Jobs in the United States went down in February

The Bureau of Labor Statistics released the employment situation information for February this month. I know this is my second the government does numbers post of the week, but a loss of 63,000 jobs in the US economy or as the BLS states "Nonfarm payroll employment edged down in February" (from the press release) deserved citation I thought. The Federal Reserve also announced this morning two initiatives in regards to shoring up the financial system.

Want to see what the press is saying about this job loss? Check out the Washington Post's "Job Market Takes a Hit From Weak Economy: Federal Reserve Announces New Steps to Ease Credit Crisis" or Fox News "Employers Slash Jobs by Most in 5 Years, Feeding Recession Fears."

Want more information? Check out the library's labor and employment guide.

World Bank and mashup maps

The World Bank has released a nice new mashup of their projects and Google Maps. One could always access country pages from World Bank, but let's be honest isn't it a lot more funs playing with maps. This graphical representation also allows you to get a better idea of where the World Bank has projects out there. There is also basic data on those developed country doesn't work in.

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

Congressional Budget Process

Okay, it definitely doesn't rank up there in terms of excitement with some government actions, but this week the House is marking up the budget. This is the budget for the coming fiscal year that starts in October (the federal fiscal year is October to September just to be different) and this is just the first step in what is sure to be a long and contentious process. But I thought I would highlight a few resources that may make the time pass more quickly (or at least give you some interesting reading along the way):

• House Budget Committee This is where all the action is happening today. It has a nice (or depressing on your point of view) ticker with how big a share of the national debt we each have. You can also view the hearings online (high or low bandwidth). Down the sidebar you get a collection of links to the various documents.
  
• GOP Leader Blog Okay, this one is a little on the partisan side, but it is good to know exactly what those various sticking points are and as the minority party in the House the Republicans are working hard to get their message out.
• White House Budget This is the budget plan that President Bush sent to Congress that they are now working on. It contains a nice state-by-state summary of what the budget means to each state.
• Congressional Budget Office (CBO) The CBO writes reports on the budgetary impact of numerous actions by Congress and is a great place for non-partisan analysis of the various proposals.
• Debt and Budget Information You didn't think I would end this post without a link to the library's guide did you? This page links to a variety of additional sources of information. Have fun!
  

From the Congressional Research Service

report you can request it from your Senator or Representative. This list is compiled from 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 NASA, Iraq, child welfare, 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 CRSCRS reports discovered by Secrecy News and OpenCRS:

• The U.S. Postal Service's Use of Contractors to Deliver Mail
• Operation Iraqi Freedom: Strategies, Approaches, Results, and Issues for Congress
• Aviation Security: Background and Policy Options for Screening and Securing Air Cargo
• Child Welfare Issues in the 110th Congress
• Coast Guard Polar Icebreaker Modernization: Background, Issues, and Options for Congress
• Russia's 2008 Presidential Succession
• National Aeronautics and Space Administration: Overview, FY2009 Budget, and Issues for Congress
• USDA Meat Inspection and the Humane Methods of Slaughter Act
• The Credit Card Market: Recent Trends, Funding Cost Issues, and Repricing Practices
• Consumer Product Safety Commission: Current Issues
• Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty: Issues and Arguments
• The D.C. Circuit Rejects EPA's Mercury Rules: New Jersey v. EPA
• Nuclear, Biological, and Chemical Weapons and Missiles: Status and Trends
• Water Infrastructure Needs and Investment: Review and Analysis of Key Issues
• Russian Energy Policy toward Neighboring Countries
• North American Oil Sands: History of Development, Prospects for the Future
• Fusion Centers: Issues and Options for Congress
• The Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act: A Brief Overview of Selected Issues
• The Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act: Comparison of House-Passed H.R. 3773, S. 2248 as Reported By the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, and S. 2248 as Reported Out of the Senate Judiciary Committee
• Defense Contracting in Iraq: Issues and Options for Congress
• FY2009 Defense Budget: Issues for Congress
  

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.

Russia Votes in New President

With about 65% of the vote, Dmitry Medvedev became Russia's new president. Medvedev was hand chosen by former Russian President Vladimir Putin to be his successor. After 8 years, Putin was not eligible to run for president again.

The Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe, the only Western observers in Russia for the election, concluded that the election results were the will of the people. However, the process leading to the election was cited for the same flaws found in the the December 2007 parliamentary election. Read "Russian Presidential election: for an election to be good it takes a good process, not just a good election day" from the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe.

Want more information on Medvedev? Check out his profile from the Central Election Commission of the Russian Federation and "Dmitry Medvedev: Russia's new Kennedy?" from the World Security Network.

Check out "Election Monitor Calls Russian Vote Unfair" from the Washington Post, "Western, local observers criticize Russian election" from Reuters, and "Muted welcome for Russia leader" from BBC News.

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