“Each year, nearly 900,000 Americans die prematurely from the five leading causes of death – yet 20 percent to 40 percent of the deaths from each cause could be prevented, according to a study from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The five leading causes of death in the United States are heart disease, cancer,… Continue Reading
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Author Archives: Sabrina I. Pacifici
The FRB/US Model: A Tool for Macroeconomic Policy Analysis
The FRB/US Model: A Tool for Macroeconomic Policy Analysis, Flint Brayton, Thomas Laubach, and David Reifschneider “The FRB/US model of the U.S. economy is one of several that Federal Reserve Board staff consults for forecasting and the analysis of macroeconomic issues, including both monetary and fiscal policy. To improve public access to and understanding of the model,… Continue Reading
Commentary – This is what comes after search
Christopher Mims – Quartz: “The average person with an Android smartphone is using it to search the web, from a browser, only 1.25 times per day, says Roi Carthy, head of special projects at Tel Aviv-based mobile startup Everything.Me. That isn’t just bad news for Google, which still relies on ads placed along search results for the bulk of its revenue—it… Continue Reading
WaPo – Sammies finalists are harnessing technology to help the public
Lisa Rein at the Washington Post: “One team of federal agents led Medicare investigations that resulted in more than 600 convictions in South Florida, recovering hundreds of millions of dollars. Another official boosted access to burial sites for veterans across the country. And one guided an initiative to provide safe drinking water to 5 million people… Continue Reading
New GAO Reports – Defense Acquisitions, Defense Contracting, Uranium Contamination
DEFENSE ACQUISITIONS: Military Services Consistently Held Required Configuration Steering Boards That Actively Reviewed Requirements Changes, GAO-14-466R: Published: May 5, 2014. Publicly Released: May 5, 2014. DEFENSE CONTRACTING: Early Attention in the Acquisition Process Needed to Enhance Competition, GAO-14-395: Published: May 5, 2014. Publicly Released: May 5, 2014. URANIUM CONTAMINATION: Overall Scope, Time Frame, and Cost Information Is Needed for Contamination Cleanup on… Continue Reading
Fitch – Fracking Water Supply Risk Would Fall On US Utilities
Fitch Ratings-New York-02 May 2014: “Despite more stringent state laws, water and sewer utilities must comply with EPA water regulations and would bear much of the financial burden if hydrofracking (fracking) operations lead to contamination of a water supply, Fitch Ratings says. This week the state of Michigan joined a growing list of states that… Continue Reading
Commentary Argues for Expanded Transparency via FOIA Releases Online
Lauren Harper [snipped]: “The US was the first country to enact a modern Freedom of Information Act, and was the model other countries looked towards when crafting their own FOI laws. Now, however, the US lags behind the world’s transparency leaders, and, if the US hopes to catch up, it must embrace the technology mandates… Continue Reading
The State of the U.S. Labor Market: Pre-May 2014 Jobs Release
Michael Madowitz and Matt Markezich | May 1, 2014: “Since the end of the Great Recession, the economy has added 8.3 million jobs, and the unemployment rate has fallen from 10 percent to 6.7 percent. But beneath these top-line numbers, the labor market is still quite fragile. In March, the Federal Reserve tacitly acknowledged the widening gap between the… Continue Reading
50 Facts About U.S. Nuclear Weapons Today
“Their number and role in U.S. security have been reduced, but nuclear weapons still provide important security benefits to the United States and its allies. While the prospects for moving to lower levels than those in New START now appear limited, the Arms Control and Non-Proliferation Initiative at Brookings put together an updated list of 50 Facts… Continue Reading
Blogs as an Alternative Public Sphere
Etling, Bruce and Roberts, Hal and Faris, Robert, Blogs as an Alternative Public Sphere: The Role of Blogs, Mainstream Media, and TV in Russia’s Media Ecology (April 22, 2014). Berkman Center Research Publication No. 2014-8. Available at SSRN: http://ssrn.com/abstract=2427932 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.2427932 “Applying a combination of quantitative and qualitative methods, we investigate whether Russian blogs represent an alternative public… Continue Reading
WHO commits to open access by joining Europe PubMed Central
News release: “WHO supports open access to the published output of its activities as a fundamental part of its mission and a public benefit to be encouraged wherever possible. The new WHO policy on open access applies to all articles or chapters published in non-WHO publications that are authored or co-authored by WHO staff or produced… Continue Reading
Restatement of Place
Kuykendall, Mae, Restatement of Place (May 2, 2014). Brooklyn Law Review, Vol. 79, 2014; MSU Legal Studies Research Paper No. 12-09. Available at SSRN: http://ssrn.com/abstract=2432212 “Images and intuitions of place are ubiquitous in human thought. Dominion over place is one of the first anchors of the conception of law, providing a rationale for sovereign control over… Continue Reading
