Election officials scramble...49th, 50th states celebrate...More

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WASHINGTON -- With barely two months left before the nation votes Nov. 4, election officials are furiously scrambling to find 2 million poll workers to help handle what could be a record turnout.That amounts to nearly twice the 1.3 million who manned the polls in the last presidential election, and officials say they're having a devil of a time finding enough people to fill the slots. The U.S. Election Assistance Commission has doled out $1.65 million to recruit college students for the one-day jobs, but states report they're way behind in signing workers up.The record-setting turnout of about 60 million voters in the primaries is seen as a portent for a similarly busy Election Day, which could mean long lines and confusion if enough poll workers can't be found.X...X...XWith Republican John McCain's selection of Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin to be his presidential ticket-mate and Democratic nominee Barack Obama's birth in Hawaii, this is the first time America's newest states have been represented in the top election in the land. And -- one way or the other -- one of those states will have a seat in the highest offices for the first time, as well.X...X...XThere were more than 1.7 million American children who had a parent in prison last year, according to the Department of Justice's new tally.In all, 52 percent of state inmates have minor children, while 63 percent of federal prisoners did as of mid-2007, when the count was taken.Among fathers in state and federal pens, more than 4 in 10 were African-American, about 3 in 10 were white and about 2 in 10 were Hispanic, the study by the Office of Justice Programs found. Among mothers, 48 percent were white, 28 percent black and 17 percent Hispanic.X...X...XNow comes the "Recycle My Old Fridge Campaign," courtesy of the U.S. Department of Energy, which will feature a display of artistically transformed refrigerators at the National Building Museum in Washington.As many as 50 fridges -- gussied up by students, utility companies and individual artists -- will be judged for creativity, "coolness" and best use of recycled materials.Apparently, this campaign is intended to encourage Americans to replace their pre-1993 refrigerators with more energy-efficient models.X...X...XMeanwhile, the Energy Department is also crowing about what it hopes will be a new tourist attraction: The world's first industrial-scale nuclear reactor, which produced plutonium for the atomic bomb that was dropped on Nagasaki, Japan, to end World War II.The B Reactor at the Energy Department's Hanford Site in southeast Washington state was designated a "national historic landmark" by the Department of the Interior on Aug. 19. The plan is to open the site to public tours at least three times a week beginning in March 2009.Officials insist that touring the site won't give you an inadvertent "tan," and assure us the area is entirely safe.X...X...XSeems the smart money is going to Barack Obama.College professors and other educators have poured nearly $10 million into Obama's campaign chest this year, including more than $2 million in June and July alone, according to the Center for Responsive Politics, a Washington-based group devoted to examining campaign funding.John McCain has received just about $1.2 million total from educators this year, the center reported this past week.(E-mail Lisa Hoffman at hoffmanl(at)shns.com.)