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Daily Archives: February 20, 2013

Oceana Study Uncovers Widespread Seafood Fraud Nationwide

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33% of Seafood Mislabeled in Grocery Stores, Restaurants & Sushi Venues, February 21, 2013

  • “Oceana, the largest international advocacy group working solely to protect the world’s oceans, uncovered widespread seafood fraud across the United States, according to a new report released today. In one of the largest seafood fraud investigations in the world to date, DNA testing confirmed that one-third, or 33 percent, of the 1,215 fish samples collected by Oceana from 674 retail outlets in 21 states were mislabeled, according to U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) guidelines…Oceana found seafood fraud everywhere it tested, including mislabeling rates of 52 percent in Southern California, 49 percent in Austin and Houston, 48 percent in Boston (including testing by The Boston Globe), 39 percent in New York City, 38 percent in Northern California and South Florida, 36 percent in Denver, 35 percent in Kansas City (MO/KS), 32 percent in Chicago, 26 percent in Washington, D.C., 21 percent in Portland (OR) and 18 percent in Seattle.”

    • New GAO Reports: Physical Federal Facility Security, Census Bureau IT

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    Facility Security – Greater Outreach by DHS on Standards and Management Practices Could Benefit Federal Agencies, GAO-13-222, Jan 24, 2013 Facility Security – Results of GAO’s Survey on the Physical Security of Federal Facilities (GAO-13-223SP, January 2013), an E-supplement to GAO-13-222 GAO-13-223SP, Jan 24, 2013 Information Security – Actions Needed by Census Bureau to Address… Continue Reading

    Financial Crisis – A Review of the Economics and Legal Toolbox

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    Financial Crisis A Review of the Economics and Legal Toolbox by Yan Liu; Christoph Rosenberg, February 20, 2013 “The private non-financial sector in Europe is facing increased challenges in meeting its debt servicing obligation. In response, governments are revisiting legal tools and—in some cases—institutional arrangements to deal with over-indebtedness. For households, where the problem in… Continue Reading

    Working Paper: Other Vacant Housing Units: 2000, 2005, and 2010

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    “This working paper examines the characteristics of vacant units categorized as being vacant for “other” reasons (which means they do not fit into the “for rent,” “for sale,” “rented or sold but not yet occupied,” “occasional use” or “usual residence elsewhere” categories). The statistics were collected in the Current Population Survey/Housing Vacancy Survey in 2000,… Continue Reading

    Census – 2012 Housing Vacancy Survey Annual Statistics

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    “These statistics provide vacancy rates, homeownership rates and characteristics of units available for occupancy for the U.S., regions, states and the 75 largest metropolitan statistical areas. Data for all geographies are available both quarterly and annually. Homeownership rates are also tabulated by age of householder for the U.S. and regions and by race and ethnicity… Continue Reading

    New Study – Big Data and the Public Sector

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    News release: “Big Data” and other analytical tools have great potential to make governments more efficient and improve citizens’ lives, particularly in health and public safety sectors. A new study [and the related Infographic] released by the TechAmerica Foundation and commissioned by SAP AG, revealed that 87 percent of federal IT officials and 75 percent… Continue Reading

    CRS – Federal Reserve: Unconventional Monetary Policy Options

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    Federal Reserve: Unconventional Monetary Policy Options, Marc Labonte, Coordinator of Division Research and Specialist, February 19, 2013 “The “Great Recession” and the ensuing weak recovery have led the Federal Reserve (Fed) to reevaluate its monetary policy strategy. Since December 2008, overnight interest rates have been near zero; at this “zero bound,” they cannot be lowered further… Continue Reading

    USA.gov – Social Media Registry API Documentation

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    “This documentation describes methods to use the Social Media Registry API to access the contents of the Social Media Registry. The Social Media Registry is an official source of information about social media accounts that represent official U.S. federal government agencies, elected officials, or members of the President’s Cabinet. If you work for the federal… Continue Reading

    Senate Appropriations Committee Posts Agency Responses to Impacts of Sequestration

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    The Impacts of Sequestration, Committee on Appropriations See also OMB Report Pursuant to the Sequestration Transparency Act – “The Sequestration Transparency Act of 2012 (STA) (P.L. 112-155) requires the President to submit to Congress a report on the potential sequestration triggered by the failure of the reduce the deficit by $1.2 trillion, as required by… Continue Reading