Graduated Driver Licensing Night Driving Restrictions and Drivers Aged 16 or 17 Years Involved in Fatal Night Crashes — United States, 2009–2014

"Fatal crash risk is higher at night for all drivers, but especially for young, inexperienced drivers (1). To help address the increased crash risk for beginner teen drivers, 49 states and the District of Columbia include a night driving restriction (NDR) in their Graduated Driver Licensing (GDL) system. NDRs have been shown to reduce crashes among newly licensed teens, with higher reductions associated with NDRs starting at 10:00 p.m. or earlier (2–3). However, in 23 states and the District of Columbia, NDRs begin at 12:00 a.m. or later, times when most teen drivers subject to GDL are not driving. CDC analyzed 2009–2014 national and state-level data from the Fatality Analysis Reporting System (FARS) to determine the proportion of drivers aged 16 or 17 years involved in fatal crashes who crashed at night (9:00 p.m.–5:59 a.m.) and the proportion of these drivers who crashed before 12:00 a.m. Nationwide, among 6,104 drivers aged 16 or 17 years involved in fatal crashes during 2009–2014, 1,865 (31%) were involved in night crashes..."
Night driving crashes

Pay Equity: Legislative and Legal Developments

"According to some federal data, on average, full-time female workers earn approximately 20% less than full-time male workers. At least a portion of this gap is due to observable factors such as hours worked and the concentration of female workers in lower-paid occupations. Some interpret these data as evidence that discrimination, if present at all, is a minor factor in the pay differentials and conclude that no policy changes are necessary. Conversely, advocates for further policy interventions note that some of the explanatory factors of the pay gap (such as occupation and hours worked) could be the result of discrimination and that no broadly accepted methodology is able to attribute the entirety of the pay gap to non-gender factors.

Currently, there are two federal laws that may provide a remedy to employees who believe that unlawful sex-based wage discrimination has occurred: the Equal Pay Act (EPA) and Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. Under the EPA, employers are prohibited from paying lower wages to female employees than male employees for “equal work” on jobs requiring “equal skill, effort, and responsibility” and performed “under similar working conditions” at the same location. Thus, the EPA is narrowly focused on the factual question of whether an employer has, on the basis of sex, paid unequal wages for equal work. In contrast, Title VII, which prohibits employment discrimination on the basis of race, color, national origin, religion, and sex, is far broader in scope than the EPA and focuses on determining whether an employer had a discriminatory motive for paying workers differently on the basis of sex..."
Pay Equality

U.S. Department of Defense. Law of War Manual

"The law of war is part of who we are. George Washington, as Commander in Chief of the Continental Army, agreed with his British adversary that the Revolutionary War would be “carried on agreeable to the rules which humanity formed” and “to prevent or punish every breach of the rules of war within the sphere of our respective commands.” During the Civil War, President Lincoln approved a set of “Instructions for the Government of the Armies of the United States in the Field,” which inspired other countries to adopt similar codes for their armed forces, and which served as a template for international codifications of the law of war.

After World War II, U.S. military lawyers, trying thousands of defendants before military commissions did, in the words of Justice Robert Jackson, “stay the hand of vengeance and voluntarily submit their captive enemies to the judgment of law” in “one of the most significant tributes that Power has ever paid to Reason.” Reflecting on this distinctive history, one Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff observed that “[t]he laws of war have a peculiarly American cast.” And it is also true that the laws of war have shaped the U.S. Armed Forces as much as they have shaped any other armed force in the world..."
Department of Defense Law of War

Volkswagen to Spend up to $14.7 Billion to Settle Allegations of Cheating Emissions Tests and Deceiving Customers on 2.0 Liter Diesel Vehicles

"In two related settlements, one with the United States and the State of California, and one with the U.S. Federal Trade Commission (FTC), German automaker Volkswagen AG and related entities have agreed to spend up to $14.7 billion to settle allegations of cheating emissions tests and deceiving customers. Volkswagen will offer consumers a buyback and lease termination for nearly 500,000 model year 2009-2015 2.0 liter diesel vehicles sold or leased in the U.S., and spend up to $10.03 billion to compensate consumers under the program. In addition, the companies will spend $4.7 billion to mitigate the pollution from these cars and invest in green vehicle technology.

The settlements partially resolve allegations by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), as well as the California Attorney General’s Office and the California Air Resources Board (CARB) under the Clean Air Act, California Health and Safety Code, and California’s Unfair Competition Laws, relating to the vehicles’ use of “defeat devices” to cheat emissions tests. The settlements also resolve claims by the FTC that Volkswagen violated the FTC Act through the deceptive and unfair advertising and sale of its “clean diesel” vehicles. The settlements do not resolve pending claims for civil penalties or any claims concerning 3.0 liter diesel vehicles. Nor do they address any potential criminal liability..."

Volkswagen and emission test

Asian-Owned Businesses Nearing Two Million

"Between 2007 and 2012, the number of U.S. businesses owned by Asian-Americans rose 23.8 percent, from 1.5 million to 1.9 million.

In contrast, the total number of all U.S. firms increased only 2.0 percent during the same period, from 27.1 million to 27.6 million. As a result, 6.9 percent of all businesses were Asian-owned in 2012, up from 5.7 percent five years earlier. Asian business ownership is defined as having persons of Asian Indian, Chinese, Filipino, Japanese, Korean, Vietnamese or other Asian origin (such as Hmong, Laotian, Thai, Pakistani or Cambodian) owning 51.0 percent or more of the stock or equity in a nonfarm business operating in the United States. According to U.S. Census Bureau population estimates, Asians accounted for 5.8 percent of the 18 or older population in 2012. Censuses and surveys permit respondents to select more than one race; the 5.8 percent figure pertains to those who said they were either Asian only or Asian in combination with one or more other races.."
Asian-Owned Businesses

Executive Order 9981: Desegregation of the Armed Forces

"On July 26, 1948, President Harry S. Truman signed this executive order establishing the President’s Committee on Equality of Treatment and Opportunity in the Armed Services, committing the government to integrating the segregated military..."
Armed Forces Desegregation

New Requirements for FOIA Response Letters, Including Affording Ninety Days to file an Administrative Appeal, and New Notification Requirement for Notices Extending FOIA’s Time Limits Due to Unusual Circumstances

"On June 30, 2016, President Obama signed into law the FOIA Improvement Act of 2016, Pub. L. No. 114-185, 130 Stat. 538, which contains several substantive and procedural amendments to the FOIA.   OIP has prepared a summary of the amendments as well as a redlined version of the statute which shows the changes made by the amendments.  The new provisions apply to any request made after the date of enactment, which was June 30, 2016.  OIP will be issuing guidance on various aspects of the amendments on a rolling basis.   Agencies are encouraged to contact OIP with any questions they might have on implementation of the new provisions. 

Among the changes to the law are several new requirements for agency response letters and for notices to requesters extending the FOIA’s time limits due to unusual circumstances.  For response letters agencies must notify requesters of their right to seek assistance from the FOIA Public Liaison and, if the response is adverse, they must also notify the requester of their right to seek dispute resolution services from the Office of Government Information Services (OGIS), within the National Archives and Records Administration.   Additionally, agencies must now afford requesters a minimum of ninety days to file an administrative appeal.  When invoking unusual circumstances to extend the FOIA’s time limits, agencies already were required to make their FOIA Public Liaison available, but now they must also notify the requester of the availability of dispute resolution services offered by OGIS.  The guidance below details these new requirements and the attached implementation checklist provides sample language for agencies to use..."
FOIA

HIV/AIDS Surveillance Data Base:2015

"The concept of the HIV/AIDS Surveillance Data Base was developed by the U.S. Census Bureau in consultation with the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) in 1987. The database was created to provide easy access to published results from the multitude of seroprevalence surveys and other studies that were being undertaken at the time. The database continues to be updated annually by the Census Bureau with the support of USAID to meet the needs of policy makers and program planners around the world.

The HIV/AIDS Surveillance Data Base is a compilation of information from widely scattered small-scale surveys on the AIDS pandemic and HIV seroprevalence (infection) in population groups in developing countries. The Data Base hosts information from the medical and scientific literature, presentations at international conferences, and the press. Through the Data Base interface, available information for population groups in a selected country can be easily retrieved and displayed on the computer screen, and printed or saved to a .pdf or .csv file. The HIV/AIDS Surveillance Data Base includes all countries and areas of the world with at least 5,000 population, with the exception of Northern America (including the United States) and U.S. territories...:
HIV/AIDS database

Few Artifacts of the Transatlantic Slave Trade Still Exist. These Iron Blocks Help Tell That Gut-Wrenching Story

"The first time Lonnie Bunch touched an iron ballast from the sunken Portuguese slave ship São José Paquete de Africa, he cried.

“I really believe that artifacts have power, that they carry spirits, feelings,” says Bunch, founding director of the Smithsonian’s National Museum of African American History and Culture. “When you touch that, you understand that ballast was supposed to equal a body so that the ship could float.”

Tears came to his eyes again Wednesday night at the Embassy of South Africa, where historians, diplomats and divers gathered to commemorate the loan of items from the ship that sank off of Cape Town, South Africa in December of 1794. It was carrying 512 enslaved Mozambicans, and also iron ballasts. Those long thick bars were meant to offset the weight of its human cargo..."
Iron bllasts

Nanotechnology: A Policy Primer

"Nanoscale science, engineering, and technology—commonly referred to collectively as nanotechnology—is believed by many to offer extraordinary economic and societal benefits. Congress has demonstrated continuing support for nanotechnology and has directed its attention particularly to three topics that may affect the realization of this hoped for potential: federal research and development (R&D) in nanotechnology; U.S. competitiveness in the field; and environmental, health, and safety (EHS) concerns. This report provides an overview of these topics and two others: nanomanufacturing and public understanding of and attitudes toward nanotechnology..." 
Nanotechnology

Motor Vehicle Crash Deaths

"Reducing motor vehicle crash deaths was one of the great public health achievements of the 20th century for the US. However, more than 32,000 people are killed and 2 million are injured each year from motor vehicle crashes. In 2013, the US crash death rate was more than twice the average of other high-income countries. In the US, front seat belt use was lower than in most other comparison countries. One in 3 crash deaths in the US involved drunk driving, and almost 1 in 3 involved speeding. Lower death rates in other high-income countries and a high percentage of risk factors in the US suggest that we can make more progress in reducing crash deaths...".
Motor vehicle crashes

VA Conducts Nation’s Largest Analysis of Veteran Suicide

"The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) has undertaken the most comprehensive analysis of Veteran suicide rates in the U.S., examining over 55 million Veteran records from 1979 to 2014 from every state in the nation. The effort extends VA’s knowledge from the previous report issued in 2010, which examined  three million  Veteran records from 20 states were available.  Based on the data from 2010, VA estimated the number of Veteran deaths by suicide averaged 22 per day.  The current analysis indicates that in 2014, an average of 20 Veterans a day died from suicide.

“One Veteran suicide is one too many, and this collaborative effort provides both updated and comprehensive data that allows us to make better informed decisions on how to prevent this national tragedy,” said VA Under Secretary for Health, Dr. David J. Shulkin. “We as a nation must focus on bringing the number of Veteran suicides to zero..."
Veterans suicide

State Voter Identification Requirements: Analysis, Legal Issues, and Policy Considerations

"About 60% of U.S. voters live in the 33 states that require a voter at a polling place to produce an identification document (ID) before casting a ballot. Among those states, 20 permit voters without ID to cast a ballot through alternative means, such as signing an affidavit; 13 strictly enforce the ID requirement. The other 17 states and the District of Columbia have a range of nondocument requirements instead.

Over the last two decades, the number of states requiring voter IDs has tripled. The stringency of those requirements is controversial. States vary substantially in the range of IDs accepted, the information they must contain, and the ease with which a voter can procure an ID. Although all states requiring voter ID accept a local driver’s license, no two states have the same overall requirements. Among states with voter ID laws, 20 require photographic identification (photo ID), while 13 permit a nonphoto ID. In addition, 8 states require ID for voters casting absentee or mail-in ballots..."
Voter ID

Clean Power Plan reduces projected coal production in all major U.S. supply regions

"U.S. coal production is projected to decline by about 26%, or 230 million tons, between 2015 and 2040 in EIA'sAnnual Energy Outlook 2016 (AEO2016) Reference case, which assumes the implementation of the Clean Power Plan (CPP). In a scenario that assumes the CPP is never implemented (No CPP case), U.S. coal production remains close to 2015 levels through 2040. Although production in each major U.S. coal supply region is expected to decline when the CPP is implemented, the magnitude of the effects differs because of differences in coal quality, pricing, and the markets served by each region.

In 2015, the coal production shares of the West, Interior, and Appalachian regions were 55%, 19%, and 26%, respectively. In the scenario without the Clean Power Plan, these shares were expected to shift to 52%, 29%, and 20% by 2040, respectively, as coal production from the Interior region increases while coal production in the West and Appalachian regions decreases. In the Reference case, the decline in coal demand impedes growth for the Interior region and leads to even larger declines in the West and Appalachian regions. By 2040, market shares for the West, Interior, and Appalachian regions are 51%, 26%, 22%, respectively..."
Clean power

The 2016 Long-Term Budget Outlook

"If current laws governing taxes and spending did not change, the United States would face steadily increasing federal budget deficits and debt over the next 30 years, according to projections by the Congressional Budget Office. Federal debt held by the public, which was equal to 39 percent of gross domestic product (GDP) at the end of fiscal year 2008, has already risen to 75 percent of GDP in the wake of a financial crisis and a recession. In CBO’s projections, that debt rises to 86 percent of GDP in 2026 and to 141 percent in 2046—exceeding the historical peak of 106 percent that occurred just after World War II. The prospect of such large debt poses substantial risks for the nation and presents policymakers with significant challenges..."
Federal budget

Senate Confirms Carla Hayden as 14th Librarian of Congress

"The United States Senate today by a vote of 74-18 confirmed Dr. Carla D. Hayden, longtime chief executive of the Enoch Pratt Free Library system in Baltimore and a former president of the American Library Association, as the 14th Librarian of Congress, for a renewable 10-year term.

Dr. Hayden was nominated by President Barack Obama in February.

"This is truly a great honor to be nominated by President Obama and confirmed by the U.S. Senate to lead the nation’s library, the Library of Congress," Dr. Hayden said. "It has been my privilege to serve the citizens of Baltimore for 23 years and help restore the Enoch Pratt Free Library as a world-renowned institution. I look forward to working with the dedicated staff of the Library of Congress. I will be honored to build on the legacy and accomplishments of my predecessors in this position, to be part of a continuing movement to open the treasure chest that is the Library of Congress even further and to make it a place that can be found and used by everyone."

Dr. Hayden is the first woman, and the first African American, to serve as chief executive of the Library of Congress, the largest library in the world, with 162 million items in its collections. It also oversees the U.S. Copyright Office and the Congressional Research Service. It serves Congress and makes its research collections accessible on site and online..."
Carla Hayden,  Library of Congress

Fossil fuels still dominate U.S. energy consumption despite recent market share decline

"Three fossil fuels—petroleum, natural gas, and coal—have provided more than 80% of total U.S. energy consumption for more than 100 years. In 2015, fossil fuels made up 81.5% of total U.S. energy consumption, the lowest fossil fuel share in the past century. In EIA's Annual Energy Outlook 2016 Reference case projections, which reflect current laws and policies, that percentage declines to 76.6% by 2040. Policy changes or technology breakthroughs that go beyond the trend improvements included in the Reference case could significantly change that projection..."
Fossil fuel

Refugee Law and Policy In Selected Countries

"This report describes the law and policy on refugees and other asylum seekers in twenty-two geographically dispersed countries and, at the supranational level, in the European Union (EU). The individual surveys cover such topics as participation in relevant international conventions; laws and regulations governing the admission of refugees and handling refugee claims; processes for handling refugees arriving at the border; procedures for evaluating whether an applicant is entitled to refugee status; the accommodations and assistance provided to refugees in the jurisdiction; requirements for naturalization; and whether asylum policy has been affected by international emergencies, such as the current refugee crisis in Europe. A bibliography of selected relevant English-language materials from recent years is included..."
Refugee law

The FDA Just Declared War on Cookie Dough

"It’s a dangerous world out there—from geopolitical turmoil to new epidemics, it can sometimes seem as if potential hazards lurk around every corner. But don’t try to handle the fear by licking the beaters while baking or burying yourself in a bowl of homemade cookie dough. As Allison Carter writes for the Indianapolis Star, the Food and Drug Administration is warning Americans to put down the raw cookie dough or risk severe health consequences.

In a recent consumer update, the FDA warns consumers to stop indulging in raw dough in any form—regardless of whether it contains eggs. Jenny Scott, a senior adviser in the FDA’s Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition, says that “eating raw dough or batter—whether it’s for bread, cookies, pizza or tortillas—could make you, and your kids, sick.”..."
Cookie Dough