News release: “The Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation today issued tips to help consumers shop for a variety of bank products and services by carefully evaluating their needs, contacting multiple institutions and reading the fine print before making a decision. The advice was published as a special edition of the quarterly FDIC Consumer News (the Spring 2011 issue), which is entitled, Shop and Save…at the Bank: A Buyer’s Guide to Finding the Right Loan, Credit Card or Deposit Account.
Accurate, Focused Research on Law, Technology and Knowledge Discovery Since 2002
Daily Archives: May 17, 2011
TRAC Releases Federal Prosecution Data for February 2011
Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse: “Federal criminal prosecutions totaled 13,092 for the month of February according to the most recent data released by the Department of Justice. This was an increase of 18 percent from the previous month. Among the program categories, the largest number of prosecutions was seen in immigration, accounting for 49 percent of… Continue Reading
Roadmap for the Digital City – Achieving New York City's Digital Future
Roadmap for the Digital City – Achieving New York City’s Digital Future – The City of New York, May 2011 “New York City is one of the worlds leading digital metropolises. As Part I: State of the Digital City illustrates, New York City government engages over 25 million people a year through more than 200… Continue Reading
CBO – The Highway Trust Fund and Paying for Highways
The Highway Trust Fund and Paying for Highways – May 17, 2011, – Testimony before the Committee on Finance, United States Senate “The United States spends about $160 billion annually on highways, with about one-fourth of that total, or roughly $40 billion, coming from the federal government. Federal highway spending is funded mainly through taxes… Continue Reading
New GAO Reports: USPS and Aging Fleet, Visa Waiver Program
United States Postal Service: Strategy Needed to Address Aging Delivery Fleet, GAO-11-671T, May 17, 2011 United States Postal Service: Strategy Needed to Address Aging Delivery Fleet, GAO-11-386, May 05, 2011 Visa Waiver Program: DHS Has Implemented the Electronic System for Travel Authorization, but Further Steps Needed to Address Potential Program Risks, GAO-11-335, May 05, 2011 Continue Reading
Report: The American Companies With The Most Valuable Brands
The American Companies With The Most Valuable Brands: “24/7 Wall St. has done an analysis of the largest companies in the United States based on the size of their portfolios of major consumer brands. Many of these brands are worth billions of dollars if brand valuation firms are correct. All certainly generate tremendous sales. The… Continue Reading
Economic toll of Mississippi River flooding may be $2 billion
Christian Science Monitor: “Farms alone could take a $2 billion hit from the flooding, estimates John Michael Riley, an agricultural economist at Mississippi State University. “The impacts are pretty large,” he says, since much of the land near the river is agricultural used for farming catfish, cotton, and grains such as corn, wheat, soybeans,… Continue Reading
EPAs National Library Network Named Federal Library/Information Center of the Year
News release: “The U.S. Environmental Protection Agencys National Library Network has been named Federal Library/Information Center of the Year by the Library of Congress. The award recognizes outstanding, innovative, and sustained achievements during fiscal year 2010 by a federal library or information center. EPAs library network is an essential information partner with EPA staff and… Continue Reading
University Study: Google's Android OS ClientLogin Vulnerable to Hijacking
Catching AuthTokens in the Wild – The Insecurity of Google’s ClientLogin Protocol by Bastian Könings, Jens Nickels, and Florian Schaub, May 13, 2011 “In a recent blog post Dan Wallach outlined some of the risks of using Android smartphones in open Wifi networks. He found that some Android applications transmit data in the clear, allowing… Continue Reading
Kaiser Commission on Medicaid and the Uninsured
House Budget Plan: State-By-State Impact of Changes in Medicaid Financing: “This analysis projects the state-by-state impact of converting Medicaid into a block grant and eliminating the planned expansion of the program by repealing the health reform law, as called for under the House Budget Plan. It finds that the plan would trigger major reductions in… Continue Reading
FINRA Launches New Disciplinary Actions Database
News release: “The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) today announced the launch of the FINRA Disciplinary Actions Online database, a web-based searchable system that makes its disciplinary actions accessible via its website. The database enables users to perform searches for FINRA actions free of charge, seven days a week. Users may search for actions by… Continue Reading
Using Online Tools to Engage and be Engaged by The Public
Using Online Tools to Engage and be Engaged by The Public: While all federal agencies have developed open government plans, many managers find themselves unfamiliar with what tactics and tools work best, under different scenarios. Matt Leighninger, IBM Deliberative Democracy Consortium “Mr. Leighningers report begins to pull back the veil on how the… Continue Reading
