A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "The fiscal year 2002 Conference Report for the Energy and Water Development Appropriations Act directed GAO to study the benefits and effects of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers' (Corps) dredge fleet. GAO examined the characteristics and changing roles of the Corps and industry in hopper dredging; the effect of current restrictions on the Corps' hopper dredge fleet; and whether existing and proposed restrictions on the fleet, including the proposal to place the McFarland in ready reserve, are justified. In addition, GAO identified concerns related to the government cost estimates the Corps prepares to determine the reasonableness of industry bids."

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Dietary supplements containing ephedra, such as Metabolife 356, have been associated with serious adverse health-related events. In a February 28, 2003, announcement, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) proposed that dietary supplements containing ephedra include a statement on their label warning that "Heart attack, stroke, seizure, and death have been reported after consumption of ephedrine alkaloids." GAO was asked to review health-related call records that Metabolife International--the manufacturer of Metabolife 356--collected from consumers from May 1997 through July 2002. Most of the records were from calls to a consumer phone line the company maintained. Metabolife International voluntarily provided the call records to GAO. Specifically, GAO (1) examined the extent to which consumer information in the call records was comprehensive, interpretable, and consistently recorded, (2) counted the number of call records reporting types of adverse events that FDA had identified in 1997 as serious or potentially serious, and (3) compared GAO's findings to those of six other reviews of the call records, including one by Metabolife International."

A staff study issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "In this time of emphasis on performance and results, federal agencies and congressional committees can benefit from knowing the full range of social science methods that can help them improve the programs they oversee. Among the methods they might consider are those of ethnography, derived from anthropology. However, information about the past and present uses of ethnography to improve federal programs has not been systematically gathered or analyzed. Therefore, the potential for program improvement may be overlooked. Ethnography can fill gaps in what we know about the community whose beliefs and behavior affect how federal programs operate. This can be especially useful when such beliefs or behavior present barriers to a program's objectives. Ethnography helps build knowledge of a community by observing its members and by interviewing them in their natural setting. Although many people associate ethnography with lengthy anthropological research aimed at cultures remote from our own, it can be used to inform public programs and has a long history of application in the federal government."

Testimony issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "The Department of Defense's (DOD) management of its business systems modernization program has been an area of longstanding concern to Congress and one that GAO has designated as high risk since 1995. Because of this concern, GAO was requested to testify on (1) DOD's current inventory of existing and new business systems and the amount of funding devoted to this inventory; (2) DOD's modernization management capabilities, including weaknesses and DOD's efforts to address them; and (3) GAO's collective recommendations for correcting these weaknesses and minimizing DOD's exposure to risk until they are corrected. In developing this testimony, GAO drew from its previously issued reports on DOD's business systems modernization efforts, including one released today on four key Defense Finance and Accounting Service (DFAS) projects."

Other written product issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "The federal government spent more than $230 billion through contracts with private industry in fiscal year 2001. Ten Executive Branch agencies account for almost 95 percent of this spending. Past reviews by Executive Branch agency inspectors general, military-department audit agencies, and the General Accounting Office (GAO) have created an extensive body of reports on the procedures and practices that federal agencies use to plan, award, and administer contracts. These reviews identified weaknesses in the contracting processes of individual agencies and contracting challenges these agencies have in common. Consequently, to facilitate literate searches of the reports concerning federal contracting matters, we compiled a catalogue of information from reports and testimonies by the 10 agencies' inspectors general, military department audit agencies, and GAO. Such a catalogue could be useful to the oversight community and others in determing (1) common contracting issues identified across multiple agencies and (2) the potential contracting-risk areas and gaps in contracting oversight across these agencies."

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "The services have billions of dollars worth of outdated and obsolete automatic test equipment (ATE) used to test components on military aircraft or weapon systems. Department of Defense (DOD) policy advocates the development and acquisition of test equipment that can be used on multiple types of weapon systems and aircraft and used interchangeably between the services. At the request of the Subcommittee's Chairman, GAO examined the problems that the Air Force, Navy, and Marine Corps are facing with this aging equipment and their efforts to comply with DOD policy."

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Making sure systems can work effectively together (interoperability) has been a key problem for the Department of Defense (DOD) yet integral to its goals for enhancing joint operations. Given the importance of being able to share intelligence data quickly, we were asked to assess DOD's initiative to develop a common ground-surface-based intelligence system and to particularly examine (1) whether DOD has adequately planned this initiative and (2) whether its process for testing and certifying the interoperability of new systems is working effectively."

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Responding to many of the nation's critical challenges--such as meeting the health care needs of the poor or countering terrorist threats--has been the joint responsibility of all levels of government. The effectiveness of federal programs has increasingly become dependent on state and local management and resources, as well as constructive interactions between federal, state, and local actors, including private or nonprofit actors who are joining with government officials to carry out national policies and programs. This increased interdependence among levels of government presents many challenges. While many policy areas have been nationalized and federally funded, greater responsibility has been devolved to state and local governments for implementing programs to achieve national goals. The intergovernmental system is facing the complexity of managing programs involving numerous actors, and the flexibility and capacity of the federal system to respond to unique local needs is challenged by long-term national and international trends. On November 20, 2002, GAO convened a symposium to identify and discuss the key policy and fiscal issues facing the intergovernmental system. The invited participants represented federal, state, and local governments, national associations, public interest groups, and research …

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Pursuant to a legislative requirement, GAO audited the expenditures of four independent counsels for the 6 months ended September 30, 2002."

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "A stable and highly skilled child welfare workforce is necessary to effectively provide child welfare services that meet federal goals. This report identifies (1) the challenges child welfare agencies face in recruiting and retaining child welfare workers and supervisors, (2) how recruitment and retention challenges have affected the safety and permanency outcomes of children in foster care, and (3) workforce practices that public and private child welfare agencies have implemented to successfully confront recruitment and retention challenges."

Letter from Nancy and Jerry to Sterling Houston, prominent San Antonio playwright. They send their praises for Cameoland, a stage musical written by Houston. As a token of their admiration, they offer him a free dinner.

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 section 550.065(d) of the Transportation Code requires a governmental body to use the guidelines established by the Texas Building and Procurement Commission when calculating the "actual cost" of making a noncertified copy of an accident 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: Auditing of certain accounts held by a criminal district attorney.

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, "in the case of emergency and imperative public necessity and with a four-fifths vote of the total membership of each House," the legislature may, pursuant to article III, section 49a of the Texas Constitution, authorize expenditures in excess of the amount of cash and anticipated revenues certified by the Comptroller of Public Accounts.

Anomalously pressured gas (APG) assets, typically called ''basin-center'' gas accumulations, represent either an underdeveloped or undeveloped energy resource in the Rocky Mountain Laramide Basins (RMLB). Historically, the exploitation of these gas resources has proven to be very difficult and costly. In this topical report, an improved exploration strategy is outlined in conjunction with a more detailed description of new diagnostic techniques that more efficiently detect anomalously pressured, gas-charged domains. The ability to delineate gas-charged domains occurring below a regional velocity inversion surface allows operators to significantly reduce risk in the search for APG resources. The Wind River Basin was chosen for this demonstration because of the convergence of public data availability (i.e., thousands of mud logs and DSTs and 2400 mi of 2-D seismic lines); the evolution of new diagnostic techniques; a 175 digital sonic log suite; a regional stratigraphic framework; and corporate interest. In the exploration scheme discussed in this topical report, the basinwide gas distribution is determined in the following steps: (1) A detailed velocity model is established from sonic logs, 2-D seismic lines, and, if available, 3-D seismic data. In constructing the seismic interval velocity field, automatic picking technology using continuous, statistically-derived interval velocity selection, as well …

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Nearly 6.3 million motor vehicle crashes occurred in the United States in 2001, or one crash every 5 seconds. On average, a person was injured in these crashes every 10 seconds, and someone was killed every 12 minutes. Since the 1970s, progress has been made in reducing the number of fatalities and injuries on our nation's roads. From 1975 through 2001, fatalities decreased from 44,525 to 42,116, while the rate of fatalities per 100 million vehicle miles traveled decreased from 3.35 to 1.51. However, the decline in fatalities has leveled off in recent years. In the 1970s, Indiana University conducted one of the most significant studies to date on the factors that contribute to motor vehicle crashes. This study examined human, environmental, and vehicle factors that contribute to crashes. As requested, this report provides more recent information from data, experts, and studies about the factors that contribute to motor vehicle crashes and information about major ongoing and planned Department of Transportation research into factors that contribute to crashes."

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "The Advanced SEAL Delivery System (ASDS) is a mini-submarine that is one of the U.S. Special Operations Command's largest investments. The program is approaching the end of a difficult development and must undergo key testing before decisions are made to proceed beyond the first boat. Over the past several years, the Congress has raised concerns about technical difficulties, schedule delays, cost growth, and management oversight. The Senate Armed Services Committee requested that GAO review the status and problems facing the program. Specifically, this report examines the ASDS program's (1) progress towards meeting requirements and technical challenges, (2) ability to meet schedule and cost projections, and (3) underlying factors contributing to program problems."

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "China's December 2001 membership in the World Trade Organization created substantial opportunities for U.S. companies seeking to expand into China's vast market, and for significant reforms within China at all levels of government. However, the benefits of China's membership in the World Trade Organization are contingent on China's successful implementation of its commitments. In recognizing this fact, Congress has provided increased resources to executive branch agencies to enhance the government's ability to effectively monitor and enforce China's compliance. In this study, one of several that GAO will conduct for Congress on China-World Trade Organization issues, GAO was asked to (1) examine key agencies' organizational changes and the interagency process used to carry out compliance responsibilities and (2) review how the agencies have addressed compliance issues that arose during the first year of China's membership, by using two specific examples; the examples illustrate the type of compliance issues U.S. officials face but are not representative of China's compliance record overall. The U.S. Trade Representative and other agency officials provided technical and editorial comments mainly on our characterization of issues relating to tariff-rate quotas and the multilateral review …

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

Transcript of the first public hearing held by the National Commission on Terrorist Attacks upon the United States held March 31, 2003 at the Alexander Hamilton U.S. Custom House in New York City.This purpose of this hearing was to engage those whose lives were changed by the events of September 11 in a public dialogue about the Commission's goals. It includes opening remarks by the commissioners and city officials, in addition to testimony from survivors, representatives of the victims, and professionals from different fields about the attackers, intelligence, and counter-terrorism policy.

Recital presented at the UNT College of Music Stan Kenton Hall.

Application materials submitted to the Texas Historical Commission requesting a historic marker for the Miller-Brautigam House, in Santa Fe, Texas. The materials include the inscription text of the marker, narrative, and photographs.

Recording of the first public hearing held by the National Commission on Terrorist Attacks upon the United States on March 31, 2003 at the Alexander Hamilton U.S. Custom House in New York City.The purpose of this hearing was to engage those whose lives were changed by the events of September 11 in a public dialogue about the Commission's goals. This section concludes the testimony on the 9/11 attackers, intelligence, and counter-terrorism policy.

Recording of the first public hearing held by the National Commission on Terrorist Attacks upon the United States on March 31, 2003 at the Alexander Hamilton U.S. Custom House in New York City. This purpose of this hearing was to engage those whose lives were changed by the events of September 11 in a public dialogue about the Commission's goals. This section includes the Commissioner's opening statements and remarks by George Pataki, Governor of New York and Micheal Bloomberg, the Mayor of New York City.