News release: “Commercial banks and savings institutions insured by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) reported aggregate net income of $40.3 billion in the first quarter of 2013, a $5.5 billion (15.8 percent) increase from the $34.8 billion in profits that the industry reported in the first quarter of 2012. This is the 15th consecutive… Continue Reading
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Author Archives: Sabrina I. Pacifici
CRS – 501(c)(4)s and Campaign Activity: Analysis Under Tax and Campaign Finance Laws
501(c)(4)s and Campaign Activity: Analysis Under Tax and Campaign Finance Laws: May 17, 2013: “The campaign activities of tax-exempt 501(c)(4) social welfare organizations continue to receive considerable attention. These groups operate with less restriction after the Supreme Court’s decision in Citizens United v. FEC, which invalidated long-standing prohibitions in the Federal Election Campaign Act (FECA) on corporations and labor unions using their… Continue Reading
CRS – Financial Stability Oversight Council: A Framework to Mitigate Systemic Risk
CRS – Financial Stability Oversight Council: A Framework to Mitigate Systemic Risk, by Edward V. Murphy, Specialist in Financial Economics. May 21, 2013: “The Financial Stability Oversight Council (FSOC) was created by the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act (DFA; P.L. 111-203) in 2010 as part of a comprehensive reform of banking and securities… Continue Reading
Pew Report – Breadwinner Moms
Breadwinner Moms – Mothers Are the Sole or Primary Provider in Four-in-Ten Households with Children; Public Conflicted about the Growing Trend, by Wendy Wang, Kim Parker and Paul Taylor, May 29, 2013: “A record 40% of all households with children under the age of 18 include mothers who are either the sole or primary source of income… Continue Reading
New Book – Citations Out of the Box Copyright
Citations Out of the Box Copyright by Frank G. Bennett, 2013 – PDF version of the book with a Forward by Lawrence Lessig: “This book is a coming-of-age celebration for Multilingual Zotero (MLZ), software that offers an alternative to the time-honoured practice of hand-crafting citations in legal and multilingual publishing. The long-term aim of the project is to improve the quality of… Continue Reading
Wal-Mart Pleads Guilty to Federal Environmental Crimes, Admits Civil Violations and Will Pay More Than $81 Million
DOJ News Release: “Wal-Mart Stores Inc. pleaded guilty today in cases filed by federal prosecutors in Los Angeles and San Francisco to six counts of violating the Clean Water Act by illegally handling and disposing of hazardous materials at its retail stores across the United States. The Bentonville, Ark.-based company also pleaded guilty today in… Continue Reading
Digital by Default or by Detour?’ Assessing User Centric eGovernment performance in Europe
Digital by Default or by Detour? Assessing User Centric eGovernment performance in Europe – eGovernment Benchmark 2012: “Software is an essential tool of production in every sector of the modern economy. Enterprises of all sorts rely on it to design products, provide services, communicate with customers, and manage operations. But software contributes considerably more value to… Continue Reading
New GAO Reports – Coast Guard, Defense Health Care, Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief
Coast Guard – Clarifying the Application of Guidance for Common Operational Picture Development Would Strengthen Program, GAO-13-321, Apr 25, 2013 Defense Health Care: Department of Defense Needs a Strategic Approach to Contracting for Health Care Professionals, GAO-13-322, May 28, 2013 President’s Emergency Plan For AIDS Relief: Drug Supply Chains Are Stronger, but More Steps Are Needed to Reduce Risks, GAO-13-483,… Continue Reading
Competitive Advantage: The Economic Impact of Properly Licensed Software
Competitive Advantage: The Economic Impact of Properly Licensed Software – Global Study Conducted for BSA by INSEAD eLab: “Public Services Online: Digital by Default or by Detour? The 2012 eGovernment benchmark provide insight in three broad areas: A demand-side citizen view of public services – based on a representative sample, of 28,000 European internet-using citizens. Three life-events are assessed: starting a business,… Continue Reading
Plants that were frozen during the “Little Ice Age” centuries ago have been observed sprouting new growth, scientists say
Via BBC: “Samples of 400-year-old plants known as bryophytes have flourished under laboratory conditions. Researchers say this back-from-the-dead trick has implications for how ecosystems recover from the planet’s cyclic long periods of ice coverage. The findings appear in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. They come from a group from the University of Alberta, who were exploring an area around… Continue Reading
Disruptive technologies: Advances that will transform life, business, and the global economy
“Disruptive technologies: Advances that will transform life, business, and the global economy, a report from the McKinsey Global Institute, cuts through the noise and identifies 12 technologies that could drive truly massive economic transformations and disruptions in the coming years. The report also looks at exactly how these technologies could change our world, as well… Continue Reading
Capturing the beauty and wonder of the Galapagos on Google Maps
Google Official Blog: “The Galapagos Islands are some of the most biologically unique ecosystems in the world. Explorers and scientists alike have long studied and marveled at these islandsmade famous by Charles Darwin. The Ecuadorean Government, local conservation groups and scientists are working to protect the Galapagos from threats posed by invasive species, climate change… Continue Reading
