USA.gov

Beginning on August 15, Social Security offices will close 30 minutes early each day. For example, an office that is usually open to the public Monday through Friday from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. will now close at 3:30 p.m.

You do not need to visit an office to complete most Social Security services. Apply for benefits, sign up for direct deposit, replace a Medicare card, obtain a proof of income letter, or change your address or telephone number at www.socialsecurity.gov or by calling 1-800-772-1213 (TTY 1-800-325-0778).

About 13.5 million people in the Unites States live in food deserts, areas that are generally identified as low-income communities without ready access to healthy and affordable food.

The Food Desert Locator, developed by the U.S. Department of Agriculture, pinpoints areas of the country that have been classified as food deserts.

With the tool you can:

• See what areas of the country have been identified as food deserts
• View statistics on selected population characteristics in food-deserts, like how many people own cars or how many children are in a certain food desert.
• Download census data about food deserts

Use the tool to find out if you live near or in a food desert.

ATM skimming happens when your credit or debit card number is stolen during what seems like a normal transaction. Some card readers have been rigged to look completely normal, but underneath they have a “boot” that captures your card information and stores it, so someone can use it for their own purposes.

It is extremely difficult for the average person to detect the device over the card slot reader. However, credit card companies can help. If you submit a fraud claim, credit card companies can find patterns based on where their cardholders shop and investigate specific locations.

The FBI offers these tips to help you avoid being the victim of ATM skimming:

• Inspect the ATM, gas pump, or credit card reader before using it. Be suspicious if you see anything loose, crooked, or damaged, or if you notice scratches or adhesive/tape residue.
• When entering your PIN, block the keypad with your other hand to prevent possible hidden cameras from recording your number.
• If possible, use an ATM at an inside location (less access for criminals to install skimmers).
• Be careful of ATMs in tourist areas. They are a popular target of skimmers.
• If your card isn’t returned after the transaction or after hitting “cancel,” immediately contact the financial institution that issued the card.

Learn more about ATM skimming from the FBI.

Image Description: The new E15 fuel labels will clearly state what vehicles can fill up with the E15 blend.

New gas pump labels will soon show up at filling stations across the country designating a new E15 gasoline. E15 gasoline blends contain more than 10 and up to 15 percent ethanol.

Vehicles capable of running on E15 gasoline include:

• flexible-fuel vehicles
• model year 2001 and newer cars
• light-duty trucks
• medium-duty passenger vehicles.

To avoid confusion and possible misfueling, all E15 gas pumps will be labeled to specifically state what vehicles can and cannot fill up with the E15 blend. 

Learn more about E15 gasoline.

By: Jaimee Napp, Visiting Fellow, specializing in financial fraud, and Bethany Case, Visiting Fellow, specializing in child abuse at the Office for Victims of Crime, Office of Justice Programs, U.S. Department of Justice.

When we think of a child’s safety we think of physical and emotional well-being, but what about their financial safety? According to the Carnegie Mellon Cylab’s report Child Identity Theft, published in April 2011, children’s identities are increasingly used to commit fraud.

Just like a criminal can use personal information of an adult to commit fraud, they can use a child’s identity to:

• Open credit accounts
• Take out student loans, home, boat, and car loans
• Receive government benefits and unemployment compensation
• Receive tax refunds
• Access medical care
• Secure employment

Many criminals turn to stealing children’s identities because it can go unnoticed for many years and this crime offers virtually no consequences. The child victims, on the other hand, inherit significant debt, carry a tarnished credit history, and suffer emotional impacts—particularly if the offender is a parent or family member—all before they even reach legal age.

How is child identity theft even possible? Unfortunately, the biggest loophole is the credit granting system itself. The system isn’t set up to verify if the information provided in a credit application is accurate (i.e., that the Social Security number presented corresponds with the age and particular person to whom it was issued by the Social Security Administration).

For now, the most important step we can take is to help build awareness of this issue, learn more, and talk to our friends and family about child identity theft.

Learn more about child identity theft and what to do if your child’s ID is stolen.

Getting a mortgage, checking account, or credit card with the most favorable terms is like finding a good deal on anything else: you need to shop around.

But knowing what to look for in an escrow account or overdraft program isn’t like trying on shoes. Bank products come with confusing terms, fine print, and potentially hefty obligations. A quick read that will put you on the right track is the Shop and Save…at the Bank: A Buyer’s Guide to the Right Loan, Credit Card or Deposit Account.

If you’re looking for cheap family fun this summer, national wildlife refuges are full of free or low-cost outdoor summer adventures.

There’s a national wildlife refuge within an hour’s drive of most major U.S. cities where you can hike, fish, go bird watching or just enjoy a quiet escape from your daily life.

Some refuges hold special events during the summer, like lighthouse tours or bike rides through the refuge to learn about the animals that live there.

Find the closest national wildlife refuge to you and learn about special events.

Participants working at the 1.USA.gov Hack Day in San Diego.

A week ago, we held the first 1.USA.gov Hack Day, a nationwide event organized to encourage people to explore the data created by our URL shortening service 1.USA.gov.

Hack day events took place in Washington, D.C., New York City, San Francisco, and San Diego. Over 120 people attended the events and explored ways to use 1.USA.gov data to help people find useful and interesting government information.

1.USA.gov automatically creates .gov URLs whenever you use bitly to shorten a URL that ends in .gov or .mil. We created this service to make it easy for people to know when a short URL will lead to official, and trustworthy, government information.

Data is created every time someone clicks on a 1.USA.gov link, which happens about 56,000 times each day. Together, these clicks show what government information people are sharing with their friends and networks. No one has ever had such a broad view of how government information is viewed and shared online.

Here are some examples of what Hack Day participants built with data from 1.USA.gov:

Robert, a consultant and professor from San Diego State University, built a tool that lets you see which links were most popular in the past 24 hours near your city or within your country. Try it out and see what’s popular near you.

Adam Laiacano, an engineer who lives in Brooklyn, NY, analyzed 1.USA.gov data and found that 42% of all clicks on 1.USA.gov links go to NASA websites. He created a map that shows that people in Europe are more likely to only click on NASA links, while people in the United States click on links from a wider variety of government links. See Adam’s map on his blog.

Helmut Hissen, a software engineer, made this animation that shows clicks on 1.USA.gov links from June 2 through July 14:

In the video, red flashes represent clicks from non-mobile devices, and green flashes represent clicks from mobile devices. Note that the final NASA Shuttle launch occurred on July 8. You can see a dramatic increase in activity at the 1:24 mark.

Barg Upender and Adam, software engineers in Washington, D.C., created a site called PopGov.us that shows which government links are popular in real time.

If you are interested in working with 1.USA.gov data, you can find everything you need to know, including links to code from the Hack Day and a full list of projects on the USA.gov Developer Resources page.

If you want to share your creation with us, leave a comment on this post or tweet about it using the hashtag #1USAgov.