2011 White House Correspondents’ Garden Brunch from whcinsider on Vimeo.

Thanks to your generous donations, CURE Epilepsy is having a record-breaking year in raising funds to find a cure. Your dollars are making a difference. Recently, a CURE-Funded Project had a major breakthrough. UC Irvine and French researchers identified a central switch responsible for the transformation of healthy brain cells into epileptic ones, opening the way to both treat and prevent temporal lobe epilepsy. Epilepsy affects 1 to 2 percent of the world’s population, and TLE is the most common form of the disorder in adults. Among adult neurologic conditions, only migraine headaches are more prevalent. TLE is resistant to treatment in 30 percent of cases.

“We’re quite excited about this discovery,” UCI neurologist and neuroscientist Dr. Tallie Z. Baram said. “Understanding how previous brain infections, seizures or injuries can interact with the cellular machinery to cause epilepsy is a crucial step toward designing drugs to prevent the process. We don’t want to just treat people with epilepsy. We hope to develop medicines that will prevent epilepsy from occurring – and influence the lives of millions of people around the globe.”

The White Ribbon Alliance for Safe Motherhood is using the month of July to encourage leaders to recognize the importance of health workers. There is a shortage of more than 3.5 million health workers across the globe and millions of existing health workers lack the support, equipment, and training they need to provide quality care. These nurses, doctors, midwives and community health workers are vital for progress on global health and development and for ensuring the millennium development goals are met.

In September, decision-makers will convene at the United Nations General Assembly to review progress on the Millennium Development Goals. It will be an opportunity for governments to announce substantial and specific commitments to support and invest in health workers. By sharing your voice on these issues, together change can be made.

Here is our photo gallery including David and Susan Axelrod, Rupert and Wendi Murdoch, Sarah and Todd Palin, Matthew Morrison, Jeremy Piven, Bill and Bernie Daley, Tina Tchen, Eric Podwall, Chelsea Handler, T. Boone Pickens and many other notables.

We are proud to support the work of CURE Epilepsy and the White Ribbon Alliance, and encourage you to do the same by clicking on the links below.

When asked about running into Donald Trump she says “He’s our buddy, we appreciate and respect Donald Trump.”

Watch the video below and see the full Politico Click here.

Ben Smith of Politico also wrote a piece on her visit which you can check out here.

The Emmy – Golden Globe – Screen Actors Guild – People’s Choice award-winning writer, producer, actress, and comedienne took home another statue Tuesday night: the 13th Annual Mark Twain Prize for American Humor. As only the third woman to receive this award (Whoopi Goldberg and Lily Tomlin round out the trio), Fey is also the youngest (she’s 40, for those keeping track).

She is the creator, star and Executive Producer of NBC’s 30 Rock, now in its fourth season and spent nine years as head writer and cast member on NBC’s Saturday Night Live. But perhaps it is her eerily good impression of Sarah Palin that most folks are familiar with (even doing a little bit during a recent appearance on Late Night with David Letterman).

While accepting the award at a star-studded event at the Kennedy Center, Fey thanked Sarah Palin, the former Alaskan Governor, for her success. Palin wasn’t in the crowd, but spotted in the President’s box were David Axelrod, Stephanie Cutter and Susan Sher.

Fey’s husband, producer/composer Jeff Richmond was by her side while co-stars, colleagues and friends were on hand to pay tribute to Fey including former Mark Twain winners Steve Martin and Lorne Michaels; Date Night co-star Steve Carell; former Weekend Update co-anchor and now host of his own show, Jimmy Fallon; Mad Men and 30 Rock guest star Jon Hamm; Baby Mama co-star Amy Poehler; 30 Rock co-stars Jane Krakowski and Tracy Morgan; and the indefatigable Betty White.

Alec Baldwin who plays Fey’s “mentor” on 30 Rock appeared in a video as Samuel Clemens aka Mark Twain. He wasn’t the only one people couldn’t stop talking about: people were commenting on the remarkable resemblance between Steve Martin and David Rubenstein, President of the Kennedy Center. Also spotted at the gala were National Symphony Orchestra Board Member Connie Milstein and guests Austan and Robin Goolsbee.

The event raised $1.3 million in ticket sales which will go to the Center, the largest total in the prize’s history. PBS will air the program on November 14, 2010.

Who else will show up on May 1st? Other top gets would be Virginia Governor Bob McDonnell, anyone from the cast of Fox’s hit TV show “Glee,” and of course Sarah Palin. Todd Palin was Greta Van Susteren’s guest last year, seen here at the annual White House Correspondents brunch.

Greta Van Susteren with Todd Palin at the 2009 WHCInsider Garden Brunch

First Dude Todd Palin

WHCInsider has confirmed that Todd Palin, a.k.a. the First Dude, is coming as Greta Van Susteren’s guest for the White House Correspondents dinner. He will be attending in his wife Sarah Palin’s stead.

It is another big score for Fox News’ Van Susteren, who brought the showstopping Ozzie Osbourne to a previous WHCD. Even President Bush got in on the Ozzie action that night by mentioning him in his dinner address. Click on dinner history for video of that speech.

Us magazine reported the former GOP vice presidential nominee will be attending this year’s dinner, but when asked by the Anchorage Daily News to confirm, Palin spokeswoman Meg Stapleton would only say:

“The governor may be on the East Coast this weekend to attend state events and meetings. If she is there, the governor may accept one of the standing invitations for dinner.”

What do you think? Should she attend? Let us know in a comment.

Who will be in and who will be left out of this year’s dinner? A few general categories to keep an eye on. For Obamites stuck in Chicago for two years, this will be the first night that many of them mix and mingle with the press at a big event.

In:

Democrats — with the party back in power all over Washington, journalists will be looking to dole out favors to their sources from Capitol Hill to the White House and all Cabinet agencies.

Media personalities — the New York-to-Washington shuttle should be even more crowded than usual, even with media figures who only have glancing connections to political coverage. Internal lobbying will be fierce and it could prove more difficult to turn away star journalists demanding a seat, especially for the television networks.

Celebrities — a few names have begun leaking out including Jon Bon Jovi, but it’s safe to assume there will be more interest from high-end celebrities wanting to attend this year than in the past. Obama has replaced Clinton as the favorite among celebrity activists and it could be an attractive opportunity to be part of the new wave in Washington. (Unconfirmed rumor: U.S. Airways hero pilot Chesley “Sully” Sullenberger may be in attendance.)

Out:

Republicans — squeezed out of power in a way they haven’t been since the early 1990s, the GOP will likely have a much smaller presence this year. Many of the party’s most popular and influential leaders reside outside of Washington (Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal and Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, for example), and attending such an insider event won’t do anything to help them with their constituencies as they look toward the 2010 midterm elections and beyond. But the lure of cameras and making media friends may bring them in.

Lobbyists — changing the way Washington works, a key Obama campaign pledge, means at least toning down the perception that the city is overrun with lobbyists and other favor-seekers. This dinner is not traditionally their venue anyway, but some of the high-powered movers and shakers from the private sector do attend. That might not be the case this year for many.

The Little People — with a limited number of seats available, there aren’t going to be many “filler spaces” up for grabs. It’s not unusual for some lucky up-and-coming young journos to be tapped at the last moment to fill a late cancellation (nobody wants to have an empty spot at their table). But high demand and interest in this year’s event will probably lead to overbooking, not frantic searches for replacement bodies.