This report describes and compares the drug- and crime-related policy restrictions contained in selected federal programs that provide assistance to low-income individuals and families: the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) block grant, the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP, formerly Food Stamps), and the three primary federal housing assistance programs (the public housing program, the Section 8 Housing Choice Voucher program, and the project-based Section 8 rental assistance program).

Report that focuses on activity in Congress regarding recent high profile incidents of sexual assault in the military. Included are separate sections on the official responses related to these incidents by the Department of Defense (DOD), the Administration, and Congress including legislation in the 113th Congress. The last section is a resource guide for sources in this report and related materials on sexual assault and prevention.

Report that discusses the increasing concentrations of carbon dioxide (CO2) in the atmosphere, and the extent of related effects on the ocean and marine resources.

Correspondence issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "Because data were not readily available to identify how the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) uses consulting services and what is known about their costs, this report discusses the limitations on data concerning consulting services and provides information on some of the uses of consultant contracts. Two primary factors limited GAO's ability to identify a list of consulting contracts that was sufficiently accurate and complete for identifying the types and costs of consulting services used by VA. First, there is no consistently used definition for consultant or consulting services across VA that GAO could apply for our intended purposes. Second, there are data limitations associated with identifying consulting services at VA. Since there is no means for contracting officers to track obligations for consulting services in the Federal Procurement Data System-New Generation, GAO used North American Industrial Classification Codes (NAICS) to identify contracts that could be for consulting. However, GAO could not use the NAICS codes to consistently identify consulting contracts because a single NAICS code can be used to classify both consulting and nonconsulting services and VA contracting officers sometimes reported that they had applied the wrong …

A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "According to Transportation Security Administration (TSA) employee misconduct data that GAO analyzed, TSA investigated and adjudicated approximately 9,600 cases of employee misconduct from fiscal years 2010 through 2012. From fiscal years 2010 through 2012, the annual number of TSA misconduct cases increased from 2,691 to 3,408. In that same period, TSA's workforce of Office of Security Operations employees at the airport level grew by about 3,200 employees. Two offense categories accounted for about half of all cases--(1) attendance and leave, which accounted for 32 percent, and (2) screening and security, which accounted for 20 percent. Charges for screening and security related incidents pertain to violating standard operating procedures, including not conducting security or equipment checks, and allowing patrons or baggage to bypass screening. TSA's guidance delineates common employee charges, along with a suggested range of penalties. Forty-seven percent of the cases that GAO analyzed resulted in letters of reprimand, which describe unacceptable conduct that is the basis for a disciplinary action; 31 percent resulted in suspensions of a definite duration; and 17 percent resulted in the employee's removal from TSA. The remaining cases covered a variety …

A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "Since April 2011, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has taken action to address a backlog of potential overstay records that GAO previously identified. Specifically, DHS reviewed such records to identify national security and public safety threats, but unmatched arrival records--those without corresponding departure records--remain in DHS's system. GAO had previously reported that, as of January 2011, DHS had a backlog of 1.6 million unmatched arrival records that had not been reviewed through automated or manual processes. DHS tracks arrivals and departures and closes records for individuals with matching arrival and departure records. Unmatched arrival records indicate that the individual is a potential overstay. In 2011, DHS reviewed this backlog of 1.6 million records, closed about 863,000 records, and removed them from the backlog. As new unmatched arrival records have accrued, DHS has continued to review all of these new records for national security and public safety concerns. As of June 2013, DHS's unmatched arrival records totaled more than 1 million."

A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has developed nine criteria that consider various factors--including the willingness of various stakeholders, such as asset owners and operators, to participate and concentrations of high-risk critical infrastructure--when identifying possible locations for Regional Resiliency Assessment Program (RRAP) projects. According to DHS officials, final project selections are then made from a list of possible locations based on factors including geographic distribution and DHS priorities, among other considerations. However, it is unclear why some RRAP projects are recommended over others because DHS does not fully document why these decision are made. Federal internal control standards call for agencies to promptly record and clearly document transactions and significant events. Because DHS's selection process identifies a greater number of potential projects than DHS has the resources to perform, documenting why final selections are made would help ensure accountability, enabling DHS to provide evidence of its decision making."

This CRS report, updated as warranted, discusses policy issues regarding military-to-military (mil-to-mil) contacts with the People's Republic of China (PRC) and provides a record of major contacts and crises since 1993. The first part of this CRS Report discusses policy issues regarding such military-to-military (mil-to-mil) contacts. The second part provides a record of such contacts since 1993, when the United States resumed exchanges after suspending them in response to the Tiananmen Crackdown in 1989. Congress has exercised important oversight.

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Our contribution to the larger project (ANL) was the phylogenetic analysis of evolved communities capable of reducing metals including uranium.

Substantial increases in the concentrations of the stronger of two Fe(III) complexing organic ligand classes measured during the mesoscale Fe enrichment studies IronEx II and SOIREE appeared to sharply curtailed Fe availability to diatoms and thus limited the efficiency of carbon sequestration to the deep. Detailed observations during IronEx II (equatorial Pacific Ocean) and SOIREE (Southern Ocean –Pacific sector) indicate that the diatoms began re-experiencing Fe stress even though dissolved Fe concentrations remained elevated in the patch. This surprising outcome likely is related to the observed increased concentrations of strong Fe(III)-complexing ligands in seawater. Preliminary findings from other studies indicate that diatoms may not readily obtain Fe from these chemical species whereas Fe bound by strong ligands appears to support growth of cyanobacteria and nanoflagellates. The difficulty in assessing the likelihood of these changes with in-situ mesoscale experiments is the extended monitoring period needed to capture the long-term trajectory of the carbon cycle. A more detailed understanding of Fe complexing ligand effects on long-term ecosystem structure and carbon cycling is essential to ascertain not only the effect of Fe enrichment on short-term carbon sequestration in the oceans, but also the potential effect of Fe enrichment in modifying ecosystem structure and …

An Addendum was written to the Model 9977 Safety Analysis Report for Packaging adding a new content consisting of DOE-STD-3013 stabilized plutonium dioxide materials to the authorized Model 9977 contents. The new Plutonium Oxide Content (PuO{sub 2}) Envelope will support the Department of Energy shipment of materials between Los Alamos National Laboratory and Savannah River Site facilities. The new content extended the current content envelope boundaries for radioactive material mass and for decay heat load and required a revision to the 9977 Certificate of Compliance prior to shipment. The Addendum documented how the new contents/configurations do not compromise the safety basis presented in the 9977 SARP Revision 2. The changes from the certified package baseline and the changes to the package required to safely transport this material is discussed.

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

Interview with Don Maison, President and Chief Executive Officer of AIDS services of Dallas. The interview includes Maison's personal experiences about his childhood, working with the Dallas County Juvenile Department, being gay, being involved with the gay community, and his experiences as a lawyer. He particularly talks about being involved with the Dallas Gay Alliance, the Village Station arrests, and the AIDS crisis.

This report provides the results of an extent of condition construction history review for tanks 241-AZ-101 and 241-AZ-102. The construction history of the 241-AZ tank farm has been reviewed to identify issues similar to those experienced during tank AY-102 construction. Those issues and others impacting integrity are discussed based on information found in available construction records, using tank AY-102 as the comparison benchmark. In the 241-AZ tank farm, the second DST farm constructed, both refractory quality and tank and liner fabrication were improved.

The Alaska Native Weatherization Training and Jobs Project expanded weatherization services for tribal members’ homes in southeast Alaska while providing weatherization training and on the job training (OJT) for tribal citizens that lead to jobs and most probably careers in weatherization-related occupations. The program resulted in; (a) 80 Alaska Native citizens provided with skills training in five weatherization training units that were delivered in cooperation with University of Alaska Southeast, in accordance with the U.S. Department of Energy Core Competencies for Weatherization Training that prepared participants for employment in three weatherizationrelated occupations: Installer, Crew Chief, and Auditor; (b) 25 paid OJT training opportunities for trainees who successfully completed the training course; and (c) employed trained personnel that have begun to rehab on over 1,000 housing units for weatherization.

This document identifies 241-C Tank Farm (C Farm) leak causes and locations for the 100 series leaking tanks (241-C-101 and 241-C-105) identified in RPP-RPT-33418, Rev. 2, Hanford C-Farm Leak Inventory Assessments Report. This document satisfies the C Farm portion of the target (T04) in the Hanford Federal Facility Agreement and Consent Order milestone M-045-91F.

This report discusses Federal R&D Funding Perspectives, Multiagency R&D Initiatives, Treatment of FY2013 Rescissions and Sequestration etc.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with Doyle Ebel. Ebel was drafted into the Army Air Forces in March, 1943 and trained at Miami Beach before going to radio operator school in Missouri. He also attended gunnery school before becoming a crewmember on a B-24 and shipping overseas in July 1944. He was assigned to the 26th Bomb Squadron, 11th Bomb Group at Saipan in October. Ebel recalls an emergency landing on Iwo Jima. He flew 37 combat missions before the war ended and returned to the US in November, 1945.

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