A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "Jones Act requirements have resulted in a discrete shipping market between Puerto Rico and the United States. Most of the cargo shipped between the United States and Puerto Rico is carried by four Jones Act carriers that provide dedicated, scheduled weekly service using containerships and container barges. Although some vessels are operating beyond their expected useful service life, many have been reconstructed or refurbished. Jones Act dry and liquid bulkcargo vessels also operate in the market, although some shippers report that qualified bulk-cargo vessels may not always be available to meet their needs. Cargo moving between Puerto Rico and foreign destinations is carried by numerous foreign-flag vessels, often with greater capacity, and typically as part of longer global trade routes. Freight rates are determined by a number of factors, including the supply of vessels and consumer demand in the market, as well as costs that carriers face to operate, some of which (e.g., crew costs) are affected by Jones Act requirements. The average freight rates of the four major Jones Act carriers in this market were lower in 2010 than they were in 2006, which was …

Testimony issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "Leveraging surface transportation investments to further national interests: The Department of Transportation (DOT) faces several challenges leveraging investment in surface transportation networks to meet national goals and priorities. For example, DOT has to transition to a goal-oriented, performance-based approach for highway and transit programs, as required by the Moving Ahead for Progress in the 21st Century Act (MAP-21). Successfully implementing a performance-based approach entails new responsibilities for DOT since, as GAO has previously reported, its program oversight has generally been process-oriented rather than outcome-oriented. DOT also faces challenges related to targeting funds to priorities like the nation's freight network, effectively managing discretionary grant and credit assistance programs, and effectively overseeing other programs, such as the federal-aid highway program."

Testimony issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "The Department of Housing and Urban Development's (HUD) Federal Housing Administration (FHA) faces financial and risk-management challenges. For the fourth straight year, capital reserves for FHA's Mutual Mortgage Insurance Fund are below the statutory minimum. Also, declining balances in the fund's capital reserve account have heightened the possibility that FHA will require additional funds to have sufficient reserves for all future insurance claims on its existing portfolio. Further actions could help to restore FHA's financial soundness. For example, GAO previously concluded that Congress or HUD needs to determine the economic conditions the fund would be expected to withstand without drawing on Department of the Treasury funding. With regard to risk management, FHA has made or plans improvements. For example, FHA implemented an initiative in 2009 to strengthen internal controls and risk assessment for single-family housing and created a risk office in 2010. However, FHA has only recently begun to integrate these activities and conduct annual risk assessments in accordance with HUD guidance. Without integrated and updated risk assessments that identify emerging risks, as GAO recommended, FHA lacks assurance that it has identified all its risks."

Testimony issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP), part of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), has reported progress in stemming illegal cross-border activity, but it could strengthen the assessment of its efforts. For example, since fiscal year 2011, DHS has used the number of apprehensions on the southwest border between ports of entry (POE) as an interim measure for border security. GAO reported in December 2012 that apprehensions decreased across the southwest border from fiscal years 2006 to 2011, which generally mirrored a decrease in estimated known illegal entries in each southwest border sector. CBP attributed this decrease in part to changes in the U.S. economy and increased resources for border security. Data reported by CBP's Office of Border Patrol (Border Patrol) show that total apprehensions across the southwest border increased from over 327,000 in fiscal year 2011 to about 357,000 in fiscal year 2012. It is too early to assess whether this increase indicates a change in the trend. GAO reported in December 2012 that the number of apprehensions provides information on activity levels but does not inform program results or resource allocation decisions. Border Patrol is in …

Testimony issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "Since 2007, the Department of Homeland Security’s (DHS) Infrastructure Security Compliance Division (ISCD) has assigned about 3,500 high-risk chemical facilities to risk-based tiers under its Chemical Facilities Anti-Terrorism Standards (CFATS) program, but it has not fully assessed its approach for doing so. The approach ISCD used to assess risk and make decisions to place facilities in final tiers does not consider all of the elements of consequence, threat, and vulnerability associated with a terrorist attack involving certain chemicals. For example, the risk assessment approach is based primarily on consequences arising from human casualties, but does not consider economic consequences, as called for by the National Infrastructure Protection Plan (NIPP) and the CFATS regulation, nor does it include vulnerability, consistent with the NIPP. ISCD has begun to take some actions to examine how its risk assessment approach can be enhanced. Specifically, ISCD has, among other things, engaged Sandia National Laboratories to examine how economic consequences can be incorporated into ISCD's risk assessment approach and commissioned a panel of experts to assess the current approach, identify strengths and weaknesses, and recommend improvements. Given the critical nature of ISCD's risk assessment …

Testimony issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "Outpatient medical appointment wait times reported by the Veterans Health Administration (VHA), within the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA), are unreliable. Wait times for outpatient medical appointments—referred to as medical appointments—are calculated as the number of days elapsed from the desired date, which is defined as the date on which the patient or health care provider wants the patient to be seen. The reliability of reported wait time performance measures is dependent on the consistency with which schedulers record the desired date in the scheduling system. However, aspects of VHA’s scheduling policy and training documents for recording desired date are unclear and do not ensure consistent use of the desired date. Some schedulers at VA medical centers (VAMC) that GAO visited did not record the desired date correctly, which, in certain cases, would have resulted in a reported wait time that was shorter than the patient actually experienced for that appointment. VHA officials acknowledged limitations of measuring wait times based on desired date, and described additional information used to monitor veterans’ access to medical appointments; however, reliable measurement of how long patients are waiting for medical appointments is …

Correspondence issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "GAO found that DOD employs 90 chiropractors at 62 military treatment facilities as of January 2013. Further, the mean salary of DOD's federal civilian chiropractors is similar to the mean salary of those serving in comparable DOD federal civilian health care occupations. Specifically, we found that the mean salaries of our selected health care professions ranged from approximately $77,000 to approximately $94,000 with the mean salary for chiropractors approximately 7 percent higher than the lowest mean salary and approximately 12 percent lower than the highest mean salary. Although these health care positions have similar education and training requirements, they have some different responsibilities."

Testimony issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "The Financial Stability Oversight Council (FSOC) and Office of Financial Research (OFR) face challenges in achieving their missions. For example, collaboration among FSOC members can be challenging, as almost all members represent independent agencies that retain existing authorities. Additionally, OFR faces the challenge of building a world-class research organization while meeting shorter-term responsibilities."

Free weekly newspaper that includes business and classified advertising.

Free weekly newspaper that includes business and classified advertising.

Weekly newspaper from Port Aransas, Texas on Mustang Island that includes local, state and national news along with extensive advertising.

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The monitoring during 2012 focused on documenting the status of known burrows. Newly identified burrows were documented while examining historical locations, during ecological resource reviews, or discovered during other monitoring efforts. The timing of the monitoring effort allowed staff to perform the surveys without disrupting any breeding or hatching, while also allowing for easy discernment of adults from juveniles, which helped in determining burrow-use type.

Free weekly newspaper that includes business and classified advertising.

Free weekly newspaper that includes business and classified advertising.

Free weekly newspaper that includes business and classified advertising.

The solvation and phase behavior of the model battery electrolyte salt lithium trifluoromethanesulfonate (LiCF3SO3) in commonly used organic solvents; ethylene carbonate (EC), gamma-butyrolactone (GBL), and propylene carbonate (PC) was explored. Data from differential scanning calorimetry (DSC), Raman spectroscopy, and X-ray diffraction were correlated to provide insight into the solvation states present within a sample mixture. Data from DSC analyses allowed the construction of phase diagrams for each solvent system. Raman spectroscopy enabled the determination of specific solvation states present within a solvent-“salt mixture, and X-ray diffraction data provided exact information concerning the structure of a solvates that could be isolated Thermal analysis of the various solvent-salt mixtures revealed the phase behavior of the model electrolytes was strongly dependent on solvent symmetry. The point groups of the solvents were (in order from high to low symmetry): C2V for EC, CS for GBL, and C1 for PC(R). The low symmetry solvents exhibited a crystallinity gap that increased as solvent symmetry decreased; no gap was observed for EC-LiTf, while a crystallinity gap was observed spanning 0.15 to 0.3 mole fraction for GBL-LiTf, and 0.1 to 0.33 mole fraction for PC(R)-LiTf mixtures. Raman analysis demonstrated the dominance of aggregated species in almost all solvent …

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

Interview with Lisa Jane Lachance-Skier, a Air Force veteran from Phoenix, Arizona. Lachance-Skier discusses growing up, participating in Junior ROTC, enlisting in the Air Force in 1976, experiences as a woman in a newly integrated Air Force, sexual harassment and assault in the military, service in England, attending ROTC and becoming an officer, her marriage, service in Germany, her work during the Gulf War, being forced out as part of a personnel drawdown, transitioning to the civilian world and her post-Air Force career, her involvement in the Grace After Fire program for assisting female veterans, problems facing female veterans and lack of support, the 2014 lifting of the combat ban on women in the US armed forces, the WASPs, and advice for servicewomen. In appendix is a summary of Lachance-Skier's USAF career, three photos of her Meritorious Service Medal certificates, and a Grace After Fire booklet.

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

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

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

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