Recent reports from the Government Accountability Office (
GAO):
WORKFORCE DEVELOPMENT: Community Colleges and One-Stop Centers Collaborate to Meet 21st Century Workforce Needs,
GAO-08-547 (pdf, 46pp/620kB), May 15, 2008
The Workforce Investment Act of 1998 (
WIA) created the one-stop system that requires states to unify federally funded employment and training programs. Since community colleges play a key role in providing career and technical training, they are also important in the one-stop system. GAO examined how community colleges meet workforce training needs, how they integrate with the one-stop system, what conditions affect these efforts, and actions of the Departments of
Labor and
Education to encourage linkages between community colleges and the workforce system. GAO visited 20 community colleges in 6 states--Iowa, Michigan, New Jersey, North Carolina, Oregon, and Washington.
MEDICAL DEVICES: FDA Faces Challenges in Conducting Inspections of Foreign Manufacturing Establishments,
GAO-08-780T (pdf, 26pp/336kB), May 14, 2008
In the Food and Drug Administration's (
FDA's) oversight of medical devices sold in the U.S., it inspects establishments that manufacture these devices, including foreign establishments which are the subject of this report. The Medical Device User Fee and Modernization Act of 2002 (
MDUFMA) required FDA to establish third-party inspection programs, and FDA created two--the
Accredited Persons Inspection Program and the Pilot Multi-Purpose Audit Program (
PMAP). As of May 8, 2008, two foreign establishments had been inspected. GAO concluded that this small number of inspections "raises questions about the practicality and effectiveness of these program to quickly help FDA increase the number of foreign establishments inspected."
OFFSHORE MARINE AQUACULTURE: Multiple Administrative and Environmental Issues Need to Be Addressed in Establishing a U.S. Regulatory Framework,
GAO-08-594 (pdf, 58pp/1MB), May 9, 2008
The U.S. aquaculture industry is currently limited to nearshore waters or onshore (ponds and tanks) that are governed by individual states. To increase production, there is growing interest in offshore aquaculture, raising fish and shellfish in the open ocean (3 to 200 miles from U.S. coastlines) which are federally regulated waters. As there is presently no comprehensive regulatory framework to cover offshore aquaculture, GAO identified four areas to consider in developing regulations: program administration, permitting and site selection, environmental management, and research. GAO visited Hawaii, Maine, and Washington for this report.
NURSING HOMES: Federal Monitoring Surveys Demonstrate Continued Understatement of Serious Care Problems and CMS Oversight Weaknesses,
GAO-08-517 (pdf, 57pp/1.87MB), May 9, 2008
Oversight of nursing homes is shared by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (
CMS) and the states. CMS defines standards nursing homes must meet to participate in
Medicare and
Medicaid programs and contracts with state surveyors to assess compliance. GAO found "substantial" missed deficiencies in state surveys, the most frequent involving poor quality of care relating to nutrition, hydration, and pressure sores. GAO recommended actions for CMS to take to effectively track understatement of deficiencies and to oversee regional office implementation of the survey program.
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Nursing Home CompareLabels: employment, federal, gao, health, marine life, seniors
The State of Coral Reef Ecosystems of the United States and Pacific Freely Associated States: 2008, by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). This is the third in an ongoing series of reports on the condition of coral reef ecosystems in the U.S. and Pacific Freely Associated States (earlier reports were in 2002 and 2005). Covers coral reefs in: U.S. Virgin Islands, Puerto Rico, Navassa Island (off Haiti), Florida, Northwestern Gulf of Mexico, Hawaii, NW Hawaiian Islands, America Samoa, Pacific Remote Island Areas (such as Johnston, Wake, Palmyra), Marshall Islands, Micronesia, Northern Mariana Islands, Guam, and Palau. 567 pp. 
