CNet: “Did you know that the IRS and US Treasury are only making second stimulus check payments through Jan. 15? Well, it’s complicated. But if you’re trying to sort out when exactly your $600 stimulus money will arrive through direct-deposit, paper checks and EIP cards, you’ve come to the right place. (By the way, here’s how to calculate your… Continue Reading
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Category Archives: E-Government
End of Term Presidential Harvest 2020
“The Library of Congress, Internet Archive, University of North Texas Libraries, George Washington University Libraries, Stanford University Libraries, EDGI, and the U.S. Government Publishing Office have joined together for a collaborative project to preserve public United States Government web sites at the end of the current presidential administration ending January 20, 2021. This harvest is… Continue Reading
SolarWinds Attack—No Easy Fix
CRS Insight, December 15, 2020. SolarWinds Attack—No Easy Fix: “On December 13, 2020, the cybersecurity firm FireEye published research that a malicious actor was exploiting a supply chain vulnerability in SolarWinds products to hack into government and private sector information technology (IT) networks. SolarWinds confirmed the security incident.The Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) issued… Continue Reading
Tracking Federal Awards: USAspending.gov and Other Data Sources
CRS report via LC – Tracking Federal Awards: USAspending.gov and Other Data Sources, Updated December 16, 2020: “USAspending.gov, available at https://www.USAspending.gov, is a government source for data on federal awards by state, congressional district (CD), county, city, and zip code. The awards data in USAspending.gov are provided by federal agencies and represent contracts, grants, loans,… Continue Reading
Archive, Historians, CREW Sue White House, Seek to Preserve Presidential Records During the Transition
National Security Archive – “The National Security Archive, the Society for Historians of American Foreign Relations, the American Historical Association, and the Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington today filed suit against President Donald Trump in his official capacity, seeking to enforce the Presidential Records Act and prevent any destruction of records during the… Continue Reading
Rep. Johnson’s Bipartisan Bill Making Federal Court Records Free to Public Passes House
“Rep. Hank Johnson (GA-04), chairman of the Subcommittee on Courts, Intellectual Property and the Internet, today announced The Open Courts Act of 2020, H.R. 8235, which would modernize the federal judiciary’s court records systems and eliminate the paywall (called PACER) that currently forces the public to pay more than $140 million each year to access… Continue Reading
GPO and Library of Congress Release Ten Years of Legislative Data on Govinfo
Library of Congress: “The U.S. Government Publishing Office (GPO) in partnership with the Library of Congress, U.S. House of Representatives and U.S. Senate has released 10 additional years of bill status XML bulk data on govinfo. Bill status information, created by the Library of Congress and Congress, describes the activities and status steps for each… Continue Reading
Lawmakers are trying to create a database with free access to court records. Judges are fighting against it.
Washington Post – “Leaders of the federal judiciary are working to block bipartisan legislation designed to create a national database of court records that would provide free access to case documents. Backers of the bill, who are pressing for a House vote in the coming days, envision a streamlined, user-friendly system that would allow citizens… Continue Reading
Free PACER advocates say $2B estimate for new online system is not accurate
FedScoop: “Building a new online system that will make federal court records free to the public will cost far less than a rumored $2 billion, according to former government technologists and IT experts. In a letter sent Tuesday to the Judicial Conference of the United States, representatives from the Free Law Project — a nonprofit… Continue Reading
At every turn the distortion of data has been central to the U.S. government’s disastrous response to the coronavirus
Highline – HuffPo – “This is an accounting of the damage…The administration has failed on so many different fronts in its handling of the coronavirus, creating the overall impression of sheer mayhem. But there is a common thread that runs through these government malfunctions. Precise, transparent data is crucial in the fight against a pandemic—yet… Continue Reading
COVIDcast Real-time COVID-19 Indicators
Carneige Mellon University – The Delphi Blog: “Delphi uses information from the survey as part of its public COVIDcast map, to inform its forecasts (currently in development) of the pandemic’s spread, and to assist public health agency partners. By providing daily data from all parts of the United States, the survey allows comparisons between regions… Continue Reading
The Danger Of Deliberate Destruction Of Documents By President Donald Trump
WAMU Podcast – 1A – “President Donald Trump is known to be keen on controlling the flow of information surrounding himself and his businesses. He reportedly tears up notes or documents from White House meetings. He employs nondisclosure agreements in both his professional and personal life. And White House aides have been known to use apps… Continue Reading
