Pedestrian Traffic Fatalities by State: 2019 Preliminary Data,

"In recent years, the number of pedestrian fatalities in the United States has grown sharply. During the 10-year period from 2009 to 2018, the number of pedestrian fatalities increased by 53% (from 4,109 deaths in 2009 to 6,283 deaths in 2018); by comparison, the combined number of all other traffic deaths increased by 2%. Along with the increase in the number of pedestrian fatalities, pedestrian deaths as a percentage of total motor vehicle crash deaths increased from 12% in 2009 to 17% in 2018. The last time pedestrians accounted for 17% of total U.S. traffic deaths was over 35 years ago, in 1982.

Earlier studies by the Governors Highway Safety Association (GHSA), based on preliminary data reported by State Highway Safety Offices (SHSOs), were the first to predict recent increases in pedestrian fatalities. The current study, based on preliminary data from all 50 states and the District of Columbia (D.C.), found that the alarming rise in pedestrian deaths observed in both 2015 and 2016 resumed in 2018 and continued in 2019..."
Pedestrian fatalities

The Freedom of Information Act (FOIA): A Legal Overview

"Originally enacted in 1966, the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) establishes a three-part system that requires federal agencies to disclose a large swath of government information to the public. First, FOIA directs agencies to publish substantive and procedural rules, along with certain other important government materials, in the Federal Register. Second, on a proactive basis, agencies must electronically disclose a separate set of information that consists of, among other things, final adjudicative opinions and certain “frequently requested” records. And lastly, FOIA requires agencies to disclose all covered records not made available pursuant to the aforementioned affirmative disclosure provisions to individuals, corporations, and others upon request.

While FOIA’s main purpose is to inform the public of the operations of the federal government, the act’s drafters also sought to protect certain private and governmental interests from the law’s disclosure obligations. FOIA, therefore, contains nine enumerated exemptions from disclosure that permit—but they do not require—agencies to withhold a range of information, including certain classified national security matters, confidential financial information, law enforcement records, and a variety of materials and types of information exempted by other statutes. And FOIA contains three “exclusions” that authorize agencies to treat certain law enforcement records as if they do not fall within FOIA’s coverage.

FOIA also authorizes requesters to seek judicial review of an agency’s decision to withhold records. Federal district courts may “enjoin [an] agency from withholding agency records” and “order the production of any agency records improperly withheld.” Judicial decisions—including Supreme Court decisions—have often informed or provided the impetus for congressional amendments to FOIA..."
Freedom of Information Act

Overview of U.S. Domestic Response to the 2019 Novel Coronavirus (2019-nCoV)

"On December 31, 2019, the World Health Organization (WHO) was informed of a cluster of pneumonia cases in Wuhan City, Hubei Province of China.1 Illnesses have since been linked to a previously unidentified strain of coronavirus, designated 2019 Novel Coronavirus, or 2019-nCoV. As of February 7, 2020, tens of thousands of people have been infected and over 500 have died, mostly in China. 2 The disease has spread to several other countries, including the United States.

On January 30, 2020, the Emergency Committee convened by the WHO Director-General declared the 2019-nCoV outbreak to be a Public Health Emergency of International Concern (PHEIC).3 The next day, on January 31, 2020, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Alex Azar declared the outbreak to be a Public Health Emergency pursuant to Public Health Service Act (PHSA) Section 319, retroactively dated to January 27, 2020.4

As the scope of the epidemic widens in China, as of early February, U.S health officials continue to state that the immediate health risk from the new virus to the general American public is low.5 With the situation rapidly changing, both WHO and the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) post frequent updates.6

This report discusses selected actions taken by the federal government to quell the introduction and spread of 2019-nCoV in the United States. The HHS Secretary has taken several specific actions to address the 2019-nCoV threat. While some of these actions are based in generally applicable authorities of the Secretary, other authorities may be contingent upon the Secretary or another federal official making a determination or declaration, specific to that authority, regarding the existence of a public health emergency or threat. Each of the actions taken by the Secretary, its statutory basis, and any distinct declarations and determinations supporting the action is presented in this report..."
Coronavirus

Keeping Farmers Safe

"Agriculture ranks among the most dangerous industries, with farmers being at very high risk for fatal and nonfatal injuries. Their work is physical and requires the use of equipment, heavy machinery, and chemicals, among exposure to other risky conditions like rural traffic and tractor interactions, hearing loss, heat, and stress.

By bringing awareness to the safety and health issues facing the agriculture industry, we can help save lives and resources through the prevention of injuries and lost time on the job.

FACTS ABOUT FARMER SAFETY

• Farm life can be demanding and stressful. Action steps to help someone in emotional distress include: (1) Ask; (2) Keep them safe; (3) Be there; (4) Help them connect; and (5) Stay connected.
• Tractors are an important tool on the farm, but they are also the number one cause of death. It’s important to make sure tractors are equipped with seat belts and roll over protection.
• Being prepared for an emergency can be the difference between life and death. Work with family, employer and employees to create an Emergency Action Plan (EAP) for orderly evacuation and quick response.
• Confined spaces can stir up dust and dangerous fumes. Ensure proper ventilation and use the correct mask to keep safe.
• Your skin is the largest organ on your body. Make it one of your top priorities by wearing sunglasses, a long sleeve shirt and pants and using sunscreen while in the sun..."
  Farmers

FDA Launches Searchable Purple Book

"The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) on Monday unveiled the first version of its searchable online database of biological product information, known as the Purple Book.

Building off the previous PDF lists of biological products, the database now allows for easier searches and includes information on product names (proprietary and proper), the type of biologics license application (BLA) that was submitted, strength of the biologic, dosage form, product presentation, license status, BLA number and approval date.

Biopharma companies previously requested that FDA include exclusivity information in the Purple Book, similar to what’s offered in the Orange Book, and FDA says that a later iteration of the database will include such dates...
Purple Book"
Purple Book

National Diabetes Statistics Report, 2020

"New diabetes cases have decreased over the last decade except in people younger than 20 years. And in adults, there is much room for improvement in preventing diabetes complications. Data from this report can help focus critical type 2 diabetes prevention and diabetes management efforts across the nation.

CDC’s Division of Diabetes Translation has released the National Diabetes Statistics Report, 2020 pdf icon[PDF – 768 KB], which presents the “state of the disease” in the United States. The report provides the most recent scientific data on:

• New cases of diabetes (incidence)
• Existing cases of diabetes (prevalence)
• Short- and long-term health complications
• Risk factors for health complications
• Prediabetes
• Death rate (mortality)
• Costs

The National Diabetes Statistics Report, 2020 pdf icon[PDF – 768 KB] analyzed health data through 2018, providing statistics across ages, races, ethnicities, education levels, and regions. Data from this report provide vital perspectives on the current status of diabetes and can help focus prevention and management efforts going forward. New in 2020, the report features trends in prevalence and incidence estimates over time..."
Diabetes

World Birth Defects Day

"March 3rd is World Birth Defects Day! Join us in our effort to raise awareness of birth defects, their causes, and their impact around the world! Our theme is “Many birth defects, one voice.”

Every year, about 3-6% of infants worldwide are born with a serious birth defect. This means that life-altering conditions like spina bifida and congenital heart defects affect millions of babies and families. Birth defects can affect babies regardless of where they are born, their socioeconomic status, or their race or ethnicity.

Birth Defects Tracking and Research

Accurately tracking birth defects and analyzing the collected data is a first step in preventing birth defects.

CDC uses tracking and research to

• identify causes of birth defects;
• find opportunities to prevent them; and
• improve the health of those living with them.

Understanding the potential causes of birth defects can lead to recommendations, policies, and services to help prevent them..."
Birth defects

CAMPAIGN TO END LIFE IMPRISONMENT

Via [The Sentencing Project]

"People Serving Life Exceeds Entire Prison Population of 1970.

  As states come to terms with the consequences of 40 years of prison expansion, sentencing reform efforts across the country have focused on reducing stays in prison or jail for those convicted of nonviolent drug and property crimes. At the same time, policymakers have largely neglected to address the staggering number of people serving life sentences, comprising one of seven people in prisons nationwide. International comparisons document the extreme nature of these developments. The United States now holds an estimated 40% of the world population serving life imprisonment and 83% of those serving life without the possibility of parole. The expansion of life imprisonment has been a key component of the development of mass incarceration. In this report, we present a closer look at the rise in life sentences amidst the overall incarceration expansion.

To place the growth of life imprisonment in perspective, the national lifer population of 206,000 now exceeds the size of the entire prison population in 1970, just prior to the prison population explosion of the following four decades. In 24 states, there are now more people serving life sentences than were in the entire prison population in 1970,1 and in an additional nine states, the life imprisonment total is within 100 people of the 1970 prison population.."
Life Imprisonment

Travel Health Notices

"Search By Country Name or Disease

Travel Health Notices inform travelers and clinicians about current health issues that impact travelers’ health, like disease outbreaks, special events or gatherings, and natural disasters, in specific international destinations.  See types of travel notices.

Department of State Safety and Security Alerts: Travel Advisories.

Warning Level 3, Avoid Nonessential Travel

• Updated  Novel Coronavirus in ChinaFebruary 04, 2020CDC recommends that travelers avoid all nonessential travel to the People’s Republic of China (this does not include the Special Administrative Regions of Hong Kong and Macau, or the island of Taiwan).Read More >>
• Health Infrastructure Breakdown in VenezuelaJanuary 03, 2020CDC recommends that travelers avoid all nonessential travel to Venezuela. The country is experiencing outbreaks of infectious diseases, and adequate health care is currently not available in most of the country.Read More >>.."Travel health Notices

Rubella Vaccination

"Rubella is a contagious disease caused by a virus. It is also called “German measles,” but it is caused by a different virus than measles. For some people—especially pregnant women and their unborn babies—rubella can be serious. Make sure you and your child are protected from rubella by getting vaccinated on schedule.

Young children who get rubella usually have a mild illness, with symptoms that can include a low-grade fever, sore throat, and a rash that starts on the face and spreads to the rest of the body. Older children and adults are more likely to have a headache, pink eye, and general discomfort before the rash appears.

Rubella can be prevented with MMR vaccine. This protects against three diseases: measles, mumps, and rubella. CDC recommends children get two doses of MMR vaccine, starting with the first dose at 12 through 15 months of age, and the second dose at 4 through 6 years of age. Teens and adults also should also be up to date on their MMR vaccination..."
Rubella

Get Seizure Smart!

"Get Seizure Smart!

About 1 out of 10 people may have a seizure in their lifetime.^1,2 Would you know how to help someone during or after a seizure?

First aid for any type of seizure

There are many different types of seizures, and seizures might not look like what you would expect. Most seizures last for just a few minutes. Follow these important steps to help someone who is having any type seizure:

1. Stay with the person and keep them safe from injury until the seizure ends.  After it ends, help the person sit in a safe place. Once they are alert and can talk, tell them what happened in very plain terms.
2. Comfort the person and speak calmly.
3. Keep yourself and other people calm.
4. Check to see if the person is wearing a medical bracelet or other emergency information.
5. Offer to call a taxi, friend, or relative to make sure the person gets home safely.

Do I Call 911?

Seizures don’t usually require emergency medical attention. Only call 911 if one or more of these things happen:

• The person has never had a seizure before.
• The person has difficulty breathing or waking after the seizure.
• The seizure lasts longer than 5 minutes.
• The person has another seizure soon after the first one.
• The person is hurt during the seizure.
• The seizure happens in water.
• The person has a health condition like diabetes, heart disease, or is pregnant.

First aid for generalized seizures (with muscle stiffening, jerking, falling, or loss of awareness)

When most people think of a seizure, they think of a generalized seizure, or what used to be called a tonic-clonic or grand mal seizure. In this type of seizure, the person may cry out, fall, shake or jerk, and become unaware of what’s going on around them.

Here are things you can do to help someone who is having a generalized seizure:

1. Ease the person to the floor.
2. Turn the person gently onto one side. This will help breathing.
3. Clear the area around the person of anything hard or sharp to prevent injury.
4. Put something soft and flat, like a folded jacket, under his or her head.
5. Take off eyeglasses.
6. Loosen ties or anything around the neck that may make it hard to breathe.
7. Time the seizure. Call 911 if the seizure lasts longer than 5 minutes..."
   Seizures

2019 Internet Crime Report

"Internet-enabled crimes and scams show no signs of letting up, according to data   released by the FBI’s Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3) in its 2019 Internet Crime Report. The last calendar year saw both the highest number of complaints and the highest  dollar losses reported since the center was established in May 2000.

 IC3 received 467,361 complaints in 2019—an average of nearly 1,300 every day—
and recorded more than $3.5 billion in losses to individual and business victims.
The most frequently reported complaints were phishing and similar ploys,
non-payment/non-delivery scams, and extortion. The most financially costly
complaints involved business email compromise, romance or confidence fraud,
and spoofing, or mimicking the account of a person or vendor known to the victim
to gather personal or financial information.

 Donna Gregory, the chief of IC3, said that in 2019 the center didn’t see an uptick in
 new types of fraud but rather saw criminals deploying new tactics and techniques to
 carry out existing scams.."
Internet crime

Job Patterns for Minorities and Women in State and Local Government (EEO-4)

"As part of its mandate under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission requires periodic reports from public and private employers, and unions and labor organizations which indicate the composition for their work forces by sex and by race/ethnic category.

EEOC collects labor force data from state and local governments with 100 or more employees within 50 U.S. states and District of Columbia. The reporting agencies provide information on their employment totals, employees' job category and salary by sex and race/ethnic groups as of June 30 of the survey year. Since 1993 the EEO4 survey is conducted biennially in every odd-numbered year.,,"
Minorities and women in government

Job Patterns For Minorities And Women In Private Industry (EEO-1):2018

"As part of its mandate under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, as amended, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission requires periodic reports from public and private employers, and unions and labor organizations which indicate the composition of their work forces by sex and by race/ethnic category. Key among these reports is the EEO-1, which is collected annually from Private employers with 100 or more employees or federal contractors with 50 more employees.  Approximately 73,400 employers, representing 56.1 million employees, filed EEO-1 reports in 2018..."
Jobs for minorities and women

A Budget for America's Future: FY 2021

"Budget of the United States Government, Fiscal Year 2021 contains the Budget Message of the President, information on the President’s priorities, and summary tables.

 Analytical Perspectives, Budget of the United States Government, Fiscal Year 2021 contains analyses that are designed to highlight specified subject areas or provide other significant presentations of budget data that place the budget in perspective. This volume includes economic and accounting analyses, information on Federal receipts and collections, analyses of Federal spending, information on Federal borrowing and debt, baseline or current services estimates, and other technical presentations.

Supplemental tables and other materials that are part of the Analytical Perspectives volume are available at https://whitehouse.gov/omb/ analytical-perspectives/.

Appendix, Budget of the United States Government, Fiscal Year 2021 contains detailed information on the various appropriations and funds that constitute the budget and is designed primarily for the use of the Appropriations Committees. The Appendix contains more detailed financial information on individual programs and appropriation accounts than any of the other budget documents. It includes for each agency: the proposed text of appropriations language; budget schedules for each account; legislative proposals; narrative explanations of each budget account; and proposed general provisions applicable to the appropriations of entire agencies or group of agencies. Information is also provided on certain activities whose transactions are not part of the budget totals.

Major Savings and Reforms, Fiscal Year 2021, which accompanies the President’s Budget, contains detailed information on major savings and reform proposals. The volume describes both major discretionary program eliminations and reductions and mandatory savings proposals..."
Budget of the U.S.

Whooping Cough Vaccination

"Whooping cough, or pertussis, can be a serious disease for people of all ages but especially for babies. Whooping cough vaccines offer the best protection against this very contagious disease. Make sure you and your loved ones are up to date with your whooping cough vaccines.

Two vaccines in the United States help prevent whooping cough: DTaP and Tdap. These vaccines also provide protection against tetanus and diphtheria. Children younger than 7 years old get DTaP, while older children, teens, and adults get Tdap.

CDC Recommends Whooping Cough Vaccines for People of All Ages

The vaccine recommended for someone depends on their age. The graphic below gives information, by age, about CDC’s whooping cough vaccine recommendations.

Whooping Cough Vaccines Are Safe

Most people who get a whooping cough vaccine do not have any serious problems with it. However, side effects can occur. Most side effects are mild, meaning they do not affect daily activities. See the DTaP and Tdap vaccine information statements to learn more about the most common side effect.."
Whooping cough

Diabetes and Your Heart

"Diabetes and heart disease often go hand in hand. Learn how to protect your heart with simple lifestyle changes that can also help you manage diabetes.

Heart disease is very common and serious. It’s the leading cause of death for both men and women in the United States. If you have diabetes, you’re twice as likely to have heart disease or a stroke than someone who doesn’t have diabetes—and at a younger age. The longer you have diabetes, the more likely you are to have heart disease.

But the good news is that you can lower your risk for heart disease and improve your heart health by changing certain lifestyle habits. Those changes will help you manage diabetes better too.

What Is Heart Disease?

Heart disease includes several kinds of problems that affect your heart. The term “cardiovascular disease” is similar but includes all types of heart disease, stroke, and blood vessel disease. The most common type is coronary artery disease, which affects blood flow to the heart.

Coronary artery disease is caused by the buildup of plaque in the walls of the coronary arteries, the blood vessels that supply oxygen and blood to the heart. Plaque is made of cholesterol deposits, which make the inside of arteries narrow and decrease blood flow. This process is called atherosclerosis, or hardening of the arteries. Decreased blood flow to the heart can cause a heart attack. Decreased blood flow to the brain can cause a stroke.

Hardening of the arteries can happen in other parts of the body too. In the legs and feet, it’s called peripheral arterial disease, or PAD. PAD is often the first sign that a person with diabetes has cardiovascular disease.

How Diabetes Affects Your Heart

Over time, high blood sugar can damage blood vessels and the nerves that control your heart. People with diabetes are also more likely to have other conditions that raise the risk for heart disease:

• High blood pressure increases the force of blood through your arteries and can damage artery walls. Having both high blood pressure and diabetes can greatly increase your risk for heart disease.
• Too much LDL (“bad”) cholesterol in your bloodstream can form plaque on damaged artery walls.
• High triglycerides (a type of fat in your blood) and low HDL (“good”) cholesterol or high LDL cholesterol is thought to contribute to hardening of the arteries.

None of these conditions has symptoms. Your doctor can check your blood pressure and do a simple blood test to see if your LDL, HDL, and triglyceride levels are high.

These factors can also raise your risk for heart disease:

• Smoking
• Being overweight or having obesity
• Not getting enough physical activity
• Eating a diet high in saturated fat, trans fat, cholesterol, and sodium (salt)
• Drinking too much alcohol..
  Diabetes and the heart

Coretta Scott King with Jimmy and Rosalynn Carter, Martin Luther King, Sr., Andrew Young and other civil rights leaders

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Jimmy Carter and Rosalynn Carter sing with Martin Luther King, Sr., Coretta Scott King, Andrew Young and other civil rights leaders

Jimmy Carter and Rosalynn Carter sing with Martin Luther King, Sr., Coretta Scott King, Andrew Young and other civil rights leaders during a visit to Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta, 01/14/1979; National Archives Identifier: 183007; Jimmy Carter Library, Atlanta, GA

Coretta Scott King, the wife of slain civil rights leader Martin Luther King, Jr., died January 31, 2006. After her husband's death she continued to champion the causes of civil rights and justice, founding the Martin Luther King, Jr. Center for Nonviolent Social Change..."
Coretta Scott King, etc.