When NPR's David Schultz wanted to report last month on whether extra mumps vaccinations given in 2009 to Jewish children in the NYC area had worked or had side effects, he ran up against an embargo imposed by the journal Pediatrics. If you worry about how embargoes affect journalists' access, you may want to follow Embargo Watch.
Superstorm Sandy was a wake-up call on many levels — especially as a lesson on the need to be prepared for disasters. Here are some reporting tools that may come in handy.
Here are more Congressional Research Service reports relevant to the environment/energy beat, published by the Federation of American Scientists' Project on Government Secrecy.
"Climate change is suddenly a hot topic again. The issue is resurfacing in talks about a once radical idea: a possible carbon tax."
"Seville, with a population of about 300, is one of dozens of predominantly Latino unincorporated communities in the Central Valley plagued for decades by contaminated drinking water."
"The federal government's flood insurance program, which fell $18 billion into debt after Hurricane Katrina, is once again at risk of running out of money as the daunting reconstruction from Hurricane Sandy gets under way."
"The presidential and congressional elections of last week brought good news for those who value sensible land conservation policies. But there was more good news on the state and local levels as well."
"Warning that tens of thousands of jobs are at stake, governors in wind energy states Tuesday called on Congress to renew an expiring tax break."
"The race is on for the next chairman of the House Science, Space, and Technology Committee--and no matter who wins, he won't be a big fan of science."
The Conservative Harper government is discouraging Environment Canada scientists from talking to news media about their published findings on pollution from oilsands.
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