Testimony issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Federal, state, and local governments share responsibility for terrorist attacks. However, local government, including police and fire departments, emergency medical personnel, and public health agencies, is typically the first responder to an incident. The federal government historically has provided leadership, training, and funding assistance. In the aftermath of September 11, for instance, one-quarter of the $40 billion Emergency Response Fund was earmarked for homeland security, including enhancing state and local government preparedness. Because the national security threat is diffuse and the challenge is highly intergovernmental, national policymakers must formulate strategies with a firm understanding of the interests, capacity, and challenges facing those governments. The development of a national strategy will improve national preparedness and enhance partnerships between federal, state, and local governments. The creation of the Office of Homeland Security is an important and potentially significant first step. The Office of Homeland Security's strategic plan should (1) define and clarify the appropriate roles and responsibilities of federal, state, and local entities; (2) establish goals and performance measures to guide the nation's preparedness efforts; and (3) carefully choose the most appropriate tools of government to implement the national strategy …

Correspondence issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Concerns have been raised about the effects of heightened security at two border crossings in Detroit--the Ambassador Bridge and the Detroit-Windsor Tunnel. In the wake of September 11, the U.S. Customs Service and the Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS) increased the number and thoroughness of inspections and questioned all bridge and tunnel travelers, leading to truck wait times that exceeded 10 hours. To decrease wait times, Customs and INS extended shifts, curtailed vacations, brought in more staff, and obtained help from the National Guard and local law enforcement. The U.S. and Canadian governments have agreed in principle to a plan to make the border more secure without impeding traffic flow and trade. In addition to increasing personnel and improving technology, officials are considering pre-approval of low-risk traffic and reverse inspections."

Correspondence issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "The District of Columbia Public Schools (DCPS) has been unable to meet the obligation to its special education students under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA). By 1998, DCPS was experiencing serious problems in conducting timely hearings requested by parents under IDEA and in issuing final decisions within the required timelines. This resulted in many complaints and law suits by parents. The amount of attorneys' fees awarded to parties who prevailed in the IDEA cases was costly to the District of Columbia. The District of Columbia Appropriations Acts for fiscal years 1999, 2000, and 2001 limited the amount of appropriated funds that could be paid to an attorney representing a prevailing party in an action brought against DCPS under IDEA. GAO reviewed DCPS's IDEA awards and payments for fiscal years 1999, 2000, and 2001 to determine if they exceeded the acts' limitations. GAO found that the limitations had little impact on the total amount awarded by the courts for the attorney's fees. The limitations apply only to the amount that the District of Columbia could pay to a prevailing party under IDEA and not the amount that …

On the stage of global change, ozone plays the role of both hero and villain. This brief document discusses about the tracking of Tropospheric Ozone, where ozone forms and where it travels have become key concerns for international health and economic policy-making.

Application materials submitted to the Texas Historical Commission requesting a historic marker for the Ludwig and Caroline Giese House, in Round Top, Texas. The materials include the inscription text of the marker, original application, narrative, and photographs.

Correspondence issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "In the wake of anthrax incidents and mounting concerns about the potential for another bioterrorism attack, we assessed the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's (CDC) oversight of the Department of Health and Human Services' (HHS) Laboratory Registration/ Select Agent Transfer Program. We brought program weaknesses we identified to the immediate attention of CDL and HHS officials, who agreed that improvements were warranted. The purpose of this report is to summarize our findings."

Testimony issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "The challenges posed by homeland security exceed the capacity and authority of any one level of government. Protecting the nation against these threats calls for a truly integrated approach, bringing together the resources of all levels of government. The proposed Department of Homeland Security will clearly have a central role in efforts to enhance homeland security. The proposed consolidation of homeland security programs has the potential to reduce fragmentation, improve coordination, and clarify roles and responsibilities. Realistically, the challenges that the new department faces will clearly require substantial time and effort, and it will take additional resources to make it effective. Moreover, formation of a department should not be considered a replacement for the timely issuance of a national homeland security strategy to guide implementation of the complex mission of the department. Appropriate roles and responsibilities within and between the levels of government and with the private sector are evolving and need to be clarified. New threats are prompting a reassessment and shifting of long-standing roles and responsibilities, but these shifts are being considered on a piecemeal basis without benefit of an overarching framework and criteria to guide …

Correspondence issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "The Haitian Refugee Immigration Fairness Act (HRIFA) of 1998 authorized certain Haitian nationals and their dependents to apply to adjust their status to legal permanent residence. Section 902(k) of the act requires the Comptroller General to report every six months on the number of Haitian nationals who have applied and been approved to adjust their status to legal permanent residence. The reports are to contain a breakdown of the numbers who applied and the number who were approved as asylum applicants, parolees, children without parents, orphaned children, or abandoned children; or as the eligible dependents of these applicants, including spouses, children, and unmarried sons or daughters. As of September 30, 2002, the Immigration and Naturalization Service had received a total of 36,774 HRIFA applications and had approved 8,410 of these applications. The Executive Office for Immigration Review had 339 applications filed and had approved 117 of them."

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an interview with James Dukes. Born in Alabama, Dukes quit school in 1937 to join the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC). In March 1941, he joined the Marine Corps, and was sent to San Diego for boot camp. Dukes was then assigned to Company C, 1st Battalion, 8th Marines where he received mortar training. On 6 June 1942, he boarded the SS Lurline bound for Pago Pago, Samoa. During November 1942 the unit merged with the 2nd Marine Division when they landed on Guadalcanal. He was assigned to the Matanikau River and tells of subsequent actions in which some of his men were killed. Dukes was wounded and sent to the Silver Stream Hospital in New Zealand. Following surgery, he was sent to the Oak Knoll Naval Hospital. Dukes struggled with malaria. Throughout the interview, he expresses his admiration for the people of New Zealand. He returned to the US and received his discharge on 12 August 1945.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with William S. O'Donnell. O'Donnell was working for Montgomery Ward in Chicago when he was drafted into the Army after the war got started. His aptitude with numbers led him to be assigned as a statistician in a Machine Records Unit (MRU). He went to Europe with the 39th MRU and was attached to General Patton's Third Army. He landed in Normandy, France 7 days after D-Day. His unit provided daily punch card analysis of unit strength in Patton's 3rd Army. O'Donnell was on an assignment in Paris when Germany surrendered. When the war ended, O'Donnell retunred home to Indiana.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with Willie Sander. Sander was born in Brenham, Texas on 18 August 1916. After graduating from high school in 1933, he worked as the manager for the A&P Grocery chain. In 1942, he joined the Navy and received pilot training on PBYs. After being commissioned in June, he was sent to Kaneohe Naval Air Station where he received advanced training. Soon after the invasion of Tarawa, he delivered a new plane there and returned to Hawaii with one that had been badly damaged. He comments on the death and destruction he saw. In March 1944 he flew to Fiji where he joined Patrol Squadron 14 (VP-14), which was attached to a seaplane tender. They flew night patrols and rescue missions. In early 1945 he returned to the United States and picked up new PBM Mariners. Sander took the planes to San Diego where JATO equipment was installed. After receiving training in the use of the equipment they flew to Luzon. He recounts a number of missions, including one for which his crew was credited with sinking five Japanese ships and he was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross. On 15 …

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, John Cornyn, regarding a legal question submitted for clarification; With respect to information requested from the Texas Health Care Information Council, whether the Council may charge fees under section 108.012 of the Health and Safety Code or section 552.262 of the Government Code, and related questions (RQ-0425-JC)

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, John Cornyn, regarding a legal question submitted for clarification: Whether, with respect to a contract valued at $25,000 or more in the aggregate for a twelve-month period, a school district may participate in a registered political subdivision corporation created under section 304.001 of the Local Government Code, and related questions.

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, John Cornyn, regarding a legal question submitted for clarification; Whether section 130.908 of the Local Government Code applies when an incumbent county commissioner is not renominated to office in a primary election, and related question (RQ-0540-JC)

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, John Cornyn, regarding a legal question submitted for clarification: Procedure for certification of foreign educators by State Board for Educator Certification.

The connectivity interface for UnstructuredMapping has been rewritten to provide a more thorough interface to the mesh. This new design also resembles the TSTT mesh query interface. While data is still stored in array form, indexed by integers, the interface provides iterators through the mesh entities and adjacencies. This document describes the additions to the UnstructuredMapping class as well as the definition and use of the UnstructuredMappingIterator and UnstructuredMappingAdjacencyIterator classes.

Testimony issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) and the Department of Defense (DOD) pharmacy expenditures have risen significantly, reflecting national trends. The increase in pharmacy costs would have been even greater if not for the efforts taken by VA and DOD. GAO identified four important factors that have contributed to reduced pharmacy spending by VA and DOD. First, the two departments have used formularies to encourage the substitution of a lower-cost drug that is determined to be just as effective as a higher-cost drug. Second, VA and DOD have been able to effectively employ different arrangements to pay for or purchase prescription drugs at substantial discounts. Third, VA has significantly reduced the cost of dispensing prescription refills by using highly automated and less expensive consolidated mail outpatient pharmacy (CMOP) centers to handle a majority of the pharmacy workload instead of VA hospital and clinic pharmacies. Fourth, VA and DOD have reduced costs by leveraging their combined purchasing power by jointly buying prescription drugs. Nevertheless, one of the most important challenges is the joint procurement of brand name drugs. Although brand name drugs account for the bulk of prescription drug …

Testimony issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "This testimony is based on a GAO report (GAO-02-156) that analyzed key characteristics of women and men in management positions, identified the representation of women in management positions in specific industries, and identified salary differences between men and women in full-time management jobs. Female managers in the 10 industries GAO examined were younger, less educated, were more likely to work part-time, and were less likely to be married than were male managers. In five of these industries, GAO found no statistically significant differences between the percent of industry positions filled by women and the percent of management positions filled by women. In four of the industries, women were less represented in management positions. In one of these industries, women were represented in management positions to a greater degree than they were in all positions in the industry. Full-time female managers earned less than full-time male managers in all 10 industries, after controlling for education, age, marital status, and race. GAO was unable to take years of experience into account."