Alaska, the Yukon, Arctic Canada, Greenland, and Svalbard, Norway, they'll sound both the near-surface and frozen depths of hundreds of glaciers while flying over in a modernized WWII-era aircraft outfitted with a scanning laser altimeter and two custom radars. Their observations, combined with satellite data and advanced models of snowfall and glacier flow, will advance our understanding of how glaciers behave in different regions of the Arctic. The mission seeks to uncover not just what these glaciers look like beneath the surface today, but the processes that will drive changes in the future.
As permafrost thaws, rivers on the doorstep of the Arctic become conveyor belts of carbon and sediment. NASA Goddard, and the City College of New York lead a multidisciplinary team studying how rivers, lagoons, and estuaries across Alaska's North Slope interact with the Arctic Ocean. The project, called Frontlines of Rapidly Transforming Ecosystems (FORTE) will combine optical and radar measurements from satellites, planes, high-tech research vessels, drones, and underwater autonomous systems to track microscopic marine life, water flow, and chemistry. The team will collaborate with local and tribal communities to sustain observations over time and apply NASA assets to address emerging local needs and decision-making priorities.
Landslide triggers
When a slow-moving landslide in California suddenly collapsed and buried a section of coastal highway in 2017, scientists at NASA JPL wanted to know how precipitation swings played a role. JPL studies how water infiltrates and destabilizes hillslopes all over the world. The Landslide Change Characterization Experiment (LACCE) project will combine airborne synthetic aperture radar with land-based sensors to track how slopes in California are responding to a world of intensifying droughts and downpours. The project also takes aim at emerging landslide hazards in Alaska, where rapidly retreating glaciers are accelerating slope movements that have the potential to create mega-tsunamis.
NASA's Earth Venture Suborbital program, designed to be nimble and high impact, was established following a recommendation by the National Research Council in 2007. In the decades since, teams have studied phenomena, including blizzards, coral reefs, and ocean whirlpools.
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Original text here: https://www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/new-nasa-earth-missions-gear-up-to-start-science-flights/
Federal Home Loan Banks Office of Finance Announces the Election of Michael C. Bodson as New Board Chair
WASHINGTON, July 21 -- The Federal Home Loan Banks Office of Finance issued the following news release:
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Office of Finance Announces the Election of Michael C. Bodson as New Board Chair
The Federal Home Loan Banks (FHLBanks) Office of Finance announced today that Michael C. Bodson has been elected to serve as Chair of its Board of Directors (Board), effective July 20, 2026.
Mr. Bodson has served as an Independent Director since July 2022. From 2012 to August 2022, Mr. Bodson was President and Chief Executive Officer of The Depository Trust & Clearing Corporation (DTCC) and a member of
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WASHINGTON, July 21 -- The Federal Home Loan Banks Office of Finance issued the following news release:
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Office of Finance Announces the Election of Michael C. Bodson as New Board Chair
The Federal Home Loan Banks (FHLBanks) Office of Finance announced today that Michael C. Bodson has been elected to serve as Chair of its Board of Directors (Board), effective July 20, 2026.
Mr. Bodson has served as an Independent Director since July 2022. From 2012 to August 2022, Mr. Bodson was President and Chief Executive Officer of The Depository Trust & Clearing Corporation (DTCC) and a member ofDTCC's Board of Directors. He joined DTCC in 2007 as Executive Managing Director for Business Management and Strategy and subsequently served as DTCC's Chief Operating Officer from 2011 to 2012 with enterprise-wide responsibility for all information technology and operations. He also served as Chairman or President and Chief Executive Officer of various DTCC subsidiaries during his tenure with DTCC. Prior to DTCC, Mr. Bodson was a Managing Director and held senior management positions with Morgan Stanley over a 20-year period. He worked in internal audit at Bear Stearns and in audit at Price Waterhouse earlier in his career.
During his time at DTCC, Mr. Bodson was a member of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York Fintech Advisory Group as well as the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation Systemic Resolution Advisory Committee. He was also a Financial Services Governor of the World Economic Forum, and he served on the boards of Digital Asset Holdings, The Red Cross for the New York region, The Greenwich Alliance for Education, and the Greenwich Board of Education. He currently is a Trustee for the Bruce Museum. Mr. Bodson graduated magna cum laude from Boston College.
Mr. Bodson succeeds Joel W. Motley as Board Chair, who is retiring from the Board after serving as Board Chair since 2023 and as an Independent Director since 2016. "The Board is grateful for Joel's dedication, leadership, and judgment over his years of service," said Mr. Bodson.
The FHLBanks have delivered innovation and service to the U.S. housing market since 1932, and currently have approximately 6,300 members serving all 50 states, the District of Columbia, and U.S. territories. Please contact Tom Heinle at (703) 467-3646 or theinle@fhlb-of.com for additional information.
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Original text here: https://www.fhlb-of.com/news/office-of-finance-announces-the-election-of-michael-c-bodson-as-new-board-chair/
FHLB Dallas and OnPath Credit Union Award $15K Grant to Help Louisiana Resident Restore Home After Storm Damage
DALLAS, Texas, July 21 -- The Federal Home Loan Bank of Dallas, a district bank in the Federal Home Loan Bank System, issued the following news release:
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FHLB Dallas and OnPath Credit Union Award $15K Grant to Help Louisiana Resident Restore Home After Storm Damage
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MARRERO, LOUISIANA, July 21, 2026 -After multiple hurricanes damaged Dexter Carey's home in Marrero, Louisiana, Mr. Carey received a FORTIFIED-designated roof thanks to a $15,000 Disaster Rebuilding Assistance (DRA) grant from the Federal Home Loan Bank of Dallas (FHLB Dallas) through member institution OnPath Credit Union.
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DALLAS, Texas, July 21 -- The Federal Home Loan Bank of Dallas, a district bank in the Federal Home Loan Bank System, issued the following news release:
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FHLB Dallas and OnPath Credit Union Award $15K Grant to Help Louisiana Resident Restore Home After Storm Damage
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MARRERO, LOUISIANA, July 21, 2026 -After multiple hurricanes damaged Dexter Carey's home in Marrero, Louisiana, Mr. Carey received a FORTIFIED-designated roof thanks to a $15,000 Disaster Rebuilding Assistance (DRA) grant from the Federal Home Loan Bank of Dallas (FHLB Dallas) through member institution OnPath Credit Union.
DRA provides grants for the repair, rehabilitation and reconstruction of owner-occupied housing affected by disaster events in federally declared disaster areas within FHLB Dallas ' five-state District of Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, New Mexico and Texas.
"We are proud to support residents like Mr. Carey through the DRA program," said executive director of the OnPath Foundation, the philanthropic arm of OnPath Credit Union. "Programs like this make it possible for families to rebuild."
The DRA grant funded Mr. Carey's FORTIFIED roof, a standard set by the Insurance Institute for Business & Home Safety (IBHS), which goes beyond typical building codes to prevent damage from high winds, hail and severe thunderstorms.
Mr. Carey said his home has endured repeated hurricane damage over the years, and with a fixed income and a disability, he's struggled to afford insurance and repairs.
"Water was getting inside the house because of the damage to my roof," said Mr. Carey. "I would have had to live with it if it wasn't for the DRA grant."
A second round of DRA funding opens on Monday, August 3, with $1.75 million available. Residents should apply through a participating FHLB Dallas member institution. FHLB Dallas does not provide grants directly to consumers.
"The DRA program is designed to help residents recover, rebuild and prepare for future storms," said Greg Hettrick, senior vice president and director of Community Investment at FHLB Dallas. "Seeing the impact it has on homeowners like Mr. Carey demonstrates why these relationships with our member institutions are so meaningful."
Mr. Carey's experience highlights the importance of disaster assistance for families facing repeated hardships.
"I am so appreciative of this amazing program," said Mr. Carey. "I hope that it can benefit others as well."
Learn more about DRA.
About OnPath Credit Union
OnPath Credit Union is a member-owned, not-for-profit financial cooperative serving Southeast Louisiana since 1961. With nearly 100,000 members and over $1.2 billion in assets, OnPath ranks as the fourth-largest credit union in Louisiana. It is committed to placing people over profits and empowering financial freedom through accessible products, competitive rates, and personalized service. OnPath operates multiple branches across the Greater New Orleans area, Northshore, and surrounding communities. For more information, visit BeOnPath.org.
About the Federal Home Loan Bank of Dallas
The Federal Home Loan Bank of Dallas is one of 11 district banks in the FHLBank System created by Congress in 1932. FHLB Dallas, with total assets of $97.1 billion as of March 31, 2026, is a member-owned cooperative that supports housing and community development by providing competitively priced loans and other credit products to approximately 780 members and associated institutions in Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, New Mexico and Texas. For more information, visit fhlb.com.
Contact Information:
Corporate Communications
Federal Home Loan Bank of Dallas
fhlb.com
214.441.8445
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Original text here: https://www.fhlb.com/library/press-releases/2026/fhlb-dallas-and-onpath-credit-union-award-15k-gran
Asif Mahmood Elected Chair & CeCe Heil Elected Vice-Chair of Bipartisan U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom
WASHINGTON, July 21 -- The U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom issued the following news release:
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Asif Mahmood Elected Chair & CeCe Heil Elected Vice-Chair of Bipartisan U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom
The United States Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) unanimously elected Chair, Asif Mahmood, and Vice Chair, CeCe Heil, for the 2026-2027 term.
"Threats to international religious freedom are occurring every day, making USCIRF's mandate to analyze and recommend policy solutions to the U.S. government key to advancing religious freedom
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WASHINGTON, July 21 -- The U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom issued the following news release:
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Asif Mahmood Elected Chair & CeCe Heil Elected Vice-Chair of Bipartisan U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom
The United States Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) unanimously elected Chair, Asif Mahmood, and Vice Chair, CeCe Heil, for the 2026-2027 term.
"Threats to international religious freedom are occurring every day, making USCIRF's mandate to analyze and recommend policy solutions to the U.S. government key to advancing religious freedomabroad," said Chair Asif Mahmood. "I am honored to serve as chair alongside Vice Chair CeCe Heil and the other Commissioners as USCIRF continues to advocate for freedom of religion or belief for all."
Chair Mahmood was first appointed to USCIRF by House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY) in 2024 and reappointed for a second term in 2026. During his previous term he served as Vice-Chair. He resides in California and is a practicing physician, human rights activist, and philanthropist.
"Freedom of religion or belief is a universal right for everyone, which is why USCIRF's bipartisan composition provides a uniquely effective voice to the United States Government to advance international religious freedom for all," said Vice Chair CeCe Heil. "I look forward to working with my fellow Commissioners not only to highlight the cases of those being denied this right by state and nonstate actors abroad but to make religious freedom a reality for everyone."
Vice Chair Heil was appointed to USCIRF by Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-SD). She is Senior Counsel and International Legal Director for the American Center for Law and Justice (ACLJ). She is a human rights attorney who advocates for religious freedom, rule of law, and the protection of vulnerable faith communities worldwide.
USCIRF Commissioners are appointed on a bipartisan basis, three from the President, three from the leadership of the U.S. Senate, and three from the leadership of the U.S. House of Representatives. Also serving on the Commission are David A. Anderson, Gunisha Kaur, Rachel Laser, and Gene Mills. Read the Commissioners' biographies here.
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The U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) is an independent, bipartisan federal government entity established by the U.S. Congress to monitor, analyze, and report on religious freedom abroad. USCIRF makes foreign policy recommendations to the President, the Secretary of State, and Congress intended to deter religious persecution and promote freedom of religion and belief. To interview a Commissioner, please contact USCIRF at media@uscirf.gov.
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Original text here: https://www.uscirf.gov/news-room/releases-statements/asif-mahmood-elected-chair-cece-heil-elected-vice-chair-bipartisan-us
