The just released Budget of the United States Government, Fiscal Year 2014 will no doubt get a lot of news coverage in the next few days and you can view it online at http://purl.access.gpo.gov/GPO/LPS2343. The Appendix to the Budget, which is much more detailed than the Budget itself, is available online at http://purl.access.gpo.gov/GPO/LPS862
Children who survived the mass shooting in Connecticut last Friday may be traumatized by the event and a federally funded online resource, the National Child Traumatic Stress Network , may provide helpful information to parents, caregivers and others who might be concerned about the long-term implications for children who survived the tragic event and similar events elsewhere.
The Federal Election Commission has created a Campaign Finance Disclosure Portal which provides detailed financial information on how much money has been raised by the presidential candidates and candidates for the House and Senate in all 50 states. The database includes the names of individual donors and political action committees and how much money they have given. Most of the money contributed to Vermont candidates for the U. S. House and Senate seats comes from out of state and the list of PAC contributions is both fascinating and surprising.
The Vermont Campaign Finance Disclosure Reports website provides data on contributions to the campaigns of Vermont House and Senate candidates and other elected state officials.
This week the Library of Congress, in collaboration with the U. S. Senate, House of Representatives and the Government Printing Office unveiled a new portal for accessing free, fact-based Congresional information. Congress.gov features platform mobility, comprehensive information and user-friendly presentation. The site includes live video from the floor of the House and Senate, as well as information about members of Congress, current legislation, and how your Congressman voted on each bill.
Congress.gov will replace Thomas.gov, which has been the main gateway to Congressional information resources for the past 17 years.
Labor Day was established by an act of Congress in 1894. This and other interesting facts about Labor Day, employment and occupations may be found at a Bureau of the Census website at http://www.census.gov/newsroom/releases/archives/facts_for_features_special_editions/cb12-ff14.html.
Enjoy the holiday!
It’s dinner time and the telephone rings. The caller is asking for a donation for a worthwhile charitable cause. What you may not know is that some non-profit organizations hire professional fundraisers to solicit contributions on their behalf and the fundraisers typically receive a commission of more than half of the amount you pledge, and in some cases they get up to 90% of your pledge. To provide detailed information on how funds are split between the charities and the professional fundraisers, the Vermont Atty. General’s office has published a helpful report at http://www.atg.state.vt.us/assets/files/WhereHaveAlltheDollarsGone2009.pdf
How does your favorite charity rate?
The Bureau of the Census has compiled an interesting assortment of facts and figures relating to mothers, compiled from a variety of government information resources. Check them out at http://www.census.gov/newsroom/releases/archives/facts_for_features_special_editions/cb12-ff08.html
On April 2 the National Archives released online census records for 1940 and the site received more than 22 million hits in the first three hours, which temporarily crashed the website. Individual records from a decennial census are made available every 10 years, as soon as the government’s legally mandated 72-year waiting period ends. The nearly 4 million images of handwritten census pages provide information on person’s names, ages, addresses, marital status and number of children. The website is at http://1940census.archives.gov/ and you need to first identify the enumeration district before you can find the names and addresses you are seeking.
The Davis Family Library also has individual family census records for 1790 to 1930 for Vermont on microfilm and the Genealogy Research Guide can provide more detailed information for researching family history.
LIS Staff Middlebury Community MiddPoints