Thursday, January 29, 2009

FDA Provides Updates on Peanut Recall

This morning I slathered peanut butter onto my toast. Soon thereafter, a Democracy Now! broadcast reminded me that the Food & Drug Administration had recalled numerous peanut butter products after discovering that a Georgia peanut plant had knowingly shipped salmonella-tainted foods over the past two years. You can read a transcript or listen to the broadcast on the Democracy Now! website.

Consumers should visit the FDA's website for the latest guidelines and updates on an FDA/CDC (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention) investigation, which indicates that the source of an outbreak of Salmonella Typhimurium is peanut butter and peanut paste produced by the Peanut Corporation of America at its plant in Blakely, Georgia. CDC information on the salmonella outbreak can be found here.

Wondering what products you should eliminate from your pantry or refrigerator? On this FDA web page you can browse a list of recalled products or search for items by brand name, UPC code, or product description. The FDA is also posting recall updates on its Twitter page and an RSS feed.

Food contamination has been in the international spotlight in the last several months--see our September blog post on melamine contamination in China.

For additional resources about food safety issues, check out our guide to Food Supply.

Wednesday, January 28, 2009

Economic Stimulus Bill

Today the house votes on the economic stimulus bill, also known as HR 1, Making supplemental appropriations for job preservation and creation, infrastructure investment, energy efficiency and science, assistance to the unemployed, and State and local fiscal stabilization, for fiscal year ending September 30, 2009, and for other purposes. That link will take you to the bill on Thomas, but I thought it might be useful to see some of the other sites, both governmental and non-governmental tracking this bill:
  • White House: Economy The new Obama administration has put up a page on the Economy. This page lists statements by the president on the plan and his inauguration speech. For current statements and actions, check out the blog.
  • The Stimulus Plan: Where the Money Would Go This site has a java applet that lets you explore the areas where the money in the plan will go and how it will be spent. ProPublica is a nonprofit group that focuses on investigative journalism.
  • OpenCongress: American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 This site gathers information on amendments and actions on the bill as well as news reports. It allows you to vote for or against the bill as well as comment. OpenCongress is a nonprofit group that works to provide Congressional information easier to understand and respond to by citizens.
  • Political Browser This page from the Washington Post gathers the days hot political news into one place and links out to other articles from additional news sources. Right now the top story is the stimulus, but as the day progresses it will shift.
  • Fox News: Politics This page from Fox News gathers the Fox stories on the top political stories of the day. Right now it has a number of articles on the republican response to the stimulus plan.
Want more information on the legislative process? Why not check out the library's Congress and Legislation guide.

Tuesday, January 27, 2009

Congressional Research Service (CRS) reports

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 only brings us a number of CRS reports on presidential power, nuclear weapons, 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 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.

Sunday, January 25, 2009

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 as bankruptcy, the Endangered Species Act, and modernizing the financial regulatory system. If you would like to know more about the GAO, check out the library's guide.

Reports
Correspondence
Testimonies
  • Financial Regulation: A Framework for Crafting and Assessing Proposals to Modernize the Outdated U.S. Financial Regulatory System, by Gene L. Dodaro, acting comptroller general, before the Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs. GAO-09-314T, January 21.
    http://www.gao.gov/cgi-bin/getrpt?GAO-09-314T
  • Real Property: Infrastructure Investment Presents Opportunities to Address Long-standing Real Property Backlogs and Reduce Energy Consumption, by Terrell G. Dorn, director, physical infrastructure, before the House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure. GAO-09-324T, January 22.
    http://www.gao.gov/cgi-bin/getrpt?GAO-09-324T

Tuesday, January 20, 2009

Barack Obama Becomes 44th President of the U.S.

This morning Barack Obama was sworn in as the 44th president, and the first African American president, of the United States. A crowd of about 2 million--as reported in the Washington Post--gathered on the Washington Mall to hear Obama take the oath of office and give his inaugural speech. Change has come not only to America but to WhiteHouse.gov. Here you can read President Obama's first proclamation. The White House Blog describes features of the new White House website and promises that later today it will post full text and video of Obama's inaugural address.

Above are links to the primary and most up-to-date online connections to the White House. But if you need additional presidential resources, we list them on our guide to Presidents.

Serial Set records in the catalog

Government Publications and Cataloging and Metadata Services are happy to report that records for the U.S. Congressional Serial Set (a subscription database) are now available in Chinook, the library catalog. The Serial Set is an important source of information for the study of U.S. politics and history. The set includes gems such as (the links will take you to the record in the catalog):
I encourage everyone to check these resources out, you will be surprised by the types of information you will find! If you want to search just for these titles in the catalog type the phrase "U.S. congressional serial set" and your topic in the advanced search in Chinook.

Congressional Research Service (CRS) reports

There haven't been any reports released in this quieter time in Congress, but the reports have started to reappear, so here is another list. 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 only brings us a number of CRS reports on presidential power, nuclear weapons, 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:
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 16, 2009

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 as the IRS's 2008 Filing Season and defense infrastructure. If you would like to know more about the GAO, check out the library's guide.

Reports
Special Products
CorrespondenceTestimonies
  • Financial Regulation: A Framework for Crafting and Assessing Proposals to Modernize the Outdated U.S. Financial Regulatory System, by Gene L. Dodaro, acting comptroller general, before the Congressional Oversight Panel. GAO-09-310T, January 14.
    http://www.gao.gov/cgi-bin/getrpt?GAO-09-310T
  • Health Information Technology: Federal Agencies' Experiences Demonstrate Challenges to Successful Implementation, by Valerie C. Melvin, director, human capital and management information systems issues, before the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions. GAO-09-312T, January 15.
    http://www.gao.gov/cgi-bin/getrpt?GAO-09-312T
    Highlights - http://www.gao.gov/highlights/d09312thigh.pdf

Thursday, January 15, 2009

2008 Tax Forms

The time has come to start the annual progression toward April 15th. Here at the University of Colorado at Boulder we still get those paper forms. On this blog posting we will keep as up-to-date a list as possible of what we have in the UC-B Government Publications Library. For those of you not in Boulder or who don't want to mess with parking, we also have an online link to tax forms and information.

We want to assist as many patrons as possible, so we ask that you not take more than 10 copies of any multi-part form.

As of 2/27/09, we have the following forms:

Federal (US)

* 1040 (forms)
* 1040A (forms & instructions)
* 1040ES (forms)
* 1040EZ (forms)
* 1040NR (forms & instructions)
* 1040NR-EZ (forms & instructions)

* Schedule 1 (forms)
* Schedule 2 (forms and instructions)
* Schedule 3 (forms and instructions)
* Schedule A & B (forms)
* Schedule C (forms)
* Schedule C-EZ (forms)
* Schedule D (forms)
* Schedule E (forms)
* Schedule EIC (forms)
* Schedule R (form & instructions)
* Schedule SE (forms)

* 1096 (forms)
* 1096-MISC (forms)
* 1099-MISC (forms)
* 1099-DIV (forms)
* 1099-INT (forms)
* 2106 (forms & instructions)
* 3903 (forms)
* 4562 (forms & instructions)
* 4868 (forms)
* 8283 (forms & instructions)
* 8822 (forms)
* 8829 (forms)
* 8863 (forms)
* 8889 (forms)
* 8917 (forms)

* W-2 (form & instructions)
* W-3 (form & instructions)
* W-4 (forms)

* Publication 17
* Publication 334
* Publication 590
* Publication 1132 (volume 1)
* Publication 1796

Colorado

* Colorado Income Tax Guide

Tuesday, January 13, 2009

EU Takes Role in Russia and Ukraine Dispute over Natural Gas

BBC News reports that hundreds of thousands of Europeans haven't had access to natural gas for nearly a week due to the debt and pricing disputes between Russia and Ukraine. The European Union receives a quarter of its gas from Russia, 80 percent of which passes through Ukraine. The BBC article features a map indicating which European countries have been hardest hit by the gas stoppage.

In an agreement reached yesterday, January 12, Russia offered to resume gas transmission if Russian and EU observers were allowed to monitor its flow through Ukraine. On the Europa website you can find a statement by European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso and Commissioner Andris Piebalgs about the agreement for gas monitoring.

For further resources, see Europa's web page on security of natural gas supplies or check out our guide to energy.

Monday, January 12, 2009

Coal Plant Spill Leaves Water Contaminated but Safe to Drink

On Friday, February 9, it was discovered that about 10,000 gallons of waste leaked from a gypsum pond at Tennessee Valley Authority-operated Widows Creek Fossil Plant in Alabama. According to TVA's own fact sheet about the spill, "gypsum ponds hold limestone spray from TVA’s scrubbers that clean sulfur dioxide (SO2) from coal-plant emissions. Gypsum contains calcium sulfate, which is commonly used in drywall, a commercially sold construction material."

Today's Washington Post contains an update on TVA tests for contamination levels in the nearby Tennessee River, which was affected by the spill. TVA's website also provides test results as of January 11, including a link to tables of sample results. So far results show that although the Tennessee River was contaminated, its water still meets standards for drinking.

TVA and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency are sampling Tennessee River water independently. The EPA maintains it's own On-Scene Coordinator web page, which contains links to images, contacts, and additional information about the Widows Creek Spill.

To find more information about governmental resources on the environment, see our guide.

Friday, January 09, 2009

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 as financial regulation, protecting marine animals from commercial fishing, and the process for granting immigrants permanent residency. If you would like to know more about the GAO, check out the library's guide.

Reports
Correspondence

Congressional Panel Releases Report on TARP

Today a bipartisan congressional oversight panel has released its second report, entitled Accountability of the Troubled Asset Relief Program. Both the Wall Street Journal and the Washington Post have issued articles about the report, which criticizes the U.S. Treasury Department for its failure to restore lending to consumers and to fulfill the stated purpose of the relief program (TARP). A PDF of the full, 45-page report can be found via the House of Representatives' website.

Related to this report, House Financial Services Committee Chairman Barney Frank created an outline of a bill that would amend the TARP provisions in the Emergency Economic Stabilization Act of 2008 (see our blog post from October 2 of last year).

Explore the websites of the House, Senate, and Treasury Department for their latest strategies to rescue the U.S. economy. For additional resources, refer to our guide on Business and Economic Information.

Thursday, January 08, 2009

Colorado Legislature Begins Historic 2009 Session

Colorado lawmakers began their 2009 session Wednesday. In a historic opening day, Representative Terrance Carroll became the first African American speaker of the Colorado House of Representatives. Carroll and Colorado Senate President Peter Groff's roles make Colorado the first state to have elected black leaders to both of its legislative chambers. See the Denver Post for further details.

The website of the Colorado General Assembly provides House and Senate calendars, the history and status of bills, a directory of legislators, districts maps, and video and audio broadcasts of current proceedings. LexisNexis State Capital, which is available on the CU-Boulder campus (and to CU employees and students with off-campus access), provides bills, statutes and constitutions, digests of state law, proposed and final regulations, legislative directories, and news.

For additional Colorado state government resources, take a look at our guide.

Tuesday, January 06, 2009

Back from a winter break ... CRS Reports

Due to the fact that not many were released and I was on holiday, there has been no listing of Congressional Research Service (CRS) reports for the past two weeks. For those of you new to the blog, 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 only brings us a number of CRS reports on climate change, auto industry, trade, 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 OpenCRS and Secrecy News:
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 05, 2009

Job Search Dismal, Even for College Grads

Employment statistics are not looking good--even for those with college degrees. An article in the Washington Post reports that although a college degree typically facilitates job searching and increases job security, the unemployment rate for workers with at least a bachelor's degree is approaching record highs.

In fact, some economists claim the unemployment rate for workers with a bachelor's degree or higher could exceed 4 percent. This would be the highest unemployment rate for this category of workers since 1970, when the Bureau of Labor Statistics started recording unemployment by education level. Currently the unemployment rate for those with college degrees is 3.1 percent--the highest it's been since 2003.

Although the level of unemployed college graduates has approached a peak, 3.1 percent is still much lower than the overall national unemployment rate of 6.7 percent or the 10.5 percent unemployment rate among job-seekers without a high-school diploma. The Bureau of Labor Statistics' website provides monthly data about a variety of employment factors and outcomes, such as the table "Employment Status of the Civilian Population 25 Years and Older by Educational Attainment," which contains statistics through November 2008.

The BLS website also contains links to information about job outlooks in specific states and localities, including the Colorado Department of Labor & Employment's LMI Gateway.

If these links don't provide the employment information you need, see our guide to labor & employment for additional resources.