Avian Influenza

• Avian Influenza
  This World Health Organization (WHO) web site was created to provide general information, tracking data, and news information on world-wide outbreaks.
  
• Avian Influenza
  The UC Davis Veterinary Medicine Extension has compiled an overview of the disease with information on how it is contracted and what can be done to limit its spread.
  
• Avian Influenza ( Bird Flu )
  The Centers of Disease Control's data sheet includes a history of the disease, characteristics of the condition, and symptoms of the bird flu in humans.
  
• Avian Influenza Fact Sheet
  WHO has prepared a quick overview of the "bird flu" and its possible health affects on humans.
  
• Avian Influenza Resources Page
  The Poultry Health Service maintains an up-to-date compilation of hyperlinks to news stories and reports from throughout the world.

Columbia Tragedy

• Columbia Accident Investigation Board
  Chaired by retired Admiral Hal Gehman, this 10 member commission has been tasked with investigating the causes of the Columbia accident, making recommendations to NASA on possible remedies, and reporting its findings to the American public.
  
• Columbia Accident Investigation Board ( CAIB ) Final Report
  This NASA web site includes links to different resolution editions of the full text pdf versions of the CAIB 's final report on the Columbia tragedy.
  
• Columbia Tragedy
  This MSNBC resource contains a detailed profile of the space shuttle Columbia's ill-fated mission and the ongoing investigation into the causes of the accident.
  
• Lost: Space Shuttle Columbia
  This CNN.com special report focuses on NASA's recovery efforts and its the investigation into this latest space exploration accident.
  
• NASA Human Space Flight
  As the official web site for news on the various manned space exploration missions, NASA Human Space Flight is monitoring all the latest information on the Columbia disaster.
  
• STS - 107 Investigation Reference Page
  This is the official NASA site for newly released documents, press releases, imagery, and other materials related to the Columbia tragedy.
  
• Shuttle Disaster
  The BBC News World Edition reports the latest findings in the newly launched investigation into the causes of the Columbia crash and speculates on the future of manned space exploration.
  
• Space Shuttle Columbia
  USA Today's expanded coverage sections provides crew profiles, mission timelines, photo galleries, radar images, and audio / visual clips of the NASA flight.
  
• Space Shuttle Columbia and Her Crew
  This NASA web site provides current data on the investigation into the accident and includes background information on the Columbia's crew and its scientific mission.

Corporate Failures

• Committee on Energy & Commerce - Search Page
  This search page links to recent committee hearings, testimony transcripts, and other documents pertaining to the Enron scandal.
  
• The Fall of Enron
  This Houston Chronicle source links to a chronology of events, court cases, photo galleries, podcasts, etc.on the Enron collapse.
  
• Enron Creditors Recovery Corporation
  As a result of its court-approved bankruptcy plan, Enron was renamed as the ECR with the mission "to reorganize and liquidate certain of the operations and assets of the "pre-bankruptcy" Enron for the benefit of creditors."
  
• Kmart Files Chapter 11
  CNNmoney includes a comprehensive overview of the recently announced Kmart Corporation bankruptcy.
  
• WorldCom's Financial Bomb
  CNN/Money's reporters survey the developing story of the collapse of a telecommunications industry giant.

Disaster Relief

• After a Disaster: Repairing Your Home
  This Federal Trade Commission tip sheet provides key information to help avoid home repair "rip-offs" after a natural disaster.
  
• Disaster Recovery: A Guide to Financial Issues
  The American Red Cross has created a comprehensive guide to help minimize the financial burden of dealing with and recovering from a weather-created emergency.
  
• Repairing Your Flooded Home
  This American Red Cross pamphlet "gives step-by-step advice you can use to clean up, rebuild, and get help after a flood."
  
• Are You Ready? Natural Hazards
  Compiled by the Federal Emergency Management Agency, this resource has gathered web-based information on emergency preparedness for storms, floods, hurricanes, etc.

Hurricanes Katrina & Rita

• American Red Cross
  The American Red Cross web site includes volunteering information, press releases, emergency services data, a family links registry, and an online "Help Now" donation link.
  
• DisasterAssistance.gov
  This federal government resource focuses "on providing information and services relating to the four pillars of all-hazards disaster management: preparedness, response, recovery, and mitigation" and serves as a portal for information on federal government efforts to assist Katrina victims.
  
• Disaster News Network
  Released by the non-profit Village Life Company, DNN "tells the story of disaster response and suggests appropriate ways the public can help survivors. "
  
• Environmental Atlas of the Lake Pontchartrain Basin
  The U. S. Geological Survey "presents information about geology, land cover, types of shorelines, biological resources, flow patterns, significant storms, growth trends, etc." of the Lake Pontchartrain Basin.
  
• Greater New Orleans Community Data Center
  The GNOCDC accesses 20000 U. S. Census demographic profiles of New Orleans area communities that reveal the full scope of damage caused by Hurricane Katrina.
  
• Hurricane Katrina
  This CNN.com Special Report provides complete coverage of the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina and contains photo galleries, interactive graphics , satellite imagery, detailed maps, and other data on the continuing crisis.
  
• Hurricane Katrina
  This BBC News resource features a timeline, statistics, photographic galleries, and an animated guide to the devastation caused by Katrina.
  
• Hurricane Katrina: One Year Later
  On the first anniversary of the Katrina disaster, the Federal Emergency Management Agency has compiled a status report on the continuing recovery efforts.
  
• Katrina & Recovery
  National Public Radio has released this compilation of featured stories on the effects of Hurricane Katrina on Gulf Coast states and includes audio transcripts, aerial photography, links to hurricane relief charities, etc.
  
• Katrina's Impact One Year Later
  This ABC News has compiled listings of message boards, survivor locators, interactive presentations, video clips, photographs, response reports, etc. on the continuing crisis of Hurricane Katrina.
  
• Hurricane Rita: State of Emergency
  ABC News provides detailed coverage of Hurricane Rita with weather updates, interactive charts, photographs, travel information, etc.

Influenza Virus

• America Grapples with Flu Vaccine Shortage
  This National Public Radio site includes background information on the vaccine shortage and highlights health agency efforts to combat the disease.
  
• Flu (Influenza)
  This National Institute of Allergy & Infectious Diseases fact sheet presents a detailed profile of the health risks caused by the influenza virus.
  
• Fighting the Flu
  CBC News, Canada's national public broadcaster, has released a special report on the flu epidemic.
  
• Seasonal Influenza ( Flu )
  The CDC covers all the basic about the influenza virus including: symptoms, transmission, prevention, Q & A information, news highlights, statistics, geographic reports on outbreaks, etc.

Mad Cow Disease / Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy ( BSE )

• Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy (BSE)
  The U. S. Department of Agriculture Animal and Plant Health inspection Service has released a "hot issues" page on the current BSE situation with photographs, import / export news, and international updates on the crisis.
  
• Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy... Background, Evolution, and Current Concerns
  The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is focused on providing current information on the status of BSE or "mad cow disease" in the United States.
  
• Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy
  The World Health Organization ( WHO) has created a quick reference that summarizes the primary facts relating to mad cow disease.
  
• CBC News Indepth: Mad Cow Disease
  This CBC News web site has statistical and tracking information, safety advice, and general information on symptoms and testing of animals for BSE.
  
• Mad Cow Disease
  Sponsored by the Organic Consumers Association, this web site attempts to educate the consumer on this health issue and "promotes food safety, organic farming and sustainable agriculture practices in the U.S. and internationally."
  

Mars Exploration

• Beagle 2
  This resource provides a comprehensive review, timeline, FAQs, and web log of the "British led exploration of Mars."
  
• exploreMarsnow.org
  Billed as an "interactive Mars habitat," the site illustrates what a possible Martian space station and habitat would include. Using a three-dimensional model, it shows design layouts with work / living quarters, laboratories, EVA airlocks, etc.
  
• Exploring Mars
  This British Broadcasting Corporation report summarizes the European and American missions to Mars and provides and in depth look at the planning and implementation of these scientific explorations.
  
• Mars
  This Canadian Broadcasting Corporation site highlights the Canadian government's contribution to the international efforts to explore the Martian planet.
  
• Mars Pathfinder
  The NASA site links to "before and after" resources that trace the history and conclusion of the 1997 Mars mission.
  
• NASA's Mars Exploration Program
  With special features for children, students, and teachers, this is NASA's primary web source for a complete overview of the ongoing exploration of the Martian surface, the Spirit rover lander's capabilities, and a review of previous missions to Mars.

Presidential Election - 2008

• 2008 Presidential Candidates
  This Washington Post source profiles the various Democratic and Republican candidates for the upcoming 2008 presidential elections.
  
• Candidate's Web Sites

  DEMOCRATS

  Barack Obama
  REPUBLICANS

  John McCain
  INDEPENDENTS

  Ralph Nader

  
  
• CNN Election Center 2008
  This CNN resource provides debate analyses and video clips, candidate profiles, campaign funding information, and summaries of the candidates' views on "hot button" issues.
  
• Declare Yourself
  This web site is a "national nonpartisan, nonprofit campaign to energize and empower a new movement of young voters to participate in the 2008 presidential election."
  
• Democratic National Committee
  The official DNC web site features data on the principal Democratic party candidates and links for email updates, campaign contributions, and state-by-state local issues.
  
• e-Democracy
  With a goal of increasing "citizen participation in elections and public discourse through the use of information and communication technologies," e-Democracy includes general information for voters, coverage of the 2008 presidential race, inks to discussion groups, and various media sources for news on elections.
  
• FactCheck.org
  Sponsored by the Annenberg Public Policy Center at the University of Pennsylvania, this site "aims to reduce the level of deception and confusion in U. S. politics."
  
• GOP.com - Republican National Committee
  As the official web site of the Republican National Committee, GOP.com includes sources for focus issues, campaign contributions, White House news, and other national and state Republican party information.
  
• The Living Room Candidate: Presidential Campaign Commercials 1952 - 2008
  The American Museum of the Moving Image has compiled an online collection of 250 video clips of television commercial campaigns from the 1952 through 2008 presidential elections.
  
• P2008 - The 2008 Presidential Campaign
  George Washington University's Democracy in Action project seeks "to provide a framework for citizens to follow the presidential campaign, to point people to the best available resources and information on the campaign, and to present original reporting and photography on the campaign."
  
• Pew Research Center Reports on Election '08
  As a non-partisan organization, the Pew Research Center has compiled a series of reports aimed at providing unbiased information on the 2008 presidential campaign's candidates and issues.
  
• PolitiFact
  Sponsored by the St. Petersburg Times and Congressional Quarterly, PolitiFact provides analysis of candidates' speeches, television ads, and interviews with an eye on "sorting out the truth in politics."
  
• Presidential Money Race Widget
  This resource displays the fund raising efforts by the major presidential candidates as reported to the Federal Election Commission. The companion source, U. S. Congress Money Race Widget, can be set by state and district to provide this information on the various congressional candidates.

Saturn Exploration

• Cassini-Huygens
  This European Space Agency web site provides a profile of its joint mission (with NASA) to explore Saturn and its moon Titan.
  
• Cassini Equinox Mission
  The Jet Propulsion Laboratory at NASA has compiled a comprehensive overview of the Cassini mission including status reports, photographic imagery, and educational activities for children.
  
• Mission to Saturn
  BBC News Worldwide has released this special report that focuses on the Cassini mission and its companion Huygens probe.

SARS - Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome

• Advice for Travelers About SARS
  The Centers for Disease Control & Prevention [ CDC ] has issued this advisory with practical information for the international traveler.
  
• Government Views of SARS
  The City College of New York has produced a comprehensive listing of fact sheets, news reports, official publications, etc. from various foreign government agencies and the World Health Organization.
  
• SARS - It's Your Health
  This Canadian government source summarizes official information and recommendations for dealing with the SARS health crisis.
  
• Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome
  This CDC web site summarizes all pertinent guidelines / recommendations, and includes a listing of other internet resources.
  
• Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome
  The Center for the Study of Emerging Infections has hyperlinks to fact sheets, training sources, official government statements, and other Internet resources on SARS.
  
• Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome
  This Wold Health Organization web site tracks the progress of and international response to the SARS outbreak.

Taxes

• 1040.com
  A tax information source that contains URL links to current tax rates, IRS bulletins, federal and state forms, state revenue offices, and other tax topics.
  
• The Digital Daily
  The U. S. Internal Revenue Service official web site includes business & personal tax information, electronic filing services, IRS forms & publications, tax rules & regulations, and general taxpayer helps.
  
• IRS Forms & Publications
  This website links the taxpayer to PDF format downloadable tax forms, instructions, etc. that can be used to file 2004 income tax returns.
  
• State Tax Central
  This site provides current state-specific information on the following types of taxes: corporate & individual income, personal property, and sales / use.
  
• U. S. Tax Code On-Line
  This database indexes and accesses the full-text version of the Internal Revenue Code (title 26 U.S. Code).
  
• Yahoo! Tax Center
  This web site contains WWW links to a full range of tax information, including: federal and state income tax policies and forms, personal finances, and other tax-related sites.
  

Tsunami Disaster

• After the Tsunami
  This CNN.com Special Report provides current updates, eyewitness accounts, photographic galleries, maps and satellite imagery, death toll information, and emergency hot line numbers for the Asian crisis.
  
• Asia Quake Disaster
  The BBC released detailed coverage of the relief efforts, email eyewitness stories from readers, photographic profiles, and animated guides to earthquake and tsunami phenomena.
  
• Indian Ocean Earthquake and Tsunami
  The Perry-Castaneda Library Map Collection provides a series of clickable maps, satellite images, animated guides, and other resources on the recent disaster.
  
• Relief Organizations Working in the Disaster Area
  This resource contains a listing of the various U.S.-based agencies that are involved in the Asian relief effort with addresses, phone numbers, and web site URLs.
  
• South Asia Earth Quake and Tsunami - December 2004
  ReliefWeb, a UN sponsored project, has collected major documents from various governmental agencies and news sources related to the ongoing tragedy in South Asia.
  
• South Asia Earthquake and Tsunamis
  As part of its Health Action in Crises series, the World Health Organization focuses on prevention of major disease outbreaks by outlining an emergency health action plan and linking to web information sources.
  
• Tsunamis and Earthquakes
  The U.S. Geological Survey explores nature's twin forces of earthquakes and tsunamis, and uses animations to illustrate their potential destructive impact.
  
• Tsunami: Wave of Destruction
  As part of its in-depth coverage of the tsunami tragedy, ABC News includes stories of survival, image galleries, a chronology of events, and summarizes the latest relief efforts.
  
• Waves of Destruction: Tsunamis
  In its science series, Savage Earth, PBS Online explains the origins and development of tsunamis through Flash animation. In similar fashion, the PBS site, The Restless Planet: Earthquakes, illustrates the earth science of plate tectonics.

West Nile Virus

• CDC West Nile Virus Home Page
  This Centers for Disease Control and Prevention [ CDC ] page includes prevention tips, FAQs, reporting, and current monitoring of the West Nile Virus health problem.
  
• Links to State and Local Sites - West Nile Virus
  This CDC listing links to various state and local government sources of information on the West Nile Virus.
  
• West Nile Virus
  The Michigan State Department of Agriculture has compiled "consumer friendly" resources on this mosquito-borne disease.
  
• West Nile Virus in Texas
  This Texas Department of Health web site provides detailed information on the disease, including FAQs, fact sheets, statistics, maps, and the West Nile Virus General Information page.
  
• What You Should Know About West Nile Virus
  The American Veterinary Medical Association has released a brochure that summarizes the key facts about transmission, treatment, and prevention of this disease.

Other Hot Topics Sources

• Best Information on the Net: Hot Topics
  St. Ambrose University O'Keefe Library provides links to WWW sources on specific controversial issues.
  [ BEST CHOICE ]
  
• CNN.com - Special Reports
  CNN.com has collected their special reports on current news events / stories including archived features from 1995 to 2002.
  
• CSA - Discovery Guides
  CSA, a privately owned information services company, includes abstracts, overviews, and key source citations on various current events topics.
  
• CorpWatch.org
  This online magazine and resource center is "committed to exposing corporate greed by documenting the social, political, economic and environmental impacts of these transnational giants."
  
• Documents in the News
  Compiled by the University of Michigan's Documents Center, this source links to various web-based publications of the U.S. Government and other international organizations and governmental agencies for the years 1995-2002.
  
• Ethics Matters
  Designed to supplement ethics class work, this database covers the ethical implications of contemporary social problems as noted in popular and professional literature.
  
• The Gallup Poll
  Reporting the results of recent surveys conducted by the Gallup Organization , it serves as a mirror of the important issues facing today's world.
  
• Human & Constitutional rights - Hot Topics
  This Columbia University Law School source focuses on current trends and issues in international human rights.
  
• New Scientist.com - Special Reports
  The New Scientist Magazine web site provides "in depth reports on the most exciting areas of science."
  
• PollingReport.com
  This continually updated polling reference compiles survey results from various nationally conducted opinion polls.
  
• Science in the headlines
  This National Research Council database references hundreds of published reports on scientific, technological, political, and social trends influencing American society.
  
• SpeakOut.com
  This non-partisan web source illustrates the effect of research, public opinion, and current events on public policy.
  
• Union of Concerned Scientists
  The UCS, an organization of some 70,000 private citizens and research scientists, pursues the stated goal of "a healthy environment and safe world, for today, and for the next century."
  
• WomensNet
  This WWW reference focuses on various women-related public policy issues such as reproductive rights, sexual harassment, etc.

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