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Daily Archives: February 1, 2017

EPA – Electronics: The Next Frontier in Sustainability

Mathy Stanislaus, The EPA Blog – “Last year was quite a year for the Office of Land and Emergency Management. October marked the 40th anniversary of the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act, and we have been taking stock of our success managing our materials and waste, and discussing where we need to head in the future. In addition, we have worked continuously to advance Sustainable Materials Management (SMM) and life cycle thinking. Recent analysis concludes that global raw materials use is accelerating to a point of creating economic risks, along with increasing environmental consequences such as greenhouse gas emissions. As the U.S. Government’s representative to the G7 Alliance on Resource Efficiency, I have championed SMM to make life cycle thinking ubiquitous throughout a product’s supply chain. This includes manufacturing, transportation use, and end of life management to get the most out of the materials we use. A perfect example of SMM in action in the U.S. today is the design and management of electronics…”

Customer satisfaction for federal services rises amid threats to gut agencies

NextGov: “Customer satisfaction with federally provided services climbed to its highest peak in four years, a survey suggests. Satisfaction with the federal government had reached an all-time low in 2015, after dipping each year from its all-time high in 2012, according to the American Citizen Satisfaction Index, an economic indicator registered to the University of… Continue Reading

Turning Homeowners into Outlaws: How Anti-Home-Sharing Regulations Chip Away at the Foundation of an American Dream

Sandefur, Christina, Turning Homeowners into Outlaws: How Anti-Home-Sharing Regulations Chip Away at the Foundation of an American Dream (January 30, 2017). University of Hawaii Law Review, Forthcoming. Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=2908248 ““Home-sharing” may sound like a modern invention, part of the cutting-edge, high-tech “sharing economy.” In fact, home-sharing is a centuries-old American tradition. For generations,… Continue Reading

Covering Trump the Reuters Way

In a message to staff today, Reuters Editor-in-Chief Steve Adler wrote about covering President Trump the Reuters way: “The first 12 days of the Trump presidency (yes, that’s all it’s been!) have been memorable for all – and especially challenging for us in the news business. It’s not every day that a U.S. president calls… Continue Reading

New powers of FBI made public to shine light on threats to civil liberties

The Intercept: “In the wake of President Donald Trump’s inauguration, the FBI assumes an importance and influence it has not wielded since J. Edgar Hoover’s death in 1972. That is what makes today’s batch of stories from The Intercept, The FBI’s Secret Rules, based on a trove of long-sought confidential FBI documents, so critical: It shines a bright light… Continue Reading

Scientists collaborate in effort to preserve and distribute research and government data

Follow up to previous posting – Will Government Science from agencies be deleted from public sites? – via The Intercept: “American scientists are under siege in the Trump administration because their work threatens to undermine Trump’s anti-science policies. As a result, some scientists have already begun trying to preserve government data they worry will be deleted,… Continue Reading

FCC Eliminates Two Public Inspection File Requirements

“The Federal Communications Commission today eliminated two public inspection file rules.  These rules currently require: (1) commercial television and radio broadcast stations to retain, and make available to the public, copies of correspondence from viewers and listeners;  and (2) cable operators to maintain and allow public inspection of the location of a cable system’s principal headend. The… Continue Reading