The Pew Research Center released a study this week on the views of Americans regarding efforts to make government more open by making data more available.
You can read the report here.
One sidelight to the report is the degree to which Americans already use the internet to seek data relating to some level of government.
On 25 February 1870 Hiram Revels (1822-1901) became the first African American to be sworn in as a US senator.
PBS describes Mr. Revels’ distinguished career in public service.
In Mississippi, he worked with the Freedmen’s Bureau to create schools for African American children. Both blacks and whites respected Revels and elected him to important jobs. He served as an alderman and state senator. Legislators chose him to fill the unexpired term of former Confederate president Jefferson Davis in the United States Senate from 1870-1871. Revels later served as president of Alcorn College, Mississippi’s first college for African-American students.
Hiram R. Revels (1822-1901)
I’d like to take a moment to mark the 206th anniversary of the birth of the 16th president of the United States, Abraham Lincoln.
Northern Illinois University has been digitizing Lincoln’s pre-Civil War papers. They can be read at the Abraham Lincoln Historical Digitization Project.
North Dakota Gov. Jack Dalrymple on Friday signed into law a bill requiring high school seniors to pass the US citizenship test in order to graduate. North Dakota becomes the second state to enact such legislation following Arizona which did so earlier this month.
The Bismarck Tribune reports…
Students that graduate in 2017 would need to get at least 60 questions on the 100-question test correct; for subsequent classes, the requirement would be 70 questions.
The bill passed the House by an 85-1 vote and the Senate by a 43-4 margin.
HB1087 came as part of a national movement called the Civics Education Initiative. The group’s goal is to have each state pass a similar bill by Sept. 17, 2017, the 230th anniversary of the signing of the U.S. Constitution.
Twice each year, the Library of Congress opens its magnificent Main Reading Room for a special open house to share information about how the public can access the Library’s resources year-round. The first open house of 2015 will take place on the Presidents Day holiday, Monday, Feb. 16, from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. The Main Reading Room is located on the first floor of the Thomas Jefferson Building, 10 First St., S.E., Washington, D.C.
Reference librarians will be on hand to demonstrate services, instruct on how to obtain a reader registration card and answer questions.
TL;DR Civics 