Congress passes fiscal cliff deal…Affordable housing top priority in Arlington…Giving by the ultra-wealthy declined in 2012 [News, 1.2.12]

FISCAL CLIFF
…aaaand it’s over. Last night the House of Representatives passed the Senate’s bill to avert the fiscal cliff. The bill raises taxes for those earning over $400,000 a year. (WaPo, 1/2) Not even remotely surprisingly, the deal that passed doesn’t include the sequestration budget cuts, which have been delayed two months. Can’t wait.

- The Fiscal Cliff Legislation: A Primer for Nonprofits on its Provisions (NPQ, 1/2)

- Fiscal Cliff Deal Could Hurt Charitable Giving (Chronicle, 1/1)

- Philanthropists write last-minute checks amid cliff uncertainty (WaPo, 1/1)

HOUSING | The new chairman of the Arlington County Board has said that increasing the supply of affordable housing, particularly along Columbia Pike, will be the his top priority. (WaPo, 1/2)

CHILDREN & YOUTH | Late last month, the DC Promise Neighborhood Initiative (DCPNI) in Kenilworth-Parkside received a $25 million grant from the US Department of Education. The five-year grant will allow DCPNI, one of 17 grant winners across the country, to provide cradle-to-career services to children and their families in the neighborhood. (Informer, 12/31)

PHILANTHROPY
- After discounting Warren Buffet’s $3 billion gift of stock to his children’s foundations, American billionaires gave significantly less in 2012 than in 2011. (Chronicle, 1/1)

- Charitable foundations look towards impact investing (Marketplace, 12/28)

- How Giving Became Cool (NY Times, 12/26)

EDUCATION | D.C. parents develop alternatives to chancellor’s school-closure plan (WaPo, 1/1)

DEMOGRAPHICS | This map is really neat. (Atlantic Cities, 12/28)

I can’t decide if these images are cool or creepy: what city skies might look like at night without all the light pollution.

- Rebekah