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Author Archives: Sabrina I. Pacifici

Pew – Newspaper newsrooms suffer large staffing decreases

“The American Society of News Editors released its annual newsroom census figures [June 25, 2013] showing a severe decline in the size of newspaper staffs. In all, there were about 2,600 fewer full-time professional editorial jobs at newspapers in 2012, a 6.4% decline from 2011. That leaves the industry at 38,000 full-time professional editorial employees… Continue Reading

National Sustainability Policy Should Be Established To Encourage Greater Collaboration Among Federal Agencies

“The United States should establish a National Sustainability Policy and take additional steps to encourage federal agencies to collaborate on sustainability challenges that demand the expertise of many agencies, such as improving disaster resilience and managing ecosystems, says a new report from the National Research Council. Currently, the government is generally not organized to deal… Continue Reading

Revised Children’s Online Privacy Protection Rule Goes Into Effect Today

News release: “The Federal Trade Commission’s revised Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act Rule took effect today, giving parents greater control over the online collection of their children’s personal information. The revised COPPA rule culminates more than two years of review by the agency to modernize the rule. The revised COPPA rule addresses changes in the… Continue Reading

Banking Agencies Issue Host State Loan-to-Deposit Ratios

News release: “The Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, and the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency today issued the host state loan-to-deposit ratios that the banking agencies will use to determine compliance with section 109 of the Riegle-Neal Interstate Banking and Branching Efficiency Act of 1994.… Continue Reading

EC Commission sends statement of objections to 13 investment banks, ISDA and Markit in credit default swaps investigation

News release: “The European Commission has informed some of the world’s largest investment banks of its preliminary conclusion that they infringed EU antitrust rules that prohibit anti-competitive agreements by colluding to prevent exchanges from entering the credit derivatives business between 2006 and 2009. The sending of a statement of objections does not prejudge the final… Continue Reading

EIA – The cement industry is the most energy intensive of all manufacturing industries

EIA Report – “The industrial sector, which encompasses manufacturing, mining, agriculture, and construction, accounted for almost a third of total U.S. energy use in 2012. Energy-intensive manufacturing accounted for a little more than half of total industrial energy use. Although the cement industry used only one-quarter of one percent of total U.S. energy, it is the… Continue Reading

New GAO Reports – Corporate Income Tax, Defense Suppliers, Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act

Corporate Income Tax, Effective Tax Rates (EFT) Can Differ Significantly from the Statutory Rate, GAO-13-520, May 30, 2013: “For tax year 2010 (the most recent information available), profitable U.S. corporations that filed a Schedule M-3 paid U.S. federal income taxes amounting to about 13 percent of the pretax worldwide income that they reported in their financial statements… Continue Reading

Libraries to help Americans learn more about their health care options

“Today, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) and The Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS) announced an initiative to get librarians ready to help people in every State learn about the new Health Insurance Marketplace. This initiative will provide public libraries with information about the health care law and connect librarians with… Continue Reading

Spiegel Online – “NSA Snoops on 500 Million German Data Connections”

By Laura Poitras, Marcel Rosenbach and Holger Stark: “America’s National Security Agency (NSA) is apparently spying on Germany more than previously believed. Secret documents from the US intelligence service, which have been viewed by SPIEGEL journalists, reveal that the NSA systematically monitors and stores a large share of the country’s telephone and Internet connection data.… Continue Reading

Report – Renewables to surpass gas by 2016 in the global power mix

“Power generation from hydro, wind, solar and other renewable sources worldwide will exceed that from gas and be twice that from nuclear by 2016, the International Energy Agency (IEA) said today in its second annual Medium-Term Renewable Energy Market Report (MTRMR).    According to the MTRMR, despite a difficult economic context, renewable power is expected to increase by… Continue Reading

Updated Web Tool Maps U.S. Food Access in Greater Detail

“Access to stores that carry healthy, affordable food can play an important role in people’s nutrition and overall health. Ensuring access to healthy food is a priority for USDA and a key component of First Lady Michelle Obama’s Let’s Move!  initiative. Two years ago, USDA’s Economic Research Service (ERS) first released the Food Desert Locator, an… Continue Reading