Congressional Research Service. May 10, 2012.
Foreign direct investment in the U.S. declined sharply after 2000, when a record $300 billion was invested in U.S. businesses and real estate. In 2010, according to U.S. Department of Commerce data, foreigners invested $236 billion in U.S. businesses and real estate. Foreign direct investments are highly sought after by many state and local governments that are struggling to create additional jobs in their localities. While some in Congress encourage such investment to offset the perceived negative economic effects of U.S. firms investing abroad, others are concerned about foreign acquisitions of U.S. firms that are considered essential to U.S. national and economic security.
http://www.fas.org/sgp/crs/misc/RS21857.pdf [PDF format, 11 pages].
Pew Center on the States. May 10, 2012.
The report is the first time research has identified where in the country Americans are more likely to move up or down the earnings ladder. Eight states, primarily in the Mideast and New England regions, have higher upward and lower downward mobility than the nation as a whole, while states in the South have consistently lower upward and higher downward mobility. [Note: contains copyrighted material].
http://www.pewstates.org/uploadedFiles/PCS_Assets/2012/MobilityofStates_Summary(1).pdf [PDF format, 3 pages].
National Registry of Exonerations. University of Michigan Law School and the Center on Wrongful Convictions at Northwestern University School of Law. May 2012.
This report is about 873 exonerations in the United States, from January 1989 through February 2012. “Exoneration” is a legal concept. It means that a defendant who was convicted of a crime was later relieved of all legal consequences of that conviction through a decision by a prosecutor, a governor or a court, after new evidence of his or her innocence was discovered. [Note: contains copyrighted materails].
http://www.law.umich.edu/special/exoneration/Documents/exonerations_us_1989_2012_full_report.pdf [PDF Format, 108 pages].
Department of Homeland Security. May 2012.
The United States provides refuge to persons who have been persecuted or have well-founded fear of persecution through two programs: one for refugees (persons outside the U.S. and their immediate relatives) and one for asylees (persons in the U.S. and their immediate relatives). This Office of Immigration Statistics Annual Flow Report provides information on the number of persons admitted to the United States as refugees or granted asylum in the United States in 2011.
http://www.dhs.gov/xlibrary/assets/statistics/publications/ois_rfa_fr_2011.pdf [PDF format, 7 pages].
National Center for Education Statistics. May, 24, 2012
The Condition of Education 2012 summarizes important developments and trends in education using the latest available data. The report presents 49 indicators on the status and condition of education, in addition to a closer look at high schools in the United States over the past twenty years.. The indicators represent a consensus of professional judgment on the most significant national measures of the condition and progress of education.
http://nces.ed.gov/pubs2012/2012045.pdf [PDF format, 378 pages].
