Thursday, January 31, 2008

Anniversary of the 13th Amendment Abolishing Slavery

On January 31, 1865, the 13th Amendment abolishing slavery was passed by Congress. It was ratified by the states on December 6, 1865. Read the Thirteenth Amendment--Slavery and Involuntary Servitude from The Constitution of the United States of America.

Check out these sites for more information:
The library has a number of books and government reports on the 13th amendment. Search for them in the library catalog, Chinook.

Want more information? Check out the library's guides on black history and civil rights.

Wednesday, January 30, 2008

Fed Lowers Interest Rates -- Again

For the second time this month, the Federal Reserve cut interest rates. The Federal Open Market Committee lowered its target for the federal funds rate 50 basis points to 3 percent. The federal funds rate is an overnight bank lending interest rate that affects consumer interest rates on credit cards, home equity, and car loans. Read the press release from the Federal Reserve.

Check out our previous blogs on the Federal Reserve rate cuts:
Check out "Fed delivers another rate cut" from CNNMoney.com, "Fed Makes Second Rate Cut in Nine Days" from the Washington Post, and "Fed's FOMC Cuts Again, Slashing Key Rate by 0.5%" from FOX Business.

You might also want to check out CNNMoney.com's special report, Fed Focus, for all news related to the Federal Reserve.

Craving more information? Check out the library's guides on Banking and Business and Economics.

Tuesday, January 29, 2008

From the Congressional Research Service

The Congressional Research Service (CRS) is a research agency of Congress and writes reports at Congress's request. These short reports (usually 10-40 pages long) cover recent topics of concern. This week brings us CRS reports on the Latin America, security, environment, and much more. While these reports are in the public domain there is no central database available to the public. To get a copy of a CRS report you can request it from your Senator or Representative. This list is compiled from CRS reports discovered by Secrecy News and OpenCRS:
Interested in historical CRS reports? If you are here at the Boulder campus, check out the LexisNexis Congressional database, which has reports back to 1916.

Not on campus, but still want access to additional reports? The library has a guide linking to various additional sources of CRS reports.

Monday, January 28, 2008

State of the Union 2008

Didn't catch the State of the Union tonight? You can read it online from the White House web site.
Want more? The State of the Union 2008 site also has links to previous photo essays and 2008 policy initiatives.

Interested in the Democratic response? Kansas Governor Kathleen Sebelius delivered the response, which is available from the Washington Post.

Want to view the State of the Union's in history? The American Presidency project has them back to 1790.

Want more presidency information? Check out the library's guide.

Friday, January 25, 2008

GAO Releases this week

The Government Accountability Office (GAO) is often called the investigative arm of Congress. This week they investigated a variety of issues, such September 11th health screening, the United Nations, the military, water quality, and and bilingual voting. If you would like to know more about the GAO, check out the library's guide.

Reports
Special Publication
Correspondence
Testimony
Presentation By The Comptroller General
  • "U.S. Financial Condition and Fiscal Future Briefing," by David M. Walker, comptroller general of the United States, before the National Press Foundation, in Washington, D.C. GAO-08-446CG, January 17, 2008 http://www.gao.gov/cghome/d08446cg.pdf

Thursday, January 24, 2008

Deal Reached on Economic Stimulus Package

The White House and congressional leaders reached a bipartisan agreement on an economic growth package that will give refunds to 116 million taxpayers. The package is supposed to bolster the economy and encourage consumer spending.
  • Single taxpayers will receive $600
  • Two-wage households will receive $1200
  • Taxpayers with children will receive an additional $300 per child
  • Low-income workers who make to little to pay taxes and earn at least $3000 will receive $300
Check out the press release from the White House. You might also want to read Nancy Pelosi's blog and the statement from Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson. Still curious? Check out Jobs & Economic Growth from the White House and Economy from the U.S. Department of the Treasury.

For more information read "Deal Reached on Economic Stimulus Package" from the Washington Post, "House Leaders, White House Reach Deal on Economic Stimulus Package" from FOX News, and "Deal struck to send checks to taxpayers" from CNNMoney.com.

Want more information on taxes? Check out the library's guide.

Wednesday, January 23, 2008

Thousands of Palestinians Flee the Gaza Strip into Egypt

Tens of thousands of Palestinians fled the Gaza Strip into Egypt after masked gunmen blasted through a border wall separating Palestine from Egypt in search of food and supplies. Last week, after months-long blockade, Israel sealed Gaza's borders completely.

For more information check out these sources:

Egypt
Israel
Palestine
United Nations Security Council
Read "Gazans Knock Down Border, Flee to Egypt" from the Washington Post and "Witnesses, Officials Say Thousands of Palestinians Flood Into Egypt Through Breached Gaza Wall" from FOX News. You might also want to read "Gazans blast border, flood into Egypt" from the Middle East Times (Egypt), "PLO: Israel ‘Putting Palestinians on an I.V. Drip': Palestinians Storm Egypt Border in Rush for Food Supplies United Nations Security Council" from the Palestine Media Center, and "Hamas takes control at frontier as 200,000 Gazans enter Egypt" from Haaretz (Israel).

Want more information? Check out the library's guides on Palestine, Israel, Egypt, and the Arab Israeli Conflict.

Tuesday, January 22, 2008

Hoping to Prevent Recession - Fed Cuts Interest Rate Again

In a surprise inter-meeting decision, the Federal Reserve lowered its target for the federal funds rate in response to a weakening economy. In an emergency move, the Fed lowered its rate by 75 basis points to 3.50%. The rate-setting arm of the Federal Reserve, the Federal Open Market Committee, lowered the rate in an effort to prevent a recession due to ongoing problems and softening in the housing, credit, labor, and financial markets. The Open Market Committee's regular meeting is scheduled for January 29-30, at which time additional cuts may occur. The federal funds rate is an overnight bank lending interest rate that affects consumer interest rates on credit cards, home equity, and car loans. Read the press release from the Federal Reserve.

Check out "Fed slashes key rate to 3.5%" from CNNMoney.com, "Fed Cuts Key Interest Rate as Asian Markets Drop for Second Day" from the Washington Post, "Market down on recession woes but Fed cut helps" from Reuters, "Fed Slices Interest Rate by 0.75%" from FOX Business, and "Fed slashes rates in shock move" from BBC News.

Need more information on the Federal Reserve? Try FED101, an interactive website on the Federal Reserve's history, monetary policy (including interest rates), regulatory functions, and financial services.

Want more information on banking, banks and credit unions? Check out the library's guide.

From the Congressional Research Service

The Congressional Research Service (CRS) is a research agency of Congress and writes reports at Congress's request. These short reports (usually 10-40 pages long) cover recent topics of concern. This week brings us CRS reports on security, United Nations, judicial security, and more. While these reports are in the public domain there is no central database available to the public. To get a copy of a CRS report you can request it from your Senator or Representative. This list is compiled from CRS reports discovered by Secrecy News and OpenCRS:
Interested in historical CRS reports? If you are here at the Boulder campus, check out the LexisNexis Congressional database, which has reports back to 1916.

Not on campus, but still want access to additional reports? The library has a guide linking to various additional sources of CRS reports.

Saturday, January 19, 2008

GAO Releases this week

The Government Accountability Office (GAO) is often called the investigative arm of Congress. This week they investigated a variety of issues, such Iran sanctions, Iraq reconstruction, and energy markets. If you would like to know more about the GAO, check out the library's guide.

Reports
Correspondence
Testimony

Wednesday, January 16, 2008

Inflation Rates for 2007

Driven by higher food and energy prices, the Consumer Price Index for all Urban Consumers (CPI-U) was 4.1 percent higher for the 12-month period ending in December 2007 than for that same time period in December 2006, when the CPI-U rose 2.5 percent. Excluding food and energy, the CPI-U rose 2.4 percent for all of 2007. This is a slight deceleration from the 2006 rate of 2.6. Read the BLS news release for more information and to compare data by item and year. The Consumer Price Indexes (CPI) program from the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) produces monthly data on changes in the prices paid by urban consumers for a representative basket of goods and services.

You might also want to check out the CPI Inflation Calculator to see how far your money goes today compared to yesteryear (1913-present).

Read "Inflation Rate Spikes in 2007" from the Washington Post.

Want more information? Check out the library's guides on Income & Poverty, Labor & Employment, and Labor Statistics.

Tuesday, January 15, 2008

No more pine trees in Colorado?

For those of you who read the Denver Post's "Beetle-kill rate in Colorado 'catastrophic,'" you might be interested in reading more about this growing problem. There are a number of sites to examine:
  • Ariel Survey This is the page that you can use to link to Ariel photographs by quad of the tree cover back to 2003. If you want to see the map with data up to 2006, check out this page.
  • Regional Park Beetle Information This is where I got those infestation pictures you see on the left. You can also get information on the plan to fight the infestation here.
  • Mountain Pine Beetle This is the Colorado Forestry Service page on the infestation of the mountain pine beetle with a life cycle.
Want more forest and parks information? Check out the library's guide.

Congressional Research Service discoveries

The Congressional Research Service (CRS) is a research agency of Congress and writes reports at Congress's request. These short reports (usually 10-40 pages long) cover recent topics of concern. This week brings us CRS reports on the pension, crime, China, and much more. While these reports are in the public domain there is no central database available to the public. To get a copy of a CRS report you can request it from your Senator or Representative. This list is compiled from CRS reports discovered by Secrecy News and OpenCRS:
Interested in historical CRS reports? If you are here at the Boulder campus, check out the LexisNexis Congressional database, which has reports back to 1916.

Not on campus, but still want access to additional reports? The library has a guide linking to various additional sources of CRS reports.

Friday, January 11, 2008

GAO Releases this week

The Government Accountability Office (GAO) is often called the investigative arm of Congress. This week they investigated a variety of issues, such audits of public companies, defense acquisitions, and information security. If you would like to know more about the GAO, check out the library's guide.

Reports
Correspondence
Special Publication / Related Product
Presentation By The Comptroller General
  • "U.S. Financial Condition and Fiscal Future Briefing," by David M. Walker, comptroller general of the United States, before the Rotary Club of Birmingham, Alabama. GAO-08-417CG, January 9, 2008 http://www.gao.gov/cghome/d08417cg.pdf

Wednesday, January 09, 2008

Primary, Cacaus, oh my

Well, if you read the papers or watch news on TV you can't help but have heard that the race to be the Republican and Democrat nominee for President is on. Unlike the national election, there is no one place that contains all the election results, but you can check 'em out state by state.

How you ask? The Department of Defense (since many of the members serve overseas and don't get the local paper) has developed a web page that lists the Secretary of States for all fifty states and some territories, each of these sites lists the official state results.

For those of you in Colorado registered as a Democrat or Republican you can go to the caucus on February 5. Want more information on that? Check out the Colorado State Publication's blog posting on the Colorado Caucus.

Want more elections and voting information? Check out the library's guide.

Tuesday, January 08, 2008

A few more CRS reports

Happy New Year everyone! Here are a few new CRS reports. The Congressional Research Service (CRS) is a research agency of Congress and writes reports at Congress's request. These short reports (usually 10-40 pages long) cover recent topics of concern. This week brings us CRS reports on the motor vehicle industry, terrorism, energy, and much more. While these reports are in the public domain there is no central database available to the public. To get a copy of a CRS report you can request it from your Senator or Representative. This list is compiled from CRS reports discovered by Secrecy News and OpenCRS:
Interested in historical CRS reports? If you are here at the Boulder campus, check out the LexisNexis Congressional database, which has reports back to 1916.

Not on campus, but still want access to additional reports? The library has a guide linking to various additional sources of CRS reports.

Friday, January 04, 2008

GAO Releases this week

The Government Accountability Office (GAO) is often called the investigative arm of Congress. This week they investigated a variety of issues, such border security and defense trade. If you would like to know more about the GAO, check out the library's guide.

Reports
Testimony
Special Publication
  • Government Auditing Standards-Implementation Tool: Professional Requirements Tool for Use in Implementing Requirements Identified by "Must" and "Should" in the July 2007 Revision of Government Auditing Standards. GAO-08-210G, December 2007.
    http://www.gao.gov/cgi-bin/getrpt?GAO-08-210G
Presentation By The Comptroller General
  • "U.S. Financial Condition and Fiscal Future Briefing," by David M. Walker, comptroller general of the United States, at the 2008 Economic Forecast Forum sponsored by the North Carolina Bankers Association and North Carolina Chamber, in Research Triangle Park, N.C. GAO-08-395CG, January 2, 2008
    http://www.gao.gov/cghome/d08395cg.pdf