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WASHINGTON (AP) — This week, President Barack Obama promoted tougher fuel efficiency standards for trucks. He touted progress on initia- tives to strengthen the U.S. patent system. And he signed an executive order intended to speed up the process for approv- ing import or export cargo. Welcome to Obama's self-proclaimed ''year of action,'' where hardly a day goes by without the president and his top advisers trumpeting poli- cy initiatives the White House is undertaking without the help of Con- gress. The mostly modest actions — far shy of the sweeping immigration overhaul Obama hoped for this year — put into sharp focus the presi- dent's limitations as he grapples with reluctant lawmakers in an election year. They also under- score how much has changed for Obama since the early days of his pres- idency, when he declared, ''We do big things.'' Yet the flurry of execu- tive actions does seem to be having a cathartic effect inside the White House, which was in need of a jolt after a frustrating and disjointed 2013 that included the flawed roll- out of Obama's signature health care law and a sharp drop in the presi- dent's approval ratings. Advisers who ended the year dispirited now appear buoyed by a new sense of purpose — and the prospect of working around a Congress that has long been an irritant to the president. ''I think people came back from the break over the holidays in a real pos- itive frame of mind,'' said David Axelrod, a long- time adviser to the presi- dent. ''You don't want to be the prisoner of a nega- tive narrative that some- how Congress has stymied the president and nothing can get done.'' Signaling how little the White House expects to change on Capitol Hill this year, Obama commu- nications director Jennifer Palmieri said advisers are already mapping out plans for executive actions that will be unveiled well into the fall and winter. That process, she said, ''has ignited a lot of creative thinking around here.'' Even so, the presi- dent's political standing looks little better than it did at the end of last year. His approval rating con- tinues to hover in the mid- to low-forties. Democrats are on edge about their prospects of retaining control of the Senate. And hope of securing an immi- gration overhaul — Obama's one legislative goal that appeared to have some chance of success this year — faded when House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, announced this month that a measure was unlikely to pass in 2014. In the absence of leg- islative action, the White House is pumping out a constant stream of execu- tive actions on issues touching the economy, education and climate change. Some are rela- tively modest or simply prod along plans that were already in motion. For example, an execu- tive order Obama signed on Thursday to streamline the import and export process established a deadline for an effort that was already underway. And much of what the White House touted Tues- day on truck efficiency standards had already been announced by Obama during a climate change speech last year. Still, Obama personally heralded an incremental step forward in the process, even traveling to a Safeway distribution center in nearby Mary- land to highlight steps the grocery store chain has taken to make its fleet of trucks more efficient. Other executive actions are intended to be more wide-ranging, including a partnership with business- es that promised to not discriminate against the long-term unemployed during hiring and $750 million in private sector commitments to expand Internet access in schools. The president also signed an executive action increasing the hourly minimum wage for feder- al contractors from $7.25 per to $10.10. While the White House estimates the wage hike will affect only a few hundred thou- sand people, officials hope the move spurs Con- gress to take up a broader bill or businesses to act on their own to increase their workers' wages. The Gap, a clothing company, did just that this week, announcing it will set the minimum wage for work- ers at $9 an hour this year and $10 an hour in 2015. Obama's predecessors have also turned to more modest executive actions in the face of congression- al gridlock, including President Bill Clinton, who once launched a campaign to help schools implement uniform poli- cies. Some of those who advised Clinton during that period are also on staff in the Obama White House, including new presidential counselor John Podesta, a strong proponent of executive action. Peter Wehner, who served in three Republi- can administrations, said that while Obama's exec- utive orders are hardly reshaping the political landscape in Washing- ton, they may be helping the White House inter- nally generate a ''sense of momentum and action.'' ''Sometimes you wake up and you're happy there's just not a series of bad stories or bad news,'' said Wehner, who last worked in the White House under George W. Bush. ''If you can take the initiative even a little bit, it's better than being back on your heels.'' 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For Obama, a new sense of purpose in acting alone AP photo President Barack Obama signs an executive order streamlining the export/import process for American business, Wednesday, in a conference room in flight aboard Air Force One en route to Toluca, Mexico. 1 dead, babies ill from listeria linked to cheese WASHINGTON (AP) — One person has died and three newborns have become ill in an outbreak of listeria linked to Hispanic-style cheese. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said Friday that the death was in California. Seven additional illnesses were in Maryland. All the Maryland victims had report- ed consuming soft or semi-soft Hispan- ic-style cheese that they purchased at different locations of the same grocery store chain. Listeria was later detected in a sample of Caujada en Terron, or fresh cheese curd, purchased at that chain. The CDC withheld the name of the grocery store, as they often do in investi- gations. The agency said the cheese was ''like- ly produced by'' Roos Foods of Kenton, Del., and repackaged by the grocery store chain. The Maryland Department of Health and Mental Hygiene is warn- ing people not to eat any cheeses pro- duced byRoos Foods. Roos Foods cheese is sold under brand names Santa Rosa de Lima, Amigo, Mexicana, Suyapa, La Chapina, and La Purisima Crema Nica. Three of the illnesses were in new- borns, the CDC said. Two of the illness- es were mothers of two of the ill new- borns. It is unclear if the death was one of the newborns.