The World War II Memorial is a memorial of national significance dedicated to Americans who served in the armed forces and as civilians during World War II. Consisting of 56 pillars and a pair of small triumphal arches surrounding a square and fountain, it sits on the National Mall in Washington, D. C. on the former site of the Rainbow Pool at the eastern end of the Reflecting Pool, between the Lincoln Memorial and the Washington Monument. Opened on April 29, 2004, it was dedicated by President George W. Bush on May 29, 2004; the memorial is administered by the National Park Service under its National Mall and Memorial Parks group. More than 4.6 million people visited the memorial in 2018. The memorial consists of 56 granite pillars, each 17 feet tall, arranged in a semicircle around a plaza with two 43-foot triumphal arches on opposite sides. Two-thirds of the 7.4-acre site is water. Each pillar is inscribed with the name of one of the 48 U. S. states of 1945, as well as the District of Columbia, the Alaska Territory and Territory of Hawaii, the Commonwealth of the Philippines, Puerto Rico, American Samoa, the U.

S. Virgin Islands; the northern arch is inscribed with "Atlantic". The plaza is 337 ft 10 in long and 240 feet 2 inches wide, is sunk 6 feet below grade, contains a pool, 246 feet 9 inches by 147 feet 8 inches; the memorial includes two inconspicuously located "Kilroy was here" engravings. Their inclusion in the memorial acknowledges the significance of the symbol to American soldiers during World War II and how it represented their presence and protection wherever it was inscribed. On approaching the semicircle from the east, a visitor walks along one of two walls picturing scenes of the war experience in bas relief; as one approaches on the left, the scenes begin with soon-to-be servicemen getting physical exams, taking the oath, being issued military gear. The reliefs progress through several iconic scenes, including combat and burying the dead, ending in a homecoming scene. On the right-side wall there is a similar progression, but with scenes more typical of the European theatre; some scenes take place in England, depicting the preparations for sea assaults.

The last scene is of a handshake between the American and Russian armies when the western and eastern fronts met in Germany. The Freedom Wall is on the west side of the plaza, with a view of the Reflecting Pool and Lincoln Memorial behind it; the wall has each representing 100 Americans who died in the war. In front of the wall lies the message "Here we mark the price of freedom". In 1987, World War II veteran Roger Durbin approached Representative Marcy Kaptur, a Democrat from Ohio, to ask if a World War II memorial could be constructed. Kaptur introduced the World War II Memorial Act to the House of Representatives as HR 3742 on December 10; the resolution authorized the American Battle Monuments Commission to establish a World War II memorial in "Washington, D. C. or its environs", but the bill was not voted on before the end of the session, so it was not passed. Two more times, in 1989 and 1991, Rep. Kaptur introduced similar legislation, but these bills suffered the same fate as the first and did not become law.

Kaptur reintroduced legislation in the House a fourth time as HR 682 on January 27, 1993, one day after Senator Strom Thurmond introduced companion Senate legislation. On March 17, 1993, the Senate approved the act, the House approved an amended version of the bill on May 4. On May 12, the Senate approved the amended bill, the World War II Memorial Act was signed into law by President Bill Clinton on May 25 of that year, becoming Public Law 103-32. On September 30, 1994, President Bill Clinton appointed a 12-member Memorial Advisory Board to advise the ABMC in picking the site, designing the memorial, raising money to build it. A direct mail fundraising effort brought in millions of dollars from individual Americans. Additional large donations were made by veterans' groups, including the American Legion, the Veterans of Foreign Wars, Veterans of the Battle of the Bulge and others; the majority of the corporate fundraising effort was led by two co-chairs: Senator Bob Dole, a decorated World War II veteran and 1996 Republican nominee for president.

S. Marine Corps officer; the U. S. federal government provided about $16 million. A total of $197 million was raised. On January 20, 1995, Colonel Kevin C. Kelley, project manager for the ABMC, organized the first meeting of the ABMC and the MAB, at which the project was discussed and initial plans made; the meeting was chaired by Commissioner F. Haydn Williams, chairman of ABMC's World War II Memorial Site and Design Committee, who would go on to guide the project through the site selection and approval process and the selection and approval of the Memorial's design. Representatives from the United States Commission of Fine Arts, the National Capital Planning Commission, the National Capital Memorial Commission, the U. S. Army Corps of Engineers, the National Park Service attended the meeting; the selection of an appropriate site was taken on as the first action. Over the next months, several sites were considered. Three gained favor: U. S. Capitol Reflection Pool area – between 3rd Street and the Ulysses S. Grant Memorial Constitution Gardens – east end, between Constitution Avenue and the Rainbow Pool Freedom Plaza – on Pennsylvania Avenue between 14th and 15th StreetsOther sites considered but rejected were: Tidal Basin –

West Coast University is a private, for-profit university focused on healthcare degrees, campus locations include Los Angeles and Ontario, Dallas and Miami, Florida. It is not related to a school of the same name operating out of Panama. David Pyle founded American Career College in 1979 under the name of American College of Optics; the school focused only on optical dispensing. In May 1997, Pyle purchased West Coast University, chartered by the State of California in 1909, out of bankruptcy, developed a program for the training of registered nurses. West Coast University, in Los Angeles, was spun off from Occidental College by faculty who wanted more secular curricula. At the time, Occidental College was a Presbyterian Seminary, it was chartered by the State of California in 1909 as a small ophthalmology school. Over the next 50 years, its program offerings varied from aeronautical engineering, applied sciences and mathematics to locomotive diesel engine repairs; as it developed, West Coast University became one of the forerunners in offering bachelor's degree programs designed to meet the needs of working adults to aid their careers.

These programs were offered in non-traditional settings. For example, in 1953, the University began offering evening-only programs based on a schedule of six two-month academic terms for servicemen taking advantage of the GI bill; the success of this approach led the University to expand and diversify its programs to include offerings in the areas of business and management, computer science, industrial technology, pre-health science. Associate degrees in Science as well as master's degree programs were introduced in the 1960s and 1970s. In 1981, the University reorganized into three distinct colleges: the College of Business and Management, the College of Engineering, the College of Letters and Sciences; the University was led by the late Dr. Victor Elconin, whose direction was instrumental in developing the University's solid reputation in the business and academic community. West Coast University grew to three campuses, in Los Angeles and Lompoc. In-plant programs were offered to several companies, Vandenberg Air Force Base.

After Victor Elconin Retired, Bernard Cohlan was president for one year, followed by Robert M. L. Baker. Financial mismanagement led to loss of accreditation from the Western Association of Schools and Colleges, which resulted in severe declines in enrollment of foreign students from Taiwan and Thailand; the result was bankruptcy in 1996. In May 1997, American Career College bought the name and the responsibility to provide transcripts for ten years, from the bankruptcy trustee. WCU was reorganized under the leadership of David Pyle; the new leadership team was committed to refocusing the institution's offering of programs to those that were highest in demand and would be most beneficial to working adults. Therefore, educating health care professionals became the University's singular focus in 2004. Just four years West Coast University became the first held proprietary university in California approved to offer a Bachelor of Science degree in Nursing; the following year, in 2009, the University achieved additional programmatic accreditation for the Bachelor of Science in Nursing program at their California campuses from the Commission on Collegiate Nursing Education.

That same year, WCU was awarded initial accreditation by the Commission on Dental Accreditation to offer a Bachelor of Science Degree in Dental Hygiene in Orange County. WCU's Dental Hygiene program is one of only 4 CODA-accredited bachelor's degree in Dental Hygiene programs offered in California. West Coast University chose Henry Schein to design a new dental hygiene teaching facility in its Anaheim, California campus which opened its doors on April 13, 2009. West Coast University's Los Angeles campus received approval in 2010 to award Master of Science degrees in Nursing and Health Care Management; that same year, the advanced Simulation Center for Nursing opened at the Orange County campus. The Simulation Center is built into the nursing curriculum and features high-fidelity mannequins that mimic human responses and current health care technology in realistic patient care settings. A year Simulation Centers were opened in the Los Angeles and Ontario campuses. West Coast University has been a participant in the Yellow Ribbon GI Education Enhancement Program since 2010.

In 2011, the University achieved institutional accreditation through the WASC Senior College and University Commission. West Coast University opened a campus in Dallas, Texas in 2012. WCU-Dallas is located in the Dallas Fort Worth Metroplex, features a Simulation Center, is the University's first Texas campus; that same year the Master of Science in Nursing degree received additional accreditation by CCNE, Commission on Collegiete Nursing Education. One notable alumnus of WCU is Greg one of the astronauts on the Space Shuttle Challenger, he was scheduled to receive his diploma, for a management science degree, on the shuttle, would have been the first person to receive a degree in space. To honor his memory, West Coast University posthumously awarded Jarvis with a distinguished alumnus award on May 15, 2011; the University offers a scholarship in Jarvis’ name. In 2013, West Coast University launched Global Public Health programs. Today students have traveled to Panama, Costa Rica, Belize and Argentina.

West Coast University's Los Angeles campus received approval by WASC for a Master of Science in Occupational Therapy, Doctor of Physical Therapy, Doctor of Pharmacy programs. In 2014, the MSOT, DPT and PharmD programs were launched. In 2014, West Coast Un

This article presents life expectancy at birth for the 435 United States congressional districts plus Washington, DC. Life expectancy varies from an average 83.9 years in California's District 19 to 72.9 years in Kentucky's District 5, a gap of 11 years. Life expectancy is calculated using 2011 mortality data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and population data from the U. S. Census Bureau; these estimates were taken from the Measure of America's report Geographies of Opportunity. Life expectancies can have pronounced differences in districts that are only hours apart and can highlight inequalities within the same state. Residents of Pennsylvania's Congressional District 16 have a life expectancy of 80.5 years, about 1.5 years longer than the national average. In Pennsylvania's District 2, the average resident has a life expectancy of just 75.6 years. List of U. S. states by changes in life expectancy, 1985–2010 List of U. S. counties with shortest life expectancy List of U. S. counties with longest life expectancy US Health Map – Life expectancy and risk factor maps by county, over time Table data from Measure of America calculations using mortality data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, National Center for Health Statistics, as compiled from data provided by the 57 vital statistics jurisdictions through the Vital Statistics Cooperative Program