Attn: Health & medicine writers, City Desk Editors, et.al.

CDC and CMS have combined their resources to produce county-level statistics for stroke hospitalizations for blacks, Hispanics and whites who are age 65 and older.

Data for hospitals in each of the country’s 3,151 counties is accessed by clicking on a state (or drop-down menu of the states) that appears in an interactive map of the U.S., then clicking on the desired counties.

This is an opportunity to remind readers and viewers that stroke is the third-leading cause of death for men and women, and a major cause of serious, long-term disability.

Closer to home, the database shows which (if any) hospitals in your county provide emergency room services and/or treatment for stroke.

The CMS data show that approximately 21% of U.S. counties do not have a hospital that’s equipped for stroke treatment, 31% do not have hospitals that can provide emergency room treatment for stroke victims, and 77% counties do not have a hospital that provides neurology services.

NOTE: The CDC press release cited here is among more than 100 press releases from government agencies, congressional offices and advocacy groups which are featured in today’s edition of Government Policy Newslinks. Sign-up today for a no-obligation trial subscription.

Attn: Environmental writers, et.al.

Only modest attention was paid last year when the Environmental Protection Agency trashed its regional libraries, emptying their bookshelves of bothersome scientific studies and nettlesome technical reports that could be cited by environmentalists in regulatory proceedings and litigation. EPA described the shutdowns as an effort to achieve cost-saving consolidations in the face of a pending $2 million funding cut.

Now, with a $1 million appropriation attached to a congressional mandate to reopen them, the EPA said in a little-noted report to Congress last week that 7 of its 10 regional libraries have been reopened to walk-in traffic, and the remaining libraries, including those at its Washington headquarters, could be back in business by September 30.

A whistleblowers’ group obtained a 6-page EPA progress report which was delivered to Capitol Hill last week, and put it on its website (see Government Policy Newslinks, March 31). In its analysis of the report, the group said that EPA’s regional and headquarters libraries have been stripped down to their “core reference materials” and that the acquisition of additional materials will be subject to a political clearance process that EPA euphemistically refers to as “network standards.”

EPA’s Chief Information Officer Molly O’Neill is overseeing the development of “a strategic planning effort” to chart the future direction of the EPA libraries and public access practices, the report says.

Attn: Aging & Retirement Editors

The impending collapse of the Social Security and Medicare systems has been described as a case of “too many old people chasing too few dollars.” Now, we can add another dimension: time. Yesterday, the federal government predicted that old people will be cashing their Social Security checks and buying Medicare-aided prescription medicines for a very long, long time.

As if the report from the Social Security & Medicare Trust Fund Board of Trustees (see Government Policy Newslinks, March 26) wasn’t enough. The report reminds that financial shortages and the approaching crush of Baby Boom Generation retirees continues to plod inexorably toward a disastrous collision.

Now comes word from the National Institute on Aging: Americans can expect to live longer and longer lives. Regardless of gender or ethnicity, average life expectancy continues to increase. If there’s one thing the federal government does well, it’s collecting data and developing statistics. The NIA’s report, Older Americans 2008, is a compilation of data from 15 federal agencies that use or produce data about elderly persons, and uses the information to create some new statistics that reveal several incontrovertible demographic trends (see Government Policy Newslinks, March 27).

Start with the size of the age 65 population. It is expected to grow from about 37 million people in 2006 to approximately 71.5 million people by 2030 when retirees will represent about 20% of the total U.S. population.

Takeaway point:

The federal report’s release is an excellent opportunity to check progress on plans being made by local communities to prepare for the economic shifts and changing demands for government services as a larger portion of residents reach retirement age.

Attn: Political Editors

If you’re counting super-delegates in the battle for the Democratic presidential nomination, you might find it interesting to note that Sen. Barack Obama apparently lost 2 votes yesterday when U.S. Rep. Albert Wynn (D-Md.) announced his immediate resignation from Congress and Puerto Rico Gov. Anibal Vila was charged along with a dozen associates in a 27-count indictment for election-related crimes.

They join ex-New York Gov. Eliot Spitzer, who would have cast his super-delegate vote for Sen. Hillary Clinton, on the list of Democratic party bigwigs who probably won’t be counted on the first ballot. First ballot? Does that mean there could be a second ballot? Or even a third?

When the Dept. of Justice announced Gov. Vila’s indictment, it also released a “fact sheet” that describes the department’s anti-corruption efforts in recent years. Between 2001 and 2006, the Criminal Division’s Public Integrity Section brought charges against 365 defendants and secured convictions or guilty pleas from 332 of them–a conviction/guilty rate of 91%. During the same 2001-2006 period, the U.S. Attorneys around the country brought corruption charges against 6,899 public officials, lobbyists, and others, and secured convictions or guilty pleas from 5,876 of them–a conviction/guilty rate of 85% (see Government Policy Newslinks, March 27)

Takeaway points:

Sen. Obama has a 2-1 lead over Sen. Clinton in the number of super-delegate votes that have been lost, and they are tied 1-1 in super-delegate votes that have been lost due to sex and corruption scandals.

West Virginia lawyer John Davis won the 1924 Democratic presidential nomination on the 103rd ballot.

The next time a public official claims innocence after being indicted by the Dept. of Justice, there’s an 85% or 91% chance that a prison cell or an ankle bracelet is in his or her future housing and wardrobe choices.

The Federal Election Commission is twisted in a knot, unable to meet a four-commissioner quorum requirement to conduct its business because it has been operating with just two commissioners since January 1. The Senate’s refusal to confirm four candidates—two Democrats and two Republicans—who were nominated last year by President Bush precipitated the FEC’s current state of affairs.

Enter “good government” lobby Common Cause which sent letters yesterday (See Government Policy Newslinks, March 27) to the three senators who are presidential candidates, urging them to flex their muscle and persuade their senatorial colleagues to confirm the FEC nominees.

“The fact that the country does not have a functional election watchdog during the most important presidential election in a generation is a national embarrassment. It is like playing the World Series without an umpire,” Common Cause President Bob Edgar (a former Pennsylvania Democratic congressman who previously was General Secretary of the National Council of Churches of Christ in the USA) said in letters to Sens. Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton and John McCain.

Too funny for fiction: Common Cause lobbyists fought hard in the 1970s for the FEC’s creation as a six-member Commission. The Common Cause-styled law says no more than three of the Commission’s members can come from the same party, and that no action can be taken unless approved by the affirmative votes of four of its members. In other words, the law guarantees a 3-3 deadlock (or at least the denial of a necessary fourth vote) whenever the interests of the Democratic and/or Republican parties are threatened by an FEC action.

Even funnier, ex-Rep. Edgar’s letter to Sen. Obama doesn’t mention that the four FEC nominees are blocked because Obama put a “hold” against one of the nominees—Republican Hans von Spakovsky. (That was the functional equivalent of blocking action on two of the candidates because the Senate traditionally confirms FEC nominees in pairs—one Democrat and one Republican—to assure that candidates from both parties survive the confirmation process together or not at all.)

In his letter to the senators, Edgar said the deadlock over FEC nominees was “triggered by the controversial appointment of Hans von Spakowsky [sic].” Actually, it was Obama’s hold on von Spakovsky’s nomination that triggered it. Obama described his complaints against von Spakovsky in a June, 2007, letter to Senate Rules Committee chairman Sen. Dianne Feinstein. Obama accused Republican von Spakovsky of playing “an active role in not only the creation of the Georgia voter identification law, which required all voters to provide certain government-provided identification at the polls, but also played a role in the approval of that law by the Department of Justice.” Imagine that. In Obama’s view, van Spakovsky is unfit for FEC service because he believes voters should prove they are who they say they are when showing up at the polls to cast a vote. This, of course, would be a totally foreign concept in Obama’s Chicago where Democratic machine hacks routinely steal identities so they can cast votes at as many polling places as they can visit in a single election day.

By Edward Zuckerman, Editor

It begins with one of those tedious mission statements: The purpose of this blog is to help our subscribers derive maximum benefit from Government Policy Newslinks.

Okay, that’s just some drivel which I don’t believe I just wrote.

What I’m trying to say (in plain English) is that this blog will shine a little extra light on government and advocacy group press releases and reports that are exceptionally newsworthy or unabashedly cynical, but might go unnoticed when they appear in a list that could contain links to as many as 200 or 300 press releases.

Here’s an example of what I mean:

A few days ago, the pharmaceutical industry claimed in a press release that $58 billion was spent in 2007 for drug research and development. What the press release didn’t mention was that pharmaceutical companies receive a 100% tax credit for their drug research and development expenses. So, while the industry patted itself on the back for making a large investment, the real story was that U.S. taxpayers paid for it. I tried to alert GPN subscribers by filing the press release under “taxation” and making a subtle reference to the tax credit in the headline. The point? Had this blog been in existence a few days ago, the press release would have been the subject of a not-very-subtle posting here.

Now, here’s the real beauty of it: I won’t have to be the source of all knowledge and wisdom (which I never was, anyway). As a two-way blog, any GPN subscriber could have alerted the rest of us to the tax credit angle that was omitted–but nonetheless was a big part of the story–from the industry’s press release.

NOTE: Long-time GPN subscribers may recall that this “blog” idea is a variation of a feature called “Editor’s Choice” which was part of the daily report until several years ago. Every night, I selected two or three press releases or reports which I felt deserved special attention from assignment editors and editorial writers. I had no idea how popular it had become until I discontinued it. The decision to terminate “Editor’s Choice” was a pragmatic response to an unresolvable problem: I had to make the selections at the end of a very long day and it became too burdensome to write pithy, sometimes acerbic, blurbs about press releases during the early morning hours when my energy was spent and my attention was worn out.

So it’s bon voyage! Let’s hope this blog gets interesting fast.

Edward Zuckerman, Editor

P.S. I really don’t know a lot about blogging. So please be patient as I navigate my way through these unfamiliar technological shoals.