This issue brief discusses the Airport Improvement Program and its complement, the Passenger Facility Charge (PFC). After a brief history of federal support for airport construction and improvement, the report describes AIP funding, its source of revenues, funding distribution, the types of projects the program funds, AIP and PFC policy issues, and the allowable use of AIP funds for airport security purposes.

This report provides a select chronology and resource guide concerning congressional and presidential actions and documents pertaining to budget for FY2004, which runs from October 1, 2003 through September 30, 2004. The budget actions and documents referenced in this report relate to the President’s FY2004 budget submission, the FY2004 Congressional Budget Resolution (H.Con.Res 95), reconciliation legislation, debt-limit legislation, and FY2004 appropriation measures.

This report presents an overview of two national incidence studies prepared by the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention (OJJDP) to determine annually the number of reported missing and recovered children in the nation. It also discusses the AMBER Alert System created to help recover reported missing children, legislation introduced in the 108th Congresses to address the missing children issue, and questions that remain regarding concerns about missing children.

This report is a guide to one of the 13 regular appropriations bills that Congress passes each year. It is designed to supplement the information provided by the House and Senate Appropriations Subcommittees on Energy and Water. It summarizes the current legislative status of the bill, its scope, major issues, funding levels, and related legislative activity. The report lists the key CRS staff relevant to the issues covered and related CRS products.

Energy security, a major driver of federal energy efficiency programs in the past, came back into play as oil and gas prices rose late in the year 2000. The terrorist attack in 2001 and the Iraq war have led to heightened concern for energy security and raised further concerns about the vulnerability of energy infrastructure and the need for alternative fuels. Further, the 2001 power shortages in California, the 2003 northeast-midwest power blackout, and continuing high natural gas prices have brought a renewed emphasis on energy efficiency and energy conservation to dampen electricity, oil, and natural gas demand.

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Federal law requires most imports, including many food items, to bear labels informing the “ultimate purchaser” of their country of origin. Meats, produce, and several other raw agricultural products generally have been exempt. The omnibus farm law (P.L. 107-171) signed on May 13, 2002, contains a requirement that many retailers provide, starting on September 30, 2004, country-of-origin labeling (COOL) on fresh fruits and vegetables, red meats, seafood, and peanuts. The program is voluntary until then. USDA on October 8, 2002, issued guidelines for the voluntary labeling program.

This report provides information about the Budgeting and Priority-Setting Issues, 108th Congress on Federal Research and Development. Federal R & D funding priorities change over time, reflecting presidential and national preferences.

This report provides information about the Homeland Security and Counterterrorism Research and Development: Funding, Organization, and Oversight. Federal funding for counterterrorism R&D has increased substantially in the last three years.

Weekly student newspaper from Howard Payne University in Brownwood, Texas that includes local, state and campus news along with advertising.

A weekly publication, the Texas Register serves as the journal of state agency rulemaking for Texas. Information published in the Texas Register includes proposed, adopted, withdrawn and emergency rule actions, notices of state agency review of agency rules, governor's appointments, attorney general opinions, and miscellaneous documents such as requests for proposals. After adoption, these rulemaking actions are codified into the Texas Administrative Code.

Tri-weekly student newspaper from Abilene Christian University in Abilene, Texas that includes local, state and campus news along with advertising.

Concurrent resolution introduced by the Texas House of Representatives and Senate relating to granting each chamber permission to adjourn from Wednesday, Sep. 17 to Monday, Sep 22, 2003.

Funeral program for Winona Tollerson, born February 15, 1939 and died September 20, 2003. The funeral was held September 26, 2003 at West End Baptist Church, officiated by Dr. A. B. Devers, I. Funeral arrangements were made through Sutton-Sutton Mortuary, Inc., and she was buried in Meadowlawn Memorial Park in San Antonio, Texas.

A weekly student newspaper from the Rice University in Houston, Texas that includes campus news and commentaries along with advertising.

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Drug effectiveness and adverse events can vary between children and adults and among racial and ethnic groups. The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is authorized under the pediatric exclusivity provision to grant drug sponsors 6 months of additional exclusive marketing rights for conducting clinical drug studies in children. The Best Pharmaceuticals for Children Act of 2002 (BPCA) expanded this provision to require FDA to take into account the adequacy of minority representation in pediatric exclusivity studies. BPCA also directed GAO to evaluate the representation of minorities in such studies. GAO examined the extent to which minority children are represented, whether drugs that treat diseases disproportionately affecting minority groups are studied under the provision, and FDA's monitoring of the representation of minority children in the studies. GAO reviewed related FDA documents, FDA requests for pediatric studies and final study results, and interviewed FDA officials and other experts."

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "The United Nations responded to the failure of some past peacekeeping operations by developing a strategy to help peacekeeping operations move a country from conflict to sustainable peace. It has attempted to apply this strategy to the large and costly peacekeeping operations in Sierra Leone, East Timor, and the Democratic Republic of the Congo since 2001. As a contributor of over 25 percent of the cost of U.N. operations, the United States has a stake in the successful application of this strategy. The strategy also has implications for the conduct of international peace operations in other post-conflict countries. GAO was asked to (1) identify the elements of the U.N. transition strategy; (2) assess the extent to which the United Nations has applied the strategy to operations; and (3) assess the challenges to implementing the strategy in these three countries."

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Money laundering is a serious crime, with hundreds of billions of dollars laundered annually. Congress passed the Money Laundering and Financial Crimes Strategy Act of 1998 to better coordinate the efforts of law enforcement agencies and financial regulators in combating money laundering. This act required the issuance of an annual National Money Laundering Strategy for 5 years, ending with the issuance of the 2003 strategy. To help with deliberations on reauthorization, GAO determined (1) agency perspectives on the benefit of the strategy and factors that affected its development and implementation, (2) whether the strategy has served as a useful mechanism for guiding the coordination of federal law enforcement agencies' efforts, (3) the role of the strategy in influencing the activities of federal financial regulators, and (4) whether the strategy has reflected key critical components."

Semiweekly newspaper from Lamar University in Beaumont, Texas that includes local, national, and campus news along with advertising.

The Idaho National Engineering and Environmental Laboratory (INEEL) has been tasked with developing, designing, constructing, and operating a full-scale prototype of the work package closure system. As a precursor to developing the conceptual design, all commercially available equipment was assessed to identify any existing technology gaps. This report presents the results of that assessment for all major equipment.

This Closure Report (CR) presents information supporting a closure recommendation for Corrective Action Unit (CAU) 394: Areas 12, 18, and 29 Spill/Release Sites, Nevada Test Site, Nevada, in compliance with the requirements of the Federal Facility Agreement and Consent Order. This CAU contains six Corrective Action Sites (CASs): 12-25-04, UST 12-16-2 Waste Oil Release; 18-25-01, 18-25-02, 18-25-03, Oil Spills; 18-25-04, Spill (Diesel Fuel); and 29-44-01, Fuel Spill, located within Areas 12, 18, and 29 on the Nevada Test Site. The purpose of this CR is to provide documentation supporting recommendations of no further action or closure in place for CASs within CAU 394. Throughout late 2002 and early to mid 2003, closure activities were performed as set forth in the CAU 394 Streamlined Approach for Environmental Restoration Plan. The closure activities identified the nature and extent of contaminants of potential concern at the CASs, and provided sufficient information and data to complete appropriate corrective actions for the CASs. Soil in CASs 18-25-02 and 18-25-03 containing polychlorinated biphenyls exceeding the action levels established by the Nevada Administrative Code were removed for proper disposal. The soil remaining in these CASs containing petroleum hydrocarbons exceeding the action level were closed in place with …

This Corrective Action Decision Document identifies and rationalizes the U.S. Department of Energy, National Nuclear Security Administration Nevada Site Office's selection of recommended corrective action alternatives (CAAs) appropriate to facilitate the closure of Corrective Action Unit (CAU) 127: Areas 25 and 26 Storage Tanks, Nevada Test Site, Nevada, under the Federal Facility Agreement and Consent Order. Corrective Action Unit 127 consists of twelve corrective action sites (CASs). Corrective action investigation (CAI) activities were performed from February 24, 2003, through May 2, 2003, with additional sampling conducted on June 6, 2003, June 9, 2003, and June 24, 2003. Analytes detected during these investigation activities were evaluated against preliminary action levels to identify contaminants of concern (COCs) for each CAS, resulting in the determination that only two of the CASs did not have COCs exceeding regulatory levels. Based on the evaluation of analytical data from the CAI, review of future and current operations in Areas 25 and 26 of the Nevada Test Site, and the detailed and comparative analysis of the potential CAAs, the following alternatives were developed for consideration: (1) No Further Action is the preferred corrective action for the two CASs (25-02-13, 26-02-01) identified with no COCs; (2) Clean Closure …

A status is presented of the parameterization during FY2003 of an association-based Pitzer model to simulate chemical and phase equilibria of acid-chloride-nitrate-mercury aqueous electrolyte systems at 0-100 C within the industry-standard process simulator, ASPEN Plus. Compatibility with ASPEN Plus requires that the Pitzer model used be limited to the third virial coefficient and have the values of b and a1 as originally proposed by Pitzer. Two aqueous models for 0-110 C at atmospheric pressure were parameterized in FY03. The model for the aqueous H+-K+-Na+-Cl- system is applicable for 0-16 molal, and the HNO3-H2O for 0-20 molal. An association-based Pitzer activity coefficient model is combined with Henry's law to predict activity/osmotic coefficient and VLE. The chloride model also predicts KCl and NaCl solubility, while the nitric acid model has the unique capability of predicting extent of dissociation with an average absolute deviation of 1.43%. The association-based approach presented here extends the utility of the molality-based Pitzer model past 6 molal to predict activity/osmotic coefficients up to 16-20 molal. The association-based approach offers the additional benefits of predicting extent of dissociation and of allowing the Pitzer model to be fully utilized in commercial simulators, such as ASPEN Plus, that require accounting for …

The CARAT program, carried out by Kinetic Art & Technology Corporation (KAT), has been one of the most commercially successful KAT R&D programs to date. Based on previous development of its technology, KAT designed, constructed and tested a highly efficient motor and controller system under this CARAT program with supplemental commercial funding. Throughout this CARAT effort, the technical objectives have been refined and refocused. Some objectives have been greatly expanded, while others have been minimized. The determining factor in all decisions to refocus the objectives was the commercial need, primarily the needs of KAT manufacturing partners. Several companies are employing the resulting CARAT motor and controller designs in prototypes for commercial products. Two of these companies have committed to providing cost share in order to facilitate the development. One of these companies is a major manufacturing company developing a revolutionary new family of products requiring the ultra-high system efficiency achievable by the KAT motor and controller technologies (known as Segmented ElectroMagnetic Array, or SEMA technology). Another company requires the high efficiency, quiet operation, and control characteristics afforded by the same basic motor and controller for an advanced air filtration product. The combined annual production requirement projected by these two companies …