Vox: This story was published in collaboration with High Country News. “Americans visit hiking and camping areas managed by the US Forest Service more than 150 million times each year. If you have climbed a peak or hiked in a golden aspen forest, paddled a protected river or visited a cultural site on any of… Continue Reading
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Category Archives: Government Documents
Campaign Finance Made Easy: Announcing DataTalk
Cheryl Phillips, Founder and Co-Director, Big Local News: “DataTalk is an experimental system that makes it easier to follow the money flowing through national campaigns for the Nov. 5 U.S. election. It allows for natural-language queries of large public datasets from the Federal Election Commission (FEC) and OpenSecrets.org to help journalists and other researchers tap… Continue Reading
What are the current swing states, and how have they changed over time?
USA Facts: “Swing states, also known as battleground states, are states that could “swing” to either Democratic or Republican candidates depending on the election. Because of their potential to be won by either candidate, political parties often spend a disproportionate amount of time and campaign resources on winning these states. While there is no universal… Continue Reading
IRS free tax filing will be available in 24 states for the 2025 season — here’s who can use it
CNBC: “Next year, more than 30 million Americans in 24 states will be eligible for Direct File, the IRS’ free tax filing program, the agency and U.S. Department of the Treasury announced on Thursday. The Direct File pilot was open to limited taxpayers in 12 states for the 2024 filing season, including Arizona, California, Florida,… Continue Reading
The Journalist Who Cried Treason
The Atlantic unpaywalled: “Craig Unger’s career was nearly destroyed when he investigated a possible election conspiracy. Three decades later, he says he’s got the goods. The obsession that would overtake Craig Unger’s life, get him labeled a member of the “tinfoil-hat brigade,” and nearly destroy his career as an investigative reporter took root on an… Continue Reading
Systems used by courts and governments across the US riddled with vulnerabilities
Ars Technica: “Public records systems that courts and governments rely on to manage voter registrations and legal filings have been riddled with vulnerabilities that made it possible for attackers to falsify registration databases and add, delete, or modify official documents. Over the past year, software developer turned security researcher Jason Parker has found and reported… Continue Reading
The Supreme Court Needs a Mandatory and Enforceable Code of Ethics
“The City Bar, through its Rule of Law Task Force, Federal Courts Committee, Professional Responsibility Committee, and Professional Ethics Committee, asserts that Congress has the Constitutional authority to enact binding and enforceable ethics rules for the U.S. Supreme Court, and endorses the creation of a Judicial Investigation Panel and an Office of the Inspector General… Continue Reading
Heritage Foundation Staffers Flood Federal Agencies With Thousands of Information Requests
ProPublica: “Three investigators for the Heritage Foundation have deluged federal agencies with thousands of Freedom of Information Act requests over the past year, requesting a wide range of information on government employees, including communications that could be seen as a political liability by conservatives. Among the documents they’ve sought are lists of agency personnel and… Continue Reading
WH Science and Technology Policy report – implementation of federal scientific integrity policy and practice
Science.gov: Protecting scientific integrity in government is vital to the Nation. Scientific integrity is defined as: “The adherence to professional practices, ethical behavior, and the principles of honesty and objectivity when conducting, managing, using the results of, and communicating about science and scientific activities. Inclusivity, transparency, and protection from inappropriate influence are hallmarks of scientific… Continue Reading
Trump’s crimes, Supreme Court’s culpability
Follow-up to previous posting – Judge Chutkin unsealed Jack Smith’s redacted immunity brief v Trump see The Cornerstone of Democracy, Essentials, October 2, 2024: A compendium of the best reporting and commentary surrounding the pivotal 2024 elections in the United States….What you will find are links, with brief commentary, to work that I believe advances the… Continue Reading
Judge Chutkin unsealed Jack Smith’s redacted immunity brief v Trump
Via Court Listener – 165 pages – IN THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT FOR THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA UNITED STATES OF AMERICA v. DONALD J. TRUMP, Defendant. CRIMINAL NO. 23-cr-257 (TSC) GOVERNMENT’S MOTION FOR IMMUNITY DETERMINATIONS. The defendant asserts that he is immune from prosecution for his criminal scheme to overturn the 2020 presidential election… Continue Reading
The late summer release for GovInfo included 85 individually tracked system changes
GovInfo – RSS Feeds for Searches, Browse Pages Updates, and New Mobile Buttons – The late summer release for GovInfo included 85 individually tracked system changes. Highlights were functionality to create RSS feeds based on search criteria, design improvements for mobile button display, browse updates that include migrating the Public and Private Laws collection to the… Continue Reading
