Stirring up controversy and resentment, the United Nation's terrorist watchlist has led to the release of a critical report from Europe's leading human rights watchdog organization. U.S. watchlists have also caused controversy, including the massive no-fly list and the Specially Designated Nationals (SDN) list used to shut down charities. A recent hearing in the House Homeland Security Committee examined the extent to which U.S. watchlists infringe on the rights of innocent persons by maintaining inaccurate records and not addressing current security vulnerabilities.

Eight years after proposing it, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) has finalized a worker safety rule. The final rule mandates employers pay for worker personal protective equipment (PPE). OSHA published the rule in the Federal Register on Nov. 15, and it is to take effect Feb. 13, 2008.

The Bush administration's cabinet-level Interagency Working Group on Import Safety released its final report Nov. 6 on ways to improve the safety of food and consumer products imported into the U.S. The report calls for limited increases in some federal agencies' responsibilities but does little to change the current voluntary regulatory scheme that governs some $2 trillion worth of products, 800,000 importers and more than 300 ports-of-entry.

A new report by Good Jobs First finds that states have not kept up with technology in creating certain disclosure systems, and in some cases actively resist advances. The State of State Disclosure analyzed state websites for publicly available data on economic development subsidies, state procurement contracts and lobbying activities. Connecticut scored the highest, with an average of 84 percent, but more than half of the states received failing grades, placing the average score at 60 percent, a D-minus.