As the federal government restarts — along with the National Zoo’s Panda Cam, which I know is what was really worrying everyone – here are a few quick hits from the education front:
 

• U.S. Secretary Arne Duncan told Education Department employees the “next few weeks won’t be easy” as they catch up on the work that piled up during the shutdown (read the full Politics K-12 post here). 

• There was a collective sigh of relief among education reporters and policy wonks as the federally supported information clearinghouses and online databases are up and running. I imagine there’s a renewed appreciation right now for access to the National Center for Education Statistics, among others.

• And to close out the week, I offer a few choice shutdown-related tweets:

Happy 34th birthday to @usedgov — glad you’re back at work to celebrate your creation.
— Joanne Weiss (@JoanneSWeiss) October 17, 2013

The Panda Cam is back, but I feel deprived of all those developmental milestones from the last 3 weeks. http://t.co/OKqa8dX9Te #earlyed
— Anne Hyslop (@afhyslop) October 17, 2013

Hugs all around. RT @EDPressSec: A warm welcome from @ArneDuncan to @usedgov employees on their return to work. pic.twitter.com/fZYBy9Zz7R
— Politics K-12 (@PoliticsK12) October 17, 2013

Have a question, comment or concern for the Educated Reporter? Email EWA public editor Emily Richmond at erichmond@ewa.org. Follow her on Twitter: @EWAEmily.