WASHOE COUNTY REGISTRAR UPDATES ESTIMATED EARLY VOTER TURNOUT;

REMINDS VOTERS TO OBSERVE RESTRICTIONS ON ADVOCACY WHEN THEY VOTE

Reno, Nevada. October 30, 2008. Washoe County Registrar of Voters Dan Burk has revised his prediction of how many people will cast their ballots during early voting. Earlier this month, Burk had estimated 55,000 people would vote early, comprising about 25% of total registered voters.

However, given that early voter numbers totaled 78,403 as of end of voting Wednesday, October 29^th, Burk has now revised his early voting estimate to approximately 95,000 or more with two days left. October 29^th also set a new one-day early voting record with 10,145 people turning out yesterday to vote.

“It’s very clear at this point that we have set a new record for early voters,” Burk stated. “The unknown is how much higher we will go in breaking our previous early voter record.”

For the 2006 general election, 41,906 voters turned out for early voting---a new record at that time. The 2008 general election will see at least double those numbers.

“I think it’s very feasible that early voters and absentee voters could account for nearly 50% of our total voter turnout,” Burk added. “If so, that will certainly reduce the wait times voters will see on Election Day.”

No Advocacy Reminder. Burk also wants to remind voters of the state law that prohibits advocacy of a candidate or ballot question less than 100 feet from a polling place. Known as “electioneering”, this type of advocacy is not restricted to people carrying signs, but also to voters who enter the polling place wearing buttons, clothing or other items that advocate for a candidate, party or ballot question outcome. The same is true for items advocating not voting for a particular candidate, party or issue.

“Working with the Secretary of State, we’ve tried very hard to create a non-partisan atmosphere within 100 feet of the polling place as well as in the polling location itself,” Burk said. “While we’re happy to see people so excited about the election outcome, we must remind them to observe the restrictions against any kind of advocacy within 100 feet of the polling location.”

The restrictions on election advocacy are enforced by poll workers who may ask voters to cover up their clothing or remove their buttons when they enter the polling location. In extreme cases if a voter is unwilling to comply, law enforcement will be called.

“We’ve gotten a few complaints from voters regarding advocacy in the polling places,” Burk said. “Usually people are cooperative once we make them aware of the restrictions. We just want to remind them and ask for their cooperation in advance.”

From the rear

Lisa Printz, Downtown Reno Library's Information Dodgeball Team Captain from the front.

Downtown Reno Library's Information Dodgeball Team

Live Webstreaming of County Commission meeting

Washoe County has launched live webstreaming of The Washoe Channel via our website. While we are still "tweaking" the site, you can view all programming on The Washoe Channel via your computer, including County Commission meetings. To view The Washoe Channel via our website:

1) go to www.washoecounty.us

2) click on the Washoe County Television link located in the bottom right-hand corner of our website's front page (located under visitors)

3) click on the Washoe Channel Live link located on the left side of the screen

4) you will be asked to enter your log-in and password since it will take you outside our firewall

5) allow the program a few minutes to buffer

6) you can increase the size of the video to full-size if you double click on the video screen

7) the following day, the meeting will be "archived" to the site for viewing on demand; simply select the Washoe Channel archives link instead of the Washoe Channel Live link in step #3

8) You can "jump" to the agenda item you wish via the pulldown menu shown below the video screen

Halloween hits early voting. Robyn Rassuchine of the Downtown Reno Library casts her ballot.

POSITION AVAILABLE

LIBRARIAN II – INTERNET

WASHOE COUNTY LIBRARY SYSTEM

RENO, NEVADA

The Internet Services Librarian manages the Washoe County Library System website, oversees a popular public Internet access service, helps resolve technical issues and takes part in system wide planning. Washoe County is located along the eastern slopes of the Sierra Nevada Mountains and is known as a great recreational area. This rapidly growing community has 14 library branches that include the virtual branch, the bookmobile and branches in the areas of Reno, Sparks, Incline Village and Gerlach.

Applicants must have a Masters degree from an accredited college or university in Library Science and two years of professional level library experience OR an equivalent combination of education and experience. In addition, qualified applicants will possess professional Internet experience (web design, HTML coding, training others).

Salary range $55,764 – $72,488. No state income tax; 100% employer-paid retirement contributions; medical, dental, vision, life insurance benefits provided at no cost to employee; longevity pay; and deferred compensation benefits available.

Must complete Washoe County Employment Application. For more information and access to the application form see the Washoe County Human Resources Department web site at http://www.washoecounty.us/humanresources/careers/jobs.htm or call Julie Paholke, the Recruiting Analyst at (775) 328-2085 or jpaholke@washoecounty.us

Application Deadline: Friday, November 21, 2008.

ABA Report on E-Rulemaking Proposes Overhaul of Government-Wide Program

United States-Agencies: ABA Report on E-Rulemaking Proposes Overhaul of Government-Wide Program [From U.S. Law Week, 10/28/08]

A high-level American Bar Association task force Oct. 21 released a report finding significant flaws in the federal government's effort to place all agency rulemaking dockets online and calling for a "fundamentally new approach" to the six-year, multimillion dollar project.

The task force report examined all aspects of the E-Rulemaking initiative and concluded that the project has failed to achieve its groundbreaking potential because of a series of interrelated problems involving funding, system design, and governance.

"If a government-wide electronic docket and rulemaking support system were being designed in today's technological environment, the preferred architecture almost certainly would not be a single and exclusive centralized system," the task force said in the report.

At the same time, the task force stopped short of calling for a complete reinvention of the system, calling such a move "a radical step."
Instead, it recommended that the centralized Web-based system be enhanced by allowing agencies to experiment with customized applications built off the core system, while preserving government-wide document access from a single Web site.

The goal of the 22-member task force was to provide a "clear-eyed assessment" of the current system and offer recommendations for consideration by the incoming administration and Congress, according to Sally Katzen, the task force chair, who previewed the report Oct. 17 at a meeting of the ABA's Administrative Law Section. She said she expects the ABA to endorse the report. http://www.abanet.org/adminlaw/home.html

"It is our fervent hope that this tome does not sit on bookshelves,"
said Katzen, who served as administrator of the Office of Management and Budget's regulatory policy office during the Clinton administration.

The task force report was officially released at an event sponsored by the Council for Excellence in Government. http://www.excelgov.org/

EARLY VOTING ENDS FRIDAY, OCTOBER 31^ST;

LAST DAY TO REQUEST AN ABSENTEE BALLOT IS TOMORROW

Reno, Nevada Oct. 27, 2008. Washoe County Registrar of Voters Dan Burk wants to remind voters that they have until Friday, October 31^st to vote early in the 2008 General Election. However, he recommends that voters try to get to an early voting location prior to Nevada Day, October 31^st, as that day will probably be very busy given it is a state holiday.

Registered voters can vote at any early voting site; a listing of locations with hours of operation is located inside sample ballots which were mailed a couple weeks ago. The complete list of early voting sites can also be found by going to www.washoecounty.us/voters. Voters are encouraged to bring their sample ballot with them to make the check-in process go faster, and to bring a photo I.D. with them just in case they are required to show identification.

As of yesterday, October 26^th, 51,209 people had voted early. Registrar Dan Burk had originally predicted that early voters would account for about 24% of total voters (55,000 early voters out of 225,000 registered voters). However, as of yesterday, 51,209 people had voted early, already comprising 22% of the total registered voters (231,470). With 5 more days of early voting, Burk is now predicting that early voters will comprise approximately 30% of total voters.

Absentee Ballot Requests Due Tomorrow. Voters should also be aware that if they want to vote by absentee ballot, their request must physically be in the Registrar of Voters office located in the Washoe County Administrative Complex at Ninth & Wells Streets in Reno, Nevada by 5 p.m., Tuesday, October 28^th. An absentee ballot request form can be found inside the sample ballot or on our website.

Early voting at the Downtown Reno Library

Arnie Maurins, Washoe County Library System Director, early votes at the Downtown Reno Library.

WASHOE COUNTY REGISTERS NEARLY 25,000 ADDITIONAL VOTERS SINCE PRIMARY;

EARLY VOTING TO BEGIN ON SATURDAY, OCTOBER 18TH

Reno, Nevada. October 14, 2008. Washoe County closed its doors at 9 p.m. this evening, the last day to register to vote in the general election. The unofficial count of newly registered voters since the August primary is about 25,000.

“While we won’t have official numbers for a couple days, we do estimate that new voter registration applications total about 25,000 since the primary election,” stated Registrar Dan Burk.

Shortly after 9 p.m.---with all citizens who wanted to register to vote having been served—Registrar Burk ran a report that showed the unofficial total number of registered voters in Washoe County to be 231, 473 with 92,210 registered Democrats (39.8%) and 90,907 Republicans (39.3%)—about a half percent difference. Independent voters comprise 34,807 of the total, or 15%. In addition to the 231,473 active registered voters in the database, Burk noted that there are still 38,000 inactive voters that have not been deleted from the database but will not be included in the total registered voters number that determines voter turnout.

“While the 2004 presidential election actually had about 233,000 registered voters in our database, we know that many of those were inactive,” Burk explained. “Since that time, we’ve done a good job of cleaning up the database to reflect true active voters so the final voter turnout will truly be representative of the number of active registered voters eligible to cast their ballots.”

Throughout this last day of voter registration, the line to the Registrar’s office located at the Washoe County Administrative Complex has been steady, but not overwhelming. Additional temporary staff working the counter at the Registrar’s office helped move people through the process quicker than in past years.

“We are truly appreciative of all the cooperation we received today from both our election workers and our citizens. Everyone was very mindful of the importance of today’s process, and now we look forward to the early voting and general election events,” Burk added.

Early voting begins on Saturday, October 18^th and runs through Friday, October 31^st. A schedule of locations and times is available on the county’s website at www.washoecounty.us or can be found in the sample ballots. Sample ballots were mailed earlier this week, and should arrive in your mailbox by Friday. If you have any questions, please visit our website or call the Registrar’s office at 328-3670.

This Wednesday (October 15) the Library of Congress will offer a free online program about the history of Presidential elections and inaugurations. Details are below. Everyone is welcome to attend. There is no need to register. For more information about free online programs available through OPAL (Online Programs for All), please visit the following URL:

http://www.opal-online.org/progschrono.htm

Wednesday, October 15, 2008 at 2:00 p.m. Eastern Time, 1:00 Central, noon Mountain, and 11:00 a.m. Pacific:

Presidential Elections and Inaugurations: 1789 to the Present

Host: Library of Congress

Online Location: OPAL Online Auditorium


The Library of Congress Web site contains a wide variety of resources that document the history of presidential elections and inaugurations. From George Washington to Obama v. McCain, learn how to navigate the Library's site to find election-related resources such as manuscripts, government documents, photographs, cartoons, films, and sound recordings.

DOD released their latest quarterly report on the situation in Iraq.
The September 2008 version of the "Measuring Stability and Security in Iraq" report is now available at http://www.defenselink.mil/news/d20080930iraq.pdf




The report includes various useful graphs and charts including: the production and export of oil; oil revenue; average electricity demand and production; average daily hours of electrical power by Province; weekly security incident trends; civilian deaths; ISF and US Military deaths; ethno-sectarian deaths; high profile attacks (explosions); Iraqi Security Forces numbers and more



These reports to Congress are issued in accordance with the Department of Defense Appropriations Act 2008 (Section 9010, Public Law 109-289; Section 9204, Public Law 110-252)



Previous editions of the report can be found at http://www.defenselink.mil/home/features/Iraq_Reports/index.html

SHUTTERED EPA LIBRARIES OPEN DOORS TOMORROW AFTER TWO YEARS EPA Headquarters and Chicago, Dallas and Kansas City Regional Libraries Re-Open

Washington, DC - Under orders from Congress, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency tomorrow will again provide access to library services in
15 states and its own headquarters to agency employees and the public.
This ends a 30-month campaign by the Bush administration to restrict availability of technical materials within EPA but leaves in its wake scattered and incomplete collections under new political controls of library operations, says Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility (PEER).
On September 30th, the last day of the federal fiscal year, EPA will re-open its regional libraries in Chicago (serving the Great Lakes region), Dallas (Mid-Southern region) and Kansas City (Mid-Western region) after more than two years. In addition, a long-shuttered library in EPA Headquarters will re-open and include a small portion of holdings from what had been a free-standing Chemical Library, for research on the properties and effects of new chemicals, as a "special Chemical Collection".

In its September 24, 2008 Federal Register notice, EPA promises that these re-opened facilities "will be staffed by a professional librarian to provide service to the public and EPA staff via phone, e-mail, or in person?for a minimum of 24 hours over four days per week on a walk-in basis or by appointment."

"While we are happy that EPA is re-opening its libraries, we are disturbed that the minds which plotted their closure remain in charge," stated PEER Associate Director Carol Goldberg, whose organization first revealed EPA's plans to shut libraries and maintained a drumbeat of disclosures until Congress finally intervened and directed the agency to reverse course in December 2007. "Tomorrow, EPA will still accord its own scientists and the public less access to information than it did back in 2005."

Most of the re-opened new libraries will be housed in less space and one, in Chicago (formerly the largest regional library), will re-open without "permanent furniture and shelving." PEER notes that during the past two years, EPA further diminished its own informational infrastructure by Breaking up collections and disbursing them in a fashion that they may never be reassembled. Most of the re-opened libraries will only provide "core"
reference materials; Banning any technical holdings (called
"mini-libraries") for scientists and specialists that are not subject to centralized control; and Placing all library acquisition and management decisions under a political appointee.

In response to stinging public and congressional criticism, EPA has undertaken an elaborate "National Dialogue on Access to Environmental Information" to develop a new Library Strategic Plan in December 2008, just before the Bush administration leaves office. "Given its record, the idea that the Bush administration is now sincerely interested in expanding access to environmental information is a bit hard to take," Goldberg added.
"If Congress had not intervened, all of EPA's remaining libraries would now be on the chopping block." See the Federal Register notice on library re-openings http://edocket.access.gpo.gov/2008/E8-22468.htm

Trace the history of EPA shutting down its libraries http://www.peer.org/campaigns/publichealth/epa_library/index.php

Look at EPA attempt at "National Dialogue on Access to Environmental Information"
http://www.epa.gov/nationaldialogue/

Sebastopol man puts code manuals online

Matthew B. Stannard, Chronicle Staff Writer

Saturday, September 27, 2008

From a paper-choked sublet office in Sebastopol, Carl Malamud is operating a kind of nonprofit Napster, with offerings a little less sexy than the music of Metallica, Dr. Dre and Green Day.

Example: 404.1. All plumbing fixtures, other than water closets and urinals, shall be equipped with approved strainers having an approved waterway area.

That's a snippet of the 2007 California Plumbing Code, a print version of which might cost $125. But Malamud purchased the code and placed it on his Web site - and now anybody can download all 526 riveting pages free.

Or the building codes, fire codes, or mechanical codes from California, San Francisco or Los Angeles. Or millions of pages of other codes, all legally obtained by Malamud, who then uploaded them to public.resource.org for anybody to take, even though many of them are copyrighted.

"Not everybody is going to read the building code, but everybody who wants to should be able to without putting 100 bucks in the slot," Malamud said. "Primary legal materials are America's operating system."

His actions perturb government agencies, technical organizations and publishers who create, maintain and sell books of codes. While some say they do not plan to oppose Malamud's efforts, others question the legality of his site and the wisdom of his actions.

Malamud says he believes that he's on solid ground if he is sued. Some legal experts agree.

Law belongs to all

"It's very clear in American law that you can't get intellectual property protection for law," said Pamela Samuelson, co-director of the UC Berkeley Center for Law and Technology. "Law belongs to everybody."

This year Malamud persuaded the Oregon legislature not to enforce its copyright claim to Oregon Revised Statutes - after he put them online. Now he'd like to see California - and other agencies that claim copyright over public codes and regulations - do the same.

"This stuff has been locked up behind a cash register," Malamud said. "(It's) way too important to just leave it there."

If Malamud is fishing for a lawsuit - something he denies - so far nobody is biting. Officials at the agencies whose codes Malamud has posted all say they are aware of his efforts but have no plans for legal action.

Which doesn't mean those agencies are giving up their copyright - especially if someone republishes the codes for profit, said Linda Brown, deputy director of the California Office of Administrative Law.

"If somebody is going to make commercial use of that, the people of California deserve to benefit," she said.

Brown said Malamud's rhetoric is misleading - many of the codes on his site are already available free online.

The state's administrative law office Web site, for example, allows users to search the California Code of Regulations. Many other state and federal agencies do the same.

But it's not enough, said Malamud. Many of the free codes carry notices banning downloading for commercial use or downloading, printing or more-complicated options.

Free codes in future

He envisions a future where government codes are freely available in computer-friendly form to be mashed up, cross-linked, debated and redrafted by the online community.

"By liberating it, we can begin making it more useful," Malamud said. "If it costs $6 million to buy a copy of federal law ... you're not going to get somebody like Larry Page in a Stanford dorm room downloading American law and making a better version of it."

But the organizations that oversee or publish the codes appearing on Malamud's site question that claim.

"The Internet really succeeds when it's used collaboratively," said Dexter Johnson, Oregon's legislative counsel. "When laws are created by elected people, I'm not sure that model works so well."

Call it the Brittanica vs. Wikipedia debate - can online crowds be as wise as one expert? Except this debate involves laws where small details can make a difference in whether a house is constructed safely.

Codes keep changing

What's more, said California's Brown, some codes - including the California Code of Regulations - change frequently. Those changes are pushed out to people who purchase official subscriptions, but republishing sites like Malamud's may not be up to date.

Creating and updating the codes that help build safe schools, homes and offices is enormously complicated, said Michael Colopy, spokesman for the International Code Council. And the money from selling codes pays for that process.

"It is ultimately a disservice to the public if in the name of access to so-called free codes the very process that develops and enhances public safety is undermined," Colopy said. "The public is the big loser."

Malamud said he is sympathetic and willing to work with the ICC. But he argued that the ICC must grapple, like many industries, with the way the Internet is disrupting its business model.

"I think there is a lot of ways to keep that going without taking it out on the back of the kid in the pickup truck studying for the plumber's license," he said.

E-mail Matthew B. Stannard at mstannard@sfchronicle.com.

http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2008/09/27/BAAH134FI4.DTL

This article appeared on page B - 1 of the San Francisco Chronicle

Check out Gambling on the Future: Managing the Education Challenges of Rapid Growth in Nevada
By Aaron Terrazas and Michael Fix
Nevada, the fastest growing state in the United States, is experiencing a population boom – driven in part by immigration – that has key implications for its school system and labor market. Immigrants represent one in five Nevada residents and their children account for one in three Nevadans under age 18. Yet even as schools have experienced a surge in enrollment, federal and state investments in the state's failing education system haven't kept pace at The National Center on Immigrant Integration Policy.

Access to Science Information Expands with Science.gov 5.0 Launch

 

200 Million Pages of U.S. Government Science Resources Now Available on the Internet

 

The latest version of Science.gov <http://www.science.gov/> -Science.gov 5.0-was launched Sept. 15th, allowing users to search additional collections of valuable science resources; more easily target their searches; and readily find links to information on a variety of science topics. Science.gov is a free, integrated single-search gateway to reliable science and technology information from 17 organizations within

13 federal science agencies.

 

Science.gov 5.0 improves upon the previous version, Science.gov 4.0, by offering seven new databases and portals which allow researchers access to over 200 million pages of scientific information. New information available includes thousands of patents resulting from U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) research and development(DOepatents <http://www.osti.gov/doepatents> ); documents and bibliographic citations of DOE accomplishments (DOE R&D Accomplishments Database <http://www.osti.gov/accomplishments> ); millions of electronic scientific documents from around the world known as e-prints (Eprint Network <http://www.osti.gov/eprints> ); and comprehensive and peer-reviewed toxicology data for thousands of chemicals (HSDB Hazardous Substances Databank <http://toxnet.nlm.nih.gov/cgi-bin/sis/htmlgen?HSDB>

) as well as more than 3 million references to worldwide literature on the adverse effects of chemicals on living organisms (TOXLINE Toxicology Bibliographic Information <http://toxnet.nlm.nih.gov/cgi-bin/sis/htmlgen?TOXLINE> ).  New information also includes a digital archive of biomedical and life sciences journal literature (PubMed Central <http://www.pubmedcentral.nih.gov/> ) and cancer-related information of all kinds for all audiences (Cancer.gov <http://www.cancer.gov/> ), including support and treatment resources for patients, comprehensive descriptions of research programs and clinical trials for healthcare professionals and the general public, and funding opportunities for researchers.

 

Another key feature of Science.gov 5.0 is a "clustering" tool which helps target searches by grouping results by subtopics or dates. This technology was recently developed through a DOE Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Program award.

 

In addition to quadrupling the amount of searchable content and enhancing the search technology, Science.gov 5.0 now provides links to related EurekAlert! Science News <http://www.eurekalert.org/>  and Wikipedia, and provides the capability to easily download research results into personal files or citation software.

 

Science.gov is hosted by DOE's Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI), within DOE's Office of Science.  In addition to DOE, Science.gov is supported by contributing members of the Science.gov Alliance, including the Departments of Agriculture, Commerce, Defense, Education, Health and Human Services, and the Interior, the Environmental Protection Agency, the Government Printing Office, the Library of Congress, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration and the National Science Foundation, with support from the National Archives and Records Administration.

 

WASHOE COUNTY APPROVES INTERLOCAL AGREEMENT WITH CITY OF RENO FOR HOMELESS SERVICES PROVIDING MORE THAN $1 MILLION IN CASH AND IN-KIND SERVICES



Reno, Nevada. September 16, 2008. At their meeting today, the Washoe County Commission approved an interlocal agreement with the City of Reno for the operation and provision of homeless services at the Community Assistance Center (CAC) located at 315 Record Street.



The interlocal agreement is for $1,035,000 in cash and in-kind support ($240,000 in professional staff assigned to assist at the center) for fiscal year 2008-09. In addition to the $1 million-plus agreement, Washoe County had previously agreed to provide an additional $300,000 in cash for support of the construction of the Family Shelter/Resource Center Building for a total of $1,335,000 in homeless shelter support from Washoe County for fiscal year 2008-09. The $300,000 cash support is an annual commitment Commissioners made towards the Family Shelter/Resource Center Building construction and will be granted for four more years.



Key components of the agreement include:

Identifies the City of Reno as the lead entity responsible for oversight and implementation of the operation of the homeless shelters, community resource center and related services at the CAC;
Defines the term of the agreement through June 30, 2009;
Identifies that the cities of Reno and Sparks and Washoe County will cooperate in the research, planning and/or development of a 501©3 organization to take over management of the CAC;
Identifies the cooperative funding and in-kind contributions to support the CAC for fiscal year 2008-09 and any restrictions on the use of these funds.

The USCCR Report on the civil rights record of President Bush - Redefining Rights in America: The Civil Rights Record of the George W.
Bush Administration - that was mentioned in the NYT article on Saturday
- can be found on the Historical Publications of the United States Commission on Civil Rights. - http://www.law.umaryland.edu/marshall/usccr/