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

Category Archives: E-Government

USDA Climate Hubs Go Global

“For more than a decade, USDA’s Climate Hubs has been at the forefront of supporting climate change adaptation and mitigation efforts for U.S. farmers, ranchers, and forest landowners. Last week, the department significantly boosted its efforts globally, by launching the International Climate Hub. The new hub builds on the experience with 10 regional Climate Hubs throughout the United States and the Caribbean to compile, share and significantly expand knowledge, understanding, and implementation of climate-smart agriculture and forestry practices in the United States. By broadening international awareness and access to information and tools, USDA continues to position itself as a global leader in highlighting agriculture and forestry practices as solutions to address climate change…The International Climate Hub also includes new tools, such as COMET-Planner Global, which gives users a chance to see how different agricultural production practices can estimate CO2 sequestration in any part of the world. Another powerful tool is the Global Agricultural and Disaster Assessment System, which helps rapidly assess the impact of natural disasters on agricultural production across the globe by providing highly detailed, real-time data to assess crop conditions. This includes daily precipitation data, vegetation index, crop masks, land cover data, irrigation and water data, elevation, and infrastructure data, and much more…”

USPS Is Asking for These Changes to Your Mailbox, Starting Sunday

Best Life: “Your mailbox is what keeps you connected to the U.S. Postal Service (USPS). It’s where your carrier drops off your mail, and picks up any outgoing letters—allowing you to avoid a trip to the post office. But the USPS is serious about mail security, so it won’t deliver your mail unless certain conditions… Continue Reading

Government Begins to Ask: When Do We Leave Twitter?

Government Technology: “For years, Twitter has been an indispensable piece of government communications — especially during emergencies, public officials turn often to the app as one of the fastest options for telling people what’s happening. But last week at the annual Government Social Media Conference in Reno, Nev., a government communications professional stood up and… Continue Reading

HHS Launches New Website to Help People Find Support for Issues with Mental Health, Drugs, or Alcohol

“A video guide of FindSupport.gov is available for download and use in reporting, courtesy of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). As part of continuing efforts by the Biden-Harris Administration to increase access to mental health and substance use resources, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) today launched FindSupport.gov,… Continue Reading

Whistleblowers Are the Conscience of Society, Yet Suffer Gravely For Trying to Hold the Rich and Powerful Accountable For Their Sins

Via LLRX –  Whistleblowers Are the Conscience of Society, Yet Suffer Gravely For Trying to Hold the Rich and Powerful Accountable For Their Sins – Lawyer, activist, author, and whistleblower Ashley Gjovik states: “I blew the whistle and was met with an experience so destructive that I did not have the words to describe what… Continue Reading

DOE Launches New Consumer Energy Savings Hub

“The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) today launched the Energy Savings Hub — an online one-stop shop for American families and consumers to access the savings tools that President Biden’s Investing in America agenda has made available to drastically cut energy costs. The new website—Energy.gov/Save—puts President Biden’s clean energy tax credits and forthcoming rebates right at… Continue Reading

HHS Making Ownership Data for All Medicare-Certified Hospice and Home Health Agencies Publicly Available

CMS – “The Biden-Harris Administration has made promoting competition and protecting consumers a top priority. Today, in support of the President’s Executive Order on promoting competition and the Administration’s commitment to transparency, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) is releasing ownership data for all Medicare-certified hospice and home health agencies. For the… Continue Reading

Smithsonian Puts 4.5 Million High-Res Images Online and Into the Public Domain Making Them Free to Use

Open Culture: “That vast repository of American history that is the Smithsonian Institution evolved from an organization founded in 1816 called the Columbian Institute for the Promotion of Arts and Sciences. Its mandate, the collection and dissemination of useful knowledge, now sounds very much of the nineteenth century — but then, so does its name.… Continue Reading

Key Agencies Missing from Central Freedom of Information Act Portal

Congress Required Common FOIA Website in 2016, We’re Still Waiting. National Security Archive Sunshine Week Audit Names and Shames Delinquent Agencies. Justice Department and Office of Management and Budget Must Act Decisively to Ensure Portal’s Success National Security Archive: “The public still cannot submit Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests to the CIA or other… Continue Reading

Wildland Fire Trends Tool

Wildland Fire Trends Tool By Forest and Rangeland Ecosystem Science Center November 8, 2022. Overview Data Multimedia Web Tools The Wildland Fire Trends Tool (WFTT) is a data visualization and analysis tool that calculates and displays wildfire trends and patterns for the western U.S. based on user-defined regions of interest, time periods, and ecosystem types.… Continue Reading

Records Released In Response to Presidential Records Act (PRA) questions under the Trump Administration

NARA: “NARA officials are often consulted about the management of presidential and federal records. The Presidential Records Act governs access to records after the end of an administration. The National Archives received records from the Trump Administration, which ended on January 20, 2021. We are in the process of preserving and providing access to these records, including all… Continue Reading