State-Specific Smoking-Attributable Mortality and Years of Potential Life Lost

For the United States, 2000--2004

Fiscal Responsibility - FDIC

From the James J. Hill Reference Library


"FDIC insured." This tagline may be the only exposure you've had to the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, or FDIC. But there are other ways the FDIC can serve you. For example, you can check the fiscal responsibility of the banks and financial institutions with whom your company does business with Bank Find, or determine your region's banking and economic conditions with FDIC State Profiles.

Use Bank Find to answer questions about whether your bank is insured, where its home office is, if it has had a name change, other historical events, and much more. With FDIC State Profiles, choose your state from the interactive map or list provided to view the most recent quarterly overview of banking and economic conditions in your state.

To learn more about additional resources the FDIC has available, visit the Research & Analysis section of their Web site.







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President Obama's Infrastructure Spending Program - Keeping It Simple

Rockefeller Institute of Government Co-Director Richard P. Nathan recently wrote about President Obama’s infrastructure spending program and job-creation effort. Nathan advises a common-sense approach that works closely with the states, in order to take advantage of states’ knowledge of the local terrain.

State of the World’s Children 2009

The latest UNICEF report is now available.

Green Building Impact Report 2008

Source: GreenerBuildings.com

This Green Building Impact Report is the first-ever integrated assessment of the land, water, energy, material and indoor environmental impacts of the U.S. Green Building Council’s Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design LEED for New Construction (LEED NC), Core & Shell (LEED CS) and Existing Building Operations and Maintenance (LEED EBOM) standards.

The Government Accountability Office Keeps Census on the “High Risk” List

The GAO reported this week that a critical risk management exercise planned for 2008 — a "dress rehearsal" of all census operations—was curtailed. GAO expressed concerns that a number of key Census operations and systems, including some that will be used for the first time in a census, have not been tested adequately or under census-like conditions.

To be fair, other programs in various agencies are also considered "high risk:.
More information is available at…


High-Risk Series: An Update. GAO-09-271, January 22.

Highlights.

Small Business Profiles for the States and Territories

The latest edition of the Small Business Profiles for the States and Territories is now available. This new edition improves on previous years by providing more information in an easier-to-use format. A copy of the state profiles can be found here.

The profiles contain great detail about small businesses at the state level. They cover the 50 states, the District of Columbia, and the United States, and also provide limited data on the U.S. territories. The profiles show that small businesses are a significant part of every state economy, and they are important employers in every state. Small businesses employ 44% of the workforce in Florida (the low end of the range), and they employ 69.8% of Montana’s workforce (the high end); New York's number is 51.7%.

Work Experience of the Population in 2007

Source: Bureau of Labor Statistics

A total of 157.7 million persons worked at some point during 2007, the Bureau of Labor Statistics of the U.S. Department of Labor reported today. The proportion of workers who worked full time, year round in 2007 was 68.4 percent, the same as in 2006. The number of persons who experienced some unemployment increased by 693,000, to 15.1 million.

Foreclosure Activity Increases 81 Percent In 2008

RealtyTrac released its 2008 U.S. Foreclosure Market Report this week, "which shows a total of 3,157,806 foreclosure filings — default notices, auction sale notices and bank repossessions — were reported on 2,330,483 U.S. properties during the year, an 81 percent increase in total properties from 2007 and a 225 percent increase in total properties from 2006. The report also shows that 1.84 percent of all U.S. housing units (one in 54) received at least one foreclosure filing during the year, up from 1.03 percent in 2007."

New York ranked 35th on the list, and the highest metro area in New York appearing on the rankings is Poughkeepsie-Newburgh at 69th.

Small Business Survival Index

According to this 13th annual study, the most entrepreneur-friendly state is South Dakota. How does New York rank? Not that well.

"The 44-page Business Survival Index from the Small Business & Entrepreneurship Council ranks the policy environment for entrepreneurship throughout the United States. So what does that mean?

"The Index ranks the 50 states and the District of Columbia from friendliest to least friendly environment for entrepreneurs. The ranking is based on multiple criteria, including personal income tax rates, corporate income tax rates, property taxes, electric utility costs, crime rates, highway cost effectiveness, and more."

YouTube: The Reference Tool

At First, Funny Videos. Now, a Reference Tool / By MIGUEL HELFT

FACED with writing a school report on an Australian animal, Tyler Kennedy began where many students begin these days: by searching the Internet. But Tyler didn't use Google or Yahoo. He searched for information about the platypus on YouTube.

"I found some videos that gave me pretty good information about how it mates, how it survives, what it eats," Tyler said. Similarly, when Tyler gets stuck on one of his favorite games on the Wii, he searches YouTube for tips on how to move forward. [snip]

While he favors YouTube for searches, he said he also turns to Google from time to time.

Tyler's way of experiencing the Web - primarily through video - may not be mainstream, at least not yet. But his use of YouTube as his favorite search engine underscores a shift that is much broader than the quirky habits of children.

The explosion of all types of video content on YouTube and other sites is quickly transforming online video from a medium strictly for entertainment and news into one that is also a reference tool. As a result, video search, on YouTube and across other sites, is rapidly morphing into a new entry point into the Web, one that could rival mainstream search for many types of queries.

Additional Excerpts and Link to Full Article Available HERE.

Just the article HERE.

Taxable Sales and Purchases - County and Industry Data for March 2006 - February 2007

Article 29 of the Tax Law authorizes counties, cities and some school districts to impose a local sales tax as a complement to the statewide tax. This report presents statistical information on taxable sales and purchases subject to the county or the New York City (NYC) sales tax.
Taxable sales include nearly all retail sales of tangible personal property and certain services. Taxable purchases represent the value of tangible personal property or services purchased for use in business operations (which would otherwise be subject to tax) on which no sales taxwas previously paid.

To download the entire publication and statistical tables, please visit HERE.

2008 Temperature for U.S. Near Average

It's very cold in Albany, NY today, the kind of weather where the condensation freezes on any facial hair, then thaws when one gets indoors. And it'll be colder tomorrow and worse on Friday. It does not surprise me that temperatures in the U.S. were below average for December.

Inauguration Day 2009

You might have heard that there's some event taking place next Tuesday in Washington, DC. Where to Watch on TV, Radio, and Online

Fun with New York State Counties

Sketches of New York State's colorful early history are wrapped up in the everyday words that name our 62 counties. They recall the Indians, the English and Dutch colonists, heroes of the Revolutionary War years, Presidents and early politicians — and the inventor of the steamboat.

Roll your mouse over a county to reveal its name. Click to discover where that name came from.

Now try this game where one has to find each county!

Membership of the 111th Congress: A Profile

This report presents a profile of the membership of the 111th Congress. Statistical information is included on selected characteristics of Members, including data on party affiliation, average age and length of service, occupation, religious affiliation, gender, ethnicity, foreign births, and military service.

These are collective statistics, not individual records, in an 11-page PDF.

2009 Commerical Real Estate Forecast

Grubb & Ellis Company released its 2009 Global Real Estate Forecast, which indicates that 2009 will be a challenging year for commercial real estate with the economy starting the year 13 months into what may become the longest recession since the 1930s.

Still Broken: New York State Legislative Reform

From the website:

"Dysfunctional" is the adjective ascribed to the New York State Legislature by two reports issued by the Brennan Center for Justice: The New York State Legislative Process: An Evaluation and Blueprint for Reform, released in 2004 and the follow up, Unfinished Business: New York State Legislative Reform 2006 Update.

AG Cuomo's Comprehensive Plan to Reform Local Government Operations

In December 2008, Attorney General Andrew M. Cuomo unveiled legislation "to empower communities across the state with the ability to fundamentally reorganize and consolidate local governments." More here.

New ACS Compass Handbook

The Census Bureau released the ACS Compass Handbook for federal agency ACS users recently. To quote a sage man, "it seems to have a very good and clear description of the issues related to overlapping multiyear estimates, margins of error, and the use of ACS data by federal agencies for their different purposes."

New York City Payroll Posted on the Internet

The names, titles and base salaries of 427,759 New York City government employees are now posted on the web at www.SeeThroughNY.net, the Empire Center for New York State Policy announced today.

For the full text of this press release, click here.

Guide to the 2007 Economic Census

WHAT'S NEW: New Data for CDPs, more Towns and Townships, but Fewer Small Places; North American Product Classification System for service industries; Totals for minority business owners, omitted in 2002, will be reinstated for 2007; No DVD-ROMs or CD-ROMs.

Report schedule starts the 1st quarter of 2009. And keep clicking the forward arrow at the bottom of the page for more info.

Credit card industry facts, debt statistics 2006-2008

This page contains credit card-related statistics -- including statistics on credit card debt, credit card delinquencies, credit scores, credit card interest rates, bankruptcies and more -- compiled by the CreditCards.com staff.

The post in which the blogger links to himself

Good News, New York, about the Census, iff..., where the blogger vainly attempts to describe to the general public the importance of the 2010 Census, purportedly 15 months away, using his favorite Census-related photo ever.

Criminal Justice Statistics

The state Department of Criminal Justice Services is authorized to gather crime and criminal justice processing data from law enforcement, prosecution, courts, and corrections agencies throughout New York State.