Good to Know…Week of December 5, 2011

To read this article, go to: GulfNews.com

Slovenians Vote for Government; Jansa Seen Making Comeback
Slovenians began voting for a new government that will have to tackle a widening budget deficit, hold back rising debts and keep the first former communist nation to use the euro from slipping back into recession.

To read this article, go to: BusinessWeek.com

Eurozone Crisis Forces Belgium to Finally Form a Government
After breaking the modern-day world record for failing to form a government – making war-torn Iraq look like amateurs–Belgium has surmounted the linguistic and cultural stand-off that threatened to wipe it from the map, and agreed to form a coalition in the name of sorting out its finances.

To read this article, go to: Guardian.co.uk

Public Sector Strikes: [British] Government Drops Deadline for Pension Talks
The government appears to have dropped an end-of-year deadline for the conclusion of talks with unions on public sector pension reform, just a day after the country saw the biggest 24-hour strike in more than three decades.

To read this article, go to: Guardian.co.uk

ADMINISTRATION
Best and Worst Run States in America: An Analysis Of All 50
For the second year, 24/7 Wall St. has reviewed data on financial health, standard of living and government services by state to determine how well each state is managed. Based on this data, 24/7 Wall St. ranked the 50 states from the best to worst run. The best-run state is Wyoming. The worst-run state is California.

To read this article, go to: 247WallSt.com

CRIME AND PUNISHMENT
Presidential Pardons Heavily Favor Whites
White criminals seeking presidential pardons over the past decade have been nearly four times as likely to succeed as minorities, a ProPublica examination has found.

To read this article, go to: Propublica.org

IMMIGRATION
U.S. Government Cracks Down on Immigration Scams
Officials from several federal, state and local agencies, as well as immigration lawyers and advocates, met in Newark in recent days to expand nationwide a campaign that started in seven pilot cities. It focuses on enforcement, education and inter-agency collaboration.

To read this article, go to: Latino.FoxNews.com

Unauthorized Immigrants: Length of Residency, Patterns of Parenthood
Nearly two-thirds of the 10.2 million unauthorized adult immigrants in the United States have lived in this country for at least 10 years and nearly half are parents of minor children, according to new estimates by the Pew Hispanic Center.

To read this article, go to: PewResearch.org

POVERTY
Hispanic Poverty Rate Highest in New Supplemental Census Measure
For more than a decade, the Census Bureau has been developing an alternative measure of poverty that is intended to better reflect the costs of basic living expenses as well as the resources people have to pay them. The bureau has just released results for 2010 from the alternative metric–called the Supplemental Poverty Measure (SPM)–that uses a wider range of factors than the official federal measure to determine poverty status.

To read this article, go to: PewHispanic.org

Districts Pay Less in Poor Schools, Report Says
Education experts have long argued that a basic inequity in American schooling is that students in poor neighborhoods are frequently taught by low-paid rookie teachers who move on as they gain experience and rise up the salary scale.

To read this article, go to: NYTimes.com

HEALTH CARE
On World AIDS Day, UN Officials Say End to Epidemic is Within Reach
As the world heads into the fourth decade of AIDS, it is finally in a position to end the epidemic, Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said today, leading a chorus of United Nations officials in calling for the political will, investments and determination to reach this goal.

To read this article, go to: UN.org

States Suing Over Health Care Law Collect Funding
Federal officials announced Tuesday they are awarding more money to help states carry out President Barack Obama’s health care overhaul. So what’s the surprise?
Seven states that are suing to overturn the landmark law are also on the list for funding.

To read this article, go to: IdahoStatesman.com

Report: Telehealth Industry Will See Uptick in Competition
With a global revenue forecast of $990 million by 2015, the Telehealth market is already attracting a host of suppliers and innovators at various points in the value chain according to a new report from research firm InMedica. In a new whitepaper, “Competitive Dynamics in the World Telehealth Market–2011 to 2020”, InMedica assesses the current telehealth ecosystem and forecasts how it will change over the next ten years.

To read this article, go to: Healthcare-informatics.com

Study Compares Physical and Cloud Exchange of Images
As providers move to tightly coordinate patient care, they have to find ways to efficiently share patient information. That includes scrapping use of physical media such as CDs for sharing medical images, and exchanging images and reports on cloud-based platforms, according to a new study from consulting firm Chilmark Research.

To read this article, go to: HealthDataManagement.com

GOVERNMENT EFFICIENCY
Tight Budgets Could Spur Agencies to be Innovative, Take More Risks
“We are at a pressure point and we need to look to technology to provide efficiencies, high quality services and save money,” said Dave McClure, associate administrator in the office of citizen services and IT for the General Services Administration. “We are entering an opportunistic period for technology to shine bright and get more bang for the buck.”

To read this article, go to: FederalNewsRadio.com

PUBLIC WORKFORCE
Black Public Workers First Laid Off by Job Cuts
African Americans are experiencing the sharpest edge of layoffs of government and other public workers across the country. The worst of these job cuts were at first avoided by the Obama administration’s federal stimulus package that was designed to prevent state and local layoffs.

To read this article, go to: PeoplesWorld.org

SOCIAL MEDIA
Federal Agencies Ranked on Twitter Engagement
While nearly all federal agencies have created a presence on Twitter and collected followers, only a few are really engaging with citizens in those networks, according to a new study that attempts to measure citizen engagement.

To read this article, go to: FCW.com

UNEMPLOYMENT
Unemployment Rate Falls to 8.6 Percent, Lowest in 2½ years, with Good Signs for Small Business
The unemployment rate, which has refused to budge from the 9 percent neighborhood for two and a half frustrating years, fell sharply in November, driven in part by small businesses that finally see reason to hope and hire.

To read this article, go to: WashingtonPost.com

TECHNOLOGY
Cyber Bill Strong on Info. Sharing, Light on Privacy Protections
The Cyber Intelligence Sharing and Protection Act of 2011 (HR 3523) was introduced Nov. 30 by committee Chairman Mike Rogers (R-Mich.) and Ranking Member Dutch Ruppersberger (D-Md.) and would require the intelligence community to establish procedures for sharing classified cybersecurity intelligence with the private sector, and would provide incentives for private entities to share information with the government.

To read this article, go to: GCN.com

New Voting Tech Innovations for 2012
Ahead of Nov. 6, states are making innovative changes to make it easier to cast ballots and get information about where, when, and how to vote. On tap for next year: secretaries of state offices are set to carve out a larger presence on Facebook and Twitter, roll out pilot programs offering voters the chance to do everything from marking their ballot on a tablet to finding a polling place on a smartphone app, and allow expanded online voting for some in the military or living overseas.

To read this article, go to: Politico.com

TRANSPORTATION
House Delays Long-term Transportation Plan Over Funding, Timing
Still searching for the money to pay for it , the House leadership has put the brakes on a long-term transportation spending plan, but Transportation Committee Chairman John L. Mica says he’s confident that the legislation will pass before the current funding extension expires March 31.

To read this article, go to: WashingtonPost.com

MILITARY
Gap Between Military and Civilians Widening, Study Finds
Researchers noted an age gap, with more than three quarters of adults age 50 and older saying they had an immediate family member who has served in the military, but only 39 percent of adults under the age of 30 saying the same.

To read this article, go to: GovExec.com

INTERESTING…
Kiira, the Ugandan Electric Car that Could
Africa can claim a simple formula for its recent economic success: falling costs, a rising middle class and tenacious faith in its own future. Uganda, one of the continent’s poorer countries, has little to show for that success, except one thing: a new, homegrown electric car.