Government Information News

Click to see TRI Data in US

Figure: TRI Total On- and Off-site Disposal or Other Releases (in pounds), for facilities in All Industries, for All Chemicals in Illinois, U.S., 2007
Source: TRI Explorer, EPA.

source: Teen time use and parental education, Monthly Labor Review; Data from MTF (Monitoring the Future Study, raw data also available at ICPSR); Figure by Sui

May 15 is the International Day of Families. This was established by the General Assembly of the United Nations in 1992. This year's theme is: "Mothers and Families: Challenges in a Changing World".

Click to see the World Maternal Mortality Rate in 2005

►Click here for the message from General Sect of UN.
►Click here to view the report "Maternal Mortality in 2005" by WHO.

Figure: Number of births (Dark Blue), birth rate (light blue) and percentage of births (green) to unmarried women, United States, 1940-2007. Source: NCHS Data Brief, No. 18, May 2009.

The proportion of births to unmarried mothers in the United States has risen steeply over the past few decades, consistent with patterns in other countries, a report from CDC’s National Center for Health Statistics shows.

In March, CDC reported that about 4 in 10 births in the United States in 2007 were to unmarried mothers. While a great deal of focus has been placed on births to unmarried teens, 6 out of 10 births to women between the ages of 20 and 24 were among unmarried women in 2007.

Figure: percentage of women aged 20-24 years who were married or in union before they were 18 years old, 1998-2007 (* Excludes China. ** Sub-Saharan Africa comprises the regions of Eastern/Southern Africa and West/Central Africa.)
Source: Demographic and Health Surveys, Multiple Indicator Cluster Surveys and other national surveys.

The State of the World’s Children 2009 examines the current state of maternal and neonatal health, explores the fundamentals of a supportive environment for mothers and newborns, and outlines ways to strengthen efforts in support of primary health care. The report highlights the importance of establishing a continuum of maternal and newborn care framework and the imperative of strengthening health systems and working together. Africa and Asia are a key focus of this report, which complements the previous year’s issue on child survival.

Click to view the whole report.

World marketed energy consumption is projected to grow by 44 percent between 2006 and 2030, driven by strong long-term economic growth in the developing nations of the world, according to the reference case projection from the International Energy Outlook 2009 (IEO2009) released by the Energy Information Administration (EIA).

High lights:

Figure: Lifetime Prevalence of Cannabis Use in Europe and USA.
Source: World Drug Report 2009, UNODC.

June 26 is the International Day against Drug Abuse and Illicit Trafficking and a unique opportunity for all of us to take a stand and support the world drug campaign. UNODC encourages everyone to join the pro-health campaign and organize events during the month of June and on World Drug Day. It has been held annually since 1988 on 26 June, a date chosen to commemorate Lin Zexu's dismantling of the opium trade in Humen, Guangdong, just before the Opium War. The observance was instituted by General Assembly resolution 42/112 of 7 December 1987.

Consumer demand for organic products has widened over the last decade. While new producers have emerged to help meet demand, market participants report that a supply squeeze is constraining growth for both individual firms and the organic sector overall. Partly in response to shortages in organic supply, Congress in 2008 included provisions in the Food, Conservation, and Energy Act (2008 Farm Act) that, for the first time, provide financial support to farmers to convert to organic production. This report examines recent economic research on the adoption of organic farming systems, organic production costs and returns, and market conditions to gain a better understanding of the organic supply squeeze and other emerging issues in this rapidly changing industry.

Read the report Emerging Issues in the U.S. Organic Industry by US Department of Agriculture.

Get the latest regional prices from EIA.

Figure: U.S. Active Duty Military Deaths, 1980 Through 2006. Source from CRS report to Congress - American War and Military Operations Casualties. Figured by Sui.

On day of July 26 in 1990, President George H.W. Bush signed into law the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), guaranteeing equal opportunity for people with disabilities in public accommodations, commercial facilities, employment, transportation, state and local government services, and telecommunications.

41.2 million
Number of people who have some level of disability. They represent 15 percent of the civilian noninstitutionalized population 5 and older.

By age —
6 percent of children 5 to 15 have disabilities.
12 percent of people 16 to 64 have disabilities.
41 percent of adults 65 and older have disabilities.

By Sex --
15% percentage of females with a disability, compared with 14 percent of males.

46% percentage of people 21 to 64 having some type of disability who were employed in the past year. The rate ranged from 75 percent of those with a nonsevere disability to 31 percent with a severe disability. For those without a disability, the employment rate is 84 percent for the same period.

59% percent of people 21 to 64 with difficulty hearing that were employed. The corresponding percentage for those with difficulty seeing was 41 percent.

48% percentage of people 21 to 64 with a nonsevere disability who work full time. This compares with 63 percent without a disability and 16 percent with a severe disability.

The American Community Survey (2005-2007) shows that of the employed population, 3.9% is working at home, and 48.3% have a travel time between 10 to 30 minutes.
Click the above image to see the detail percentages.
Maps are based on American Community Survey, and obtained from Social Explorer.

According to Bureau of Economic Analysis, the average growth rate of personal income in the first quarter of 2009 over the first quarter of 2008 is 0.2%. Five states show negative growth. West Virginia has the highest growth rate at 1.1%, while Nevada holds the lowest at -0.5%

Data Source: Construction Spending from US Census, figured by Sui

There are currently 104 commercial nuclear reactors at 65 nuclear power plants in 31 States. Since 1990, the share of the Nation’s total electricity supply provided by nuclear power generation has averaged about 20% nearly matched the natural gas share at 21%, with the level of nuclear generation growing at roughly the same rate as overall electricity use. Between 1985 and 1996, 34 new reactors were placed in service. In addition, nuclear generation has increased as a result of higher utilization of existing capacity and from technical modifications to increase nuclear plant capacity (expressed in megawatts). In response to incentives provided by the Energy Policy Act of 2005, nuclear power output is expected to grow, but at a slightly lower rate than total electricity generation.

source: EIA's Energy in Brief: What is the status of the U.S. nuclear industry?

source: EIA's Energy in Brief: What role does LNG play as an energy source for US.
On an annual basis over the past five years, the United States imported between 13% and 16% of its natural gas requirements. Most of these imports were in gaseous form delivered by pipeline from Canada. However, natural gas imports have also come in liquid form from overseas. Between 1% and 3% of U.S. demand for natural gas was met by LNG in the past five years.

BLUE: Corporal punishment prohibited in schools only; RED: Corporal punishment not prohibited

Did you know that 30 states ban corporal punishment in public schools, and two states, New Jersey and Iowa, additionally prohibit corporal punishment in private schools?

Dr. Gregory Herek from Department of Psychology, University of California, Davis, recently published a paper in Journal of Interpersonal Violence, named "Hate Crimes and Stigma-Related Experiences Among Sexual Minority Adults in the United States: Prevalence Estimates from a National Probability Sample".

Using survey responses from a US national probability sample of gay, lesbian, and bisexual adults (N=662), the paper reports prevalence estimates of criminal victimization and related experience based on the target's sexual orientation. Approximately 20% of respondents reported having experienced a person crime or property crime based on their sexual orientation, about half had experienced verbal harassment, and more than one in ten reported having experienced employment or housing discrimination. Gay men were significantly more likely than lesbians or bisexuals to experience violence or property crimes. More than one third of gay men (37.6%) reported experiencing one or both types of crimes, compared to 12..5% of lesbians, 10.7% of bisexual men, and 12.7% of bisexual women. Gay men also reported higher levels of harassment and verbal abuse than the other sexual orientation groups. Employment and housing discrimination were significantly more likely among gay men and lesbians (reported by 17.7% and 16.3%, respectively).

Read the whole paper HERE or Find it @ NU.

According to Pew Research Center for the People & the Press, there has been a sharp decline over the past year in the percentage of Americans who say there is solid evidence that global temperatures are rising. And fewer also see global warming as a very serious problem -- 35% say that today, down from 44% in April 2008.

57% think there is solid evidence that the average temperature on earth has been getting warmer over the past few decades. In April 2008, 71% said there was solid evidence of rising global temperatures.
The decline in the belief in solid evidence of global warming has come across the political spectrum, but has been particularly pronounced among independents. Just 53% of independents now see solid evidence of global warming, compared with 75% who did so in April 2008. Republicans, who already were highly skeptical of the evidence of global warming, have become even more so: just 35% of Republicans now see solid evidence of rising global temperatures, down from 49% in 2008 and 62% in 2007. Fewer Democrats also express this view -- 75% today compared with 83% last year.

With less than two months before the United Nations Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen, a majority (56%) of Americans think the United States should join other countries in setting standards to address global climate change while 32% say that the United States should set its own standards.

Read the whole report here.

There is a great concern that over the last twenty years the size and diversity of Americans’ core networks have declined; that core networks are increasingly centered on a small set of relatively similar social ties at the expense of larger more diverse networks.

Those people with whom we discuss “important matters” are our core discussion network. The Pew Internet Personal Networks and Community survey found that the average American has about two discussion confidants (1.93), which is similar to the mean of 2.06 from the 2004 GSS. However, the Pew Internet survey found that a much smaller proportion of the population reported having no discussion partners than the 2004 GSS survey: The Pew Internet survey found that 12.0% of Americans have no discussion partners, compared to the 22.5% recorded in the 2004 GSS. Our findings also show that the modal respondent – the most common response – lists one confidant, not zero, as was found in the 2004 GSS analysis.

Read the full report here.

How many filings of bankruptcy from 2001-2008?

Quarterly statistics of bankruptcy.