News release: “Existing-home sales were sharply lower in July following expiration of the home buyer tax credit but home prices continued to gain, according to the National Association of Realtors®. Existing-home sales1, which are completed transactions that include single-family, townhomes, condominiums and co-ops, dropped 27.2 percent to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 3.83 million… Continue Reading
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Monthly Archives: August 2010
National Survey of American Attitudes on Substance Abuse XV: Teens and Parents
News release: “Twenty-seven percent of public school students ages 12 to 17 say that their school is both gang- and drug-infected (drugs are used, kept or sold on school grounds), according to the National Survey of American Attitudes on Substance Abuse XV: Teens and Parents, the 15th annual back-to-school survey conducted by The National Center… Continue Reading
Unusual Findings from long term study of enormous plastic patch floating in Atlantic
Follow up to previous posting on Pacific Ocean Garbage Patch, this new research – Economist [with links from additional sources]: “The amount of plastic produced around the world increased fivefold between 1976 and 2008, and the amount thrown away by Americans went up fourfold between 1980 and 2008. It is a reasonable assumption that, as… Continue Reading
Number of uninsured in California counties grew during recession
News release: “A new fact sheet from the UCLA Center for Health Policy Research, California’s Uninsured by County, provides detailed county-by-county estimates of the number of California residents who have lost health insurance during the economic downturn. Following on a statewide estimate published earlier this year, the new analysis finds that the number of Californians… Continue Reading
Fortune Takes Us Inside the secret world of Trader Joe's
Inside the secret world of Trader Joe’s – Full Version “…Trader Joe’s is one of the hottest retailers in the U.S. It now boasts 344 stores in 25 states and Washington, D.C., and strip-mall operators and consumers alike aggressively lobby the chain, based in Monrovia, Calif., to come to their towns. A Trader Joe’s brings… Continue Reading
FDA Recall of Shell Eggs
Recall of Shell Eggs: “An outbreak of Salmonella Enteritidis (SE) that has sickened hundreds of people across the country has led to a recall of shell eggs. On August 13, Wright County Egg voluntarily conducted a nationwide recall of shell eggs on 3 of its 5 farms. Further epidemiologic and traceback information led to Wright… Continue Reading
An Analysis of 2010 Short Sale Trends, Risks, and Opportunities
The Cost of Short Sales, CoreLogic Research Study – An Analysis of 2010 Short Sale Trends, Risks, and Opportunities Study, August 2010 “The objective of this study is to understand the actual costs of residential mortgage short sales (or short payoffs) to mortgage industry participants and the industry itself. A short sale is a real… Continue Reading
OPM – Federal Student Loan Repayment Program Calendar Year 2009, Report to the Congress
OPM: Federal Student Loan Repayment Program Calendar Year 2009, Report to the Congress, August 2010 “Overall for CY 2009, 36 Federal agencies provided 8,454 employees with a total of more than $61.8 million in student loan repayment benefits….Section 5379 of title 5, United States Code, authorizes agencies to establish a program under which they may… Continue Reading
Universal Periodic Review on Human Rights Submitted to UN by U.S.
“The Universal Periodic Review (UPR) is a new and unique human rights mechanism of the United Nations (UN) Human Rights Council aiming at improving the human rights situation on the ground of each of the 192 UN Member States. Under this mechanism, the human rights situation of all UN Member States is reviewed every 4… Continue Reading
Identity Theft Resource Center 2010 Breach List
Identity Theft Resource Center 2010 Breach List – Breaches: 435 Exposed: 13,329,706 – Report Date, 8/17/2010 Continue Reading
A century of phytoplankton decline suggests that ocean ecosystems are in peril
Nature.com: “Marine phytoplankton the vast range of tiny algae species accounting for roughly half of Earth’s total photosynthetic biomass have declined substantially in the world’s oceans over the past century, researchers report in Nature this week. The findings add to concerns that climate change is dangerously altering marine ecosystems. Phytoplankton are the basis… Continue Reading
Fuel for Food: Energy Use in the U.S. Food System
Fuel for Food: Energy Use in the U.S. Food System – “Population growth, higher per capita food expenditures, and greater reliance on energy-using technologies boosted food-related energy consumption in 1997 to 2002. Patrick Canning In 2007, the U.S. food system accounted for almost 16 percent of the Nations energy budget. Between 1997 and 2002, over… Continue Reading
