This Week's Facts:
-
Website Provides Educational
Resources for Winter Holidays
-
Fed Tool Helps Track Wall
Street Reforms
-
Online Resources Provide AIDS
Awareness Information
-
New Transportation Dept. Site
to Combat Distracted Driving
-
Unemployment Benefits to End
for Thousands of Hoosiers
Document
of the Month: Annual Report of the
Department of Statistics
In 1878 the State Legislature passed an act which
created the Indiana Bureau of Statistics. The first annual
report was published in April, 1880. Before this Act was
established no one had statistical data relating to the State,
its resources or its economy. During this time, most of the
other states in the Union had a Department of Statistics to keep
up with the demand for facts and statistical data from other
territorial states as well as Europe. It is interesting to note
that they felt they ‘outgrew’ the Census in 1881! This resource
contains interesting facts about Indiana and other States and
Territories in the Union such as meteorological statistics,
agricultural statistics, education statistics, vocations of
women and more. This document can be found in the Indiana
collection, I 310 I, 1879-1916 and 1924-1967. Later editions are
compiled by the State Board of Accounts (I 310 I385r) and are
not as comprehensive, but provide an interesting picture of
Indiana and various cities and counties.
-------------------------------
Friday Facts Editorial Team:
Katharine Springer
State Data
Center Coordinator
Elisabeth
O’Donnell
Federal Documents Librarian
&
Kim Brown-Harden
State
Documents Coordinator
 
-------------------------------------
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Website
Provides Education Resources for Winter Holidays
 The
winter holidays are upon us. Hanukkah began Dec. 1, the winter
solstice is Dec. 21, and Christmas and New Years are at the end
of the month. Kwanzaa is celebrated this year from Dec. 26, 2010
to Jan. 1, 2011. There are also two Islamic holidays and one
Buddhist holiday in the month of December. The projected
population of the United States is over 311 million as we
approach the new year, making up over 4.5 percent of the world’s
population.
With so many people celebrating, how do we sort out our
different traditions? The National Endowment for the Humanities’
EDSITEment website provides lesson plans, links
and other educational resources to support librarians and
teachers as they help share world history and various cultures
with the public. The
Gift of Holiday Traditions
webpage gives a brief explanation of Kwanzaa, Hanukkah and
Christmas. For more holiday statistics, see the
2010 Holiday Season Facts
for Features webpage.
Looking Into Holidays Past Through Primary
Sources is an online resource maintained by the
Library of Congress. It explains to educators and students how
to best use primary sources in their assignments and research.
Take a look at the
winter celebrations here.
Fed Tool Helps Track Wall Street Reforms
 Patrons
who are concerned about reforms on Wall Street may be interested
in a new website from the Federal Reserve. Just launched on
November 29, the Dodd-Frank Act Regulatory Reform Rules
website is designed to help
the public track and comment on the rules and regulations of the
Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer
Protection Act. When bills are passed through
Congress, it is up to involved government agencies to write
rules and regulations that allow the legislation to be properly
carried out – the law itself tells you what needs to happen, but
the rules and regulations tell you how. According to the
website, there are 11 agencies involved in the Dodd-Frank Act
and there will be nearly 250 rules passed in order to aid the
implementation of the bill. The website is divided into five
sections: Latest Updates, Open for Comment, Proposed, Final and
Resources. These sections separate the rules into categories
based on whether they’ve been proposed, are still up for comment
or are finalized. The site also tells you how you can submit
official comments. While rules also appear in the
Federal Register, this is a
great place to go if the Dodd-Frank Act is your primary
interest.
Online
Resources Provide AIDS Awareness Information
  December
1 was World AIDS Day, originally established by the World Health
Organization to bring awareness about the spread of HIV/AIDS
across the world. More than half of new HIV cases (57%) in the
U.S. in 2006 were among those aged 25–44, according to the
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. There is always room
for more education when it comes to HIV prevention.
AIDS.gov
provides basic information about the disease, lists of federal
resources and explanations for using new media to advertise
awareness throughout the year. You can also find HIV testing
locations by using the search box in the upper right hand corner
of the website. Check out the promotional materials for this
year and view a historical
timeline of World AIDS Day
at the
World AIDS Campaign
international website.
New
Transportation Dept. Site to Combat Distracted Driving
 It’s
been understood for years that driving while intoxicated or
driving while overly tired are bad ideas. However, one concept
that’s recently come to the forefront is that of distracted
driving. Distracted driving can stem from a number of causes –
using a cell phone, eating and drinking, reading, changing the
radio station or even watching a video. In order to combat
distracted driving and to educate citizens on the dangers of it,
the Department of Transportation has launched a website called
Distraction.gov. This is a great one stop shop
for information on distracted driving. Its collection includes
statistics dealing with driving, bibliographies on existing
research, links to individual state laws and even campaign tools
to help you promote safe driving in your community. The Campaign
tools include logos, broadcast materials and even information on
working with the media. This section also has further details
tailored to who you are and what you are trying to achieve.
There’s information for individuals, teachers, parents and law
enforcement officials. The best way to ensure against distracted
driving is through educating the public. Drive safe this holiday
season and pay attention!
Unemployment
Benefits to End for Thousands of Hoosiers
Benefits for the approximately 90,000 Hoosiers receiving federal
unemployment extension benefits will expire on December 5, 2010.
Eligible individuals will receive benefits for the weeks they
have remaining on their regular State Unemployment (UI) and the
four federal extensions (EEUC), but will not begin the next tier
of benefits after November 30, 2010. The
Indiana Department of Workforce Development (DWD)
estimates approximately 4,000 people per week will exhaust their
benefits and not have a voucher to file beginning Sunday,
December 5, 2010. Those who want to check how many weeks of
benefits they have remaining should check out this
page from the DWD for
step-by-step instructions. Click
here for frequently asked
questions about the federal program.
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