Archive for October, 2022

Superstorm Sandy Ten Years After

As with many live-changing events in our lives, those in the New York City environs well remember Sandy, its power, and its aftermath. The destruction overwhelmed communities and some have yet to fully recover. This CBS News special Sandy:10 Years Later provises a launching pad for extensive coverage and archival features.

Other sites that should be consulted:

Ten Years After Sandy: Barrier to Resilience (NYC Comptroller);

When the Ocean Met the Bay: 10 Years Later, an Oral History of Superstorm Sandy (Philadelphia Magazine);

the Weather Channel’s Superstorm Sandy By The Numbers 10 Years Later;

Sandy Graphics Archive (National Hurricane Center);

Photos (thousands courtesy of Getty Images);

YouTube videos;

Reducing Coastal Risk on the East and Gulf Coasts and Making U.S. Ports Resilient as Part of Extended Intermodal Supply Chains and Framing the Challenge of Urban Flooding in the United States (all National Academies Press);

Congressional Hearings;

Congressional Record; and

Remembering Superstorm Sandy(NJ101.5).

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Reading List on Ukraine

This document from the UK Parliament Library presents links to briefings, statements, press releases, and debates pertaining to Ukraine and its situation since 2014.

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How Does the United Kingdom’s Constitutional Monarchy Work?

With all the attention being made to the United Kingdom recently, these series of informative reports help explain the relationships among the various entities that comprise the monarchy.

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What is a “Dirty Bomb”?

This CDC feature provides timely information on this term that many are not familiar with; additional information is found at this U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission site. This type of weaponn is not new as witness this 2006 CFR “backgrounder” and this 2011 CRS document

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Documents in the News: Plummeting Math and Reading Scores Due to COVID-19

The numbers do not lie – the effect of COVID-19 on the educational progress of our students has been devastating. Essentially, as this report – the Nation’s Report Card – indicates, few groups were spared declines in math and reading, some groups experiencing drastic decreases in achievement. Here is a cogent explanation of these learning losses and their implications.

Here is New Jersey’s profile (above nation-wide averages across the board); selected school districts (none from New Jersey, the closest ones are New York City and Philadelphia) are also available.

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Documents in the News: More 65+ People Now in Poverty

In what may be the shape of things to come, the Poverty in the United States: 2021 report from the Census Bureau shows that between 2020 and 2021, another million senior citizens were considered living in poverty from 4.8 million to 5.8 million. A commentary on this sad state of affairs is available from NPR.

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College Enrollment Still Declining

As this report shows, enrollment is still down though not as drastically as in previous years; community colleges are seeing a slight rebound. In the state figures, New Jersey is not represented due to a lack of sufficient data.

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Handbook of Latin American Studies

“The Handbook of Latin American Studies is a bibliography on Latin America consisting of works selected and annotated by scholars. Edited by the Hispanic Division of the Library of Congress, the multidisciplinary Handbook alternates annually between the social sciences and the humanities. Each year, more than 130 academics from around the world choose between 2,000-3,000 works for inclusion in the Handbook. Continuously published since 1936, the Handbook offers Latin Americanists an essential guide to available resources.”

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Bayfront Receives Final Approval to Begin Development

The first of six buildings has received the go-ahead for construction. This is the opening phase of the largest mixed-income community in the country. There is now additional reportage.; a more detailed description has been made available.

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2022 National Security Strategy

This iteration focuses on Russia, China, and “shared challenges” on national and international stages. The briefing statement succinctly summarizes this document.

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Hispanic Health Statistics

 Hispanic/Latino Health in the United States from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services contains a great deal of information across a vast spectrum of health-related issues from cancer to obesity. Each topic under examination is accompanied by relevant links to the original documentation. There is an accompanying pathfinder with extensive links to various publications/reports/programs.

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Hispanic Authors Read Their Works

“The PALABRA Archive is a collection of original audio recordings of 20th and 21st century Luso-Hispanic poets and writers reading from their works. With recorded authors from all over Latin America, the Iberian Peninsula, the Caribbean, and other regions with Hispanic and Portuguese heritage populations, this archive has to date close to 800 recordings, a portion of which are available for online streaming.”

One can sort by author, region/country, and there is a special section for U.S./Hispanic authors.

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National Security Reports – September 2022 Update

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