News Briefing: Obama’s $10 Billion Promise Stirs Hope in Early Education

• After 146 years, the Sisters of Mercy close down the Convent of Mercy in Brooklyn due to structural and accessibility problems.  [New York Times]

• Yale's endowment drops 25% due to the recession, prompting the delay of construction projects on campus.  [Associated Press]

• The LeBron James Family Foundation cuts some of its staff.  [Associated Press]

• Barack Obama's interest in early education sparks hope in charities and philanthropies working to educate and care for the very young.  [New York Times]

• The Toys for Tots program receives more requests for toys than ever.  [Washington Post]

• Steven Spielberg, Eric Roth, and Jeffrey Katzenberg are among those who suffered losses in Madoff's fraud.  [Los Angeles Times]

News Briefing: Some Myanmar Aid Reportedly Stolen

• Teach for America sees applications jump by more than a third this year.  [Associated Press]

• The directors of several relief organizations in Myanmar believe that some of the international aid arriving into the country is being stolen, diverted, or warehoused by the military.  [New York Times]

• Dozens of colleges and universities seek funding from donors to overhaul their aid programs.  [Wall Street Journal]

• Jennifer Lopez will host and help coordinate the third Noche de Ninos gala benefitting the Childrens Hospital Los Angeles.  [Associated Press]

News Briefing: Charity That Helped Pentagon Victims is Closing

• West Virginia University's Faculty Senate declares no confidence in President Mike Garrison in the aftermath of a degree scandal involving the governor's daughter.  [Associated Press]

• Save the Children issues its global report; more than 200 million children worldwide under age 5 do not get basic health care.  [Associated Press]

• The largest charity established to help Washington-area victims of the September 11 attacks is closing.  [Associated Press]

• The Smithsonian Institution rules out plans to outsource the renovation and operation of one of its oldest buildings on the National Mall. [Associated Press]

News Briefing: Rockefeller Gives Harvard $100 Million

• David Rockefeller donates $100 million to Harvard University.  [Associated Press]

• Olympic sponsors respond to Mia Farrow's Dream for Darfur group, which recently issued a report card criticizing corporate progress in confronting China's human rights policies.  [New York Times]

• UN announces a global initiative to fight malaria.  [Associated Press]

• Sharply rising food prices threaten UN-backed feeding programs for 20 million children.  [Washington Post]

News Briefing: Zoe's Ark Children Still in Camp

• The 103 children French aid workers are in jail for trying to kidnap from Chad have not yet been reunited to their families more than three months after the ordeal began.  [Associated Press]

• Patty Stonesifer would have stepped down from her post as head of the Gates Foundation two years ago if Warren Buffett's gift had not prompted the Gates to ask her to stay on.  [Associated Press]

• A World Health Organization report financed by Bloomberg's Foundation compiles new global data.  [New York Times]

News Briefing: Federal Probe of Stolen Art Goes National

• San Francisco's five nonprofit hospitals received $79 million in tax breaks and spent only $16 million on charity care.  [San Francisco Chronicle]

• The March of Dimes has expanded its focus to include all things infant.  [Washington Post]

• Approximately 500 Afghan women protest against the kidnapping of an American aid worker.  [Associated Press]

• A federal investigation into looted Asian antiquities has broadened from southern California to include a prominent Chicago art collector.  [Los Angeles Times]

• President Bush's Freedom Corps - the volunteer initiative he began in 2002 - has fallen short of some of its goals.  [New York Times]

News Briefing: How Groups of the Rich Diverge in Philanthropy

• Children along the Gulf Coast struggle with mental health problems after 2005 hurricanes.  [New York Times]

• Barack Obama unveils plan to expand national service programs.  [Chicago Tribune]

• California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger reveals the names of donors to the California State Protocol Foundation, a nonprofit that has funded his trips by private jet.  [Los Angeles Times]

• Center on Philanthropy's Portraits of Donors study uncovers patterns in giving among the nation's wealthiest donors.  [Washington Post]

• Massachusetts Attorney General clears the Citi Performing Arts Center after an inquiry cites some procedural lapses, but no legal wrongdoing.  [Boston Globe]

News Briefing: Girls Make History by Sweeping Top Honors at a Science Contest

• Charities across the country are wary of toy donations after a year of recalls.  [Associated Press]

• New York to unveil a structure in Rockefeller Center next week that will collect pennies for charity.  [New York Times]

• Girls win top honors in the Siemens Competition in Math, Science, and Technology.  [New York Times]

News Briefing: Increased Compensation Puts More College Presidents in the Million-Dollar Club

• Laura Bush, founders of the Gap, and others honored for their support of children.  [Associated Press]

• Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation commits $50 million to expand HIV prevention efforts in China.  [Associated Press]

• Number of million-dollar pay packages for univeristy presidents nearly doubles.  [New York Times]

• Less than ten percent of raffle ticket for the Naperville Rotary Charities' House of Dreams Charity Raffle in Chicago will get donated to charity.  [Chicago Tribune]

News Briefing: Chad: Children's Case Won't Hinder Aid

• The money raised in April through a special American Idol episode makes its way to charities in the U.S. and Africa.  [Associated Press]

• U.C. Berkeley recieves $10 million from the Dow Chemical Co. Foundation.  [Associated Press]

• Six French charity workers are charged with kidnapping after a failed attempt to leave Chad with 103 children the aid organization claimed were orphans from Darfur.  [Associated Press]

• The name of the anonymous donor who gave to Indiana University $85 million two years ago is revealed.  [Associated Press]