Stephen Rodrick – A writer returns home to find a toxic disaster, giant government failure and countless children exposed to lead “Recently, Michigan was forced to declare a state of emergency in Flint. Some of the public servants involved have resigned. Now, the feds and the state are investigating what one water expert calls one… Continue Reading
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Monthly Archives: January 2016
CIA Posts New Documents Titled Take a Peek Into Our “X-Files”
“The CIA declassified hundreds of documents in 1978 detailing the Agency’s investigations into Unidentified Flying Objects (UFOs). The documents date primarily from the late 1940s and 1950s. To help navigate the vast amount of data contained in our FOIA UFO collection, we’ve decided to highlight a few documents both skeptics and believers will find interesting.… Continue Reading
Sen. Elizabeth Warren releases document on DOJ and SEC corporate law enforcement
Via International Business Times – A New York Times Op-Ed today by Massachusetts Senator Elizabeth Warren was coordinated with the release by her office of a 12 page investigative report titled, Rigged Justice: How Weak Enforcement Let Corporate Offenders Off Easy, “that documents 20 civil and criminal cases that in her opinion lacked adequate accountability. Those… Continue Reading
Ravel law – California Case Law Now Live
Daniel Lewis – Jan 20, 2016: “We just took a big step forward in making the law freely and easily available. Starting today, as part of the Harvard-Ravel digitization project, the comprehensive, authoritative collection of California case law is available online at Ravel. For the first time, anyone can search and read all California court… Continue Reading
When Does ICT-Enabled Citizen Voice Lead to Government Responsiveness?
2016 World Development Report – “This paper reviews evidence on the use of 23 information and communication technology (ICT) platforms to project citizen voice to improve public service delivery. This meta-analysis focuses on empirical studies of initiatives in the global South, highlighting both citizen uptake (‘yelp’) and the degree to which public service providers respond… Continue Reading
Head to Head: Which School Helps Poor Students More?
ProPublica – Head to Head: Which School Helps Poor Students More? Compare the 2013 performance of any two schools on how well they support their low-income students. Continue Reading
Ian Urbina – Outlaw Ocean Series Document Reader
DOCUMENT READER: A MURDER AT SEA – The Outlaw Ocean, Ian Urbina, The New York Times. “Last year as part of The Outlaw Ocean series, we reported on the murder of four men at sea. You can read the story here. At root, the questions begged were these: Who shot and killed these men on… Continue Reading
Graphic documents how immigration in America has changed since 1820
VOX – “The idea of banning an entire racial or ethnic group from entering the US isn’t a new proposal. Donald Trump is far from the first person to propose it. In fact, this country has a long history of picking and choosing whom it lets into its borders — and whom it doesn’t. In… Continue Reading
Unmanned Aircraft Operations in Domestic Airspace : U.S. Policy Perspectives and the Regulatory Landscape
Via FAS – CRS report – Unmanned Aircraft Operations in Domestic Airspace: U.S. Policy Perspectives and the Regulatory Landscape. Bart Elias, Specialist in Aviation Policy. January 27, 2016. “…Many of the commercial applications envisioned for UAS, such as express package delivery, remote monitoring of utilities and infrastructure, and imagery collection and analysis to support precision… Continue Reading
Paper – Linking ‘toxic outliers’ to environmental justice communities
Linking ‘toxic outliers’ to environmental justice communities. Mary B Collins, Ian Munoz and Joseph JaJa. Published 26 January 2016 © 2016 IOP Publishing Ltd • Environmental Research Letters, Volume 11, Number 1 “Several key studies have found that a small minority of producers, polluting at levels far exceeding group averages, generate the majority of overall… Continue Reading
Report – Freedom in the World 2016: Anxious Dictators, Wavering Democracies
Freedom House – “Freedom in the World 2016 – Global freedom declined for the 10th consecutive year in 2015, as economic pressures and fear of unrest led authoritarians to crack down on dissent, while migration and terrorism fueled xenophobia in democracies.” “Economic downturns and fear of social unrest have led Russia, China, and other authoritarian… Continue Reading
Harvard Berkman Center Releases Amber – Tool for Bloggers and Website Owners
“The Berkman Center for Internet & Society at Harvard University is pleased to release Amber, a free software tool for WordPress and Drupal that preserves content and prevents broken links. When installed on a blog or website, Amber can take a snapshot of the content of every linked page, ensuring that even if those pages… Continue Reading
