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National Priorities Project

National Priorities Project (http://www.nationalpriorities.org/) offers budget analysis at the federal, state and local levels. The front page has tax charts showing the expenditures of our income tax dollars, interactive quizzes and additional reports. There is also a keyword search engine that lists results by
relevancy and an opportunity to receive email updates. Unfortunately the keyword search engine is not working at this writing: "You do not have permission to access -- on this server."

The NPP Database lets you generate customized information on state levels. Click on Issue Search to open subject options such as Housing, Military and Basic Demographics. I selected Demographics and clicked on to the Data Sets. Data Sets options include Housing, Income, Employment Rate, etc.
Final options are state and range of years. Information returned is available in text/table format and graph format. Searching the database is free, but registration is requested after the first use. Way cool but I wish the search engine worked.

GovBenefits

GovBenefits, at
http://www.govbenefits.gov/GovBenefits/jsp/GovBenefits.jsp, is an online screening tool to learn if there are any government programs available to you. (Not all programs are listed here yet, so don't approach this as an exhaustive
resource. Keep coming back; more programs are being added over
time.) It's a three-step process in which you start by checking the categories that apply to you, such as Unemployed, a Veteran or a Disaster Victim.

Step two is a series of questions based on the categories selected in the preceding step. They are mostly yes/no type questions with a few drop-down answer choices. There are no personal questions like requiring a social security number or name, though there are some questions asking information
you may consider sensitive, such as household income. Step three provides options based on step two's answers. If there are no options, it offers other Web sites for additional information.

Currently GovBenefits offers information on more than 50 programs including 10 from the Social Security Administration and 6 from the Department of Labor. There are also programs for the Department of Energy and the
Department of State. A good resource here, definitely worth a look.

Premarket Approval

FDA's Center for Devices and Radiological Health has an online database of Premarket Approvals of medical devices at
http://www.accessdata.fda.gov/scripts/cdrh/cfdocs/cfPMA/pma.cfm. Search values include applicant or trade name and docket or PMA number, as well as a drop-down list of Advisory Committee and supplement type options. Search results can be sorted by trade or applicant's name as well as decision date or PMA number.

The devices in this database are Class III devices as referred to in the Medical Device Amendments of 1976. It states a Class III device is one that either sustains human life, is important for preventing an impairment or has a potential risk factor.

From this site, you may want to explore a bit. The links in the left column includes a Topic Index which I opened. The topics in the index have links to documents in both text and PDF formats.

LexisNexis Releases Texas Codes and Rules Annotated

LexisNexis has released its interpretations of Texas law to legal researchers in the Lone Star State. As with similar products released in New Jersey and Florida, Texas Codes and Rules Annotated will be available to current subscribers of Texas statutes. Get more information from the press release at
http://library.northernlight.com/FC20020529380000018.html.

Utah Offers Online Renewals of Professional Licenses

Professionals living in the state of Utah now have to option of renewing professional licenses online via the state's Web site at www.Utah.gov. The site has a direct link to the state's Division of Occupational and Professional Licensing, which regulates over 50 professional license types held by 150,000+ Utahns. Get more information from the Business Wire press release at http://library.northernlight.com/FC20020528870000197.html.

Counties in the United States

Didja know there were over 3,000 counties in the United States? Me neither. You can get information on them at http://www.naco.org/counties/counties/index.cfm, a page maintained by the National Association of Counties.

Pick a state from the drop-down menu or use the image map of the US. You'll get a list of counties in that state along with its 2000 population and its size in square miles. Click on a county name and you'll get a link to that county's site
(if available), contact information for the county seat, county populations is 1980, 1990, and 2000, and a list of the county's elected officials. Sometimes e-mail addresses for county officials are included as well.

There are a few external links on a county page, too, including links to census data and political information. Lots of material in one easy-to-read place. Worth a look.

Reference Site Focuses on India

Sandarbha.com (http://www.sandarbha.com/) offers reference information for all over the world but focuses particularly on India. There's a busy front page here, but if you've got some time to explore you'll find some good stuff.

The left column provides an alphabetical list of resources related to India, starting with Actors- India and ending with Indian National. I think this list continues in the third column. The links in the list lead to pages, or bookmarks in pages, devoted to particular topics. There's almost no annotation.

If you're not looking for topical information but more general information on India, check out the second column from the left. Here you'll find basic facts about India (again, a link list) history and economy, etc. But this site is not limited to information about just India. Other categories include the world, the universe, several computer-related categories including graphics and fonts,
etc. This site is busy but rich; worth a look.