Correspondence issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Biennially, the Judicial Conference, the federal judiciary's principal policymaking body, assesses the judiciary's needs for additional judgeships. If the Conference determines that additional judgeships are needed, it transmits a request to Congress identifying the number, type (courts of appeals, district, or bankruptcy), and location of the judgeships it is requesting. In 2003, the Judicial Conference sent to Congress requests for 93 new judgeships--11 for the courts of appeals, 46 for the district courts, and 36 for the bankruptcy courts. In assessing the need for additional judgeships, the Judicial Conference considers a variety of information, including responses to its biennial survey of individual courts, temporary increases or decreases in case filings, and other factors specific to an individual court. However, the Judicial Conference's analysis begins with the courts of appeals--weighted case filings and adjusted case filings, respectively. These two measures recognize, to different degrees, that the time demands on judges are largely a function of both the number and complexity of the cases on their dockets. Some types of cases may demand relatively little time and others may require many hours of work. Generally, each case filed in a …

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Strategic workforce planning helps ensure that agencies have the right people with the right skills in the right positions to carry out the agency mission both in the present and future. The Internal Revenue Service's (IRS) Taxpayer Education and Communication (TEC) unit within its Small Business and Self- Employed Division assists some 45 million small business and self-employed taxpayers. Given the number of taxpayers it is to assist and changes in its priorities and strategies, GAO was asked to determine whether TEC has a workforce plan that conforms to critical elements for what should be in a plan and how it should be developed and implemented."

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "The United Nations (U.N.) estimates that its planned renovation of the seven buildings on the Headquarters complex could cost almost $1.2 billion. As the host country and the largest contributor to the United Nations, the United States has a significant interest in this project. This report (1) assesses the reasonableness of the U.N. process to develop the renovation plans, (2) analyzes the potential cost to the United States, (3) identifies critical milestones before construction can begin, and (4) discusses efforts to monitor and oversee the project."

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "The October 2001 anthrax attacks, the recent outbreak of the virulent Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS), and increased awareness that terrorist groups may be capable of releasing life-threatening biological agents have prompted efforts to improve our nation's preparedness for, and response to, public health emergencies--including bioterrorism. GAO was asked, among other things, to identify federal agencies information technology (IT) initiatives to support our nation's readiness to deal with bioterrorism. Specifically, we compiled an inventory of such activities, determined the range of these coordination activities with other agencies, and identified the use of health care standards in these efforts."

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Since 1994, the Agriculture Appropriations Act has prohibited the funding of tobacco export programs and restricted the U.S. Department of Agriculture's (USDA) tobacco-related activities. Since 1998, the Commerce, Justice, and State Appropriations Act has placed similar restrictions on the Departments of Commerce and State and the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR), although it has not prohibited them from addressing foreign discriminatory trade practices. Congressional requesters asked GAO to (1) assess the agencies' guidance on the restrictions to their overseas personnel, (2) describe how the agencies' activities changed in response to the restrictions, and (3) identify the mechanisms that the agencies use to monitor compliance."

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Improving the federal hiring process is critical, as the number of new hires is expected to increase substantially. Federal agencies are responsible for their hiring processes, but must generally comply with applicable Office of Personnel Management (OPM) rules and regulations. Congressional requesters asked GAO to identify federal hiring obstacles, provide examples of innovative hiring practices, and identify opportunities for improvement. To address these issues, GAO interviewed the human resources directors in 24 largest departments and agencies, analyzed the hiring practices of five federal executive branch agencies, and reviewed OPM's role in the hiring process."

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "About $1 trillion in income was distributed in 2001 by flow-through entities such as partnerships and trusts. These entities do not pay taxes on flow-through income. They report it to the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) on a Schedule K-1 and their partners or beneficiaries pay any tax. Concerned about underreporting, IRS began matching the flow-through income reported on Schedule K-1s with that reported on individuals' returns. In 2002, IRS began sending notices to taxpayers about suspected noncompliance. After complaints that many notices were going to compliant taxpayers, IRS stopped sending notices. Concerned about the burden, Congress asked GAO to, among other things, (1) describe the burden caused by the notices and IRS's rationale for stopping them, (2) assess IRS's management of the program, and (3) describe the steps IRS will take to address any problems."

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "From 1992 through 2001, more than 50,000 people were killed in crashes involving large commercial trucks. Although more than 6,800 of these fatalities were truck occupants, approximately 40,000 were passengers in other vehicles and more than 4,000 were nonmotorists. The Department of Transportation's Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) conducts a number of truck safety programs, including the Share the Road Safely program, whose goal is to educate the public about driving safely around large trucks. GAO examined (1) whether the program's initiatives are linked to this goal and (2) how FMCSA evaluates its Share the Road Safely program. GAO recommends that the Department of Transportation (DOT) ensure that the Share the Road Safely program initiatives are directly linked to the program's goal and establish a systematic"

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "As part of its annual audits of IRS's financial statements, GAO assessed the effectiveness of information security controls at certain IRS facilities and over certain specific applications--controls meant to protect IRS's information systems and taxpayer data. Because the detailed reports that followed these reviews contained sensitive information and could be detrimental to the government if released to the public, they were issued only to IRS and congressional requesters. This public report is based on 18 such reports issued during the 3-year period ending July 31, 2002. Although it does not identify specific IRS facilities or applications, the report does provide GAO's assessment of the overall effectiveness of IRS's information security."

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "The attacks of September 11, 2001, intensified long-standing concerns about the adequacy of safeguards and security at four nuclear weapons production sites and three national laboratories that design nuclear weapons--most of these facilities store plutonium and uranium in a variety of forms. These facilities can become targets for such actions as sabotage or theft. The Department of Energy (DOE) and the National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA)--a separately organized agency within DOE--are responsible for these facilities. NNSA plays a crucial role in managing the contractors operating many of these facilities to ensure that security activities are effective and in line with departmental policy. GAO reviewed how effectively NNSA manages its safeguards and security program, including how it oversees contractor security operations."

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "To accelerate the modernization and improve the performance of the air traffic control system, the Wendell H. Ford Aviation Investment and Reform Act for the 21st Century (AIR-21) created the Air Traffic Services Subcommittee (subcommittee) to over see the air traffic control system and help the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) address long-standing weaknesses in its modernization program. The subcommittee is part of an aviation advisory council and consists of five private sector members with business expertise. AIR-21 gave the subcommittee the authority to approve strategic plans, budgets, and procurements over $100 million. In addition, AIR-21 required the FAA to hire a chief operating officer to manage the day-to-day operations. AIR-21 mandated that GAO report on the success of the subcommittee in improving the performance of the air traffic control system. Accordingly, as we agreed with the congressional committees' offices, GAO reviewed the (1) actions taken by the subcommittee to carry out its oversight responsibilities and the obstacles that it encountered in doing so and (2) changes to the subcommittees' organization and oversight responsibilities that have been proposed to improve the performance of the air traffic control …

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Congress established the HOPE VI program to revitalize severely distressed public housing. In fiscal years 1993 to 2001, the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) awarded approximately $4.5 billion in HOPE VI revitalization grants. The Ranking Minority Member, Subcommittee on Housing and Transportation, Senate Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban\ Affairs, asked GAO to examine HUD's process for assessing grant applications, the status of work at sites for which grants have been awarded, and HUD's oversight of HOPE VI grants."

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "The first step of the U.S. Army's ongoing transformation was to form two of six planned Interim, or Stryker, Brigade Combat teams and equip the brigades with a new interim armored vehicle--the Stryker. The fiscal year 2001 National Defense Authorization Act required the Secretary of the Army to develop a plan to compare the operational effectiveness and cost of an infantry carrier variant of the Stryker and a medium Army armored vehicle, the Department of Defense's (DOD) director of testing and evaluation approve the plan, and the Army to conduct the operational effectiveness and cost comparison. The Secretary of Defense was also to certify to Congress that Stryker Brigades did not diminish the Army's combat power. As part of a series of ongoing reviews of Army transformation, GAO monitored the Army's 2002 efforts to (1) assess whether the Army's plan for the comparison met the legislative requirements and (2) determine whether the evaluation's resulting data were sufficient to measure the two vehicles' relative effectiveness."

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "According to the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), the most widespread and urgent housing problem facing elderly households is affordability. About 3.3 million elderly renter households in the United States have very low incomes (50 percent or less of median area income). The Section 202 Supportive Housing for the Elderly Program provides capital advances (grants) to nonprofit organizations to develop affordable rental housing exclusively for these households. GAO was asked to determine the role of the Section 202 program in addressing the need for affordable elderly housing and the factors affecting the timeliness of approving and constructing new projects."

Bill introduced by the Texas House of Representatives relating to the continuous eligibility of certain children for medical assistance benefits.

Joint resolution introduced by the Texas House of Representatives and Senate relating to proposing a constitutional amendment to authorize a county, a city or town, or a junior college district to establish an ad valorem tax freeze on residence homesteads of the disabled and of the elderly and their spouses.

Concurrent resolution introduced by the Texas House of Representatives and Senate relating to recalling H.B. No. 2533.

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 commissioners court may contract for online legal research services for the general public and local attorneys with fees collected under section 323.023 of the Local Government Code (RQ-0006-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 river authority is a "state agency" under section 572.002 of the Government Code, and whether a river authority must comply with the notice requirement of section 669.003(2) of the Government Code (RQ-0047-GA)

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The California Water Resources RESAC objectives were toutilize NASA data to provide state-of-the-art real-time and forecastinformation (observation and simulation) on hydroclimate, water quantityand quality, and runoff related hazards to water resources managers(e.g., NWS, CA Dept. of Water Resources, USBR), the insurance industry,emergency response agencies, policy decision-makers, and the generalpublic. In addition, the RESAC acts as an umbrella organization fosteringgrowing collaborations and partnerships. It was built on the foundationestablished through the U.S. Global Change Research Program and theNational and California Assessments. It is designed to support theongoing regional and national assessment process by improving ourunderstanding of specific regional features of the climate system and itsimpacts, and facilitating the dissemination of these results throughdata, publications, and outreach.The California Water Resources RESACproduces three types of regional climate products that are enhanced byincorporation of NASA satellite data: (1) short-term (2-3 day) weatherand streamflow forecasts, (2) seasonal hydroclimate, and (3) long-termclimate change scenarios and hydrologic impacts. Our team has built anexcellent record in providing quantitative precipitation and streamflowforecasts to the water resources and weather prediction communities. Wehave been working with scientists from various University of Californiainstitutions and government agencies to improve weather and streamflowpredictions and studies of regional hydroclimate, and its impacts onwater resources, the …

Numerical simulation is an effective and economical tool for optimally designing laboratory experiments and deriving practical experimental conditions. We executed a detailed numerical simulation study to examine the active fracture concept (AFC, Liu et al., 1998) using a cubic meter-sized block model. The numerical simulations for this study were performed by applying various experimental conditions, including different bottom flow boundaries, varying injection rates, and different fracture-matrix interaction (by increasing absolute matrix permeability at the fracture matrix boundary) for a larger fracture interaction under transient or balanced-state flow regimes. Two conceptual block models were developed based on different numerical approaches: a two-dimensional discrete-fracture-network model (DFNM) and a one-dimensional dual continuum model (DCM). The DFNM was used as a surrogate for a natural block to produce synthetic breakthrough curves of water and tracer concentration under transient or balanced-state conditions. The DCM is the approach typically used for the Yucca Mountain Project because of its computational efficiency. The AFC was incorporated into the DCM to capture heterogeneous flow patterns that occur in unsaturated fractured rocks. The simulation results from the DCM were compared with the results from the DFNM to determine whether the DCM could predict the water flow and tracer transport observed …

Semi-weekly newspaper from Clifton, Texas that includes local, state, and national news along with advertising.