Monthly archives: June, 2015

GAO Reports – Army Combat Vehicles, Aviation Security, Defense Civilian Compensation, Disability Insurance, Federal Real Property, Prepositioned Stocks

Army Combat Vehicles: Industrial Base Study’s Approach Met Research Standards, GAO-15-548: Published: Jun 16, 2015. Publicly Released: Jun 16, 2015. Aviation Security: TSA Has Taken Steps to Improve Vetting of Airport Workers, GAO-15-704T: Published: Jun 16, 2015. Publicly Released: Jun 16, 2015. Defense Civilian Compensation: DOD and OPM Could Improve the Consistency of DOD’s Eligibility …

Subjects: Defense, Economy, Financial System, Government Documents, Health Care

FDA announces ban on trans fats

DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES – Food and Drug Administration [Docket No. FDA-2013-N-1317] Final Determination Regarding Partially Hydrogenated Oils AGENCY: Food and Drug Administration, HHS. ACTION: Notice; declaratory order. “Based on the available scientific evidence and the findings of expert scientific panels, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA or we) has made a final …

Subjects: Government Documents, Health Care, Legal Research, Medicine

Patients – price of prescription drugs too high

“Given recent news about some high-cost prescription drugs and the debate about who should pay for them, this month’s Kaiser Health Tracking Poll has a special focus on the issue. Nearly three-quarters of the public think that the cost of prescription drugs is unreasonable. Americans place much of the blame with the drug companies saying …

Subjects: Economy, Health Care, Medicine

Review of the FAA’s Certification Research Plan

“The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) is currently undertaking a broad program known as Next Generation Air Transportation System (NextGen) to develop, introduce, and certify new technologies into the National Airspace System. NextGen is a fundamentally transformative change that is being implemented incrementally over a period of many years. Currently, the FAA is putting into place …

Subjects: E-Government, Government Documents, Transportation

Review of the Everglades Aquifer Storage and Recovery Regional Study

“The Florida Everglades is a large and diverse aquatic ecosystem that has been greatly altered over the past century by an extensive water control infrastructure designed to increase agricultural and urban economic productivity. The Comprehensive Everglades Restoration Plan (CERP), launched in 2000, is a joint effort led by the state and federal government to reverse …

Subjects: Energy, Environmental Law, Government Documents

Faces of Death Row – Texas

Jolie McCullough and Ben Hasson, The Texas Tribune: “Here is a look at the 261 inmates currently on Texas’ death row. Texas, which reinstated the death penalty in 1976, has the most active execution chamber in the nation. On average, these inmates have spent 13 years, 6 months on death row. Though 12 percent of …

Subjects: Civil Liberties, Courts, Government Documents, Legal Research

NASA’s massive new dataset tells us what daily weather report will be in 2100

Via onEarth: “Forget your weather app with its five- or even ten-day forecasts—a supercomputer at NASA has just provided us with high-resolution climate projections through the end of the century. The massive new 11-terabyte data set combines historical daily temperatures and precipitation measurements with climate simulations under two greenhouse gas emissions scenarios. The project spans …

Subjects: Climate Change, E-Government, Environmental Law, Government Documents, Internet, Knowledge Management

Confidence in U.S. Institutions Still Below Historical Norms

Gallup: “Americans’ confidence in most major U.S. institutions remains below the historical average for each one. Only the military (72%) and small business (67%) — the highest-rated institutions in this year’s poll — are currently rated higher than their historical norms, based on the percentage expressing “a great deal” or “quite a lot” of confidence …

Subjects: Congress, Courts, Defense, Economy, Financial System

House Price Volatility and the Housing Ladder

Banks, James W. and Blundell, Richard W. and Oldfield, Zoé and Smith, James P., House Price Volatility and the Housing Ladder (June 2015). NBER Working Paper No. w21255. Available for download at SSRN: http://ssrn.com/abstract=2618643 “This paper investigates the effects of spatial housing price risk on housing choices over the first half of the life-cycle. Housing …

Subjects: Economy, Financial System, Housing

Role of Data in Tracking Black Markets in Wildlife

Via Wired: “The international black market in wildlife—alive or dead—is notoriously difficult to track. Hunters and smugglers don’t report their take for the same reasons that drug dealers don’t report profits to the IRS. But if you could actually track those networks, maybe you could do something about them. That’s what sent Nikkita Patel, a …

Subjects: Economy, Environmental Law, Legal Research

GAO Reports – Indian Energy Development, 401(K) Plans, Military Personnel, Nuclear Command, Older Americans Act

Indian Energy Development: Poor Management by BIA Has Hindered Energy Development on Indian Lands – GAO-15-502: Published: Jun 8, 2015. Publicly Released: Jun 15, 2015. 401(K) Plans: Frequent and Collective Trading Are Uncommon and Not a Significant Concern for Plan Participants, Sponsors, or Mutual Funds, GAO-15-427R: Published: May 14, 2015. Publicly Released: Jun 15, 2015. …

Subjects: Defense, Energy, Financial System, Government Documents

2012 Commodity Flow Survey Public Use Microdata

“This new data product contains information for approximately 4.5 million shipments obtained from businesses included in the 2012 Commodity Flow Survey. The public use microdata file provides access to shipment-level characteristics while protecting the confidentiality of business information. Users can create customized tables and build models to track and analyze the movement of commodities. The 2012 Commodity Flow Survey public …

Subjects: E-Government, Economy, Government Documents

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