• Financial Audit - Congressional Award Foundation's Fiscal Years 2011 and 2010 Financial Statements - GAO-12-682, May 15, 2012 Economic Development
• HUD Has Identified Performance Measures for Its Block Grant Programs, but Information on Impact Is Limited - GAO-12-575R, May 15, 2012
• State Partnership Program - Improved Oversight, Guidance, and Training Needed for National Guard's Efforts with Foreign Partners, GAO-12-548, May 15, 2012
• Unemployed Older Workers - Many Experience Challenges Regaining Employment and Face Reduced Retirement Security, GAO-12-445, Apr 25, 2012
• Unemployed Older Workers - Many Face Long-Term Joblessness and Reduced Retirement Security, GAO-12-724T, May 15, 2012
• Warfighter Support - Army Has Taken Steps to Improve Reset Process, but More Complete Reporting of Equipment and Future Costs Is Needed, GAO-12-133, May 15, 2012

News release: "Following a public comment period, the FTC has accepted as final an order with CVS Caremark settling charges that it misrepresented the prices of certain Medicare Part D prescription drugs, including drugs used to treat breast cancer symptoms and epilepsy, at CVS and Walgreens pharmacies. The settlement bars deceptive claims related to Medicare Part D drug prices and requires CVS Caremark to pay $5 million to reimburse affected Medicare Part D consumers for the price discrepancy. The FTC will mail redress checks to eligible consumers when records have been fully processed. Consumers do not need to take any additional action in order to receive their check."

EPIC: "The Federal Aviation Administration has announced new procedures for government agencies that operate drones in the United States. The procedures will streamline the process through which government agencies, including local law enforcement, receive drone licenses. However, the FAA has so far failed to establish privacy safeguards for drone use. On February 24, 2012, EPIC, joined by over 100 organizations, experts, and members of the public, submitted a petition to the FAA requesting a public rulemaking on the privacy impact of drone use in US airspace. For more information, see EPIC: Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) and Drones."

CRS - Immigration of Foreign Nationals with Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) Degrees, Ruth Ellen Wasem, Specialist in Immigration Policy, May 11, 2012

Federal Labor Relations Statutes: An Overview, Alexandra Hegji, Presidential Management Fellow. May 11, 2012

Outsourcing and Insourcing Jobs in the U.S. Economy: Evidence Based on Foreign Investment Data, James K. Jackson - Specialist in International Trade and Finance, May 10, 2012

Europe Business Review:

• "£26 billion: the amount lost from UK economy through time wasted in meetings in 2011
  
• 2 hours 39 minutes: the number of hours workers feel are wasted in meetings during an average week
  
• 49 minutes: the number of wasted minutes in meetings not made up for later
  
• 10 hours or over: the amount of time one in five senior managers and directors say they spend in meetings per week
  
• 11 minutes: the average amount of time it takes for people’s attention to drift in a meeting
  
• Time wasted by office workers during meetings cost the UK economy approximately £26 billion in 2011, according to new research from Epson and the Cebr. Based on a survey of over 1000 UK office workers carried out by Opinion Matters on behalf of Epson, the report found that if these wasted hours had been spent productively this would equate to roughly 13 million more productive hours per week and an annual increase in gross domestic product (GDP) of approximately 1.7 percent."

"One-third of adults are now obese, and children's obesity rates have climbed from 5 to 17 percent in the past 30 years. The causes of the nation's obesity epidemic are multi-factorial, having much more to do with the absence of sidewalks and the limited availability of healthy and affordable foods than a lack of personal responsibility. The broad societal changes that are needed to prevent obesity will inevitably affect activity and eating environments and settings for all ages. Many aspects of the obesity problem have been identified and discussed; however, there has not been complete agreement on what needs to be done to accelerate progress. Accelerating Progress in Obesity Prevention reviews previous studies and their recommendations and presents five key recommendations to accelerate meaningful change on a societal level during the next decade. The report suggests recommendations and strategies that, independently, can accelerate progress, but urges a systems approach of many strategies working in concert to maximize progress in accelerating obesity prevention. The recommendations in Accelerating Progress in Obesity Prevention include major reforms in access to and opportunities for physical activity; widespread reductions in the availability of unhealthy foods and beverages and increases in access to healthier options at affordable, competitive prices; an overhaul of the messages that surround Americans through marketing and education with respect to physical activity and food consumption; expansion of the obesity prevention support structure provided by health care providers, insurers, and employers; and schools as a major national focal point for obesity prevention."

DHS OIG - Transportation Security Administration’s Efforts To Identify and Track Security Breaches at Our Nation’s Airports (Redacted)

Working the Network: A Manager’s Guide for Using Twitter in Government, Ines Mergel - Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs, Syracuse University. May 14, 2012.

News release: "The Securities and Exchange Commission today suspended trading in the securities of 379 dormant companies before they could be hijacked by fraudsters and used to harm investors through reverse mergers or pump-and-dump schemes. The trading suspension marks the most companies ever suspended in a single day by the agency as it ramps up its crackdown against fraud involving microcap shell companies that are dormant and delinquent in their public disclosures. Microcap companies typically have limited assets and low-priced stock that trades in low volumes. An initiative tabbed Operation Shell-Expel by the SEC's Microcap Fraud Working Group utilized various agency resources including the enhanced intelligence technology of the Enforcement Division's Office of Market Intelligence to scrutinize microcap stocks in the markets nationwide and identify clearly dormant shell companies in 32 states and six foreign countries that were ripe for potential fraud."

• List of the 379 Companies
  
• Trading Suspension Order
  
• Investor Bulletin: Trading Suspensions

‘No Competitive Interest’ finding clears way for environmental analysis of proposed transmission ‘backbone’ for Outer Continental Shelf wind farms: "The proposed project is a high-voltage, direct-current subsea transmission system that would collect power generated by wind turbine facilities off the Atlantic coasts of New York, New Jersey, Delaware, Maryland and Virginia. The first such offshore infrastructure proposed in the United States, the system’s parallel, redundant circuits would total about 790 miles in length. Major investors in the Atlantic Wind Connection proposal include Google, Inc.; Good Energies II, LP; Marubeni Corporation and Elia."

News release: "A record six fish populations were declared rebuilt to healthy levels in 2011, bringing the number of rebuilt U.S. marine fish populations in the last 11 years to 27, according to a report to Congress out today from NOAA’s Fisheries Service. This report documents historic progress toward ending overfishing and rebuilding our nation’s fisheries, due to the commitment of fishermen, fishing communities, non-governmental organizations, scientists, and managers...To read the full report, regional reports on fish populations and to see photos, go to the NOAA Fisheries Service home page."

DHS Information Technology Management Has Improved, But Challenges Remain, OIG-12-82, May 2012

Google Inside Search - "Punctuation and symbols in search - Generally, most punctuation and special characters are ignored in Google Search. However, we’re expanding our search capabilities to support some characters that modify search terms and help Google find exactly what you’re looking for. Here are some examples from the growing list of popular symbols that are supported.." [Search Engine Showdown]