Testimony issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "Every year the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) does not collect tens of billions of dollars in delinquent taxes. In 2004, Congress authorized IRS to use private collection agencies (PCA) to help collect some of these debts. To ensure that taxpayers are treated properly and that the program achieves the desired results, IRS contracted with a consulting company to perform a survey of right party contacts--those individuals who confirmed their identity and tax debt to PCAs over the telephone. The consulting company reported overall taxpayer satisfaction ratings from 94 to 96 percent for contacts made from November 2006 through February 2007. At the request of the Chairman, House Committee on Ways and Means, GAO attempted to obtain, for the period September 2006 through February 2007, the number of tax debt cases IRS referred to PCAs, right party contacts who were offered the taxpayer survey, and right party contacts who took the survey. GAO was also asked to report any other key observations related to the PCA program and taxpayer survey. To perform this work, GAO collected information and interviewed officials from IRS, the consulting group that administered the survey, …

Correspondence issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "To avoid flooding in New Orleans after a rain storm, the city's Sewerage and Water Board pumps rainwater from the city into three drainage canals which then flow unrestricted into Lake Pontchartrain. While critical to prevent flooding from rainfall, these canals are vulnerable to storm surge from Lake Pontchartrain during a hurricane, and consequently are lined with floodwalls along both sides to protect storm surge from overtopping the canals and flooding the city. However, during Hurricane Katrina, several breaches occurred in the canal floodwalls allowing significant amounts of water to enter New Orleans from Lake Pontchartrain. In its efforts to restore pre-Katrina levels of hurricane protection to New Orleans by the June 1st start of the 2006 hurricane season, in late 2005, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (Corps) considered strengthening the drainage canal floodwalls but decided to postpone this effort due to cost and time constraints. Instead, the Corps decided to install three interim closure structures (gates) at the points where the canals meet the lake. These gates would be closed during major storm events to prevent storm surge from entering the canals and potentially breaching the …

A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "State vocational rehabilitation (VR) agencies, under the Department of Education (Education), play a crucial role in helping individuals with disabilities prepare for and obtain employment, including individuals receiving disability benefits from the Social Security Administration (SSA). In a prior report (GAO-05-865), GAO found that state VR agencies varied in the rates of employment achieved for SSA beneficiaries. To help understand this variation, this report analyzed SSA and Education data and surveyed state agencies to determine the extent to which (1) agencies varied in earnings outcomes over time; (2) differences in state economic conditions, client demographic traits, and agency strategies could account for agency performance; and (3) Education's data could be used to identify factors that account for differences in individual earnings outcomes."

A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "In 2002, Medicare implemented a national fee schedule designed to standardize payments for ambulance services. The Medicare Prescription Drug, Improvement and Modernization Act of 2003 (MMA) required GAO to study ambulance service costs. GAO examined providers' costs of ground ambulance transports in 2004 and factors that contributed to cost differences; average Medicare ambulance payments expected under the national fee schedule in 2010 and how those payments will relate to providers' costs per transport; and changes that occurred in Medicare beneficiaries' use of ambulance transports from 2001 to 2004. GAO estimated costs of ambulance transports based on a nationally representative survey of 215 ambulance providers that did not share costs with nonambulance services. Providers that shared costs with other institutions or services and could not report their costs for ambulance services separately, such as fire departments, were excluded because their reported costs appeared unreliable. GAO used its survey, Medicare claims, and other data for its analyses."

Testimony issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "Few issues generate more attention and anxiety among American consumers than the price of gasoline. The most current upsurge in prices is no exception. According to data from the Energy Information Administration (EIA), the average retail price of regular unleaded gasoline in the United States has increased almost every week this year since January 29th and reached an all-time high of $3.21 the week of May 21st. Over this time period, the price has increase $1.05 per gallon and added about $23 billion to consumers' total gasoline bill, or about $167 for each passenger car in the United States. Given the importance of gasoline for the nation's economy, it is essential to understand the market for gasoline and the factors that influence gasoline prices. In this context, this testimony addresses the following questions: (1) what key factors affect the prices of gasoline and (2) what effects have mergers had on market concentration and wholesale gasoline prices?"

Testimony issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "According to one report, at the end of 2006, about 92 million U.S. adults used the Internet on a typical day. As public use of the Internet grew from the mid-1990s onward, Internet access became a potential target for state and local taxation. In 1998, Congress imposed a moratorium temporarily preventing state and local governments from imposing new taxes on Internet access. Existing state and local taxes were grandfathered. In amending the moratorium in 2004, Congress required GAO to study its impact on state and local government revenues. The objectives of the resulting 2006 report were to determine the scope of the moratorium and its impact, if any, on state and local revenues. This testimony is based on that report (GAO-06-273)."

A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "There are a number of ways that the U.S. government provides assistance to Iraqi or Afghan civilians who are killed, injured, or suffer property damage as a result of U.S. and coalition forces' actions. For instance, the U.S. Agency for International Development funds projects to assist Iraqi and Afghan civilians and communities directly impacted by actions of U.S. or coalition forces. Also, the Department of State administers a program that makes payments, in accordance with local custom, to Iraqi civilians who are harmed in incidents involving U.S. protective security details. In addition, the Department of Defense (DOD) administers a program that provides compensation under the Foreign Claims Act to inhabitants of foreign countries for death, injury, or property damage caused by noncombat activities of U.S. military personnel overseas. Further, DOD provides monetary assistance in the form of solatia and condolence payments to Iraqi and Afghan nationals who are killed, injured, or incur property damage as a result of U.S. or coalition forces' actions during combat. From fiscal years 2003 to 2006, DOD has reported about $1.9 million in solatia payments and more than $29 million in …

Annual Illness and Injury Surveillance Program report for 2003 for Sandia National Laboratories-Albuquerque. The U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) commitment to assuring the health and safety of its workers includes the conduct of epidemiologic surveillance activities that provide an early warning system for health problems among workers. The IISP monitors illnesses and health conditions that result in an absence of workdays, occupational injuries and illnesses, and disabilities and deaths among current workers.

Annual Illness and Injury Surveillance Program report for 2003 for ORNL. The U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) commitment to assuring the health and safety of its workers includes the conduct of epidemiologic surveillance activities that provide an early warning system for health problems among workers. The Illness and Injury Surveillance Program monitors illnesses and health conditions that result in an absence of workdays, occupational injuries and illnesses, and disabilities and deaths among current workers.

Cathodic arc plasmas are considered fully ionized and theycontain multiply charged ions, yet, gaseous and metal neutrals can bepresent. It is shown that they can cause a significant reduction of theion charge states as measured far from the cathode spots. Several cathodematerials were used to study the evolution the mean ion charge state as afunction of time after arc ignition. The type of cathode material, arccurrent amplitude, intentionally increased background gas, additionalsurfaces placed near the plasma flow, and other factors influence thedegree of charge state reduction because all of these factors influencethe density of neutrals. In all cases, it was found that the mean ioncharge state follows an exponential decay of first order, Q(t) = A *exp(t/tau) + Qss, where A is a parameter describing the importance of thedecay, tau is the characteristic decay time, and Qss is a steady-statevalue approached for continuous arc operation. The extrapolated valuesQ(t-->0) indicate surprisingly high mean charge states as produced atcathode spots and not "skewed" by charge exchange collisions withneutrals.

Annual Illness and Injury Surveillance Program report for 2003 for the Nevada Test Site. The U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) commitment to assuring the health and safety of its workers includes the conduct of epidemiologic surveillance activities that provide an early warning system for health problems among workers. The Illness and Injury Surveillance Program monitors illnesses and health conditions that result in an absence of workdays, occupational injuries and illnesses, and disabilities and deaths among current workers.

Annual Illness and Injury Surveillance Program report for 2003 for the East Tennessee Technology Park (K-25).The U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) commitment to assuring the health and safety of its workers includes the conduct of epidemiologic surveillance activities that provide an early warning system for health problems among workers. The Illness and Injury Surveillance Program monitors illnesses and health conditions that result in an absence of workdays, occupational injuries and illnesses, and disabilities and deaths among current workers.

Annual Illness and Injury Surveillance Program report for 2003 for Y-12. The U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) commitment to assuring the health and safety of its workers includes the conduct of epidemiologic surveillance activities that provide an early warning system for health problems among workers. The IISP monitors illnesses and health conditions that result in an absence of workdays, occupational injuries and illnesses, and disabilities and deaths among current workers.

Annual Illness and Injury Surveillance Program report for 2003 for Idaho National Lab. The U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) commitment to assuring the health and safety of its workers includes the conduct of epidemiologic surveillance activities that provide an early warning system for health problems among workers. The Illness and Injury Surveillance Program monitors illnesses and health conditions that result in an absence of workdays, occupational injuries and illnesses, and disabilities and deaths among current workers.

Annual Illness and Injury Surveillance Program report for 2003 for Lawrence Livermore National Lab. The U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) commitment to assuring the health and safety of its workers includes the conduct of epidemiologic surveillance activities that provide an early warning system for health problems among workers. The IISP monitors illnesses and health conditions that result in an absence of workdays, occupational injuries and illnesses, and disabilities and deaths among current workers.

Free weekly newspaper that includes business and classified advertising.

Weekly newspaper from Rusk, Texas that includes local, state and national news along with extensive advertising.

Bill introduced by the Texas Senate relating to the interception of or the collection of other information from certain communications in an investigation of criminal conduct.

Bill introduced by the Texas House of Representatives relating to the transfer of certain state property from the Texas Health and Human Services Commission, on behalf of the Department of State Health Services or the Department of Aging and Disability Services, as appropriate, to Texas Panhandle Mental Health Mental Retardation.

Bill introduced by the Texas House of Representatives relating to the transfer of Angelo State University to the Texas Tech University System.

Bill introduced by the Texas House of Representatives relating to terms of directors of a regional mobility authority.

Bill introduced by the Texas Senate relating to the name, governing body, and boundaries of the Tri-County Groundwater Conservation District.

Bill introduced by the Texas Senate relating to the creation of the Lamar Improvement District; providing authority to impose a tax and issue bonds; granting the power of eminent domain.

Bill introduced by the Texas Senate relating to the powers and duties of the Fort Bend County Levee Improvement District No. 19; providing authority to impose a tax and issue bonds.