4 August 2009
+ Correspondences
1. Air Pollution: Air Quality and Permitting of New Coal-Burning Electricity-Generating Units in Central Texas
2. Ryan White CARE Act: Estimated Effect of Proposed Stop-Loss Provision in H.R. 3293 on Urban Areas
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+ Testimonies
1. Climate Change Policy: Preliminary Observations on Options for Distributing Emissions Allowances and Revenue under a Cap-and-Trade Program, by John Stephenson, director, natural resources and environment, before the Senate Committee on Finance
2. Hurricane Katrina: Barriers to Mental Health Services for Children Persist in Greater New Orleans, Although Federal Grants Are Helping to Address Them, by Cynthia Bascetta, director, health care, before the Ad Hoc Committee on Disaster Recovery, Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs
3. Federal Contracting: Application of OMB Guidance Can Improve Use of Award Fee Contracts, by John Hutton, director, acquisition and sourcing management, before the Subcommittee on Federal Financial Management, Government Information, Federal Services, and International Security, Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs
Expenditures on Children by Families, 2008 (PDF; 200 KB)
Source: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Center for Nutrition Policy and Promotion
Since 1960, the U.S. Department of Agriculture has provided estimates of expenditures on children from birth through age 17. This technical report presents the most recent estimates for husband-wife and single-parent families using data from the 2005-06 Consumer Expenditure Survey, updated to 2008 dollars using the Consumer Price Index. Data and methods used in calculating annual child-rearing expenses are described. Estimates are provided for major components of the budget by age of child, family income, and region of residence. For the overall United States, annual child-rearing expense estimates ranged between $11,610 and $13,480 for a child in a two-child, married-couple family in the middle-income group. Adjustment factors for number of children in the household are also provided. Results of this study should be of use in developing State child support and foster care guidelines, as well as in family educational programs.
Costs of Renting Still Considerably Cheaper than Ownership
Source: Center for Economic and Policy Research
Though Congress leaves for its August recess this week, one of the items sure to be on the agenda when it returns is how to deal with the continuing collapse of the nation’s housing market. A new study from the Center for Economic and Policy Research (CEPR) examining housing costs shows that market rents are far below ownership costs in many parts of the nation.
The paper, “The Gains from Right to Rent,” analyzes the costs of renting versus owning a house in several major cities and finds that the Fair Market Rents in these metropolitan areas is often much lower than the cost of ownership.
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The report looks at the costs of renting and owning before and after taxes in 16 metropolitan statistical areas (MSAs) and details substantial savings gained from renting across all scenarios depicted. The various scenarios consider the costs of mortgage payments, property taxes, insurance and maintenance costs, and mortgage deductions. An appendix is included that compares ownership and rental costs across 100 MSAs as well.
+ Full Report (PDF; 189 KB)
The Reliability of Provider Profiling: A Tutorial
Source: RAND Corporation
Public and private purchasers and health plans are demanding more information about the quality and relative costliness of U.S. physicians to increase physician accountability and aid in value-based purchasing. Although performance measurement has been in place for some time in hospitals and managed care organizations (MCOs), the focus on physician profiling is a relatively new development. The inherent limitations of the available data at the physician level have brought to the fore technical issues that were less important at higher levels of aggregation in hospitals and MCOs. One of these technical issues is the reliability of a physician’s performance measurement. This technical report explains the use and implementation of reliability measurement for quality measures in provider profiling in health care. It provides details and a practical method of how to calculate reliability measures from the sort of data typically available. It also explains why reliability measurement is an important component of evaluating a profiling system.
+ Summary (PDF; 131 KB)
+ Full Document (PDF; 463 KB)
Is Personal Insecurity a Cause of Cross-National Differences in the Intensity of Religious Belief?
Source: Journal of Religion and Society
In conclusion, the current analysis ties together and explains two apparent paradoxes. First, the observation that modernization, in terms of average material wealth, appears linked to secularization in some countries but not others. The key to this paradox is that it is not simply average wealth, but also the distribution of wealth and the degree to which wealth is used to improve average personal security, which in large part determines religiosity. Second, the observation that religion, although generally believed to have a pro-socializing effect on the individual level, is associated on the macro level with societal ill health. This is most likely because personal religiosity is in part a response to adverse social environments, but that aggregate religiosity does not significantly ameliorate them.
Impact of Exercise in Community-Dwelling Older Adults
Source: PLoS ONE
In community-dwelling older people, exercise attenuated the impact of age on mortality across all grades of frailty. Exercise conferred its greatest benefits to improvements in health status in those who were more frail at baseline. The net effect of exercise should therefore be to improve health status at the population level.
Influenza A(H1N1) and Pandemic Preparedness Under the Rule of International Law
Source: Georgetown University, O’Neill Institute for National and Global Health Law Scholarship
A novel strain of Influenza A (H1N1) spread rapidly through Mexico in April 2009 and now spans the globe. By the time WHO was notified and responded, geographical containment was not feasible, leading the agency to call for mitigation. The international outbreak of SARS in 2003 and the more recent Influenza A (H5N1) among birds with limited transmission to humans helped prepare the world for the current pandemic threat. SARS galvanized the WHO to revise the antiquated International Health Regulations (IHR) in 2005, which took effect June 15, 2007. Governments instituted preparedness plans in response to avian influenza.
Despite increased preparedness, the WHO and US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) lack key powers and resources. Reminiscent of past responses, many governments are acting out of fear or economic and political self-interest rather than scientific reason. Above all, there are serious questions of global justice, as Mexicans are subject to stigma and discrimination.
This article by Lawrence O. Gostin, O’Neill Professor of Global Health Law at Georgetown University, analyses WHO powers and resources including the pandemic alert system and the IHR, as well as the powers and resources of the CDC. He finds that although the response to H1N1 has been strong, the WHO and CDC need more authority and resources to deal with pandemic threats under the rule of international law.
+ Full Paper (PDF; 172 KB)
Interfaith Alliance Releases Paper On Same-Gender Marriage & Religious Freedom
Source: Interfaith Alliance
Interfaith Alliance has released Same-Gender Marriage & Religious Freedom: A Call to Quiet Conversations and Public Debates, a paper authored by its president, Rev. Dr. C. Welton Gaddy. In the paper, Rev. Gaddy calls for a new national discussion on marriage based on the premise that “law, not scripture, is the foundation of government regulations related to marriage in our nation.”
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“My purpose in writing this paper is as simple as the subject of the paper is complex,” said Rev. Gaddy. “I want to find a way for people with contradictory beliefs, religions, values and opinions to live together without violating the basic nature of our democracy. I am motivated by confidence in the power of religion to affect reconciliation, and I am also a patriot who embodies the unwavering commitment to freedom and justice integral to the American experience.”The paper, in which Rev. Gaddy expresses support for same-gender marriage, seeks to shift the perspective on LGBT equality from problem to solution. To do so, Rev. Gaddy advocates for moving from scriptural argument to religious freedom agreement, and to address the issue of equality as informed by the U.S. Constitution.
Gaddy’s hope is that this change will allow same-gender couples to receive basic civil rights benefits without impacting a religious organization’s right to marry only people it judges worthy of its blessing.
Pit Bull Bans: The State of Breed–Specific Legislation
Source: Animal Legal Defense Fund
Hundreds of municipalities of all sizes and geographic locations throughout the country have adopted BSL. (One of the most comprehensive, up–to–date lists of BSL jurisdictions can be found at www.understand–a–bull.com.) Still other towns are repealing existing bans, such as Edwardsville, Kansas, which removed its pit bull ban after the nearby Niko case ended.
In 2009 new statewide BSL bills were introduced in Hawaii, Montana, and Oregon, where there are two BSL bills pending. One would ban “pit bulls” from Oregon unless a person has obtained a permit within 90 days of the bill’s passage; the other would require minimum liability insurance coverage of $1 million for pit bull owners. Although other jurisdictions, as well as insurance companies, have also implemented provisions requiring minimum liability insurance coverage for owners of certain breeds, Oregon’s bill may be the first to cross the million–dollar threshold if it passes. Because some dog owners will be unable to obtain such insurance owing to the cost or the nature of their dog, these requirements act as an indirect restriction on ownership of certain breeds.
Interestingly, 12 states have passed laws prohibiting the passage of BSL by local governments: Florida and Pennsylvania (although bills are currently pending to repeal this prohibition in both states), California, Colorado, Illinois, Maine, Minnesota, New Jersey, New York, Oklahoma, Texas, and Virginia. Like the other 11 states, California has ruled that no specific dog breed mix shall be declared potentially dangerous or vicious as a matter of breed, but it does allow BSL related to mandatory spay/neuter programs, meaning it requires dogs of certain breeds to be “fixed.” The city of Denver has perhaps the most tortured history with BSL. Denver passed BSL in 1989, but the Colorado State Legislature outlawed BSL in 2004. Denver later reinstated BSL after the city challenged the state’s BSL prohibition, and a judge ruled that Denver’s BSL could be allowed to stand as a home rule exception.
Letter report on the Orbiting Carbon Observatory
Source: National Research Council
From press release:
Current methods for estimating greenhouse gas emissions have limitations that make it difficult to monitor CO2 emissions and verify an international climate treaty, says a new National Research Council letter report to the administrator of NASA, Charles F. Bolden Jr.
NASA’s Orbiting Carbon Observatory — which failed to launch in February — would have offered proof that greenhouse gas emissions could be monitored from space, as well as provided baseline data on CO2 emissions trends from a sample of cities and power plants, the report says. NASA is expected to decide in the coming months whether to launch a replacement observatory.
The observatory was not designed for treaty monitoring and verification, and because of its two-year mission life, it would not by itself have been able to track emission trends. However, no other satellite has its crucial combination of high precision, small footprint, readiness, density of cloud-free measurements, and ability to sense carbon dioxide near the Earth’s surface, said the committee that wrote the report.
Download document in PDF; free registration required.
Who is Responsible for a Deceased Relative’s Debts?
Source: Federal Trade Commission
Who is Responsible for a Deceased Relative’s Debts?
If your relative leaves unpaid debts when he or she dies, do you have to pay?
According to the Federal Trade Commission, the nation’s consumer protection agency, surviving relatives usually have no legal obligation to pay the debts of a family member who has died. Generally, that person’s estate is responsible for paying his or her debts. But if there isn’t enough in the estate to cover the debts, they typically go unpaid.
After a relative dies, debt collectors may contact family members and ask them to pay their loved ones’ debts. The rights of surviving relatives are covered by the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act, which the FTC enforces. The FTC has developed a new consumer alert about this issue titled Paying the Debts of a Deceased Relative: Who Is Responsible?
+ Paying the Debts of a Deceased Relative: Who Is Responsible?
+ Debt Collection FAQs: A Guide for Consumers
FTC Approves Final Consent Order in Matter Concerning Kellogg Company
Source: Federal Trade Commission
Following a public comment period, the Commission has approved a final consent order in the matter of Kellogg Company and authorized the staff to provide responses to the commenters of record. The FTC’s complaint charged that Kellogg’s advertising claims touting a breakfast of Frosted Mini-Wheats as “clinically shown to improve kids’ attentiveness by nearly 20%” were false and violated federal law.
U.S. Department of Labor’s OSHA focuses inspection program on safety of airport traffic control tower personnel
Source: Occupational Health and Safety Administration
The safety of airport traffic control tower personnel is the focus of an inspection targeting program titled “Federal Aviation Administration’s Airport Traffic Control Tower Monitoring Program” which monitors how workers clear a control tower in case of fire and other emergencies. The inspection targeting program, conducted by the U.S. Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA), examines the Federal Aviation Administration’s (FAA) air traffic control towers’ provision of safe means of egress, or exit, for workers at FAA - owned and - operated towers.
The program requires the FAA to bring towers into compliance with the alternate standard for egress and fire safety. OSHA inspectors will inspect randomly selected towers to determine if the FAA is meeting this requirement. A description of OSHA’s alternate standard is available at https://www.osha.gov/pls/oshaweb/owadisp.show_document?p_table=STANDARDS&p_id=10114.
Current guidance based on the FAA’s alternate standard allows for a single exit route where the building size, occupancy level, type of construction and workplace arrangement is such that all workers would be able to evacuate safely during an emergency.
“This agency’s fundamental responsibility is to protect workers from unsafe workplaces,” said acting Assistant Secretary of Labor for OSHA Jordan Barab. “Those who work in airport traffic control towers risk their safety if exit routes are not in place in the event of a fire. OSHA recognizes the importance of this inspection program and is confident that monitoring compliance with this standard will result in fewer worker injuries and deaths.”
+ FAA Airport Traffic Control Tower Monitoring Program (PDF; 173 KB)
NIST Releases Final Version of New Cybersecurity Recommendations for Government
Source: National Institute of Standards and Technology
The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) today released its final version of a publication which represents a major step toward building a unified information security framework for the entire federal government.
The document, NIST Special Publication 800-53, Recommended Security Controls for Federal Information Systems and Organizations, was released in draft form for public review in June.
“This final publication represents a solidification of the partnership between the Department of Defense, the Intelligence Community, and NIST and their efforts to bring common security solutions to the federal government and its support contractors,” said Ron Ross, of NIST’s computer security division. “The aim is to provide greater protection for federal information systems against cyber attacks.”
Comments received from the public since June did not result in any major changes in the final publication, according to Ross.
Historically, information systems at civilian agencies have operated under different security controls than military and intelligence information systems. When complete, the unified framework will result in the defense, intelligence and civil communities using a common strategy to protect critical federal information systems and associated infrastructure.
+ Full Document (PDF; 1.9 MB)
Everything I Need To Know I Learned from Fandom: How Existing Social Norms Can Help Shape the Next Generation of User-Generated Content (PDF; 240 KB)
Source: Vanderbilt Journal of Entertainment and Technology Law
With the growing popularity of YouTube and other platforms for user-generated content, such as blogs and wikis, copyright holders are increasingly concerned about potential infringing uses of their content. However, when enforcing their copyrights, owners often do not distinguish between direct piracy, such as uploading an entire episode of a television show, and transformative works, such as a fan-made video that incorporates clips from a television show. The line can be a difficult one to draw. However, there is at least one source of user generated content that has existed for decades and that clearly differentiates itself from piracy: fandom and “fan fiction” writers.
This note traces the history of fan communities and the copyright issues associated with fiction that borrows characters and settings that the fan-author did not create. The author discusses established social norms within these communities that developed to deal with copyright issues, such as requirements for non-commercial use and attribution, and how these norms track to Creative Commons licenses. The author argues that widespread use of these licenses, granting copyrighted works “some rights reserved” instead of “all rights reserved,” would allow copyright holders to give their consumers some creative freedom in creating transformative works, while maintaining the control needed to combat piracy. However, the author also suggests a more immediate solution: copyright holders, in making decisions concerning copyright enforcement, should consider using the norms associated with established user-generated content communities as a framework for drawing a line between transformative work and piracy.
