News release: "The Federal Trade Commission today announced final rules and guidelines that will promote the accuracy and integrity of information provided to credit reporting agencies (commonly called “credit bureaus”) and allow consumers to dispute inaccurate information about them directly with furnishers, the financial institutions and other entities that furnish the information to the credit reporting agencies. Information in credit reports is used widely to determine a consumer’s eligibility for credit, employment, insurance and rental housing, and errors in a consumer’s report can result in denial of those benefits or higher costs.

The FTC is issuing these rules and guidelines with the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, the National Credit Union Administration, the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, and the Office of Thrift Supervision (the Agencies) under section 312 of the Fair and Accurate Credit Transactions Act of 2003 (FACT Act), which amends the Fair Credit Reporting Act. The effective date for these final rules and guidelines is July 1, 2010."

News release: "The Federal Trade Commission today announced a law enforcement crackdown on scammers trying to take advantage of the economic downturn to bilk vulnerable consumers through a variety of schemes, such as promising non-existent jobs; promoting overhyped get-rich-quick plans, bogus government grants, and phony debt-reduction services; or putting unauthorized charges on consumers’ credit or debit cards. Dubbed “Operation Short Change,” the law enforcement sweep announced today includes 15 FTC cases, 44 law enforcement actions by the Department of Justice, and actions by at least 13 states and the District of Columbia."

News release: "The Environmental Protection Agency today announced the next steps in a coordinated strategy to slash harmful emissions from ocean-going vessels. EPA is proposing a rule under the Clean Air Act that sets tough engine and fuel standards for U.S. flagged ships that would harmonize with international standards and lead to significant air quality improvements throughout the country."

News release: " As part of its ongoing efforts to protect human health and the environment, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has posted a list of 44 “high hazard potential” impoundments containing coal combustion residuals, commonly referred to as coal ash, at 26 different coal burning electric utility facilities. EPA is releasing this information after interagency coordination with FEMA’s Risk Analysis Division Mitigation Directorate and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. Designating these units reflects EPA’s commitment to assessing risks and vulnerabilities in order to protect critical infrastructure—and the American people—from disaster. A high hazard potential rating is not related to the stability of those impoundments but to the potential for harm should the impoundment fail."

News release: "Widespread racial profiling by law enforcement agents as a result of Bush-era policies remains a pervasive problem throughout the United States, according to a report out today by the American Civil Liberties Union and the Rights Working Group (RWG). Government policies are a major cause of the disproportionate stopping and searching of racial minorities by law enforcement agencies, according to the report, which was submitted today to the U.N. Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination (CERD)."

• The ACLU and RWG's report to CERD
  
• The Bush administration's final submission to CERD

News release: "The Conference Board Consumer Confidence Index™, which had improved considerably in May, retreated in June. The Index now stands at 49.3 (1985=100), down from 54.8 in May. The Present Situation Index decreased to 24.8 from 29.7. The Expectations Index declined to 65.5 from 71.5 in May."

"The Bureau of Transportation Statistics of the Research and Innovative Technology Administration released America's Container Ports: Freight Hubs That Connect Our Nation to Global Markets, an overview of the movement of maritime freight handled by the nation's container seaports in 2008 and trends in maritime freight movement since 1995. The report covers the impact of the recent U.S. and global economic downturn on U.S. port container traffic, trends in container throughput, concentration of containerized cargo at the top U.S. ports, regional shifts in cargo handled, vessel calls and capacity in ports, the rankings of U.S. ports among the world's top ports, and the number of maritime container entries into the United States relative to truck and rail containers."

News release: "The Bureau of Transportation Statistics of the Research and Innovative Technology Administration released Motorcycle Trends in the United States, a special report on the current and emerging trends involving street-legal motorcycles. The report covers the trends in vehicles, vehicle registrations, owner demographics, training and safety."

Best Practices for Government Libraries - 2009 - Change: Managing It, Surviving It, and Thriving On It - "The 2009 edition includes 60 articles and other submissions provided by more than 50 contributors from librarians in government agencies, courts, and the military, as well as from professional association leaders, LexisNexis Consultants, and more." Compiled by Marie Kaddell, LexisNexis.

UberCEO: Fortune 100 CEOs and Social Media - "...top CEOs in the country appear to be mostly absent from the social media community. That's the result from research we conducted over the past several weeks. We looked at Fortune's 2009 list of the top 100 CEOs to determine how many were using Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Wikipedia, or had a blog. The results show a miserable level of engagement."

Approaches to Future Space Cooperation and Competition in a Globalizing World: Summary of a Workshop.
"Numerous countries and regions now have very active space programs, and the number is increasing. These maturing capabilities around the world create a plethora of potential partners for cooperative space endeavors, while at the same time heightening competitiveness in the international space arena. This book summarizes a public workshop held in November 2008 for the purpose of reviewing past and present cooperation, coordination, and competition mechanisms for space and Earth science research and space exploration; identifying significant lessons learned; and discussing how those lessons could best be applied in the future, particularly in the areas of cooperation and collaboration."

• Reverse Mortgages: Product Complexity and Consumer Protection Issues Underscore Need for Improved Controls over Counseling for Borrowers, GAO-09-606, June 29, 2009
• Reverse Mortgages: Product Complexity and Consumer Protection Issues Underscore Need for Improved Controls over Counseling for Borrowers, GAO-09-812T, June 29, 2009
• Clean Water Infrastructure: A Variety of Issues Need to Be Considered When Designing a Clean Water Trust Fund, GAO-09-657, May 29, 2009
• Federal Contracting: Guidance on Award Fees Has Led to Better Practices but Is Not Consistently Applied, GAO-09-630, May 29, 2009
• Insurance Sales to Military Personnnel: Additional Actions Needed to Prevent Improper Life Insurance Sales and Pay Allotment Transactions, GAO-09-452, May 29, 2009

News release: "Recommendations for how the HHS Office of the Secretary will spend $400 million in funds for patient-centered research, also known as comparative effectiveness research, were released today by Federal Coordinating Council for Comparative Effectiveness Research (CER). The report, mandated by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, is designed to help the HHS Secretary and lawmakers improve the quality of care for patients, and provide patients and doctors the best information possible to make decisions about health care. The Federal Coordinating Council for Comparative Effectiveness Research report also catalogues current federal activities on CER, which had not been previously inventoried."

"Report to the President and the Congress on Comparative Effectiveness Research: The Annual Report on Comparative Effectiveness Research contains information describing current Federal activities on comparative effectiveness research and recommendations for such research conducted or supported from funds made available by the Recovery Act."

• Executive Summary
  
• Full Report

News release: "The Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, and the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency today issued the host state loan-to-deposit ratios that the banking agencies will use to determine compliance with section 109 of the Riegle-Neal Interstate Banking and Branching Efficiency Act of 1994. These ratios update data released on June 26, 2008. In general, section 109 prohibits a bank from establishing or acquiring a branch or branches outside of its home state primarily for the purpose of deposit production. Section 109 also prohibits branches of banks controlled by out-of-state bank holding companies from operating primarily for the purpose of deposit production."

News release: "In its 79th Annual Report, BIS Annual Report 2008/09, 29 June 2009, released today, the Bank for International Settlements (BIS) looks at the narrow path ahead leading out of the financial crisis. The Report underlines the need to focus clearly on the medium term and on sustainability when designing both macroeconomic and financial policy responses. The crisis had both macroeconomic and microeconomic causes: large global imbalances; a protracted period of low real interest rates; distorted incentives; and an underappreciation of risk. There were market failures, and regulation failed to prevent the build-up of excessive leverage."