U.S. Federal Government Information

February 25, 2009

Adult Drug Court Research to Practice Initiative: FY 2009 Competition Grant Announcement

“The U.S. Department of Justice, Office of Justice Programs’ Bureau of Justice Assistance, in partnership with the National Institute of Justice, is pleased to announce it is seeking applications for funding under the Adult Drug Court Research to Practice Initiative. This program furthers the Department’s efforts to assist communities to develop effective drug court strategies for nonviolent substance-abusing offenders.”:

Here is a link to the Announcement:

http://www.ojp.usdoj.gov/BJA/grant/09DrugCourtResearchSol.pdf

February 24, 2009

U.S. Federal Trade Commission Rescinds Enforcement Policy Regarding Advertising of Books

by David Badertscher

On February 20, 2009 the U.S. Federal Trade Commission announced that it is rescinding the book advertising policy sometimes known as the “mirror image doctrine”. Below is an excerpt from that announcement with links the complete FTC Announcement, the forthcoming notice in the Federal Register, an an article in the National Law Journal discussing this action:

“The Commission has approved the publication of a notice in the Federal Register rescinding the agency’s enforcement policy for advertising of books, also known as the Mirror Image Doctrine (MID). As detailed in the notice, which will be published soon and is available now on the FTC’s Web site and as a link to this press release, the agency is rescinding its stated policy that it will not ordinarily challenge advertising claims that promote the sale of books and other publications when the advertising purports only to express the opinion of the author, or to quote, i.e., ‘mirror,’ the contents of the book or publication….”

As noted above the National Law Journal has also published a Web-only article, FTC Rescinds Decades-old Enforcement Policy on Book Advertising, ” by Marcia Coyle. (February 24, 2009)

February 11, 2009

Hundreds of TV Stations Still Plan to Make the Switch to Digital on February 17

by David Badertscher

The following is posted as a service to those readers who still need to convert to digital television:

An article by Peter Whorisky and Kim Hart published in the February 11, 2009 Washington Post, “500 TV Stations Still Plan to Make Digital Switch Next Week,”explains “…the onset of the digital transition comes despite Congress’s best intention to delay it.” Although Congress has postponed the February deadline, nearly 500 full power television stations across the nation are preparing to move ahead to make the conversion and drop traditional over-the-air broadcasts on February 17, the original deadline date, as authorized in the DTV postponement legislation.

A Chart listing all TV stations (including those that will be converting early – highlighted in red) is included as an added feature accompanying the web version of this article To see the list click on the link below:

February 10, 2009

Good Breakdown of Comparative Funding Levels Between the House and Senate Versions of the Stimulus Legislation

by David Badertscher

I was going to post something about the comparative funding levels between the House and Senate versions of the stimulus legislation, but have just learned that ProPublica has already done so on their blog. Congratulations to ProPublica for a really good posting.

Here is the link. http://www.propublica.org/special/the-stimulus-bills-house-vs.-senate

February 9, 2009

Summary of Proposed U.S. Stimulus Legislation

by David Badertscher

This posting links to a summary of the highlights of proposed stimulus legislation. including the Nelson-Collins Amendment and other floor amendments as of February 6, 2009. It is not a complete listing of all programs and spending included in the proposed legislation, but it provides a good overview for those who need access to this information now.To see this document click on the link below. The Nelson-Collins Amendment as of now now (morning of 2-9-2009) appears to be the working Senate version of the proposed economic stimulus legislation.

U.S. Congress, Summary of proposed economic stimulus legislation under H.R.1 as included in Nelson-Collins Fact Sheet and Related Documents as of 2-6-09

February 6, 2009

Publication: Federal Rules of Evidence 2009

by David Badertscher

Federal Rules of Evidence 2009
ISSN 566-5645 Published by Federal Evidence Review as a web based publication.

According to the publisher this publication consists of “a current version of the Federal Rules of Evidence…,originally enacted in 1975 and as amended to the present.” It is “fully searchable using the Adobe Reader ‘search’ tool. Other publications produced by this publisher include: The Federal Rules of Evidence Advosory Committee Notes, available at http://federalevidence.com/notes. and Federall Evidence Review, a monthly electronic legal journal that highlights recent federal evidence cases and developments for subscribers. For subscription and other information go to http://federalevidence.com