Secret Sessions of the House and Senate: Authority, Confidentiality, and Frequency. Christopher M. Davis, Analyst on Congress and the Legislative Process. March 15, 2013 “Secret, or closed, sessions of the House and Senate exclude the press and the public. They may be held for matters deemed to require confidentiality and secrecysuch as national security, sensitive… Continue Reading
Accurate, Focused Research on Law, Technology and Knowledge Discovery Since 2002
Author Archives: Sabrina I. Pacifici
New Migration Tables from the Census Bureau Show County-to-County Moves Across U.S.
“Across the country, 47.3 million people lived in a different house a year earlier and 17.3 million of them lived in a different county within the U.S., according to information the U.S. Census Bureau released today on migration. This translates to an average of about 130,000 people moving every day. Seven of the top 10… Continue Reading
New GAO Reports – DHS Needs to Enhance IT Management, National Preparedness, Payments to Counties, Aid to Lebanon's Security Forces, Veteran-Owned Small Businesses
Information Technology – DHS Needs to Enhance Management of Major Investments, GAO-13-478T, Mar 19, 2013 National Preparedness – FEMA Has Made Progress in Improving Grant Management and Assessing Capabilities, but Challenges Remain, GAO-13-456T, Mar 19, 2013 Payments to Counties – Shortcomings in Oversight and Implementation of Key Parts of the Secure Rural Schools Act May… Continue Reading
India is the fourth largest energy consumer in the world after the United States, China, and Russia
EIA: “In 2011, India was the fourth largest energy consumer in the world after the United States, China, and Russia. India’s economy grew at an annual rate of approximately 7 percent since 2000 and proved relatively resilient to the 2008 global financial crisis. India was the 10th largest economy in the world in 2011, as… Continue Reading
New EPA Report: Initial Data Shows Significant Gains in Fuel Economy for 2012
“EPA released its annual report that tracks the fuel economy of vehicles sold in the United States, underscoring the major increases made in the efficiency of the vehicles Americans drive, reducing oil consumption and cutting carbon emissions. According to the report, EPA estimates that between 2007 and 2012 fuel economy values increased by 16 percent… Continue Reading
Basel Committee concludes assessment of Basel III capital regulations in Singapore
“The Basel Committee on Banking Supervision has today published a report assessing the regulations that implement the Basel capital framework in Singapore. Through its Regulatory Consistency Assessment Programme (RCAP), the Committee monitors the timely adoption of regulations by its members, assesses their consistency with the Basel framework and analyses the quality of intended regulatory outcomes.… Continue Reading
BIS – Results of the Basel III monitoring exercise as of 30 June 2012
“This report presents the results of the Basel Committee’s Basel III monitoring exercise. The study is based on rigorous reporting processes set up by the Committee to periodically review the implications of the Basel III standards for financial markets. The results of previous exercises in this series were published in April 2012 and September 2012.… Continue Reading
Electronic Waste is on the rise – check out the National Center for Electronics Recycling
“The National Center for Electronics Recycling (NCER) is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization formed in 2005 that is dedicated to the development and enhancement of a national infrastructure for the recycling of used electronics in the U.S. If you are searching for electronics recycling options in your area, please see the Recycling Basics section of our… Continue Reading
Explore Everest, Kilimanjaro and more with Google Maps
Google Official Blog: “Now you can explore some of the most famous mountains on Earth, including Aconcagua (South America), Kilimanjaro (Africa), Mount Elbrus (Europe) and Everest Base Camp (Asia) on Google Maps. These mountains belong to the group of peaks known as the Seven Summitsthe highest mountain on each of the seven continents. While theres… Continue Reading
Report – the reality of the public library ebook marketplace reflected in usage data from a selection of public libraries
Matt Weaver, Board member, Library Renewal, March 2013: “In order to serve our constituents with electronic content, libraries need to be able to understand how our collections are being used. This paper aims to present library-centered usage data to help libraries make decisions with regards to e-content, and to counter media and industry hype. Much… Continue Reading
Industry Labor Productivity Trends from 2000 to 2010
Spotlight on Statistics, by Michael R. Brill and Samuel T. Rowe: “Labor productivity rose for most industries during the first decade of the millennium. The expansion of information technology (IT) that fueled rapid productivity growth during the 1990s continued after 2000, and improvements in IT hardware and software, mobile telecommunications, data communications, and the growth… Continue Reading
EOP – Improving the Collection and Use of Information about Contractor Performance and Integrity
Office of Federal Procurement Policy, March 6, 2013 “Over the past several years, the Office of Federal Procurement Policy (OFPP) has worked with agency Chief Acquisition Officers (CAOs) and Senior Procurement Executives (SPEs) to improve the value of contractor performance assessments and increase the transparency of data about contractor integrity. Through these efforts, our past… Continue Reading
