News release: “The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) today launched the DHS YouTube Channel and announced the redesign of DHS.gov steps to enhance the Departments web presence, increase transparency and provide accurate, up-to-date information to the public. Social media plays an increasingly large role in our engagement with the public, especially in the event… Continue Reading
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Monthly Archives: July 2009
Privacy Opposition to Google Books Settlement Grows
The ACLU of Northern California, the Electronic Frontier Foundation, and the Samuelson Law, Technology & Public Policy Clinic at Berkeley Law School sent a letter to Google CEO Eric Schmidt (PDF) today. It was about books. Why books? Google is planning to dramatically expand its book service, Google Book Search. The good news is that… Continue Reading
Pew Survey: The Internet and the Recession
The Internet and the Recession by Lee Rainie, Aaron Smith, July 15, 2009: “More than two-thirds of Americans 69% have used the internet to help them with personal economic issues that have arisen in the recession and to gather information about the origins and solutions to national economic problems. That amounts to 88%… Continue Reading
Report: Worlds Waters Choking from Meat Consumption and Other Human Activities
“Greater meat consumption and demand for fossil fuels worldwide are expected to cause increasingly more harmful algal blooms and dead zones in coastal and freshwater areas. Nutrient pollution in aquatic ecosystems, or eutrophication, is a rapidly growing environmental crisis, said Mindy Selman, the lead author of a new report released today by the World Resources… Continue Reading
Follow the Money: An Update on Stimulus Spending, Transparency, and Fraud Preventio
http://hsgac.senate.gov/public/index.cfm?FuseAction=Hearings.Hearing&Hearing_ID=31e1f004-5948-46fe-a2be-4763c2d3c715 Continue Reading
Federal Reserve's semiannual Monetary Policy Report to the Congress
Federal Reserve’s semiannual Monetary Policy Report to the Congress, July 21, 2009 “Amid a severe global economic downturn, the U.S. economy contracted further and labor market conditions worsened over the first half of 2009. In the early part of the year, economic activity deteriorated sharply, and strains in financial markets and pressures on financial institutions… Continue Reading
OCC Survey of Credit Underwriting Practices 2009
Survey of Credit Underwriting Practices 2009, Office of the Comptroller of Currency: “The 2009 survey includes examiner assessments of credit underwriting standards at the 59 largest national banks with assets of $3 billion or more. This population covers loans totaling $3.6 trillion as of December 2008, approximately 84 percent of total loans in the national… Continue Reading
Credit Rating Agency Reform Legislation Sent to Capitol Hill
Fact Sheet: “Continuing its push to establish new rules of the road and make the financial system more fair across the board, the Administration today delivered proposed legislation to Capitol Hill to increase transparency, tighten oversight, and reduce reliance on credit rating agencies. The legislation would also work to reduce conflicts of interest at credit… Continue Reading
Congressional Oversight Panel Releases Special Report on Farm Credit
News release: “The Congressional Oversight Panel today released its Special Report on Farm Loan Restructuring, fulfilling a mandate under the Helping Families Save Their Homes Act of 2009 to analyze “the state of the commercial farm credit markets and the use of loan restructuring as an alternative to foreclosure by recipients of financial assistance under… Continue Reading
BLS County Employment and Wages Summary
News release: “From December 2007 to December 2008, employment declined in 285 of the 334 largest U.S. counties, according to preliminary data released today by the Bureau of Labor Statistics of the U.S. Department of Labor. Elkhart County, Ind., located about 100 miles east of Chicago, posted the largest percentage decline, with a loss of… Continue Reading
New GAO Reports: International Trade, Medicaid and CHIP, Project Bioshield, Wildland Fire Management
International Trade: Prior Updates of the Trade Advisory System Offer Insights for Current Review, GAO-09-842T, July 21, 2009 Medicaid and CHIP: Opportunities Exist to Improve U.S. Insular Area Demographic Data That Could Be Used to Help Determine Federal Funding, GAO-09-558R, June 30, 2009 Project Bioshield: HHS Can Improve Agency Internal Controls for Its New Contracting… Continue Reading
TRAC: Immigration Prosecutions for April 2009
“Very timely Justice Department data obtained and analyzed by the Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse (TRAC) show that immigration enforcement under the Obama Administration is returning to the unusually high levels that were reached under President Bush. The clearest sign of the administration’s current immigration enforcement policy emerged from the monthly growth in such prosecutions —… Continue Reading
