The Food Assistance Landscape: FY 2007 Annual ReportSource: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Economic Research Service
Federal expenditures for USDA’s food assistance programs totaled almost $54.3 billion in fiscal 2007, over 2 percent more than in the previous fiscal year. This rise marked the seventh consecutive year in which food assistance expenditures increased and the fifth consecutive year in which they exceeded the previous historical record. The five largest food assistance programs — the Food Stamp Program, the National School Lunch Program, the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC), the Child and Adult Care Food Program, and the School Breakfast Program — accounted for 95 percent of USDA’s expenditures for food assistance. This report uses preliminary data from the Food and Nutrition Service to examine trends in the programs through fiscal 2007. It also discusses a series of recent ERS reports that compile evidence to help answer the question of whether the Food Stamp Program can do more to improve the food choices of participants.
+ Full Report (PDF; 482 KB)

FTC Permanently Halts “Pretexting” Scheme; Defendants Barred From Obtaining or Selling Consumer’ Phone Records to Third PartiesSource: Federal Trade Commission
The Federal Trade Commission has put a permanent halt to an operation that allegedly obtained consumers’ confidential phone records without their knowledge or consent and sold them to third parties . The defendants are barred from obtaining consumers’ telephone records without their consent and court orders impose judgments on the defendants totaling more than $600,000 — the estimated amount of their ill-gotten gains.
This is the latest in a series of FTC cases targeting telephone pretexters — individuals who use false pretenses to obtain consumers — confidential information. Since 2006 the FTC has charged sixteen individuals and their corporations with violating federal law by pretexting to obtain phone records of third parties. All have now been barred from pretexting and all have been ordered to give up the money they made engaging in the illegal practice.
+ Federal Trade Commission, Plaintiff, v. Action Research Group, Inc., Joseph Depante, Matthew Depante, Bryan Wagner, Cassandra Selvage, and Eye in the Sky Investigations, Inc., Defendants

Adapting to Climate Change: A Business ApproachSource: Pew Center on Global Climate Change
This report outlines a sensible business approach to analyzing and adapting to the physical risks of climate change. It focuses on a critical first step in assessing these climate impacts: understanding the potential risks to business and the importance of taking action to mitigate those risks. Not all businesses need to take action now; this paper develops a qualitative screening process to assess whether a business is likely to be vulnerable to the physical risks associated with climate change, and whether a more detailed risk assessment is warranted.
+ Full Report (PDF; 397 KB)
See also: Clearing the Air: How Companies Operate in a Climate-conscious Era (Knowledge@Wharton)

Baseball and the Rule of Law RevisitedSource: Thomas Jefferson Law Review (via SSRN)
This is a revised and updated version of my 1999 article “Baseball and the Rule of Law.” In both articles, I argue that baseball is a highly legalistic game that can be used to help us understand how the rule of law operates in courts. The article notes that baseball is the only sport that requires a judicial ruling--a ruling by an umpire--for every play. No player is out or safe, no pitch is a strike or a ball until the umpire makes a ruling that is, in effect, a judicial determination. The article explains how the interpretation of baseball rules (umpires who call high strike zones or low strike zones for example) teach players and fans the nature of judicial interpretation. The article also examines briefly the controversy over the ownership of valuable baseballs caught by fans, the legal issues surrounding stadium franchises, baseball and antitrust, and the way in which baseball affected civil rights through the integration of the Major Leagues starting with Jackie Robinson in 1947.
Several options available for retrieval of full text (PDF; 187 KB).

Reaction to Jeffery Deaver quote on two forms of government
Remember we have at least three forms of government: federal, state and local. Most people also follow rules set up by families, organizations or institutions.

Trouble for Trouble! Judge Knocks $10 Mil from Helmsley Dog's Take
Trouble is the Maltese poodle left behind by the late Leona Helmsley, who died last August at 87. In papers that were reportedly unsealed today, Manhattan surrogate court judge Renee Roth, along with New York State’s Attorney General’s Office, reduced Trouble’s trust fund from $12 million to $2 million. According to the report in the NY Post, the deal also entailed $6 million in payments to Helmsley’s two disinherited grandchildren, amid their allegations that Helmsley wasn’t mentally competent when she signed her will.
Carl Lekic, the general manager of the Helmsley Sandcastle Hotel put Trouble’s annual expenses at $190,000, which includes Lekic’s $60,000 guardian fee, $100,000 for ’round-the-clock security, $8,000 for grooming, $3,000 for miscellaneous expenses, $1,200 for food and anywhere from $2,500 to $18,000 for medical care. Helmsley’s will had asked that either her brother or grandson care for the dog, but both took a pass.
WSJ Law Blog June 16, 2008

Portrait of determination
When he was only eight years old, Glenn Cunningham's physicians told him that he would never walk again after suffering from severe leg burns from a gasoline explosion. Cunningham not only walked but was one of the premiere milers in the 1930s.
http://www.kshs.org/portraits/cunningham_glenn.htm

Toponyms are words derived from the names of places. The word toponym is from Greek topos (place)
balbriggan (bal-BRIG-uhn) noun
A knitted, unbleached cotton fabric, used in hosiery and underwear.
[After Balbriggan, a town near Dublin in Ireland, where it was first made.]
A.Word.A.Day

Serviceberry (also called Juneberry) tree
We have one of these trees with hundreds of berries ripe for the picking. Yesterday the tree was shaking as birds, chipmunks and squirrels rampaged. Luckily I had already filled two small bowls for myself.
http://www.ag.ndsu.edu/pubs/plantsci/hortcrop/h938w.htm