News release: “The Obama Administration today released details of an over $400 million Healthy Food Financing Initiative, which will bring grocery stores and other healthy food retailers to underserved urban and rural communities across America. The initiative was announced today in Philadelphia by Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner and Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack. The two cabinet… Continue Reading
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Monthly Archives: February 2010
FBI Releases Amerithrax Investigation Report
New York Times: “In response to a Freedom of Information Act request, the Federal Bureau of Investigation released its 92-page report on the investigation into anthrax-laced letters that left five dead in 2001. The report describes evidence pointing to Bruce E. Ivins, a biodefense expert who killed himself in 2008. Included here is the F.B.I.’s… Continue Reading
BLS: Consumer Price Index – January 2010
News release: “On a seasonally adjusted basis, the January Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers (CPI-U) rose 0.2 percent, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today. Over the last 12 months, the index increased 2.6 percent before seasonal adjustment. The seasonally adjusted increase in the all items index was due to rise in… Continue Reading
BLS: Youth at college and work
Youth at college and work: “At age 22, women are more likely to be enrolled in college than men and are also more likely to have completed a bachelors degree. Among 22-year-olds not enrolled in college, men are more likely than women to be employed in a civilian job or serving in the military.” Continue Reading
The Pew Center on the States' State of the States 2010
State of the States 2010 – How the Recession Might Change States Continue Reading
HHS Report: Insurance Companies Prosper, Families Suffer
News release: Over the last year, Americas largest insurance companies have requested premium increases of 56 percent in Michigan, 24 percent in Connecticut, 23 percent in Maine, 20 percent in Oregon, and 16 percent in Rhode Island, to name just a few states, said HHS Secretary Sebelius. Premium increases have left thousands of families that… Continue Reading
New GAO Reports: License Suspensions for Nondriving Offenses, Recovery Act, E-Records for Health Info,
License Suspensions for Nondriving Offenses: Practices in Four States That May Ease the Financial Impact on Low-Income Individuals, GAO-10-217, February 18, 2010 Recovery Act: Project Selection and Starts Are Influenced by Certain Federal Requirements and Other Factors, GAO-10-383, February 10, 2010 Electronic Personal Health Information Exchange: Health Care Entities’ Reported Disclosure Practices and Effects on… Continue Reading
NetWitness Discovers Massive ZeuS Compromise
News release: “NetWitness, the world leader in advanced persistent threat detection and real-time network forensics, announced today that its analysts have discovered a dangerous new ZeuS botnet affecting 75,000 systems in 2,500 organizations around the world. The newly-discovered infestation, dubbed the “Kneber botnet” after the username linking the infected systems worldwide, gathers login credentials to… Continue Reading
Brookings Essay: In Defense of Much, But Not All, Financial Innovation
In Defense of Much, But Not All, Financial Innovation, Robert E. Litan1 “In this essay [I highlight] many, perhaps most, of the key truly financial (not mechanical) innovations since the 1960s that have changed the way finance carries out its four economic functions: enabling parties to pay each other; mobilizing societys savings; channeling those savings… Continue Reading
House Oversight Committee Issues Subpoena for Toyota Documents
News release: “House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform Chairman Edolphus Ed Towns (D-NY) and Ranking Member Darrell Issa (R-CA) issued a subpoena today for all documents relating to Toyota motor vehicle safety and Toyotas handling of alleged motor vehicle defects and related litigation in the possession of Dimitrios Biller [who is suing Toyota under… Continue Reading
Open Access Scholarly Journals Gather Support and Opposition
Chronicle of Higher Education: “This is a strong vehicle for academic freedom,” says Mr. Willinsky, whose Public Knowledge Project offers free journal-publishing software to academics. In a world where subscriptions to some medical journals can cost more than $10,000 a year, and many colleges in developing countries cannot afford more than a handful of scholarly… Continue Reading
DHS OIG: DHS Controls Over Firearms
DHS Controls Over Firearms, OIG-10-41, January 2010 “The departments management and oversight of component safeguards and controls over firearms were not effective. A key reason that firearm controls were not sufficient was because DHS did not have specific firearms policies and procedures in place. Instead, DHS relied on its components to augment its general property… Continue Reading
