On April 20, 2010, an explosion and fire occurred on the Deepwater Horizon drilling rig in the Gulf of Mexico. This resulted in 11 worker fatalities, a massive oil release, and a national response effort in the Gulf of Mexico region by the federal and state governments as well as BP. This report provides an overview of selected issues related to the Deepwater Horizon incident and is not intended to be comprehensive.

This report first provides a brief federal legislative history of identity theft laws. It analyzes the current trends in identity theft, including prevalent identity theft-related crimes, the federal agencies involved in combating identity theft, and the trends in identity theft complaints and prosecutions. The report also discusses the relationship between data breaches and identity theft as well as possible effects of the FTC's Identity Theft Red Flags Rule, effective June 1, 2010. It also examines current legislation on identity theft and possible issues for the 111th Congress to consider.

This report discusses nuclear energy issues currently facing Congress, such as federal incentives for new commercial reactors, radioactive waste management policy, research and development priorities, power plant safety and regulation, nuclear weapons proliferation, and security against terrorist attacks.

The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) provides benefits to veterans through three major operating units, one of which is the Veterans Health Administration (VHA), on which this report focuses. This report will track the FY2011 appropriations process for funding VHA, and will be updated as legislative activities warrant.

This report discusses the Navy's plan to develop and design a class of 12 next-generation ballistic missile submarines, or SSBN(X)s, as replacements for the 14 Ohio class SSBNs currently in operation. The report explores certain related issues for Congress, including the affordability of the project and its potential impact on other Navy shipbuilding programs, alternatives to the program, and which shipyard or shipyards will build the proposed ships.

This report examines the role of United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) in Afghanistan and discusses the obstacles the organization faces in coordinating international efforts and explores related policy issues and considerations for the 112th Congress.

This report discusses the Improper Payments Information Act (IPIA). Signed into law in 2002, the law requires agencies to identify each year programs and activities vulnerable to significant improper payments, to estimate the amount of overpayments or underpayments, and to report to Congress on steps being taken to reduce such payments.

This report provides basic firearms-related statistics, an overview of federal firearms law, and a summary of legislative action in the 111th Congress. The report concludes with salient issues that have generated significant congressional interest, including the 1994-2004 LCAFD ban.

This report includes a chart comparing the provisions of the bills and current law. It also reprints the text of the five NSL statutes as they now appear and as they appeared prior to amendment by the USA PATRIOT Act (to which form they would have returned under some of the bills).

In Citizens United v. FEC, the Supreme Court invalidated two provisions of the Federal Election Campaign Act (FECA), finding that they were unconstitutional under the First Amendment. In response to the Supreme Court's ruling, various proposals have been discussed and legislation has been introduced in the 111th Congress. This report provides an analysis of the constitutional and legal issues raised by several proposals, organized by regulatory topic: increasing disclaimer requirements, increasing disclosure for tax-exempt organizations, requiring shareholder notification and approval, restricting U.S. subsidiaries of foreign corporations, restricting political expenditures by government contractors and grantees, taxing corporate independent expenditures, and providing public financing for congressional campaigns. The report also addresses amending the Constitution.

This report reviews standard disaster housing procedures as well as options that could be taken to improve disaster housing including increased FEMA/HUD cooperation, the use of the case management authority, the repair and renovation of private rental housing units, and the use of alternative manufactured housing.

This report provides an overview of FY2010 supplemental appropriations and discusses this year's supplemental focused on the effect on the deficit of additional spending.

This report discusses the United States' relationship with India as it relates to nuclear arsenals and nuclear nonproliferation policies. The report includes background information on India's nuclear history and nuclear weapons-specific U.S. legislation.

This report discusses the nature of the military retirement system. The military retirement system is a non-contributory, defined benefit system that has historically been viewed as a significant incentive in retaining a career military force. The system currently includes monthly compensation and benefits after an active or reserve military career, disability retirement for those physically unfit to continue to serve, and survivor benefits for the eligible survivors of deceased retirees.

This report summarizes the FY2011 budget request for research & development (R&D) funding, including comparisons to R&D funding requests in the FY2010 budget. Congress will play a central role in defining the nation's R&D priorities, especially with respect to two overarching issues: the extent to which the Federal R&D investment can grow in the context of increased pressure on discretionary spending and how available funding will be prioritized and allocated. This report breaks down in detail the various aspects of the President's FY2011 R&D funding request.

Parent map for Jim Wells County, Texas showing the area of one geographic block for which the U.S. Census Bureau collected data. The plotted map scale is 1:18,000.

Parent map for Newton County, Texas showing the area of one geographic block for which the U.S. Census Bureau collected data. The plotted map scale is 1:29,000.

Inset map for Newton County, Texas showing detail within a census block for which the U.S. Census Bureau collected data. The plotted map scale is 1:2,028.

Inset map for Newton County, Texas showing detail within a census block for which the U.S. Census Bureau collected data. The plotted map scale is 1:4,610.

Parent map for Jeff Davis County, Texas showing the area of one geographic block for which the U.S. Census Bureau collected data. The plotted map scale is 1:25,000.

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The authors perform a study of exclusive production of D{sub s}{sup +}D{sub s}{sup -}, D*{sub s}{sup +}D{sub s}{sup -}, and D*{sub s}{sup +}D*{sub s}{sup -} final states in initial-state-radiation events from e{sup +}e{sup -} annihilations at a center-of-mass energy near 10.58 GeV, to search for charmonium 1{sup --} states. The data sample corresponds to an integrated luminosity of 525 fb{sup -1} and was recorded by the BABAR experiment at the PEP-II storage ring. The D{sub s}{sup +} D{sub s}{sup -}, D*{sub s}{sup +}D{sub s}{sup -}, and D*{sub s}{sup +}D*{sub s}{sup -} mass spectra show evidence of the known {psi} resonances. Limits are extracted for the branching ratios of the decays X(4260) {yields} D{sub s}{sup (*)+}D{sub s}{sup (*)-}.