Testimony issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "Based on an initial evaluation of the California High Speed Rail Authority's (Authority) cost estimates, GAO found that they exhibit certain strengths and weaknesses when compared to best practices in GAO's Cost Guide. Adherence with the Cost Guide reduces the risk of cost overruns and missed deadlines. GAO's preliminary evaluation indicates that the cost estimates are comprehensive in that they include major components of construction and operating costs. However, they are not based on a complete set of assumptions, such as how the Authority expects to adapt existing high-speed rail technology to the project in California. The cost estimates are accurate in that they are based on the most recent project scope, include an inflation adjustment, and contain few mathematical errors. And while the cost estimates' methodologies are generally documented, in some cases GAO was unable to trace the final cost estimate back to its source documentation and could not verify how certain cost components, such as stations and trains, were calculated. Finally, the Authority evaluated the credibility of its estimates by performing both a sensitivity analysis (assessing changes in key cost inputs) and an independent cost estimate, …

Correspondence issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins ""

Testimony issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "From 2008 to 2010, GAO produced a body of work on disaster recovery, including reviews of the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s (FEMA) Long-Term Community Recovery efforts, recovery lessons based on past experiences at home and abroad, the use of Community Development Block Grants and Public Assistance grants and the operation of the Office of the Federal Coordinator for Gulf Coast Rebuilding (OFC). Among other things, this work highlighted themes that are important to successful disaster recovery efforts. Three of these key themes are: (1) the need for clearly defined recovery roles and responsibilities; (2) the importance of effective coordination and collaboration among recovery stakeholders; and (3) the value of periodic evaluation of, and reporting on, recovery progress."

Testimony issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "The U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) has experienced systemic challenges that have hindered its ability to manage and oversee contracts and assistance instruments in Afghanistan. Key challenges include gaps in planning for the use of contractors and assistance recipients and having visibility into their numbers. For example, GAO reported in April 2010 that, absent strategic planning for its use of contractors, individual offices within USAID often made case-by-case decisions on using contractors to support contract or grant administration and risks, such as possible conflicts of interest, were not always addressed. While having reliable data on contractors and assistance recipients is a starting point for informing agency decisions and ensuring proper management, GAO has also reported on limitations in USAID’s visibility into the number and value of contracts and assistance instruments in Afghanistan, as well as the number of personnel working under them. USAID, along with other agencies, has not implemented GAO’s recommendation to address such limitations. USAID, however, has taken other actions to mitigate risks associated with awarding contracts and assistance instruments in Afghanistan. In June 2011, GAO reported on USAID’s vendor vetting program, then in its …

Correspondence issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "To implement the 2010 National Drug Control Strategy, ONDCP obtained input from drug control stakeholders to help ensure that they shared responsibility for implementation, established a new process to determine progress made, and reported that most action items in the Strategy were on track or complete as of November 2011. ONDCP officials stated that they developed the 2010 Strategy’s seven objectives—for example, Strengthen Efforts to Prevent Drug Use in Our Communities—and 106 action items under these objectives through a consultative process with federal, state, and local drug control agencies and other stakeholders. Officials from the four agencies we spoke with as of April 2012 stated that ONDCP sought input from them to develop the Strategy and that as a result, existing agency priorities and activities are reflected in the Strategy. ONDCP officials stated that this alignment helps facilitate Strategy implementation. In August 2010, ONDCP initiated a process to track progress made on Strategy action items. As part of this process, ONDCP requested that each agency develop and submit (1) a plan for implementing each action item for which it has lead responsibility and (2) status updates on implementation …

Testimony issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "GAO’s work to date work indicates the United States provides less indemnification for third party losses than China, France, and Russia, according to studies. These countries put no limit on the amount of government indemnification coverage currently available through the Commercial Space Launch Act Amendments of 1988 (CSLA) which is about $2.7 billion per launch. These commitments to pay have never been tested because there has never been a third party claim that exceeded the launch company’s insurance and thus reached the level of government indemnification."

Testimony issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "In summary, we identified over 200 organizations that market financial and estate planning services to help pension claimants with excess assets qualify for pension benefits. These organizations consist primarily of financial planners and attorneys who offer products such as annuities and trusts. All 19 organizations our investigative staff contacted said a claimant can qualify for pension benefits by transferring assets before applying, which is permitted under the program. Two organization representatives said they helped pension claimants with substantial assets, including millionaires, obtain VA’s approval for benefits. Some products and services provided, such as deferred annuities, may not be suitable for the elderly because they may not have access to their funds within their expected lifetime without facing high withdrawal fees. Also, such asset transfers may result in ineligibility for Medicaid coverage for long-term care for a period of time. The majority of the 19 organizations contacted charged fees, ranging from a few hundred dollars for benefits counseling to $10,000 for establishment of a trust. In our report we asked Congress to consider establishing a look-back and penalty period for pension claimants who transfer assets prior to applying for …

Testimony issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "We found that the Federal Real Property Council (FRPC) has not followed sound data collection practices in designing and maintaining the Federal Real Property Profile (FRPP) database, raising concerns that the database is not a useful tool for describing the nature, use, and extent of excess and underutilized federal real property. The FRPC has not ensured that key data elements—including buildings’ utilization, condition, annual operating costs, mission dependency, and value—are defined and reported consistently and accurately. For example, we documented buildings reported to the FRPP as underutilized even though they were fully occupied and we also documented others that were vacant but reported as utilized. We also saw severely dilapidated buildings that were reported as being in excellent condition. In fact, at 23 of the 26 locations visited, we identified inconsistencies and inaccuracies related to these data elements. As a result, FRPC cannot ensure that FRPP data are sufficiently reliable to support sound management and decision making about excess and underutilized property. In addition to problems with data consistency, we found problems with collaboration and reporting issues, among others."

Correspondence issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "In 2010, 31,880—or 10 percent—of all FECA beneficiaries were long-term, full-time beneficiaries and 10,873 of those—or 34 percent—were at full retirement age, as defined under the Social Security Act. Of the $1.9 billion total in cash benefits paid to FECA beneficiaries, over half (58 percent) went to long-term, full-time beneficiaries. Of that half, long-term, full-time beneficiaries at or above full Social Security retirement age received 21 percent. This analysis covered all FECA beneficiaries, including USPS and non-USPS employees."

Correspondence issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "Each of the seven Coast Guard AMS Plans that we reviewed has incorporated key recovery and salvage response planning elements as called for by legislation and Coast Guard guidance. Using a template provided by Coast Guard headquarters to help guide AMS Plan development, each AMS Plan included an applicable section addressing procedures to facilitate recovery of the MTS following a TSI. While some variation exists regarding the level of detail provided and the inclusion of additional recovery-related appendices, each of the seven plans identified key recovery components and applicable operational processes as called for by Coast Guard guidance documents. These components include procedures for establishing a Marine Transportation System Recovery Unit (MTSRU) to work with stakeholders and provide guidance to the Incident Command; procedures for gathering and updating Essential Elements of Information (EEIs) to provide status updates on key port assets and operations; and identification of general recovery priorities to help guide decision making. In addition, each AMS Plan also included a Salvage Response Plan to provide a coordination framework for salvage activities and identify available equipment and other resources that may be necessary to support the clearing …

Interview with Norma Adams-Wade, a journalist in Dallas, Texas. The interview includes biographical information about her life growing up, her educational background, and her career doing investigative reporting and other writing for The Dallas Morning News.

The BIOMOL grant was for 'Local System Support for PDB Biological Unit Search and Display' to augment Rasmol's [Bernstein 2000] [Sayle, Milner-White 1995] existing macromolecular display functions with new capabilities by taking advantage of recent increases in local computing power in order to move functionality that is now scattered among various local and remote systems into one local package. Work included new algorithms for molecular surface display, an extended format for Protein Data Bank Entries, work on issues relating to the integration of multiple diffraction images formats.

Minutes of the Texas Society of the Sons of the American Revolution (TXSSAR) Board of Managers meeting covering the opening and general sessions, held October 6-7, 2012 at the Hilton Garden, in Temple, Texas. It includes information about the committees and business covered by the attending members.

This is EPA's environmental justice small grants for the fiscal year 2012. The small grants are arranged by regions.

Agenda for the March 6th meeting of the Dallas Way listing parts of the meeting and member participation in the different parts of the meeting, the treasurer report, and current issues within the organization.

Minutes for the March 6, 2012 meeting of the Dallas Way including current reports and issues on and within the organization.

Transcript of an interview with Simon Ratliff, a cedar chopper.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an interview with Melvin Brandenburg. Brandenburg joined the US Army in September 1942. He was assigned to the 78th Infantry Division, 310th Infantry Regiment. He provides details of his extensive infantry training. They arrived in England in late October 1944, then crossed to Le Havre, France in late November 1944. They participated in the Battle of the Bulge, where Brandenburg was wounded on 16 December. He provides details of their actions during this battle. They relieved the 82nd Airborne Division during occupation duty in Berlin. Brandenburg returned to the US and was discharged in January 1946.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with William Waggoner. Waggoner participated in a Civilian Pilot Training program in Nogales, Arizona. He volunteered in the Air Force Reserves, and trained at various bases throughout the U.S. He provides details of his training experiences. He trained as a tow pilot for gliders in Lubbock, Texas. In the spring of 1945 Waggoner was shipped to England. He was assigned to the 440th Troop Carrier Group and 95th Squadron in Orleans, France. They participated in Operation Varsity in Germany and he provides details of that mission. He also provides detail of the glider pilot museum in Lubbock.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with Irving Butler. Butler joined the Navy in October of 1942. He completed Aviation Mechanic School in Memphis, Tennessee, and Gunnery School in Jacksonville, Florida. He was trained as an Air Crewman. In September of 1943 he went to Tarawa, Makin and Guam aboard the USS Enterprise (CV-6). He was made Second Class and placed in charge of 62 men going to the Admiralty Islands. He was later assigned to USS Saginaw Bay (CVE-82) as a gunner in a torpedo plane. He was in Composite Squadron 787 (VC-78). Butler went through 14 battles. He remained in the reserves 2 years after the war ended.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with Ray Pinell. Pinell joined the Navy early in 1943 and received basic training in San Diego. He received training on firing and repairing torpedoes. Upon completion he was assigned to various torpedo squadrons in the Pacific. He worked primarily in field repair units but would occasionally fill in as a torpedoman aboard PT boats. In addition to carrying out night patrols, he would soften landings in the Philippines by firing torpedoes close to shore. Pinell was stationed in Borneo when the war ended. He was startled into his foxhole by many ships firing in celebration. Pinell returned home and was discharged in October 1946.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an interview with Walter White. White trained to be an aircraft electrician at Kelly Air Force Base in San Antonio, Texas. He was drafted into the Army Air Force and completed gunnery school in Arlington, Texas. He was assigned to the 492nd Bomb Group in Alamogordo, New Mexico. He served as tail gunner on B-24s. He provides description of the plane’s interior and location of tail gunner. In March of 1944 his crew traveled to a base in North Pickenham, England. Their plane was titled the Ruptured Duck. Overall, White flew 30 combat missions. He describes missions flown to Germany and between France and Switzerland. He returned to the States with 1,000 German prisoners aboard a troop ship. He was then assigned as an electrician to a B-17 outfit. He was discharged in October of 1945.

Application materials submitted to the Texas Historical Commission requesting a historic marker for the Hawes Summer Home, in Galveston, Texas. The materials include the inscription text of the marker, original application, narrative, floor plans, and photographs.

Updated rules supplement to the Substantive Rules for Electric Service Providers.