ISIL and Antiquities Trafficking

"The FBI is alerting art collectors and dealers to be particularly careful trading Near Eastern antiquities, warning that artifacts plundered by terrorist organizations such as ISIL are entering the marketplace.

“We now have credible reports that U.S. persons have been offered cultural property that appears to have been removed from Syria and Iraq recently,” said Bonnie Magness-Gardiner, manager of the FBI’s Art Theft Program.

The Bureau is asking U.S. art and antiquities market leaders to spread the word that preventing illegally obtained artifacts from reaching the market helps stem the transfer of funds to terrorists.

In a single-page document titled ISIL Antiquities Trafficking, the FBI asks leaders in the field to disseminate the following message:

• Please be cautious when purchasing items from this region. Keep in mind that antiquities from Iraq remain subject to Office of Foreign Assets Control sanctions under the Iraq Stabilization and Insurgency Sanctions Regulations (31 CFR part 576).
• Purchasing an object looted and/or sold by the Islamic State may provide financial support to a terrorist organization and could be prosecuted under 18 USC 233A.
• Robust due diligence is necessary when purchasing any Syrian or Iraqi antiquities or other cultural property in the U.S. or when purchasing elsewhere using U.S. funds..."
  ISIL

Keeping Children Safe

"School is back in session. As you stock up on pencils, take first-day pictures, and adjust to new bus schedules, take a few, quick steps that can keep your child safer during an emergency.

January 15, 2015. A water main break near Atlanta, Georgia cuts off water pressure to 12 schools. With no water to drink or to use to flush toilets, some schools close early while others bus their students to nearby schools with working bathrooms. Parents rush to keep up with notifications on when and where to pick up their children. If this were to happen in your neighborhood, would you know what to do and where to go?

From tornadoes to water main breaks, emergencies can occur with little or no warning—even during the school day. As children head back to school, take a few steps to help protect your child from an emergency and to reunite with your child quickly and safely..."
Children and safety

The Intelligence Community and Its Use of Contractors: Congressional Oversight Issues

"Contractors have been and are an integral part of the intelligence community’s (IC’s) total workforce (which also includes federal employees and military personnel). Yet questions have been raised regarding how they are used, and the size and cost of the contractor component. Of particular interest are core contract personnel, who provide direct technical, managerial, and administrative support to agency staff. Examples of these types of support are collection and operations, analysis and production, and enterprise information and technology. The use of core contract personnel enables the IC to meet its needs, which may involve obtaining unique expertise or surge support for a particular mission, or augmenting insufficient in-house resources.

The IC has undertaken the following initiatives designed, or used, to track contractors or contractor employees:
  The Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI), through Intelligence Community Directive (ICD) 612 (dated October 30, 2009), requires the IC elements to provide inventories of their core contract personnel to the Assistant Director of National Intelligence for Human Capital (also known as the Chief Human Capital Officer (CHCO, or ADNI/CHCO)).
 Section 305(a) of P.L. 111-259, Intelligence Authorization Act (IAA) for FY2010, directs each IC component to provide estimates of the number and costs of core contract personnel for the upcoming fiscal year to ODNI.
 Section 339 of P.L. 111-259also contained a one-time requirement for the Director of National Intelligence (DNI) to report to the intelligence committees and the armed services committees on the IC’s use of personal services contracts..."
National Intelligence and contractors

Mandatory Minimum Sentencing: Federal Aggravated Identity Theft

"Aggravated identity theft is punishable by a mandatory minimum sentence of imprisonment for two years or by imprisonment for five years if it relates to a terrorism offense. At least thus far, the government has rarely prosecuted the five-year terrorism form of the offense. The two-year offense occurs when an individual knowingly possesses, uses, or transfers the means of identification of another person, without lawful authority to do so, during and in relation to one of more than 60 predicate federal felony offenses (18 U.S.C. 1028A). Section 1028A has the effect of establishing a mandatory minimum sentence for those predicate felony offenses, when they involve identity theft.

A sentencing court has the discretion not to “stack” or pancake multiple aggravated identity theft counts and, as with other mandatory minimums, may impose a sentence of less than the mandatory minimum at the request of the prosecution based on the defendant’s substantial assistance.

More than half of the judges responding to a United States Sentence Commission survey felt the two-year mandatory minimum penalty was generally appropriate. The Commission’s report on mandatory minimum sentencing statutes is mildly complimentary of the provision.."
Minimum sentencing

The Effectiveness of the Community Reinvestment Act

"This report informs the congressional debate concerning the CRA’s effectiveness in incentivizing bank lending and investment activity to LMI borrowers. After a discussion of the CRA’s origins, it presents the CRA’s examination process and bank activities that are eligible for consideration of CRA credits. Next, it discusses the difficulty of determining the CRA’s influence on bank behavior. For example, it could be argued that, by encouraging lending in LMI neighborhoods, the CRA may also encourage the issuance of higher-risk loans. Regulators, however, generally do not award CRA credits for payday and most subprime (nontraditional mortgage) loans, even if these loans originated in LMI areas. This regulatory practice suggests the CRA has little or no influence on higher-risk lending. In addition, banks face a variety of financial incentives (e.g., capital requirements, the current interest rate environment, consumer credit demand, and consumer credit history) that influence how much (or how little) they lend to LMI borrowers. Because financial and CRA incentives concurrently exist, it is difficult to separate how much influence should be attributed solely to the CRA. Furthermore, compliance with CRA does not require adherence to lending quotas or benchmarks. In the absence of benchmarks, determining the extent to which CRA incentives have influenced LMI credit availability relative to other factors is not straightforward..."
Community Reinvestment Act

NOAA’s new Climate Science Strategy aims to reduce effects of climate change on fisheries and living marine resources

"“NOAA just announced that for the globe the month of July — and actually, the entire year so far — was the warmest ever recorded, driven largely by record warm ocean temperatures,” said Eileen Sobeck, assistant NOAA administrator for fisheries.“ Those warmer waters – along with rising seas, coastal droughts and ocean acidification – are already putting people, businesses, and communities at risk. With this strategy, we’re taking a proactive approach in providing information on current and future conditions to try and reduce impacts and increase our resilience.”

The NOAA Fisheries Climate Science Strategy identifies seven key steps to increase production, delivery, and use of climate-related information to support the management of fish stocks, fisheries, and protected species. The steps focus on how a changing climate affects living marine resources, ecosystems, and the communities that depend on them, and how to respond to those changes..."
NOAA & Climate Change

An Update to the Budget and Economic Outlook: 2015 to 2025

"According to the Congressional Budget Office’s estimates, this year’s deficit will be noticeably smaller than what the agency projected in March, and fiscal year 2015 will mark the sixth consecutive year in which the deficit has declined as a percentage of gross domestic product (GDP) since it peaked in 2009. Over the next 10 years, however, the budget outlook remains much the same as CBO described earlier this year: If current laws generally remain unchanged, within a few years the deficit will begin to rise again relative to GDP, and by 2025, debt held by the public will be higher relative to the size of the economy than it is now..."
Federal budget

Federal Debt and the Statutory Limit, August 2015

"The debt limit—commonly referred to as the debt ceiling—is the maximum amount of debt that the Department of the Treasury can issue to the public and to other federal agencies. That amount is set by law and has been increased over the years in order to finance the government’s operations. In March, the debt ceiling was reached, and the Secretary of the Treasury announced a “debt issuance suspension period.” During such a period, existing statutes allow the Treasury to take a number of “extraordinary measures” to borrow additional funds without breaching the debt ceiling. The Congressional Budget Office projects that if the debt limit remains unchanged, those measures will be exhausted and the Treasury will run out of cash between mid-November and early December.1 At such time, the government would be unable to fully pay its obligations, a development that would lead to delays of payments for government activities, a default on the government’s debt obligations, or both..."
Federal debt

Quarterly and Mean Monthly Personal, Family and Household Income by Selected Characteristics

Find personal, family, and household income by selected characteristics for the First Quarter of 2013.
Family and household income

National, State, and Selected Local Area Vaccination Coverage Among Children Aged 19–35 Months — United States, 2014

"The reduction in morbidity and mortality associated with vaccine-preventable diseases in the United States has been described as one of the 10 greatest public health achievements of the first decade of the 21st century (1). A recent analysis concluded that routine childhood vaccination will prevent 322 million cases of disease and about 732,000 early deaths among children born during 1994–2013, for a net societal cost savings of $1.38 trillion (2). The National Immunization Survey (NIS) has monitored vaccination coverage among U.S. children aged 19–35 months since 1994 (3). This report presents national, regional, state, and selected local area vaccination coverage estimates for children born from January 2011 through May 2013, based on data from the 2014 NIS. For most vaccinations, there was no significant change in coverage between 2013 and 2014..."
Vaccination coverage

FTC Staff Comment: FDA Should Reevaluate Its Current Regulatory Framework for Homeopathic Products

"The staff of the Federal Trade Commission has recommended that the U.S. Food and Drug Administrationreconsider the framework it uses to regulate homeopathic medications because it may appear to conflict with the FTC’s advertising substantiation doctrine in ways that could harm consumers and cause confusion for advertisers.

In a comment submitted to the FDA, the FTC staff states that the FDA should consider amending or repealing its framework for homeopathic medications. The comment was submitted in response to an FDA request for public comment in connection with an April 2015 FDA hearing on this issue.

The staff comment notes that the FDA’s regulatory framework for homeopathic drugs, set forth in a 1988 Compliance Policy Guide, does not require that over-the-counter (OTC) homeopathic drugs be approved by FDA as safe and effective if they satisfy certain conditions, including that the product’s label contains an indication for use. Yet the policy guide does not require sellers to have competent and reliable scientific evidence to support the indication for use..."
Homeopathic products

Hurricane Readiness

"If you live in coastal areas at risk, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) encourages you to prepare for hurricane season. The Atlantic hurricane season is June 1 through November 30 each year.
Please follow these important hurricane readiness tips from CDC:  

• Preparing for a Hurricane : Take basic steps now to ensure your safety should a storm hit.
• Emergency Supplies You Will Need : Stock your home and your car with supplies.
• Make a Plan : Create a family disaster plan.
• Prepare to Evacuate : Never ignore an evacuation order.
• If You Are Ordered NOT to Evacuate : Get through the storm in the safest possible manner.
• Protecting Older Adults : Understand older adult health and medical concerns.
• Protecting Pets : Ensure your pet's safety before, during, and after an emergency.
• Prevent carbon monoxide (CO) poisoning after the storm : Place generators outside at least 20 feet away..."
  Hurricanes

Adults Need Vaccines, Too

"Vaccines are not just for kids! Regardless of age, we all need immunizations to protect against serious, and sometimes deadly, diseases. Protection from vaccines you received as a child can wear off over time, and you may be at risk for new and different diseases.

Find Out Which Vaccines Are Recommended For You

The specific vaccines you need as an adult are determined by factors such as your age, job, lifestyle, health conditions, locations of travel, and vaccines you’ve received in the past. Throughout your adult life, vaccines are recommended to get and maintain protection against:

• Seasonal influenza (flu) (for all adults)healthca
• Pertussis (whooping cough) (for all adults who have not previously received the Tdap vaccine and for women during each pregnancy)
• Tetanus and diphtheria (every 10 years following Tdap vaccine)
• Shingles (for adults 60 years and older)
• Pneumococcal disease (for adults 65 years and older and adults younger than 65 who have specific health conditions).."
• Immunizations 

West Nile Virus

"Summertime means mosquitoes and West Nile virus season. An infected mosquito bite can make you or a family member sick with West Nile virus. Stay healthy this summer. Avoid mosquito bites, especially from dusk (evening) to dawn (morning) when the mosquitoes that spread West Nile virus are most active.

How many people get sick with West Nile virus?

Nearly 42,000 cases of West Nile virus disease have been reported in the United States since 1999. Of those, nearly 19,000 people have had neurologic disease (infections of the brain or spinal cord) and more than 1,700 people have died. Many more cases of illness are not reported to CDC. Since 1999, an estimated 700,000 people in the United States have become ill due to West Nile virus infection..."
West nile virus

The Path a Book Takes

"Between the time a book is published and a library user reads it, as many as a dozen Library staff members will have handled the volume. They will have made a series of crucial decisions about its acquisition for the collection, analyzed and described it in the Library of Congress Online Catalog and preserved and shelved it so it can be made accessible to readers.To track the path a book takes from arrival to the reading room, we will follow “Crónicas Cuauhtemenses” by Rodolfo Torres González, a volume received from the Mexican book dealer México Norte..."
Books and Library of Congress

Who Drives to Work? Commuting by Automobile in the United States: 2013

"The automobile has played a fundamental role in shaping where we live and how we get around. It has influenced the form and density of our communities and expanded the geographic range of daily travel. Nationally, the private automobile is the predominant form of transportation for work and other travel purposes.1 In 2013, about 86 percent of all workers commuted to work by private vehicle, either driving alone or carpooling (Figure 1). In recent years, the percentage of workers who commute by private vehicle remained relatively stable after decades of consistent increase. For several individual years since the mid-2000s, the average number of vehicle miles traveled in the United States has either increased at a slower pace than in previous decades or declined.2, 3, 4 Although such shifts in travel behavior are slight, they have captured attention because they represent a disruption in an unequivocal, decades-long pattern of increased automobile travel..."
Driving to work

Coalition Contributions to Countering the Islamic State

"The Global Campaign to Counter the Islamic State
On September 10, 2014, President Obama announced the formation of a global coalition to “degrade and ultimately defeat” the Islamic State (IS, aka the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant, ISIL/ISIS or the Arabic acronym Daesh). Subsequently, some 60 nations and partner organizations agreed to participate, contributing either military forces or resources (or both) to the campaign. In Brussels in December 2014, these sixty partners agreed to organize themselves along five “lines of effort,” (by contrast, the U.S. strategy involves nine lines of effort), with at least two countries in the lead for each:
• Supporting military operations, capacity building, and training (led by the United States and Iraq);
• Stopping the flow of foreign terrorist fighters (led by The Netherlands and Turkey);
 • Cutting off IS access to financing and funding (led by Italy, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and the United States);
 • Addressing associated humanitarian relief and crises (led by Germany and the United Arab Emirates);
and • Exposing IS’ true nature (led by the United Arab Emirates, the United Kingdom, and the United States)..."
Islamic State

Iran Nuclear Agreement: Selected Issues for Congress

"The nuclear agreement between Iran and six negotiating powers (“P5+1:” United States, France, Britain, Germany, Russia, and China), finalized on July 14, 2015, raises a wide variety of issues as Congress undertakes a formal review under the Iran Nuclear Agreement Review Act (P.L. 114- 17). The Administration submitted the 150+ page text (including annexes) of the “Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action,” (JCPOA) to Congress on July 19, 2015, and the period for congressional review under the act is to conclude on September 17. Should the agreement stand after review processes in Congress and in Iran’s legislatures, the JCPOA would enter into force 90 days from July 20, 2015—the date of the adoption of U.N. Security Council Resolution 2231, which endorsed the JCPOA and called on U.N. member states to assist in its implementation.

Broadly, the accord represents an exchange of limitations on Iran’s nuclear program for the lifting or suspension of U.S., U.N., and European Union (EU) sanctions. The text contains relatively complicated provisions for inspections of undeclared Iranian nuclear facilities, processes for adjudicating complaints by any of the parties for nonperformance of commitments, “snap-back” provisions for U.N. sanctions, finite durations for many of Iran’s nuclear commitments, and broad U.N., E.U., and U.S. commitments to suspend or lift most of the numerous sanctions imposed on Iran since 2010. Many of the agreement’s provisions have raised questions about the degree to which the accord can accomplish the P5+1 objectives that were stated when P5+1-Iran negotiations began in 2006..."
Iran and nuclear agreement

National Security Letters in Foreign Intelligence Investigations: A Glimpse at the Legal Background

"Five federal statutes authorize intelligence officials to request certain business record information in connection with national security investigations. The authority to issue these national security letters (NSLs) is comparable to the authority to issue administrative subpoenas. The USA PATRIOT Act (P.L. 107-56) expanded the authority under the original four NSL statutes and created a fifth. Thereafter, the authority was reported to have been widely used. Then, a report by the Department of Justice’s Inspector General (IG) found that in its use of expanded USA PATRIOT Act authority the FBI had “used NSLs in violation of applicable NSL statutes, Attorney General Guidelines, and internal FBI policies,” although it concluded that no criminal laws had been broken. A year later, a second IG report confirmed the findings of the first, and noted the corrective measures taken in response. A third IG report, critical of the FBI’s use of exigent letters and informal NSL alternatives, noted that the practice had been stopped and related problems addressed..."
National security letters

July 2015 was warmest month ever recorded for the globe.

"The July average temperature across global land and ocean surfaces was 1.46°F (0.81°C) above the 20^th century average. As July is climatologically the warmest month for the year, this was also the all-time highest monthly temperature in the 1880–2015 record, at 61.86°F (16.61°C), surpassing the previous record set in 1998 by 0.14°F (0.08°C).

• Separately, the July globally-averaged land surface temperature was 1.73°F (0.96°C) above the 20^thcentury average. This was the sixth highest for July in the 1880–2015 record..."
  Global climate info

A Gray Revolution in Living Arrangements

"The last 50 years have witnessed a revolution in young adult living arrangements, which are now more diverse than at any time since World War II. The transformation is not limited to young adults, however. Today’s older adults, defined here as 65 and older, are more likely to live alone or with an unmarried partner than previous generations (see Figure 1). Surprisingly, they’re also the only age group where living with a spouse is more common today than 50 years ago — every other age group has witnessed a substantialdecline in marriage..."
Living arrangements

Majority of Americans Drive to Work, But Less so for Urban Millennials

"If your drive to work feels a little lonely, you may be among the three-quarters of U.S. workers who drive to work alone. Driving alone reached its highest point in 2010, at 76.6 percent of workers, after a decades-long pattern of increase (see below). It remained the most common type of work travel in 2013..."
Journey to work

Pregnant? Get vaccinated.

"Learn about the vaccines you will need before and during your pregnancy to help protect yourself and your newest family member from serious diseases.

Vaccines are an important part of planning and having a healthy pregnancy. If you are planning a pregnancy, check with your doctor to make sure you are up-to-date on your vaccines. If you are currently pregnant, doctors and midwives recommend you receive 2 vaccines during your pregnancy:

• Tdap to help protect against whooping cough, and
• The flu shot to help protect against influenza..."

Pregnancy and vaccination

Fatal Injury Reports, National and Regional, 1999 - 2013

Find the latest injury data from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention by intent or manner of the injury; cause or mechanisn of the injury; and by geography, race and sex of the injured.    
Injury statistics

Statistics of U.S. Businesses (SUSB) Main

"2012 annual or static data include number of firms, number of establishments, employment, annual payroll, and estimated receipts for most U.S. business establishments. The data are tabulated by geographic area, industry, and enterprise size. Industry classification is based on 2012 North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) codes. An establishment with 0 employment is an establishment with no paid employees in the mid-March pay period but with paid employees at some time during the year..."
Business statistics

A Guide to U.S. Military Casualty Statistics: Operation Freedom’s Sentinel, Operation Inherent Resolve, Operation New Dawn, Operation Iraqi Freedom, and Operation Enduring Freedom

"This report presents statistics regarding U.S. military and civilian casualties in the active missions Operation Freedom’s Sentinel (OFS, Afghanistan) and Operation Inherent Resolve (OIR, Iraq and Syria) and, as well as operations that have ended, Operation New Dawn (OND, Iraq), Operation Iraqi Freedom (OIF, Iraq), and Operation Enduring Freedom (OEF, Afghanistan). It also includes statistics on post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), traumatic brain injury (TBI), and amputations. Some of these statistics are publicly available at the Department of Defense’s (DOD’s) website and others have been obtained through DOD experts.
For more information on pre-2000 casualties, see CRS Report RL32492, American War and Military Operations Casualties: Lists and Statistics, by Nese F. DeBruyne and Anne Leland..."
military casualties

Three things to do before closing: What we learned from studying eClosing

"We’ve heard from many consumers about the overwhelming process of closing on a mortgage, which can be confusing and difficult. Closing is the part of the mortgage process where you accept the terms of your loan, the last step before you owe, and usually before you owe more than you ever have in your life.

As part of our broader efforts to improve the overall mortgage experience, we’ve been exploring how technology can be used to address some of those pain points in the closing process.

Today we’re releasing the results of a pilot program where we explored tools and process changes that can help consumers better navigate closing by accessing and signing their closing documents in different ways. Specifically, we examined what would happen if there was more technology involved in the mortgage closing process, with documents being delivered electronically earlier together with online tools and resources. The electronic delivery and signing of closing documents using electronic signatures is sometimes referred to as eClosing.

We wanted to study the idea that by using technology as a tool, consumers may be better informed and prepared – putting them in the driver’s seat at closing..."
Closing

FDA Guidance Documents

"The table below lists all official FDA Guidance Documents and other regulatory guidance. You can search for documents using key words, and you can narrow or filter your results by product, date issued, FDA organizational unit, type of document, subject, draft or final status, and comment period.

This feature is provided to give a convenient way to search for all FDA guidance documents from a single location. We will continue to refine it as we observe its performance.

If you cannot find the document you’re looking for here, you can browse separate collections of guidance documents by topic.,,:
FDA

Richard M. Nixon’s Resignation Letter, 08/09/1974

Read a copy or President Richard M. Nixon's letter of resignation on August 9. 1974/
Richard Nixon's resignation

Healthy Lunches

"Just as your family is settling into summer mode, for many, August also marks back-to-school time. That means back to packing school lunches. Between teacher "meet and greets," school supply shopping, and getting back on a routine sleep schedule, lunchbox packing tends to be last on the list. But, what your child eats for lunch matters more than you might realize.

Don't Pack the Salt

A recent CDC Vital Signs report found that about 90 percent of U.S. school-aged children consume too much sodium each day. To put that into perspective, if there are 20 kids in your child's class, 18 of them will be eating too much sodium each day. Which group does your child fall into?..."
Lunches

Mortality in Local Jails and State Prisons, 2000–2013

"For the third consecutive year, the number of inmates who died while in the custody of local jails or state prisons increased. A total of 4,446 inmates died in 2013, an increase of 131 deaths since 2012. The number of deaths in local jails and prison decreased an annual average of 2% between 2008 and 2010.

In 2013, a total of 967 jail inmates died while in the custody of local jails. The number of deaths increased from 958 deaths in 2012 to 967 in 2013, while the jail population decreased 4%. As a result, the overall mortality rate in local jails increased from 128 per 100,000 jail inmates in 2012 to 135 per 100,000 in 2013. Suicide and heart disease have been the top two causes of death in local jails since 2000 (figure 1). Suicide has been the leading cause of death in jails every year since 2000. In 2013, a third (34%) of jail inmate deaths were due to suicide. The suicide rate increased 14%, from 40 suicides per 100,000 jail inmates in 2012 to 46 per 100,000 in 2013...:
Prison deaths

50 Years After the Voting Rights Act, We Still Have Work to Do

"On August 6, 1965, President Lyndon Johnson signed the Voting Rights Act into law — breaking down legal barriers at the state and local level that had prevented African Americans and others from exercising their constitutional right to vote.

Because of that law — one of our nation's most influential pieces of legislation — Americans who were previously disenfranchised and left out of the democratic process were finally able to cast a ballot. The law was designed to ensure that all American citizens, regardless of the color of their skin, had an equal opportunity to make their voices heard..."
Voting Rights Act

Making Health Care Safer Stop Spread of Antibiotic Resistance

"We're at a tipping point: an increasing number of germs no longer respond to the drugs designed to kill them. Inappropriate prescribing of antibiotics and lack of infection control actions can contribute to drug resistance and put patients at risk for deadly diarrhea (caused by C. difficile). Even if one facility is following recommended infection controls, germs can be spread inside of and between health care facilities when patients are transferred from one health care facility to another without appropriate actions to stop spread. Lack of coordination between facilities can put patients at increased risk. Now more than ever is the time for public health authorities and health care facilities to work together, sharing experiences and connecting patient safety efforts happening across the state..."
Antibiotic resistance

The Parks Service Just Added Four New National Historic Landmarks

"Interior Secretary Sally Jewell and National Park Service Director Jonathan B. Jarvis have announced the addition of four new national historic landmarks. This comes on the heels of President Obama’s decision just a few weeks ago to declare three new national monuments, bringing the total acreage of land he has preserved during his time in office up to 260 million acres.

The four new national historic landmarks were carefully selected for their ability to illuminate the country’s heritage: the Washington Post’s Patricia Sullivan reports that there are only 2,500 national historic landmarks across the entire United States..."

National historic landmarks

Consumer and Credit Reporting, Scoring, and Related Policy Issues

"The consumer data industry collects and subsequently provides information to firms about the behavior of consumers when they participate in various financial transactions. Firms use consumer information to screen for the risk that consumers will engage in behaviors that are costly for businesses. For example, lenders rely upon credit reports and scores to determine the likelihood that prospective borrowers will repay their loans. Insured depository institutions (i.e., banks and credit unions) rely on consumer data service providers to determine whether to make available checking accounts or loans to individuals. Some insurance companies use consumer data to determine what insurance products to make available and to set policy premiums. Some payday lenders use data regarding the management of checking accounts and payment of telecommunications and utility bills to determine the likelihood of failure to repay small-dollar cash advances. Merchants rely on the consumer data industry to determine whether to approve payment by check or electronic payment card. Employers may use consumer data information to screen prospective employees to determine the likelihood of fraudulent behavior. In short, numerous firms rely upon consumer data to identify and evaluate potential loss risks before entering into financial relationships with new consumers..."
Consumer credit reports

Climate Change in the United States: Benefits of Global Action

"A new EPA report, Climate Change in the United States: Benefits of Global Action, estimates the physical and monetary benefits to the U.S. of reducing global greenhouse gas emissions. This report summarizes results from the Climate Change Impacts and Risks Analysis (CIRA) project, a peer-reviewed study comparing impacts in a future with significant global action on climate change to a future in which current greenhouse gas emissions continue to rise.

The report shows that global action on climate change will significantly benefit Americans by saving lives and avoiding costly damages across the U.S. economy..."
Climate Change in U.S.

American Experience vs American Expectations:an Updated Look at Private-sector Employment for Women, African Americans, Hispanics, Asian-Americans...

"American Experiences versus American Expectations illustrates the significant changes to the United States workforce during the 50 years since the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) opened its doors in 1965. The report is an updated look at the groundbreaking 1977 EEOC research Black Experiences Versus Black Expectations. Written by Dr. Melvin Humphrey, EEOC's then-director of Research, Black Experiences versus Black Expectations was the first major EEOC research report to use data collected through the EEO-1 survey to focus on the issue of racial inequality in the workforce. The report's title came from the gap between African American employment experiences in the workforce and expectations based on fair-share employment levels, defined at the time as the number of minorities employed at a rate equal to their employment availability. 

American Experiences versus American Expectations focuses on changes in employment participation from 1966 to 2013 not only for African Americans but also for Hispanics, Asian Americans, American Indians/Alaskan Natives, and women. The participation rate represents the percentage of workers from each demographic group that hold positions in the variety of categories reported in the EEO-1 survey.

Beginning in 1966 all employers with 100 or more employees (lower thresholds apply to federal contractors) have been required by law to file the Employer Information Report EEO-1 with the EEOC. In FY 2013 approximately 70,000 employers filed an EEO-1. These forms indicate the composition of an employer's workforces by sex and by race/ethnic category..."
American experiences

What the Clean Power Plan Means For America

"On Monday, President Obama will release the final version of America's Clean Power Plan—the biggest, most important step we've ever taken to combat climate change. If you agree that we can't condemn our kids and grandkids to a planet that's beyond fixing, share this video with your friends and family. It's time to ‪#‎ActOnClimate‬..."
Clean power plan

6 Things Every American Should Know About the Clean Power Plan

Please find a 6 points explanation of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's Clean Power Plan from U.S. EPA Administrator Gina McCarthy. 
Clean Energy Plan

Home Canning and Botulism

"Home canning is an excellent way to preserve garden produce and share it with family and friends, but it can be risky or even deadly if not done correctly and safely.

It's summer, and home gardeners are harvesting the delicious produce they've been growing this year. Home canning is a great way to preserve your garden goodies. But beware: if it's done the wrong way, the vegetables you worked so hard for could become contaminated by a germ that causes botulism, a serious illness that can affect your nerves, paralyze you, and even cause death. Read on to learn about the symptoms and the safe way to can so you can protect yourself, your family, and others when you share your home-canned goodies..."
Home Canning

The President's Task Force on 21st Century Policing

"Trust between law enforcement agencies and the people they protect and serve is essential in a democracy. It is key to the stability of our communities, the integrity of our criminal justice system, and the safe and effective delivery of policing services.

In light of recent events that have exposed rifts in the relationships between local police and the communities they protect and serve, on December 18, 2014, President Barack Obama signed an executive order establishing the Task Force on 21st Century Policing. The President charged the task force with identifying best practices and offering recommendations on how policing practices can promote effective crime reduction while building public trust..."
Task Force on Policing

Disability Impacts all of US

Please find a graphic presentation of disability in the United States.
Disability impacts

AMERICA'S CHILDREN: KEY NATIONAL INDICATORS OF WELL-BEING, 2015

"America's Children: Key National Indicators of Well-Being, 2015 is a compendium of indicators depicting the condition of our Nation's young people. The report, the 17th in an ongoing series, presents 41 key indicators on important aspects of children's lives. These indicators are drawn from our most reliable Federal statistics, are easily understood by broad audiences, are objectively based on substantial research, are balanced so that no single area of children's lives dominates the report, are measured often to show trends over time, and are representative of large segments of the population rather than one particular group..."
America's children