Correspondence issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "This report contains GAO's update of the appropriation and expenditure data for the Environmental Protection Agency's Superfund program since a July 2003 report."

Document issued by the Office of the Attorney General of Texas in Austin, Texas, providing an interpretation of Texas law. It provides the opinion of the Texas Attorney General, Greg Abbott, regarding a legal question submitted for clarification: Whether an amendment to section 16.012(m) of the Water Code, which repealed a provision that excepted certain water-use surveys from disclosure under the Public Information Act, applies to surveys obtained by the Texas Water Development Board prior to the amendment’s effective date (RQ-0096-GA)

Document issued by the Office of the Attorney General of Texas in Austin, Texas, providing an interpretation of Texas law. It provides the opinion of the Texas Attorney General, Greg Abbott, regarding a legal question submitted for clarification: Whether the Town Center Improvement District of Montgomery County is authorized to enter into a contract with a city to provide law enforcement services in unincorporated areas of Montgomery County (RQ-0097-GA)

Document issued by the Office of the Attorney General of Texas in Austin, Texas, providing an interpretation of Texas law. It provides the opinion of the Texas Attorney General, Greg Abbott, regarding a legal question submitted for clarification; Whether a person who purchases water from the Jonah Water Specialty District but who resides in an area outside the district's boundaries is eligible to vote in a district election (RQ-0098-GA)

A printout of an email about a voter id project called Equality Knocks.

Testimony issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "US-VISIT (United States Visitor and Immigrant Status Indicator Technology) is a governmentwide program to enhance national security, facilitate legitimate trade and travel, contribute to the integrity of the U.S. immigration system, and adhere to U.S. privacy laws and policies by (1) collecting, maintaining, and sharing information on certain foreign nationals who enter and exit the United States; (2) identifying foreign nationals who (1) have overstayed or violated the terms of their visit; (2) can receive, extend, or adjust their immigration status; or (3) should be apprehended or detained by law enforcement officials; (3) detecting fraudulent travel documents, verifying traveler identity, and determining traveler admissibility through the use of biometrics; and (4) facilitating information sharing and coordination within the border management community. GAO was asked to testify on its completed work on the nature, status, and management of the USVISIT program."

Testimony issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Medicaid, the federal-state health financing program for many of the nation's most vulnerable populations, finances health care for an estimated 53 million lowincome Americans, at a cost of $244 billion in 2002. Congress structured Medicaid as a shared fiduciary responsibility of the federal government and the states, with the federal share of each state's Medicaid payments determined by a formula specified by law. In 2002, the federal share of each state's expenditures ranged from 50 to 76 percent under this formula; in the aggregate, the federal share of total Medicaid expenditures was 57 percent. Some states have used a number of creative financing schemes that take advantage of statutory and regulatory loopholes to claim excessive federal matching payments. GAO was asked to summarize prior work on how some of these schemes operated, including the role of intergovernmental transfers (IGT), which enable government entities--such as the state and local-government facilities like county nursing homes--to transfer funds among themselves. GAO was also asked to discuss these schemes' effects on the federalstate Medicaid partnership and to discuss what can be done to curtail them."

Interview with Bill J. Ripkowski, a sergeant in the US Army during WWII. He answers questions about his life in the military and his time abroad during the war.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with Walter Varnum. Varnum joined the Navy in May, 1943 and was trained at Farragut, Idaho. After that, he went to the University of Illinois for diesel engine training. From there, Varnum headed for Little Creek, Virginia to amphibious training as a diesel engineer. He was assigned to an LCVP that had rocket attachments on the side and describes his trip across the Atlantic aboard an LST to Scotland, arriving in March 1944. Then they went to Portsmouth to train for the Normandy invasion. In England, Varnum was transferred to a different boat that relayed messages between ships. He travelled across the English Channel to Normandy aboard her. His boat was tied up to the USS Ancon (AGC-4) and he stayed aboard the Ancon until time to perform his message traffic duties. During the invasion of Southern France Varnum was back aboard a rocket boat. His sank. He returned to the US and was assigned to UST LST-1049 at Pittsburgh. He rode it down river to the Gulf of Mexico and took it to San Diego. Once in the Pacific, Varnum went to the Mariana Islands, the Philippines and …

Testimony issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Multiemployer defined benefit pension plans, which are created by collective bargaining agreements covering more than one employer and generally operated under the joint trusteeship of labor and management, provide coverage to over 9.7 million of the 44 million participants insured by the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation (PBGC). The recent termination of several large single-employer plans--plans sponsored by individual firms--has led to millions of dollars in benefit losses for thousands of workers and left PBGC, their public insurer, an $11.2 billion deficit as of September 30, 2003. The serious difficulties experienced by these single-employer plans have prompted questions about the health of multiemployer plans. This testimony provides information on differences between single employer and multiemployer pension plans, recent trends in the funding of multiemployer pension plans and worker participation in those plans, and factors that may pose challenges to the future prospects of multiemployer plans. GAO will soon release a separate report on multiemployer pension issues."

Testimony issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Rebuilding Iraq is a U.S. national security priority. Billions of dollars are needed for Iraq's reconstruction. The U.S. government and the international community have undertaken important efforts to recover the assets of the former regime and return them to the Iraqi people. In this testimony, GAO will present its preliminary observations on the recovery effort. Specifically, GAO (1) updates its estimate of the revenues diverted from the Oil for Food Program, (2) describes the U.S. government agencies working on the asset recovery effort, (3) discusses the results of U.S. efforts, and (4) highlights challenges that the United States faces in recovering Iraqi assets."

A printout of a webpage with the 411 on Equality Knocks from March 18, 2004.

Financial Custom Summary Report for the Texas Stonewall Democratic Caucus for January 1, 2002 through April 16, 2004.

Minutes for the April 18, 2004 meeting of the Texas Stonewall Democratic Caucus, discussing the Treasurers report, bylaws and articles, membership dues, and other business addressed during the meeting.

Minutes of executive committee meeting of the Texas Stonewall Democratic Caucus. Included in the descriptive text are briefings of memberships dues for the local clubs. Texas Stonewall Democratic Caucus bylaws and articles. 2002-2004 Executive Committee document listing addresses and other contact information for Officer and Director use only. A report for Texas Stonewall Democratic Caucus Sales by Customer Detail made on January 1 through April 22, 2004, with an account ending of $125.00. Another report for Texas Stonewall Democratic Caucus, Sales by Customer Detail made on January through December 2003, with an account balance ending of $925.00.

Minutes of officer and board of directors meeting of the Texas Stonewall Democratic Caucus.

Minutes for the April 18, 2004 meeting of the Texas Stonewall Democratic Caucus officers and board of directors.

News release about DART's annual senior health fair.

Testimony issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Under the Small Business Reauthorization Act of 1997, the federal government has a goal of awarding at least 23 percent of prime, or direct, contracting dollars to small businesses each fiscal year. The Department of Energy (DOE), like other federal agencies, shares in the responsibility for meeting this goal. In fiscal year 2003, DOE spent $21.6 billion on prime contracts. More than 80 percent of this amount was spent on facility management contracts to manage and operate DOE's sites. Before 1999, DOE included subcontracts awarded by its facility management contractors when calculating its small business prime contracting achievements. In 1999, however, the Office of Federal Procurement Policy determined that DOE could no longer do so. This testimony discusses (1) the effect of the 1999 policy change on the amount of prime contract dollars that DOE will be required to direct to small businesses, (2) the steps that DOE has taken or plans to take to achieve its small business contracting goals, and (3) the likely implications for DOE's programs resulting from these changes."

Testimony issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Over the last two decades, FAA has experienced difficulties meeting the demands of the aviation industry while also attempting to operate efficiently and effectively. Now, as air traffic returns to pre- 9/11 levels, concerns have again arisen as to how prepared FAA may be to meet increasing demands for capacity, safety, and efficiency. FAA's air traffic control (ATC) modernization efforts are designed to enhance the national airspace system through the acquisition of a vast network of radar, navigation, and communication systems. Nine years have passed since Congress provided FAA with personnel and acquisition reforms. However, projects continue to experience cost, schedule and performance problems. FAA's Air Traffic Organization (ATO) is its most current reform effort. Expectations are that the ATO will bring a performance management approach to ATC modernization. This statement focuses on three main questions: (1) What are some of the major challenges and demands that confront FAA? (2) What is the status of FAA's implementation of reforms and/or procedural relief that Congress provided? and (3) What are some of the critical success factors that will enable FAA to become a highperforming organization?"

Handwritten note about dates and activities related to Donna Beth.

Testimony issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Congress recognized the critical leadership role the agency Chief Human Capital Officers (CHCOs) and the CHCO Council must play in the fundamental changes that need to take place across the executive branch. A range of 21st century challenges are driving the need for a fundamental transformation of the federal government. People strategy must be a key element of this overall transformation effort. People define an organization's culture, drive its performance, and embody its knowledge base. Congress has provided agencies across the executive branch with additional tools and authorities needed to strategically manage their workforces. The success of these and related initiatives will depend in large measure on the existence of high-quality CHCOs and a strategic and effective CHCO Council. GAO discussed (1) the different approaches agencies used in selecting CHCOs and creating the CHCO position, (2) the key responsibilities of the CHCOs, and (3) the initial steps taken by the CHCO Council and some suggested next steps."

A cooling structure (16) for use inside a ceramic cylindrical tube (11) of a metal vapor laser (10) to cool the plasma in the tube (11), the cooling structure (16) comprising a plurality of circular metal members (17,31) and mounting members (18, 34) that position the metal members (17,31) coaxially in the tube (11) to form an annular lasing volume, with the metal members (17, 31) being axially spaced from each other along the length of the tube (11) to prevent the metal members from shorting out the current flow through the plasma in the tube (11) and to provide spaces through which the heat from localized hot spots in the plasma may radiate to the other side of the tube (11).

The present invention provides an edge cladding for a slab laser, the edge cladding comprising a cooling channel system therein.