CNBC: “The Department of Justice late Tuesday made recommendations for Google’s search engine business practices, indicating that it was considering a possible breakup of the tech giant as an antitrust remedy. The remedies necessary to “prevent and restrain monopoly maintenance could include contract requirements and prohibitions; non-discrimination product requirements; data and interoperability requirements; and structural… Continue Reading
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Category Archives: Government Documents
GPO Quadruples Number of Congressionally Mandated Reports Since Launch
U.S. Government Publishing Office (GPO) now has more than 500 Congressionally Mandated Reports (CMR) from more than 75 Federal agencies available for free public access on GovInfo, the one-stop site for authentic, published information for all three branches of the Federal Government. This number has quadrupled since GPO first put CMRs online in December 2023.… Continue Reading
Pregnancy as a Crime: A Preliminary Report on the First Year After Dobbs
“Today, Pregnancy Justice, an organization dedicated to defending pregnant people’s rights, released its latest report, Pregnancy as a Crime: A Preliminary Report on the First Year After Dobbs. The report documents that in the first year after the Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization decision, at least 210 pregnant people faced criminal charges for conduct associated with pregnancy, abortion, pregnancy loss, or birth. The report… Continue Reading
Smart TVs are like “a digital Trojan Horse” in people’s homes
Ars Technica: “The companies behind the streaming industry, including smart TV and streaming stick manufacturers and streaming service providers, have developed a “surveillance system” that has “long undermined privacy and consumer protection,” according to a report from the Center for Digital Democracy (CDD) published today and sent to the Federal Trade Commission (FTC). Unprecedented tracking… Continue Reading
Leaked recordings detail a major environmental agency quietly gutting its workforce
Vox: This story was published in collaboration with High Country News. “Americans visit hiking and camping areas managed by the US Forest Service more than 150 million times each year. If you have climbed a peak or hiked in a golden aspen forest, paddled a protected river or visited a cultural site on any of… Continue Reading
Campaign Finance Made Easy: Announcing DataTalk
Cheryl Phillips, Founder and Co-Director, Big Local News: “DataTalk is an experimental system that makes it easier to follow the money flowing through national campaigns for the Nov. 5 U.S. election. It allows for natural-language queries of large public datasets from the Federal Election Commission (FEC) and OpenSecrets.org to help journalists and other researchers tap… Continue Reading
What are the current swing states, and how have they changed over time?
USA Facts: “Swing states, also known as battleground states, are states that could “swing” to either Democratic or Republican candidates depending on the election. Because of their potential to be won by either candidate, political parties often spend a disproportionate amount of time and campaign resources on winning these states. While there is no universal… Continue Reading
IRS free tax filing will be available in 24 states for the 2025 season — here’s who can use it
CNBC: “Next year, more than 30 million Americans in 24 states will be eligible for Direct File, the IRS’ free tax filing program, the agency and U.S. Department of the Treasury announced on Thursday. The Direct File pilot was open to limited taxpayers in 12 states for the 2024 filing season, including Arizona, California, Florida,… Continue Reading
The Journalist Who Cried Treason
The Atlantic unpaywalled: “Craig Unger’s career was nearly destroyed when he investigated a possible election conspiracy. Three decades later, he says he’s got the goods. The obsession that would overtake Craig Unger’s life, get him labeled a member of the “tinfoil-hat brigade,” and nearly destroy his career as an investigative reporter took root on an… Continue Reading
Systems used by courts and governments across the US riddled with vulnerabilities
Ars Technica: “Public records systems that courts and governments rely on to manage voter registrations and legal filings have been riddled with vulnerabilities that made it possible for attackers to falsify registration databases and add, delete, or modify official documents. Over the past year, software developer turned security researcher Jason Parker has found and reported… Continue Reading
The Supreme Court Needs a Mandatory and Enforceable Code of Ethics
“The City Bar, through its Rule of Law Task Force, Federal Courts Committee, Professional Responsibility Committee, and Professional Ethics Committee, asserts that Congress has the Constitutional authority to enact binding and enforceable ethics rules for the U.S. Supreme Court, and endorses the creation of a Judicial Investigation Panel and an Office of the Inspector General… Continue Reading
Heritage Foundation Staffers Flood Federal Agencies With Thousands of Information Requests
ProPublica: “Three investigators for the Heritage Foundation have deluged federal agencies with thousands of Freedom of Information Act requests over the past year, requesting a wide range of information on government employees, including communications that could be seen as a political liability by conservatives. Among the documents they’ve sought are lists of agency personnel and… Continue Reading
