A new website, StimulusWatch.org, lists by state the “shovel-ready” projects that the U.S. Conference of Mayors has identified as those that should receive stimulus dollars. The website allows users to discuss and rate particular projects. The site identifies 30 projects in San Francisco alone, including $8 million for a Civic Center Sustainable District.
The Law Library of Congress has a newly digitized collection to celebrate the bicentennial of Abraham Lincoln’s birth. The collection of rare books covers three eras including nine items in the Lincoln the Lawyer collection, five on Habeas Corpus and the War Powers of the President, and eight covering The Assassination: Trials.
Today the Government Printing Office released the beta model of its new Federal Digital System (FDsys). This currently holds Congressional and Presidential documents:
* Compilation of Presidential Documents (1993 to Present)
* Congressional Bills (103rd Congress to Present)
* Congressional Documents (104th Congress to Present)
* Congressional Hearings (105th Congress to Present)
* Congressional Record (1994 to Present)
* Congressional Reports (104th Congress to Present)
* Federal Register (1994 to Present)
* Public and Private Laws (104th Congress to Present)
By mid-2009, documents from all three branches will be available. FDsys will contain information gathered through files submitted by Congress and Federal agencies; information gathered from Federal agencies’ web sites; and digital files created by scanning previously printed publications.
The search interface is quite easy to use, and results are displayed to scroll through, or clustered by type and date on a side bar. Try it; it is very easy to use.
From LLRX: Creating proper citations in briefs is a time consuming process–copying the quoted material, the case name, abbreviating part of the names as required, and making sure you have the right pinpoint page number. Or at least it was a time consuming process until CiteGenie came along. CiteGenie is a new extension for the Firefox web browser that, as its website promises, “automagically” creates Bluebook formatted pinpoint citations when copying from Westlaw.
According to the LLRX reviewer, “Citegenie is very good. It is not quite perfect, but it does a better job than a lot of lawyers do on their own. And even if it is not better than you, it is undoubtedly faster. CiteGenie is not a substitute for knowing the Bluebook and your local jurisdiction’s citation rules. You still need to apply your own judgment to CiteGenie’s results. After using CiteGenie for a few days, I was hooked. I can’t imagine using Westlaw without it.”
Want to keep abreast of the latest news and litigation in patent law? Check out Patently-O, one of the nation’s most popular patent law blogs. Edited by a University of Missouri law professor, it provides excellent coverage of litigation developments.
Hastings Law Library News 