A statement of record issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "GAO was asked to provide its views on projected trends in health care costs and their effect on the long-term outlook for state and local governments in the context of the current economic environment. This statement addresses three key points: (1) the state and local government sector's long-term fiscal challenges; (2) rapidly rising health care costs which drive the sector's long-term fiscal difficulties, and (3) the considerations involved in targeting supplemental funds to states through the Medicaid program during economic downturns. To provide Congress and the public with a broader perspective on our nation's fiscal outlook, GAO previously developed a fiscal model of the state and local sector. This model enables GAO to simulate fiscal outcomes for the sector in the aggregate for several decades into the future. GAO first published the findings from the state and local fiscal model in 2007. This statement includes August 2008 data to update the simulations. This Committee and others also asked GAO to analyze strategies to help states address increased Medicaid expenditures during economic downturns. GAO simulated the provision of such supplemental assistance to states. As we previously …

Correspondence issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "Section 830 of the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2008 directed GAO to compare procedures used for awarding noncompetitive defense contracts for new projects pursuant to (1) congressionally directed spending items or congressional earmarks and (2) the special interests of senior executive branch officials."

A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) is one of the largest procurement spending agencies in the federal government. In fiscal year 2007, DHS obligated about $12 billion for a wide range of goods and services to meet complex mission needs. Like other federal agencies, DHS has faced challenges in building and sustaining a capable workforce to support its acquisitions. GAO was asked to identify and assess DHS's efforts to build and sustain an effective acquisition workforce and determine the extent to which DHS has planned strategically for the acquisition workforce. To conduct the work, GAO collected and reviewed data and interviewed officials from the Office of the Chief Procurement Officer (CPO), DHS's nine procurement offices, and nine program offices, and reviewed in detail workforce information and data for acquisition support contracts from selected offices."

The amount spent on government contracts, coupled with widely reported contractors misconduct, has generated congressional interest in debarment and suspension. The 110th Congress enacted several bills addressing debarment and suspension, including the Sudan Accountability and Divestment Act, and several others, all of which are detailed in this report.

The Hanford Site's 200 Area Effluent Treatment Facility (ETF) processes contaminated aqueous wastes derived from Hanford Site facilities. The treated wastewater occasionally contains tritium, which cannot be removed by the ETF prior to the wastewater being discharged to the 200 Area State-Approved Land Disposal Site (SALDS). During the first 11 months of fiscal year 2008 (FY08) (September 1, 2007, to July 31, 2008), approximately 75.15 million L (19.85 million gal) of water were discharged to the SALDS. Groundwater monitoring for tritium and other constituents, as well as water-level measurements, is required for the SALDS by State Waste Discharge Permit Number ST-4500 (Ecology 2000). The current monitoring network consists of three proximal (compliance) monitoring wells and nine tritium-tracking wells. Quarterly sampling of the proximal wells occurred in October 2007 and in January/February 2008, April 2008, and August 2008. The nine tritium-tracking wells, including groundwater monitoring wells located upgradient and downgradient of the SALDS, were sampled in January through April 2008. Water-level measurements taken in the three proximal SALDS wells indicate that a small groundwater mound is present beneath the facility, which is a result of operational discharges. The mound increased in FY08 due to increased ETF discharges from treating groundwater from …

Wastewater treatment is an energy intensive process which, together with water treatment, comprises about three percent of U.S. annual energy use. Yet, since wastewater treatment facilities are often peripheral to major electricity-using industries, they are frequently an overlooked area for automated demand response opportunities. Demand response is a set of actions taken to reduce electric loads when contingencies, such as emergencies or congestion, occur that threaten supply-demand balance, and/or market conditions occur that raise electric supply costs. Demand response programs are designed to improve the reliability of the electric grid and to lower the use of electricity during peak times to reduce the total system costs. Open automated demand response is a set of continuous, open communication signals and systems provided over the Internet to allow facilities to automate their demand response activities without the need for manual actions. Automated demand response strategies can be implemented as an enhanced use of upgraded equipment and facility control strategies installed as energy efficiency measures. Conversely, installation of controls to support automated demand response may result in improved energy efficiency through real-time access to operational data. This paper argues that the implementation of energy efficiency opportunities in wastewater treatment facilities creates a base …

The Commodity Credit Corporation (CCC), an agency of the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), operated a grain storage facility at the northeastern edge of the city of Hanover, Kansas, from 1950 until the early 1970s. During this time, commercial grain fumigants containing carbon tetrachloride were in common use by the grain storage industry to preserve grain in their facilities. In February 1998, trace to low levels of carbon tetrachloride (below the maximum contaminant level [MCL] of 5.0 {micro}g/L) were detected in two private wells near the former grain storage facility at Hanover, as part of a statewide USDA private well sampling program that was implemented by the Kansas Department of Health and Environment (KDHE) near former CCC/USDA facilities. In April 2007, the CCC/USDA collected near-surface soil samples at 1.8-2 ft BGL (below ground level) at 61 locations across the former CCC/USDA facility. All soil samples were analyzed by the rigorous gas chromatograph-mass spectrometer analytical method (purge-and-trap method). No contamination was found in soil samples above the reporting limit of 10 {micro}g/kg. In July 2007, the CCC/USDA sampled indoor air at nine residences on or adjacent to its former facility to address the residents concerns regarding vapor intrusion. Low levels of …

The National Spherical Torus Experiment (NSTX) is a collaborative mega-ampere-class spherical torus research facility with high power heating and current drive systems and the state-of-the-art comprehensive diagnostics. For the 2008 experimental campaign, the high harmonic fast wave (HHFW) heating efficiency in deuterium improved significantly with lithium evaporation and produced a record central Te of 5 keV. The HHFW heating of NBI-heated discharges was also demonstrated for the first time with lithium application. The EBW emission in H-mode was also improved dramatically with lithium which was shown to be attributable to reduced edge collisional absorption. Newly installed FIDA energetic particle diagnostic measured significant transport of energetic ions associated with TAE avalanche as well as n=1 kink activities. A full 75 channel poloidal CHERS system is now operational yielding tantalizing initial results. In the near term, major upgrade activities include a liquid-lithium divertor target to achieve lower collisionality regime, the HHFW antenna upgrades to double its power handling capability in H-mode, and a beam-emission spectroscopy diagnostic to extend the localized turbulence measurements toward the ion gyro-radius scale from the present concentration on the electron gyro-radius scale. For the longer term, a new center stack to significantly expand the plasma operating parameters is …

Free weekly newspaper that includes business and classified advertising.

Bi-weekly student newspaper from Abilene Christian University in Abilene, Texas that includes local, state and campus news along with advertising.

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

Daily student newspaper from the University of North Texas in Denton, Texas that includes local, state and campus news along with advertising.

Weekly student newspaper from Texas Wesleyan University in Fort Worth, Texas that includes campus and local news along with advertising.

Weekly student newspaper from Texas Wesleyan University in Fort Worth, Texas that includes campus and local news along with advertising.

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Email from Jesse Garcia to Al Daniels and Stonewall Members and Friends on November 19, 2008 discussing 2009 officer elections and Stonewall Annual Holiday Party on December 8, 2008.

Advertising linage report that details ad revenue from the Odessa American, a Texas Daily Newspaper Association member, for October 2008.

Free weekly newspaper that includes business and classified advertising.

Free weekly newspaper that includes business and classified advertising.

The Collaborative Systemwide Monitoring and Evaluation Project (CSMEP) is a coordinated effort to improve the quality, consistency, and focus of fish population and habitat data to answer key monitoring and evaluation questions relevant to major decisions in the Columbia River Basin. CSMEP was initiated by the Columbia Basin Fish and Wildlife Authority (CBFWA) in October 2003. The project is funded by the Bonneville Power Administration (BPA) through the Northwest Power and Conservation Council's Fish and Wildlife Program (NPCC). CSMEP is a major effort of the federal state and Tribal fish and wildlife managers to develop regionally integrated monitoring and evaluation (M&E) across the Columbia River Basin. CSMEP has focused its work on five monitoring domains: status and trends monitoring of populations and action effectiveness monitoring of habitat, harvest, hatcheries, and the hydrosystem. CSMEP's specific goals are to: (1) interact with federal, state and tribal programmatic and technical entities responsible for M&E of fish and wildlife, to ensure that work plans developed and executed under this project are well integrated with ongoing work by these entities; (2) document, integrate, and make available existing monitoring data on listed salmon, steelhead, bull trout and other fish species of concern; (3) critically assess strengths …

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

The Department of Energy’s (DOE’s) Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL) was tasked by the DOE Office of Electricity (OE) to recommend load reduction and grid integration strategies, and identify additional demand response (energy efficiency/conservation opportunities) and strategies at the Forest City Housing (FCH) redevelopment at Pearl Harbor and the Marine Corps Base Hawaii (MCBH) at Kaneohe Bay. The goal was to provide FCH staff a path forward to manage their electricity load and thus reduce costs at these FCH family housing developments. The initial focus of the work was at the MCBH given the MCBH has a demand-ratchet tariff, relatively high demand (~18 MW) and a commensurate high blended electricity rate (26 cents/kWh). The peak demand for MCBH occurs in July-August. And, on average, family housing at MCBH contributes ~36% to the MCBH total energy consumption. Thus, a significant load reduction in family housing can have a considerable impact on the overall site load. Based on a site visit to the MCBH and meetings with MCBH installation, FCH, and Hawaiian Electric Company (HECO) staff, recommended actions (including a "smart grid" recommendation) that can be undertaken by FCH to manage and reduce peak-demand in family housing are made. Recommendations are also …

This report examines the eligibility criteria and the fundamentals of the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA)-administered disability benefit programs and related issues. It supplements and condenses the relevant materials that are available from the VA and its website. It also provides specific citations for further information and more in-depth analysis of information contained herein.

This report provides a summary of legislative attempts to address issues of energy development and preservation in the Refuge from the 95th Congress through the 110th Congress, with emphasis on the 108th through 110th Congresses. The analysis below covers, first, the economic and geological factors that have triggered new interest in development, followed by the philosophical, biological, and environmental quality factors that have triggered opposition to it. That analysis is followed by a history of congressional actions on this issue, with a focus on those in the 107th Congress through the 109th Congress.