Robert's US Government Info Blog April 2004 Archive

Requiring a warning of, "Serious consequences of diarrhea," the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has announced the addition of new risk information to the health professional labeling for Zelnorm (tegaserod ... Read More

Urban planners call it "sprawl," the often uncontrolled transformation of farmlands, wetlands, forests and deserts that composed the American landscape in the early 20th century into mushrooming metropolitan areas of ... Read More

You want to go to college so you can make a lot of money but you don't have a lot of money, so you can't go to college. Congratulations! You ... Read More

An overwhelming majority of Americans believe first priority in federal higher education aid increases should be given to low and middle-income students striving for college, rather than to college graduates ... Read More

Contrary to what a very popular book and TV ad says, the U.S. government is not giving away "free grant" money. A grant is not a Christmas present. According to ... Read More

On Earth Day 2004, the USDA released figures showing that, for the first time in modern history, America has reversed the annual net loss of wetlands. Also on Earth Day, ... Read More

U.S. employers could reduce or eliminate health benefits for their retired employees who qualify for Medicare under a new federal rule proposed by the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC). Here ... Read More

The National Center for Missing & Exploited Children (NCMEC) has announced the launch of its CyberTipline, an online resource for reporting Websites that trick minors into viewing pornographic and obscene ... Read More

The U.S. Federal Government is quietly but quickly becoming the employer of choice for American's just entering the workforce, according to Office of Personnel Management Director Kay Coles James. Read ... Read More

Just six months after state officials dropped an aggressive anti-smoking campaign, the number of Minnesota teens who reported being likely to start or return to smoking cigarettes increased nearly 10 ... Read More

Starting May 19, 2004, senders of sexually oriented spam will be required to include the warning "sexually explicit" in subject line of any email that contains sexually oriented material and ... Read More

More than three million records showing where veterans have been buried in Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) national cemeteries are available online. The innovation will make it easy for anyone ... Read More

Touting the law's effectiveness in preventing further terrorist attacks like those of Sept. 11, 2001, President Bush urged Congress to extend key elements of the U.S. Patriot Act, scheduled to ... Read More

The FDA is warning consumers not to purchase or consume products that claim to provide "safe legal highs" or that are marketed as "street drug alternatives," such as Green Hornet, ... Read More

Get your taxes done on time? The President and Vice President did and the White House has released the following summaries of their 2003 income tax returns. 

Warning that a direct attack on U.S. citizens on U.S. soil is likely over the next 25 years, a bipartisan U.S. study group reported that current U.S. defense policy lacked ... Read More

Among all the uncertainties involved in starting up your own business, there is one thing you can count on: without a well developed business plan, you will not get a ... Read More

Starting in May 2004, almost anyone with Medicare will be eligible to enroll in the new Medicare-approved drug discount card program. The discount cards will be good until at least ... Read More

Despite continued and intensifying attacks on U.S. forces, there will be no delay in the scheduled June 30, 2004 date for Iraqi sovereignty, President Bush told a nationwide radio audience ... Read More

Nine million U.S. children under age 18 have been diagnosed with asthma at some point in their lives, and more than 4 million have had an asthma attack in the ... Read More

Physicians in the U.S. will spend over 40 percent of their time treating elderly and minority patients by the year 2020, according to a recent report released by the Health ... Read More

Telephone scammers are flat-out lying to consumers to get them to buy worthless credit card "loss protection" insurance. Don't buy what you don't need, advises the Federal Trade Commission. Read ... Read More

More than a million people worldwide die each year in traffic crashes. In the U.S. the yearly toll is nearly 44,000, with related medical costs exceeding $21 billion. For first ... Read More

Targeting victims of America's obesity epidemic, 16 dietary supplement distributors have been sent letters from the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) warning them to stop making false and misleading claims ... Read More

With more people working and paying less taxes, "Our economy's momentum is building," President Bush told a national radio audience. "People are finding jobs, and the nation's future is bright. ... Read More

Most of the nation returns to daylight saving time until next fall at 2 a.m. Sunday, April 4, when clocks should be set ahead one hour. Why do we do this ... Read More

One of the government's most effective weapons against financial fraud and other forms of terrorism is a massive database of dead people called the "Death Master" file.

More than 63 percent of all tax returns filed through March 19 were filed electronically, the IRS announced last week. IRS officials say the surge in e-file popularity shows that ... Read More