This report discusses several key provisions related to extended federal unemployment benefits that are temporary and, therefore, scheduled to expire. This report describes the consequences of these expirations for the financing and availability of unemployment benefits in states. It also summarizes the last three laws that have extended these expiring provisions: P.L. 112-240, P.L. 112-96, and P.L. 112-78.

This report provides an introduction of Mexico during Peña Nieto administration. The report discusses key issues of congressional interest in the bilateral relationship.

This report provides background information regarding the Keystone XL pipeline proposal and the process required for federal approval. The report discusses the state department's GHG emissions assessment and provides concluding observations.

This report explains how employer-sponsored insurance can be used to address concerns about health insurance coverage and cost. Then, it summarizes the three ACA provisions most relevant to small businesses. Also, it analyzes these provisions for their potential effects on small businesses. Last, this report presents several approaches that could address some concerns associated with these provisions (particularly the employer penalty).

This report opens with an examination of the current role of private insurers in managing disaster risk and their capacity and willingness to deal with the rising cost of financing recovery and reconstruction following natural disasters. The report then examines the current role of federal, state, and local governments in managing disaster risk.

A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "Bi-state tolling authorities have broad authority to set toll rates and use revenues for a range of purposes, including maintaining, repairing, and improving their infrastructure. In setting tolls, bi-state tolling authorities are primarily influenced by debt obligations and maintain specific operating revenues to repay their debt. A federal statute requiring bridge tolls to be "just and reasonable" has less influence on tolling decisions, in part, because no federal agency has authority to enforce the standard."

Correspondence issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "In fiscal year (FY) 2012, we found that four federal departments--the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), Department of Veterans Affairs (VA), Department of Defense, and Department of Education--administered 91 programs that supported postsecondary training or education specifically for direct care health professionals. The departments reported obligating about $14.2 billion for these programs in FY 2012 with the majority (78 percent) of funding going to programs that supported graduate medical education--postgraduate internship and residency training for physicians and certain other health professionals. Specifically, two programs administered by HHS's Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services--Medicare payments to teaching hospitals for Direct Graduate Medical Education and Medicare payments to teaching hospitals for Indirect Medical Education-- accounted for about 66 percent of total reported health care workforce training funding in FY 2012."

A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "On the basis of analyzing Social Security Administration (SSA) data on individuals who were Disability Insurance (DI) beneficiaries as of December 2010 and earnings data from the National Directory of New Hires (NDNH), GAO estimates that SSA made $1.29 billion in potential cash benefit overpayments to about 36,000 individuals as of January 2013. The exact number of individuals who received improper disability payments and the exact amount of improper payments made to those individuals cannot be determined without detailed case investigations by SSA. These DI beneficiaries represent an estimated 0.4 percent of all primary DI beneficiaries as of December 2010. Using a different methodology that includes additional causes of overpayments not considered in GAO's analysis, SSA estimated its DI overpayments in fiscal year 2011 were $1.62 billion, or 1.27 percent of all DI benefits in that fiscal year. GAO estimated DI program overpayments on the basis of work activity performed by two populations of individuals. The first population received potential overpayments due to work activity during the DI program's mandatory 5-month waiting period--a statutory program requirement to help ensure that SSA does not pay benefits to …

This report gives an overview of the relationship between the Commonwealth of Australia and the United States including the close alliance under the ANZUS treaty. The report includes information about the structure of the Australian government, political and domestic issues, economics, defense policies and security ties, counterterrorism, environmentalism, affairs in Asia and the Pacific Southwest, and an analysis of other specific events.

Weekly newspaper from Port Aransas, Texas on Mustang Island that includes local, state and national news along with extensive advertising.

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The Hanford tank waste contains -26,000 Ci of technetium-99 (Tc-99), the majority of which is in the supernate fraction. Tc-99 is a long-lived radionuclide with a half-life of -212,000 years and, in its predominant pertechnetate (TcO{sub 4}) fonn, is highly soluble and very mobile in the vadose zone and ultimately the groundwater. Tc-99 is identified as the major dose contributor (in groundwater) by past Hanford site performance assessments and therefore considered a key radionuclide of concern at Hanford. The United States Department of Energy (DOE) River Protection Project's (RPP) long-term Tc-99 management strategy is to immobitize the Tc-99 in a waste fonn that will retain the Tc-99 for many thousands of years. To achieve this, the RPP flowsheet will immobilize the majority of the Tc-99 as a vitrified low-activity waste product that will be ultimately disposed on site in the Integrated Disposal Facility. The Tc-99 will be released gradually from the glass at very low rates such that the groundwater concentrations at any point in time would be substantially below regulatory limits.The liquid secondary waste will be immobilized in a low-temperature matrix (cast stone) and the solid secondary waste will be stabilized using grout. Although the Tc-99 that is immobilized …

Oak Ridge Associated Universities (ORAU), under the Oak Ridge Institute for Science and Education (ORISE) contract, collected split surface water samples with Nuclear Fuel Services (NFS) representatives on June 12, 2013. Representatives from the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) and the Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation were also in attendance. Samples were collected at four surface water stations, as required in the approved Request for Technical Assistance number 11-018. These stations included Nolichucky River upstream (NRU), Nolichucky River downstream (NRD), Martin Creek upstream (MCU), and Martin Creek downstream (MCD). Both ORAU and NFS performed gross alpha and gross beta analyses, and Table 1 presents the comparison of results using the duplicate error ratio (DER), also known as the normalized absolute difference. A DER ≤ 3 indicates at a 99% confidence interval that split sample results do not differ significantly when compared to their respective one standard deviation (sigma) uncertainty (ANSI N42.22). The NFS split sample report specifies 95% confidence level of reported uncertainties (NFS 2013). Therefore, standard two sigma reporting values were divided by 1.96. In conclusion, most DER values were less than 3 and results are consistent with low (e.g., background) concentrations. The gross beta result for sample …

The purpose of the Deep Sludge Gas Release Event Analytical Evaluation (DSGRE-AE) is to evaluate the postulated hypothesis that a hydrogen GRE may occur in Hanford tanks containing waste sludges at levels greater than previously experienced. There is a need to understand gas retention and release hazards in sludge beds which are 200 -300 inches deep. These sludge beds are deeper than historical Hanford sludge waste beds, and are created when waste is retrieved from older single-shell tanks (SST) and transferred to newer double-shell tanks (DST).Retrieval of waste from SSTs reduces the risk to the environment from leakage or potential leakage of waste into the ground from these tanks. However, the possibility of an energetic event (flammable gas accident) in the retrieval receiver DST is worse than slow leakage. Lines of inquiry, therefore, are (1) can sludge waste be stored safely in deep beds; (2) can gas release events (GRE) be prevented by periodically degassing the sludge (e.g., mixer pump); or (3) does the retrieval strategy need to be altered to limit sludge bed height by retrieving into additional DSTs? The scope of this effort is to provide expert advice on whether or not to move forward with the generation …

The purpose of this report is to evaluate hydrogen generation within Pencil Tank Overpacks (PTO) in a Standard Waste Box (SWB), to establish plutonium (Pu) limits for PTOs based on hydrogen concentration in the inner-most container and to establish required configurations or validate existing or proposed configurations for PTOs. The methodology and requirements are provided in this report.

A routine video inspection of the annulus region of double-shell tank 241-A Y-102 in August of 2012 indicated the presence material in the annulus space between the primary and secondary liners. A comparison was made to previous inspections perfom1ed in 2006 and 2007. which indicated that a change had occurred. The material was observed at two locations on the floor of the annulus and one location at the top of the annulus region where the primary and secondary top knuckles meet (RPP-ASMT-53793). Subsequent inspections were performed. leading to additional material observed on the floor of the annulus space in a region that had not previously been inspected (WRPS-PER-2012-1363). The annulus Continuous Air Monitor (CAM) was still operational and was not indicating elevated radiation levels in the annulus region. When the camera from the inspections was recovered. it also did not indicate increased radiation above minimum contamination levels (WRPS-PER-2012-1363). A formal leak assessment team was established August 10, 2012 to review tank 241-AY-102 construction and operating histories and to determine whether the material observed in the annulus had resulted from a leak in the primary tank. The team consisted of individuals from Engineering. Base Operations.and Environmental Protection. As this was a …

Executive Summary This Final Report for the "Development of Molten-Salt Heat Transfer Fluid (HTF) Technology for Parabolic Trough Solar Power Plants” describes the overall project accomplishments, results and conclusions. Phase 1 analyzed the feasibility, cost and performance of a parabolic trough solar power plant with a molten salt heat transfer fluid (HTF); researched and/or developed feasible component options, detailed cost estimates and workable operating procedures; and developed hourly performance models. As a result, a molten salt plant with 6 hours of storage was shown to reduce Thermal Energy Storage (TES) cost by 43.2%, solar field cost by 14.8%, and levelized cost of energy (LCOE) by 9.8% - 14.5% relative to a similar state-of-the-art baseline plant. The LCOE savings range met the project’s Go/No Go criteria of 10% LCOE reduction. Another primary focus of Phase 1 and 2 was risk mitigation. The large risk areas associated with a molten salt parabolic trough plant were addressed in both Phases, such as; HTF freeze prevention and recovery, collector components and piping connections, and complex component interactions. Phase 2 analyzed in more detail the technical and economic feasibility of a 140 MWe,gross molten-salt CSP plant with 6 hours of TES. Phase 2 accomplishments included …

The Hanford Site and the Savannah River Site (SRS) were the primary plutonium production facilities within the U.S. nuclear weapons complex. Radioactive wastes were generated as patt of these missions and are stored in similar fashion. The majority of radioactivity maintained by the two sites is located in underground carbon steel tanks in the physical form of supernatant, saltcake, or sludge. Disposition of SRS tank waste is ongoing by converting it into glass (pathway for sludge and radionuclides separated from supernatant or dissolved saltcake) or cement (pathway for the decontaminated supernatant and dissolved saltcake). Tank closure activity has also begun at SRS and will continue for the duration of mission. The Hanford tank waste inventory is roughly 2/3rds larger than SRS's by volume- but nominally half the radioactivity. The baseline disposition path includes high-level and low-activity waste vitrification. with separate disposition of contact-handled transuranic tank waste. Retrieval of tank waste from aging single­ shell tanks (SSTs) into double-shell tanks (DSTs) is currently ongoing. As vitrification commences later this decade, Hanford will be in a similar operations mode as SRS. Site integration is increasing as the missions align. The ongoing integration is centered on key issues that impact both sites- regardless …

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Weekly newspaper from Cooper, Texas that includes local, state, and national news along with advertising.

Weekly newspaper from De Leon, Texas that includes local, state and national news along with advertising.

Daily newspaper from Ennis, Texas that includes local, state and national news along with advertising.

Weekly newspaper from Kermit, Texas that includes local, state and national news along with advertising.

Daily newspaper from Denton, Texas that includes local, state, and national news along with advertising.