Quartz – Here are the most targeted titles: “This week, ALA is holding its annual Banned Books Week, from September 18-24, to advocate for open access to information. While in the past bans usually targeted one book at a time, advocacy groups are now going after multiple titles at once, according to the association. So far… Continue Reading
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Category Archives: Government Documents
The Supreme Court’s new term could be even more consequential than its last one
Vox – The Republican justices who overruled Roe v. Wade are only getting started. “The headline of this piece is likely to turn a few heads. The Supreme Court’s last term, after all, was an orgy of conservative excess unlike any since the Court’s Great Depression-era attacks on the New Deal. And it culminated in… Continue Reading
Enhancing Transparency of Airline Ancillary Service Fees
Notice of Proposed Rulemaking – Enhancing Transparency of Airline Ancillary Service Fees: The U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) is proposing a rule which would significantly strengthen protections for consumers by ensuring any fees charged to seat a young child with an accompanying adult, change or cancel a flight, or travel with a first checked bag,… Continue Reading
House GOP Agenda Signals Push for Social Security and Medicare Cuts
Common Dreams – “House Republicans on [September 21, 2022] unveiled parts of a policy agenda that indicates the party would push for cuts to Social Security and Medicare if it retakes the majority in November. A one-page summary of the agenda that House Republicans, led by Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.), are expected to formally… Continue Reading
Injection and Geologic Sequestration of Carbon Dioxide: Federal Role and Issues for Congress
CRS Report – Injection and Geologic Sequestration of Carbon Dioxide: Federal Role and Issues for Congress, September 22, 2022: “For several decades, the federal government has funded efforts to explore the feasibility of mitigating the release of greenhouse gases (GHGs) while burning fossil fuels as a source of energy. Carbon capture and storage (CCS)—the process… Continue Reading
U.S. Agencies Are Buying Access to Bulk Internet Records
Gizmodo – “Sen. Ron Wyden urged inspectors general at three departments to investigate the military’s purchases of large swaths of data: “Multiple military intelligence offices have paid a data broker for access to internet traffic logs, which could reveal the online browsing histories of U.S. citizens, Sen. Ron Wyden said in a letter Wednesday, citing… Continue Reading
New US company owner database ‘taking way too long’ to implement, experts warn
ICIJ – “After ICIJ’s FinCEN Files investigation, transparency advocates cheered a new law mandating a beneficial ownership register in the U.S. Two years later, experts are expressing serious concerns. A key U.S. reform designed to halt anonymous companies hiding illicit activities and funds remains stalled in the U.S. Treasury Department two years after the FinCEN… Continue Reading
Voter Registration: Recent Developments and Issues for Congress
CRS Report – Voter Registration: Recent Developments and Issues for Congress, September 19, 2022: “Voter registration policies are typically determined by state and local governments, subject to certain federal requirements. Historically, much of thefederalpolicy discussion surrounding voter registration has focused on providing access to registration opportunities. Some federal statutes that primarily address preserving voting access… Continue Reading
Global Registry of Fossil Fuels
Global Registry of Fossil Fuel Emissions and Reserves: “The Global Registry is the first open-source database of oil, gas and coal production and reserves globally, expressed in CO2-equivalent. By increasing transparency and accountability around fossil fuel production, the Registry aims to improve understanding of extraction impacts on the remaining carbon budget and ultimately to inform… Continue Reading
Mar-a-Lago: the lax security of Trump’s alternative ‘White House’ – visualized
The Guardian: “The ex-president’s Florida estate has a history of security breaches, from US military plans viewed in front of paying guests to a makeshift ‘situation room.’ Long before FBI agents found highly classified documents close to public areas of Mar-a-Lago, the Florida resort that Donald Trump calls home, a number of other eyebrow-raising incidents… Continue Reading
Updating the External Wealth of Nations database to 2021
Brookings: “Editor’s Note: This post updates with year-end 2021 data the External Wealth of Nations database [Excel download], which assembles data on external claims and liabilities of economies around the world. The database is described in more detail in a series of papers (Lane and Milesi-Ferretti 2001, 2007, 2018), and in a companion post. The… Continue Reading
The Bioeconomy: A Primer
CRS Report – The Bioeconomy: A Primer, September 19, 2022 – “The term bioeconomy refers to the share of the economy based on products, services, and processes derived from biological resources (e.g., plants and microorganisms). The bioeconomy is crosscutting, encompassing multiple sectors, in whole or in part (e.g., agriculture, textiles, chemicals, and energy). Many predict… Continue Reading
