FLOODING RESEARCH AREAS
NSSL researchers investigate the meteorological causes of flash flooding and develop tools to improve the science and forecasting behind heavy rainfall and flash flooding.
Quantitative Precipitation Estimation (QPE): Multi-Radar Multi-Sensor (MRMS)
Following the success of the CRAFT—Collaborative Radar Acquisition Field Test—project, NSSL developed and implemented a real-time Multi-Radar Multi-Sensor system in 2004, integrating data from multiple radar networks, surface and upper air observations, lightning detection systems, satellite and numerical weather prediction models. The data is used to estimate and forecast precipitation locations, amounts, and types.
MRMS was transitioned into National Weather Service operations at the National Center for Environmental Prediction in 2014 and provides severe weather and precipitation products for improved decision-making capability within NOAA. The operational MRMS QPE products have high resolution and rapid-updating capabilities. The products are also used for verification of satellite rain products and for verification of quantitative rain forecasts from numerical weather prediction models. MRMS serves as a powerful tool for the creation and evaluation of new techniques, strategies and applications to improve QPE. As new concepts are developed, they can be tested within the real-time MRMS environment in the cloud. This process facilitates a rapid science-to-operations transition of new MRMS applications and products for flood and flash flood predictions and water resources management.
Flash flood modeling: Flooded Locations and Simulated Hydrographs (FLASH) project
The FLASH project was launched in early 2012 largely in response to the demonstration and real-time availability of high-resolution, accurate rainfall rate estimates from the Multi-Radar Multi-Sensor project. FLASH introduces a new paradigm in flash flood prediction, using MRMS and producing flash flood forecasts with products generated as frequently as every 2 minutes. FLASH represents the first continental-scale flash flood forecast system in the world, with hydrologic model forecasts being run every 10 minutes. FLASH has almost 11 million grid points across the country improving its forecast. The primary goal of FLASH is to improve accuracy, timing, specificity, and severity levels of flash flood warnings in the U.S., thus saving lives and protecting infrastructure. The FLASH team is comprised of researchers and students who use an interdisciplinary and collaborative approach to achieve the goal. The FLASH system was transitioned to the National Weather Service in November 2016.
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From Coral Reef Watches to Next-Generation Experimental Products, FEMA Continues Response to Tornado-Damaged Areas
On Saturday, President Joseph R. Biden, Jr. approved Gov. Beshear’s emergency declaration request, authorizing FEMA to provide measures to save lives and protect public health and safety for 16 counties in the commonwealth. Damage assessment teams are being deployed to Kentucky.
“On behalf of everyone at FEMA, our hearts and prayers are with all the families and lives who have been impacted by these devastating storms,” said Administrator Criswell. “This operation remains a lifesaving and life sustaining mission. Our support to Kentucky will align with their resource requests to make sure we are giving first responders anything they need at this time.”
FEMA, Federal and Voluntary Agency Partner Response Actions
- An Incident Support Base is being established at Fort Campbell, Kentucky, to rapidly deploy personnel and supplies as needed. This includes:
- Urban Search and Rescue (US&R) team Indiana Task Force-1 to assist local response.
- An additional 10-person team US&R team deployed to the Kentucky Emergency Operations Center in Frankfort.
- Fifty-two generators, 30,000 meals, 45,000 liters of water, cots, blankets, infant toddler kits and medical equipment and supplies.
- U.S. Army Corps of Engineers temporary power and planning and response teams are on alert.
- A Mobile Emergency Response Support has deployed to Kentucky, which includes two Mobile Emergency Operations Vehicles with emergency communications capabilities for federal resources, if needed.
- Additional staging teams and damage assessment staff are being mobilized and prepared to deploy if needed to any of the affected areas.
- Eleven shelters are open in Kentucky. Three are open in Tennessee.
- FEMA is in contact with state emergency management officials as tornado damage reports come in from Arkansas, Illinois, Kentucky, Missouri and Tennessee.
The National Archives: Holding It Together: Before Passwords — Ribbons and Seals for Document Security
We’re looking at some of the many fasteners and seals found in records at the National Archives. Today’s post comes from Rachel Bartgis, conservator technician at the National Archives at College Park, MD.
In the centuries before the self-inking notary public’s stamp, U.S. government clerks and secretaries used brightly-colored silk ribbons, wax seals, and embossed paper seals attached with wafers to verify the security of important documents.
Close up of seals paired with famous signatures on the Treaty of Paris, 9/3/1783. (National Archives Identifier 299805)
Ribbons were used to attach important documents together, but they also served a security function as proof against tampering. The clerk would cut slits in the paper or parchment, weave the ribbon through it, and then the signatories or government official would attach their wax seal, attach an embossed paper seal to the paper with sealing wax or a wafer, or emboss the paper itself.
Sealing wax was used for a number of reasons: to verify a document hadn’t been opened, to verify someone’s identity, and for decorative purposes. As the name suggests, sealing wax is primarily composed of beeswax. To help the wax harden, manufacturers in the 16th century began adding shellac, a resin secreted by an insect found in India and Thailand. To this mixture was added rosin, chalk, and a pigment, often vermillion (made from mercury) or lead. The mixture was heated and poured into a metal mold, where it hardened into batons similar to the plastic sticks sold today.
Seals were hard to duplicate, and trying to remove the adhered sandwich of ribbon, adhesive, and paper from the document for nefarious purposes would damage it, creating a certain amount of proof against tampering. This 1804 Treaty with the Delawares used both ribbon and wax seals to keep it secure.
Ratified Treaty with the Delawares, front, 8/18/1804. (National Archives Identifier 93210098)
Ratified Treaty with the Delawares, back, 8/18/1804. (National Archives Identifier 93210098)
Parchment has a slicker, tougher surface than paper, and it’s difficult to keep sealing wax adhered to its surface or emboss it clearly. In the case of Delaware Treaty, which was on parchment, the broad ribbon woven through the paper help keep the seals affixed to the document.
Kaiser Health Foundation: No Surprises Act Implementation: What to Expect in 2022
The No Surprises Act (NSA) establishes new federal protections against surprise medical bills that take effect in 2022. Surprise medical bills arise when insured consumers inadvertently receive care from out-of-network hospitals, doctors, or other providers they did not choose. Peterson-KFF and other studies find this happens in about 1 in 5 emergency room visits. In addition between 9% and 16% of in-network hospitalizations for non-emergency care include surprise bills from out-of-network providers (such as anesthesiologists) whom the patient did not choose. Surprise medical bills pose financial burdens on consumers when health plans deny out-of-network claims or apply higher out-of-network cost sharing; consumers also face “balance billing” from out-of-network providers that have not contracted to accept discounted payment rates from the health plan.1 The federal government estimates the NSA will apply to about 10 million out-of-network surprise medical bills a year.
The NSA will protect consumers from surprise medical bills by:
- requiring private health plans to cover these out-of-network claims and apply in-network cost sharing. The law applies to both job-based and non-group plans, including grandfathered plans2
- prohibiting doctors, hospitals, and other covered providers from billing patients more than in-network cost sharing amount for surprise medical bills.
The NSA also establishes a process for determining the payment amount for surprise, out-of-network medical bills, starting with negotiations between plans and providers and, if negotiations don’t succeed, an independent dispute resolution (IDR) process.
Federal agencies published two interim final regulations and another proposed rule this year to implement the law.3 This brief summarizes key provisions that will take effect in 2022.
New federal protections apply to most surprise bills
Protections will apply to most surprise bills for specific types of services provided in certain settings.
Emergency Services – Surprise billing protections4 apply to most emergency services, including those provided in hospital emergency rooms, freestanding emergency departments, and urgent care centers that are licensed to provide emergency care. The federal law also applies to air ambulance transportation (emergency and non-emergency), but not ground ambulance.5 Emergency care includes screening and stabilizing treatment sought by patients who believe they are experiencing a medical emergency or active labor.
The federal government estimates there are 39.7 million emergency visits annually by patients with private job-based or individually purchased insurance, and of these 18% (or about 7.1 million visits) will involve at least one out-of-network claim.
Post-emergency stabilization services – The NSA defines emergency services to also include post-stabilization services provided in a hospital following an emergency visit. Post-stabilization care is considered emergency care until a physician determines the patient can travel safely to another in-network facility using non-medical transport, that such a facility is available and will accept the transfer, and that the transfer will not cause the patient other unreasonable burdens. The NSA also requires patients must receive written notice and give written consent to be transferred.6 The federal government estimates each year 4.1 million emergency department visits result in a hospital admission, and that 16% (or about 660,000) of these admissions will involve at least one out-of-network claim.
Non-emergency services provided at in-network facilities – Finally, the NSA covers non-emergency services provided by out-of-network providers at in-network hospitals and other facilities. Often, the doctors who work in hospitals don’t work for the hospital; instead they bill independently and do not necessarily participate in the same health plan networks. The federal government estimates that 16% of 11.1 million (or about 1.8 million) in-network non-emergency facility stays for privately insured patients each year involve at least one out-of-network claim.
The regulation broadly defines covered non-emergency services to include treatment, equipment and devices, telemedicine services, imaging and lab services, and preoperative and postoperative services, regardless of whether those services are provided within the facility itself.
The interim final regulation defines “facility” to include hospitals, hospital outpatient departments, and ambulatory surgery centers. It requests public comment on whether additional types of facilities should be added to this definition. Meanwhile, consumers do not have federal protections against surprise bills for non-emergency services provided in other facilities such as birthing centers, clinics, hospice, addiction treatment facilities, nursing homes, or urgent care centers. Patients seeking care at such facilities may want to ask whether doctors bill independently and whether they are in network.
Jo Freeman Reviews Russell Lee: A Photographer’s Life and Legacy
By Mary Jane Appel
Office on Violence Against Women Announces Awards to 11 Indian Tribal Governments to Exercise Special Domestic Violence Criminal Jurisdiction
The U.S. Department of Justice Office on Violence Against Women (OVW) today announced awards to 11 Indian Tribal governments to support them in exercising special domestic violence criminal jurisdiction (SDVCJ). The Violence Against Women Reauthorization Act of 2013 (VAWA 2013) recognized the authority of tribes to exercise SDVCJ over certain defendants, regardless of their Indian or non-Indian status, who commit crimes of domestic violence or dating violence or violate certain protection orders in Indian country.
“We heard from tribal leaders that they need access to funds to support the day-to-day costs of SDVCJ, and I’m pleased to announce OVW is issuing eleven awards to implementing tribes to defray these costs,” said OVW Principal Deputy Director Allison Randall. “OVW is dedicated to working with tribes to address challenges in protecting victims and responding to offenders in their communities, as well as supporting tribal sovereignty.”
The recipients of today’s one-year awards under OVW’s Tribal Jurisdiction Program are: Chickasaw Nation, Oklahoma; Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians, North Carolina; Fort Peck Assiniboine and Sioux Tribes, Montana; Muscogee (Creek) Nation, Oklahoma; Nottawaseppi Huron Band of the Potawatomi, Michigan; Pascua Yaqui Tribe, Arizona; Port Gamble S’klallam Tribe, Washington; Pueblo of Santa Clara, New Mexico; Seminole Nation of Oklahoma; the Cherokee Nation of Oklahoma; and the Tulalip Tribes of Washington.
OVW’s Tribal Jurisdiction Program was authorized under VAWA 2013 and supports tribes with jurisdiction over Indian country in exercising SDVCJ. Tribal Jurisdiction Program funds may be used to strengthen tribal criminal justice systems, provide indigent criminal defense, conduct jury trials and provide services and applicable rights to crime victims. Costs could include, but are not necessarily limited to, incarceration costs (including medical care) for non-Indian SDVCJ defendants, trial costs for SDVCJ cases, defense counsel costs, costs associated with empaneling a jury for an SDVCJ trial, batterer’s intervention or other pre- or post-conviction supervision or programming costs and related training and technical assistance.
About the Office on Violence Against Women
The Office on Violence Against Women provides leadership in developing the nation’s capacity to reduce violence through the implementation of the Violence Against Women Act and subsequent legislation. Created in 1995, OVW administers financial and technical assistance to communities across the country that are developing programs, policies and practices aimed at ending domestic violence, dating violence, sexual assault and stalking. In addition to overseeing federal grant programs, OVW undertakes initiatives in response to special needs identified by communities facing acute challenges. Learn more at www.justice.gov/ovw.
Not Perhaps Too Late? A Source for Holiday Gifts You May Not Have Thought Of
Editor’s Note:
We’re sorry that we didn’t think of this source earlier but think you’ll find an interesting selection of gifts from The National Archives Store. You’ve probably heard about the National Archives as there’s been some controversy recently about what some presidents have wanted to be stored in their hallowed halls.
National Archives Store
YOUR PURCHASE SUPPORTS THE NATIONAL ARCHIVES MUSEUM EXHIBITS AND EDUCATION OUTREACH PROGRAMS
Bring patriotic cheer when you give unique gifts from the National Archives Store. As the exclusive store of the National Archives Museum, we support the exhibition and educational messaging through the development and presentation of a wide variety of high-quality merchandise highlighting the holdings of the National Archives.
Your purchase supports National Archives exhibits, public programs, and educational initiatives across the country.
https://www.nationalarchivesstore.org/collections/holidaygifts
Exhibits
Rightfully Hers: American Women and the Vote
Celebrate the 19th Amendment’s centennial and discover the diverse struggle for women’s voting rights throughout American history.
Records of Rights
Permanent Exhibit
Explore how generations of Americans sought to fulfill the promise of the founding documents.
Public Vaults
Permanent Exhibit
Discover some of the treasures found in the stacks and vaults of the National Archives.
Featured Document Display: Thanksgiving: Historical Perspectives
In commemoration of the 400th anniversary of the 1621 harvest celebration, explore some lesser-known perspectives of the federal Thanksgiving holiday.
The National Archives Museum Reopening
The National Archives Museum in Washington, DC, is open daily with limited capacity from 10 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. Tickets are required. Advance and same-day timed entry tickets may be reserved on Recreation.gov. Schools and tour operators should contact Visitor Services for entry reservations.
The reopening of the National Archives Museum and its continued operation will be contingent on local public health metrics remaining below targets for safe reopening. All public events are cancelled until further notice. This includes in-person public programs, public meetings, and external conferences. For more information, go to Archives.gov/coronavirus or monitor National Archives accounts on Facebook and Twitter for operating status updates.
Attorney General Garland Delivers Remarks at the National Association of Attorneys General
Remarks as Delivered
Good morning. I want to begin by thanking my friend, Attorney General Racine, for inviting me to join you today. Karl, thank you for your leadership of the National Association of Attorneys General.
I also want to congratulate President-elect Tom Miller of Iowa. Tom began his second tour of duty as Attorney General right around the time that I returned for my second tour of duty at Main Justice – as a Deputy Assistant Attorney General in the Criminal Division. Tom’s second tour has been continuous since then. Mine took an almost 25-year judicial detour.
I appreciate the opportunity to join all of you today – at least virtually. My association with NAAG is not new. It stretches all the way back to the 1980s when, as a lawyer in private practice, I served on NAAG moot courts to prepare state Attorneys General for their Supreme Court arguments.
It continued into the 1990s when, as a Justice Department official, I helped organize joint NAAG/DOJ meetings in Washington.
And just this September, I had the chance to meet with several of you as part of the most recent convening of the Executive Working Group on Prosecutorial Relations. I am grateful for that productive discussion and for our ongoing work to ensure public safety and building trust with the communities we serve.
The spirit of working to find common ground, wherever and whenever we can, has defined the partnership between the Justice Department and the National Association of Attorneys General for more than a century. In 1907, Attorneys General from across America – from Minnesota to Mississippi, from Colorado to Massachusetts – joined together in Missouri to form this association. Its mission was to devise a coordinated strategy to deal with the largest corporate monopoly of the day: Standard Oil.
There can be no doubt that that cooperative approach was essential to the government’s success in its case against Standard Oil. On April 4, 1909, the New York Times reported that the case had already amassed a record of evidence that “when stacked up makes a pile about seven feet high. It is the largest record ever taken in a lawsuit in this country.”
Imagine that: a whole seven feet high!
Our cooperation remains essential today, as we see anticompetitive practices deployed in a wide range of industries – from agriculture to pharmaceuticals to tech – practices that are similar in many ways to those that led to the founding of this association 114 years ago.
Since the beginning of this year, the Justice Department’s Antitrust Division has brought criminal charges against more than 20 individuals and companies for violation of the antitrust laws. The division is currently preparing for 17 trials – the most in decades – against 10 companies and 33 individuals, including eight current or former corporate executives.
We have also brought civil enforcement actions to protect competition in a wide range of industries. For example, over the summer we blocked an attempted merger of two of the three biggest insurance brokers in the world – brokers that many American companies depend upon to craft and administer health and retirement benefits.
In September, we joined together with Attorneys General from across the country to challenge an unprecedented maneuver that would have further consolidated the domestic airline industry, in which four companies control over 80% of the market. The merger would have eliminated competition that is essential to ensuring that Americans – who rely on air travel every day for work, to visit family or to take vacations – can fly affordably and safely.
And just last month, we challenged an attempt by the world’s largest book publisher to acquire one of its biggest rivals and obtain unprecedented control in an already-concentrated industry.
No matter the industry and no matter the company, the Justice Department will vigorously enforce our antitrust laws. We will aggressively protect consumers, safeguard competition and work to ensure economic fairness and opportunity for all.
I doubt that the founders of this association could have imagined that one day many of us would join together to sue a digital platform called “Google;” or that I would be participating in today’s meeting on a digital device; or even that the record in an antitrust case would ever make a pile higher than seven feet. But I am certain that they would be proud of our continued cooperation and partnership over the past century. I look forward to continuing that work together.
Since I was sworn in as Attorney General in March, I have set out three co-equal priorities that should guide the Justice Department’s work: upholding the rule of law; protecting civil rights; and keeping our country safe.
We work to uphold the rule of law by adhering to the norms that have been a part of the DNA of the Justice Department since Edward Levi’s tenure as the first post-Watergate Attorney General.
Those norms include the principled exercise of discretion. They include independence from improper influence – we must follow the facts and the law, and that is all.
And they include treating like cases alike. There cannot be one rule for friends and another for foes; one rule for the powerful and another for the powerless; one rule for the rich and another for the poor; or different rules, depending upon one’s race or ethnicity.
Adhering to those norms and upholding the rule of law is how we safeguard the public trust that is essential for both our department and our democracy to succeed.
GAO* Report, Cybersecurity: National Institutes of Health Needs to Take Further Actions to Resolve Control Deficiencies and Improve Its Program
The National Institutes of Health’s duties include researching infectious diseases and administering over $30 billion a year in research grants. NIH uses IT systems containing sensitive data to carry out its mission.
This report is a public version of our June 2021 report on NIH cybersecurity. The agency has taken actions intended to safeguard the confidentiality, integrity, and availability of its systems. However, we found many weaknesses related to identifying risks, protecting systems, and more. We have made 219 recommendations for improvements. NIH has partially implemented more than half and fully implemented about a third of them.
What GAO Found
As GAO reported in June 2021, the U.S. National Institutes of Health (NIH) implemented information security controls — both for its security program and selected systems—intended to safeguard the confidentiality, integrity, and availability of its information systems and information. However, GAO identified numerous control and program deficiencies in the core security functions related to identifying risk, protecting systems from threats and vulnerabilities, detecting and responding to cyber security events, and recovering system operations (see table). GAO made 219 recommendations — 66 on the security program and 153 related to system controls — to address these deficiencies.
Number of GAO-Identified Information Security Program and Control Deficiencies at the U.S. National Institutes of Health and Associated Recommendations by Core Security Function as of June 2021
|
Core security function |
Number of information security program deficiencies |
Number of information security program recommendations |
Number of selected system control deficiencies |
Number of selected system control deficiency recommendations |
|
Identify |
12 |
26 |
0 |
0 |
|
Protect |
4 |
6 |
78 |
141 |
|
Detect |
5 |
11 |
5 |
11 |
|
Respond |
7 |
16 |
1 |
1 |
|
Recover |
4 |
7 |
0 |
0 |
|
Total |
32 |
66 |
84 |
153 |
Source: GAO. | GAO-22-104467
As of June 2021, NIH had made progress in resolving the deficiencies by implementing 25 (about 38 percent) of the 66 information security program recommendations, and 37 (about 24 percent) of the 153 recommendations to address control deficiencies for selected systems. The figure shows the status of NIH’s efforts to implement the 219 recommendations.
Status of GAO Recommendations to the U.S. National Institutes of Health as of June 2021
Until NIH fully implements these recommendations and resolves the associated deficiencies, its information systems and information will remain at increased risk of misuse, improper disclosure or modification, and destruction.
Why GAO Did This Study
NIH responsibilities include conducting research on the prevention of infectious diseases such as COVID-19, administering over $30 billion annually in medical research grants, and supporting research on pathogens, including those that have the potential to pose a severe threat to public health and safety. In carrying out its mission, NIH relies extensively on information technology systems to receive, process, and maintain sensitive data. Accordingly, effective information security controls are essential to ensure the confidentiality, integrity, and availability of the agency’s systems.
GAO was asked to examine cybersecurity at NIH. In June 2021, GAO issued a limited official use only report on the extent to which NIH had effectively implemented system controls and an information security program to protect the confidentiality, integrity, and availability of its information on selected information systems.
This current report is a public version of the June 2021 report based on GAO’s review of the agency’s information security program and 11 selected systems. In addition, for this public report, GAO determined the extent to which NIH has taken corrective actions to address the previously identified security program and system control deficiencies and related recommendations for improvement. GAO reviewed supporting documents regarding NIH’s actions on the previously identified recommendations.
For more information, contact Jennifer R. Franks at (404) 679-1831 or franksj@gao.gov.
Full Report
GAO Contacts