Transparency Problems at the White House
McClatchyDC reports that The White House comment line is shut down, that new signatures aren’t being counted on petitions posted on the White House’s website, that Federal agencies are not allowed to respond to requests, that transcripts, executive orders and news releases aren’t being posted online, that social media accounts, including Flickr, Pinterest and Tumblr, […]
USDA has removed reports on commercial dog and horse breeders
The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service announced today that it “will remove from its website inspection reports, regulatory correspondence, research facility annual reports, and enforcement records that have not received final adjudication.” In a bulletin posted on govdelivery.com, APHIS said that this was the outcome of a comprehensive review during […]
Court Rules That Laws Can Be Copyrighted
Carl Malamud has been fighting for free public access to private standards (like building codes) that are “incorporated by reference” into the law. Such standards are usually copyrighted and not published in official, public domain versions of the law. The federal district court in Washington DC has just ruled that this practice of, essentially, copyrighting […]
New and Updated Newsworthy CRS Reports
Gary at InfoDocket lists 20 New or Recently Updated Reports From the Congressional Research Service (CRS) selected from EveryCRSReport.com and the CRS reports at the Federation of American Scientists. These include reports covering newsworthy topics like Barriers Along the U.S. Borders: Key Authorities and Requirements and Dakota Access Pipeline: Siting Controversy and Executive Authority to […]
Government Statistics Under Trump
Scientists and statisticians are worried that the 115th Congress and Trump Administration will harm the collection of statistical data by the government, according to several articles cited in the January 31, 2017 Ocassional Note of the Council of Professional Associations on Federal Statistics (COPAFS). Trump shouldn’t close the doors on government data, By Catherine Rampell. […]