Testimony issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "GAO and the Department of Education's Office of Inspector General have issued many reports in recent years on the Department's financial management problems, including internal control weaknesses that put the Department at risk for waste, fraud, abuse, and mismanagement. In an April 2001 assessment of the internal control over Education's payment processes and the associated risks for improper payments, GAO identified four broad categories of internal control weaknesses: poor segregation of duties, lack of supervisory review, inadequate audit trails, and inadequate computer systems' applications controls. This testimony discusses how these weaknesses make Education vulnerable to improper payments in grant and loan payments, third party drafts, and government purchase card purchases. GAO found that Education's student aid application processing system for grants and loans lacks an automated edit check that would identify potentially improper payments from students who were much older than expected, a single social security number associated with two or more dates of birth, grants to recipients in excess of statutory limits, and searches for invalid social security numbers. GAO also found problems with Education's third party draft system. Specifically, Education (1) circumvented a system's application control …

Testimony issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Although the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) has made significant progress establishing a national formulary that has generally met with acceptance by prescribers and patients, VA oversight has not fully ensured standardization of its drug benefit nationwide. The three medical centers GAO visited did not comply with the national formulary. Specifically, two of the three medical centers omitted more than 140 required national formulary drugs, and all three facilities inappropriately modified the national formulary list of required drugs for certain drug classes by adding or omitting some drugs. In addition, as VA policy allows, Veterans Integrated Service Networks (VISN) added drugs to supplement the national formulary ranging from five drugs at one VISN to 63 drugs at another. However, VA lacked criteria for determining the appropriateness of the actions networks took to add these drugs. In addition to problems standardizing the national formulary, GAO identified weaknesses in the nonformulary approval process. Although the national formulary directive requires certain criteria for approving nonformulary drugs, it does not prescribe a specific nonformulary approval process. As a result, the processes health care providers must follow to obtain nonformulary drugs differ among …

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Invasive species--harmful, nonnative plants, animals, and microorganisms--are widespread throughout the United States, causing billions of dollars of damage annually to crops, rangelands, and waterways. An important part of pest control is quick action to eradicate or contain a potentially damaging invasive species. Federal rapid response to invasive species varies: species that threaten agricultural crops or livestock are far more likely to elicit a rapid response than those primarily affecting forestry or other natural areas, including rangelands and water areas. A major obstacle to rapid response is the lack of a national system to address invasive species. Other obstacles to rapid response include the need for additional detection systems to identify new species; improved partnerships among federal, state, and local agencies; and better technologies to eradicate invasive species. The Invasive Species Council's Management Plan makes several recommendations for improving rapid response, including developing a program of coordinated rapid response and pursuing increases in discretionary spending to support the program. A concerted effort to improve the rapid response is clearly needed. If properly implemented, the Council's recommendations will go a long way toward developing a national system to …

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

Concerns for Biological weapons (BW) are being viewed as a threat and a "when, if not" scenario. What is the nature of biological weapons and the treat assessments. The U.S laws and regulations that adhere to BW weapons.

Student newspaper of the University of Oklahoma in Norman, Oklahoma that includes national, local, and campus news along with advertising.

Daily newspaper from Altus, Oklahoma that includes local, state, and national news along with advertising.

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

B-roll video footage from the KXAS-TV/NBC station in Fort Worth, Texas, to accompany a news story.

Daily newspaper from Sapulpa, Oklahoma that includes local, state, and national news along with advertising.

Funeral program for Elgin Lee Brown, Sr., born August 30, 1936 and died July 19, 2001. The funeral was held July 24, 2001 at Antioch Baptist Church, officiated by Dr. e. Thurman Walker. Funeral arrangements were made through Sutton-Sutton Mortuary Inc. and he was buried in Meadowlawn Memorial Park in San Antonio, Texas.

Daily newspaper from Chickasha, Oklahoma that includes local, state, and national news along with advertising.

Semiweekly newspaper from Boerne, Texas that includes local, state, and national news along with advertising.

Daily newspaper from Perry, Oklahoma that includes local, state, and national news along with advertising.

Semiweekly newspaper from Brady, Texas that includes local, state, and national news along with advertising.