President Barack Obama  heads to Iowa later today for an Earth Day tour of a former Maytag plant which has been reconfigured to produce wind energy equipment, lining up the “green jobs” that the Obama administration is pushing as part of the future for the American heartland.

Green is on the menu back in Washington, too, where Secretary of State Hillary Clinton will talk about “Greening Diplomacy” at an Earth Day event, but only after she testifies at the House Foreign Affairs Committee about more down-to-earth aspects of U.S. policy around the globe.

Another key player on Obama’s environment team — Energy Secretary Stephen Chu — will also be on the Hill talking green at a hearing on energy and climate change legislation.

Red will be back in focus at the Economic Club of Washington, DC, however, where Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner delivers a speech about the Obama administration’s efforts to fight the global recession.

One Washington-area man evidently came up with his own strategy for fighting the recession. The Washington Post reports that an Alexandria, Virginia,  parking meter repairman has been accused of stealing $170,000 in quarters, nickels and dimes from local parking meters — a haul that could weigh between 4 and 19 tons depending on which kinds of coins were pocketed.

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REUTERS/Jason Reed (President Barack Obama planting tree)

REUTERS/Jim Young (A pile of newly minted US $1 coins at the U.S. Mint)