Accurate, Focused Research on Law, Technology and Knowledge Discovery Since 2002

You Are Here: Home » Archives: January 2017

Daily Archives: January 17, 2017

EPA released its annual Toxics Release Inventory

by on

“The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency today its annual Toxics Release Inventory (TRI) National Analysis, which shows releases of toxic chemicals into the air fell 56% from 2005-2015 at industrial facilities submitting data to the TRI program.  In Florida, the analysis shows a 56 percent decrease of reported chemical releases from 2005 to 2015…The report shows an 8% decrease from 2014 to 2015 at facilities reporting to the program contributed to this ten-year decline. Hydrochloric acid, sulfuric acid, toluene and mercury were among chemicals with significantly lower air releases at TRI-covered facilities. Medical professionals have associated these toxic air pollutants with health effects that include damage to developing nervous systems and respiratory irritation. Combined hydrochloric acid and sulfuric acid air releases fell more than 566 million pounds, mercury more than 76,000 pounds, and toluene more than 32 million pounds at TRI-covered facilities. Coal- and oil-fired electric utilities accounted for more than 90% of nationwide reductions in air releases of hydrochloric acid, sulfuric acid and mercury from 2005 to 2015 in facilities reporting to the program. This trend is helping protect millions of families and children from these harmful pollutants. Reasons for these reductions include a shift from coal to other fuel sources, the installation of control technologies, and implementation of environmental regulations…”

  • The TRI National Analysis website includes new interactive features such as an automated “flipbook” [https://www.epa.gov/trinationalanalysis/30-year-anniversary-tri-program-slideshow] depicting how the TRI Program has evolved over the past 30 years, and a new embedded dashboard that allows users to build customized visualizations of TRI data by a chemical or a sector. These features are intended to promote more user engagement and exploration of TRI data.
  • To access the 2015 TRI National Analysis, including local data and analyses, visit www.epa.gov/trinationalanalysis
  • Information on facility efforts to reduce toxic chemical releases is available at www.epa.gov/tri/p2..

The Online Atlas of Urban Expansion

by on

“The Atlas of Urban Expansion, an open-source online resource with maps, satellite images, and data on spatial changes in cities around the world, has been revised and updated. The new database is a partnership of the Lincoln Institute of Land Policy, UN-Habitat, and New York University, The Atlas of Urban Expansion now features a global… Continue Reading

Paper – Protected Class Gatekeeping

by on

Clarke, Jessica A., Protected Class Gatekeeping (January 12, 2017). New York University Law Review, Vol. 92, No. 1, 2017. Available for download at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=2898532 “Courts routinely begin their analyses of discrimination claims with the question of whether the plaintiff has proven he or she is a “member of the protected class.” Although this refrain… Continue Reading

Police Body-Worn Camera Legislation Tracker

by on

Via Urban Institute: “Laws governing how and when police body-worn cameras can be used and whether the footage is released vary considerably across the country. Use our legislation tracker, which we will update periodically, to find out more about passed and pending legislation in your state. For the latest commentary, click here.” Continue Reading

Euopeana – And the quest for better metadata quality goes on

by on

Snipped from the posting – read in its entirety for more knowledge sharing and links: “Supporting user needs with quality metadata – the need for high quality metadata in Europeana is motivated by its impact on search performance, on the overall Europeana user experience and on the re-use of the data. Rather than making it… Continue Reading

New York Times publishes 2020 report

by on

The 2020 report: “This report, by a team of seven Times journalists, outlines the newsroom’s strategy and aspirations. For additional details, see this memo from Dean Baquet, The Times’s executive editor, and Joe Kahn, the managing editor. This is a vital moment in the life of The New York Times. Journalists across the organization are… Continue Reading

TRAC – Immigration Court Priority Family Case Backlog Surpasses 100,000

by on

“The number of judges is still insufficient to handle the growing backlog in the Immigration Court. The court’s crushing workload reached a record-breaking 533,909 pending cases as the court closed out calendar year 2016, up 4.2 percent in just the last four months. The problem is particularly acute for priority cases involving women with children… Continue Reading

GAO Report to Congress – Nation’s Fiscal Health

by on

The Nation’s Fiscal Health: Action is Needed to Address the Federal Government’s Fiscal Future, GAO-17-237SP: Published: Jan 17, 2017. Publicly Released: Jan 17, 2017: “The federal government is on an unsustainable fiscal path. Federal spending continues to outpace revenue—by $587 billion in 2016—and, absent policy changes, the structural gap between revenues and spending puts the… Continue Reading

CBO’s Long-Term Projections of Labor Force Participation

by on

“In preparing the economic forecast underlying its forthcoming report on the budget and economic outlook, CBO updated its projections of labor force participation. In this blog post, we explain those updates and compare them with the agency’s previous projections and with those of the Social Security Trustees. The full economic forecast will be described in… Continue Reading

How Repealing Portions of Affordable Care Act Would Affect Health Insurance Coverage and Premiums

by on

“A little more than a year ago, the Congressional Budget Office and the staff of the Joint Committee on Taxation (JCT) estimated the budgetary effects of H.R. 3762, the Restoring Americans’ Healthcare Freedom Reconciliation Act of 2015, which would repeal portions of the Affordable Care Act (ACA) eliminating, in two steps, the law’s mandate penalties and… Continue Reading