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Daily Archives: August 5, 2016

Federal Assistance for Victims of Terrorism or Mass Violence: In Brief

Via FAS – Federal Assistance for Victims of Terrorism or Mass Violence: In Brief. Lisa N. Sacco, Analyst in Illicit Drugs and Crime Policy. August 3, 2016.
“Workers’ compensation provides cash and medical benefits to workers who are injured or become ill in the course of their employment and provides benefits to the survivors of workers killed on the job. Benefits are provided without regard to fault and are t he exclusive remedy for workplace injuries, illnesses, and deaths. Nearly all workers in the United States are covered by workers’ compensation. With the exception of federal employees and some small groups of private-sector employees covered by federal law, workers compensation is provided by a network of state programs. In general, employers purchase insurance to provide for workers’ compensation benefits. Workers’ compensation has been called a grand bargain between employers and workers that developed at the beginning of the 20th century in response to dissatisfaction with the tort system as a method of compensating workers for occupational injuries, illnesses, and deaths. Under this grant bargain, workers’ receive guaranteed, no-fault benefits for injuries, illnesses, and deaths, but forfeit their rights to sue their employers. Employers receive protection from lawsuits but must provide benefits regardless of fault. Recently, concerns have been raised over what some allege are cuts to state workers’ compensation benefits or policy changes that make it harder for workers to receive the benefits they deserve. These cuts and policy changes may be shifting some of the costs associated with workplace injuries, illnesses, and deaths away from the employer and to the employee or social programs, such as Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI) and Medicare. There is no federal requirement that state s have workers’ compensation systems and no minimum federal standards for state systems. The decentralized nature of workers’ compensation led to unsuccessful calls for minimum state standards in the early 1970s and has caused concerns over benefit equity among the states today.”

Prosecution of Criminal Offenses against Congress

CRS Reports & Analysis Legal Sidebar via FAS – Prosecution of Criminal Offenses against Congress, July 26, 2016. “A House Oversight and Government Reform Committee hearingregarding the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s (FBI) inquiry of the potential mishandling of classified information has renewed questions about the process by which offenses against Congress are prosecuted. In the… Continue Reading

Collage – The Searchable London Picture Archive

“Over 250,000 images of London from the collections at London Metropolitan Archives and Guildhall Art Gallery. Collage is owned and managed  by London Metropolitan Archives  on behalf of the City of London  Corporation.” Users may search the site or browse by subject (People, Places, Historical Events etc.), word/phrase; collections; picture formats. Continue Reading

F1000Research – Open Science publishing platform

“F1000Research is an Open Science publishing platform for life scientists, offering immediate publication of articles, posters and slides without editorial bias. All articles benefit from transparent refereeing and the inclusion of all source data…The traditional anonymous pre-publication peer review of research articles can cause long delays before new results become visible. F1000Research uses an author-led… Continue Reading

Global Open Data Index – comprehensive snapshot of global state of open data

Open Data Index 2015:  “Civil Society Audit of the state of Open Data – The Global Open Data Index is an annual effort to measure the state of open government data around the world. The crowd sourced survey is designed to assess the openness of specific government datasets according to the Open Definition. Through this… Continue Reading

How long is the U.S. shoreline?

NOAA’s official value for the total length of the U.S. shoreline is 95,471 miles. “The NOAA shoreline length calculation of 95,471 miles was determined by hand in 1939-40 with a recording instrument on the largest-scale charts and maps available at that time. Shorelines of outer coast, offshore islands, sounds, bays, rivers, and creeks were included… Continue Reading