11 December 2007. The European Railway Agency (ERA) offers a database of reports on accidents and incidents involving the railway. According to site documentation, "[m]ember States are required to notify ERA of accident investigations and to submit copies of the accident investigation report when complete."
The public may conduct a "quick search" by country or more advanced searching by a variety of criteria, including the legal basis for the decision to investigate, details of the occurrence (e.g., railway, metro, tramway; location; casualties) or cause. Results consist of the accident or incident report. 21 June 2004. SexOffender.com offers a look-up feature for finding online sources of sex offender records. Select the jurisdiction of interest. The resulting information comes from other Web sites. It usually leads to state or county law enforcement sources of offender registries. 12 March 2008. The Internet Archive maintains this collection of archival content from the Web sites of Arizona state government agencies, boards and commissions. Search it by keyword or URL, or follow the advanced search link for more options. When using the advanced search feature, be sure to limit the institution to the Arizona State Library and the collection to either Arizona Politics or Arizona State Agencies, depending on your interest. A keyword RSS feed for monitoring search results is available. 26 July 2006. Find a database of birth dates. Search by name or name and approximate age to find the full name, full date of birth and current residence (city, state and zip only). The site claims to compile the information from public records. It appears to be available only for U.S. residents. Technical note: The site is supported by advertising. Queries generate multiple pop-up windows. 9 August 2002. Revised 17 August 2006. Crime Time Publishing provides information about public records sources available on the Web. It covers state corporate records databases, databases for finding information about businesses, sources of addresses and phone numbers, databases containing incarceration data, sex offenders, and more. 2 June 2003. Revised 2 May 2003. EDITOR'S CHOICE. BRB Publications, publisher of public records monographs, reference works and databases, merged the former Public Record Sources Web site into the Web site for BRB Publications and Facts on Demand Press. The link provided here takes you to the free resources. For the subscription-based databases, see the main site at www.brbpub.com. 24 March 2008. Ancestry.com offers free access to California death records for the years, 1940-1997. Search by last name or a variety of other criteria to find full name, date of birth, mother's maiden name (last name only), father's last name, gender, birth state, place of death, date of death, SSN and age at death.
Researchers may order copies of the death record. The fee-based document delivery service is provided by VitalChek. 22 January 2008. Search by name or license number to find the status of a person's or company's real estate license, including any public disciplinary action. You may limit results by mailing address. Results provide the name of the individual or company, mailing address, the license number, type of license, license date of issuance, license status, employing broker, and public disciplinary action.
Please note: A separate list of desist and refrain orders for unlicensed activities appears here. These actions do not appear to be recorded in the licensing database.
12 May 2008. The Canadian Police Information Center provides a database of information about stolen vehicles and bicycles. You may search by Vehicle Identification Number (VIN), license plate number and province of issue, or bicycle serial number. The CPIC recommends that you verify information you find with local law enforcement. 11 February 2008. The Office of Diversion Control of the U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) offers a listing of DEA investigations of physicians that resulted in an arrest (Note: The Web site says that it provides information about cases that resulted in an arrest and prosecution, but we found cases where the disposition was pending.), as well as a listing of administrative actions. The listings appear in alphabetical order. While you can browse them, you cannot search them.
With respect to the criminal cases, information provided includes the name of the physician, his/her city and state, date of the arrest, date of the prosecution (if available), judicial status, description of the conviction, status of DEA license, and additional remarks. With respect to administrative actions, the listing consists of notices that officially appear in the Federal Register. 13 December 2005. Part of Interment.net, this section of the cemetery records Web site lets you perform simple queries for information about graves in the United States. The information is not complete. It is compiled by volunteers, and therefore, it may not be accurate. When information is available, it typically includes whatever is provided on the gravestone (name, date of birth, date of death). 6 May 2008. The Colorado Supreme Court provides a database for an attorney's status and disciplinary history in that state. Search by attorney registration number or name. Results include the lawyer's name, registration number and status. Status is an indicator of disciplinary action, but no details are provided. 7 February 2008. The Connecticut judiciary makes available criminal court records from 1 January 2000 in which the final disposition was a conviction. You may search by last name or docket number. You may limit queries by other criteria, including the convicted individual's year of birth. The information provided includes the person's name, year of birth, docket number, court, arresting agency, arrest date, sentencing date, and a description of the crime, conviction and penalties.
The database receives updates every 24 hours. However, as the site warns, the records do not constitute a criminal history. This site does not provide access to juvenile records.
Other parts of the Web site (see the menu on the left) provide access to information about pending criminal cases. You may search by the same criteria as that for convicted criminals. Results provide the defendant's name, year of birth, court, court status, docket number, arrest date, plea, and a description of the charges. 13 May 2003. Revised 17 April 2008. This commercial research service provides searching and monitoring services for cases in federal district, bankruptcy and appellate courts as well as some state courts. Subscribers may order case documents online. The service also offers an interface to the PACER U.S. Case Party Index, which enables searching by name, social security number (SSN) or employer identification number (EIN), assuming these appear in the case caption. Access requires a paid subscription. The site also offers limited guest access upon registration. 19 November 2007. The non-profit organization, Criminal Justice Journalists, makes available this extensive online guide on crime reporting. Chapters cover the crime beat, juvenile justice, drug law enforcement, racial and ethnic issues, crime victims, journalism ethics, covering the courts, how prosecutors work, gun control and domestic violence.
Author credentials are provided for each chapter. Some chapters provide sidebars. All chapters offer an annotated list of additional sources.
You can search the online content or opt to display it from a pull-down menu of pre-set topics. You can also browse each chapter. There does not appear to be a way to download the e-book or its individual chapters. 20 February 2003. Investigative Reporters & Editors, Inc. offers various government public records databases on CD-ROM to journalists or journalism organizations. Qualifying groups or individuals order the collection by phone or mail. Databases cover information like airplane service difficulty reports, storm events, FBI crime data, fatal highway accidents, problems with medical devices and federal contracts awarded to private companies. A 100-record free sample is available for each database. 29 October 2007. The Roanoke Times makes available databases containing public records or public information. Find information about public schools, civil and criminal cases, sex offenders, Roanoke city permits, lobbyists, restaurant inspections, disciplinary actions concerning doctors, historical weather data, and more.
The site offers an accompanying blog, called Datablog, and an RSS feed. The RSS feed contains updates from the blog. 26 March 2007. Asbury Park [NJ] Press offers a collection of databases compiled from public records and public information. All pertain to New Jersey residents, businesses, public employees or employees of businesses in the state. Find conviction records, death records, public sector contracts, property sales, teachers and school administrators, police and paid firefighters, Rutgers University employees, and more. 15 January 2008. Revised 16 January 2008. The News Journal of Wilmington, Delaware makes available this gateway page to both internal and external databases containing public records or public information of potential interest to residents. Databases available from the newspaper cover property records, crime locations, Delaware Psychiatric Center salary information, non-profit organizations, tax spending, obituaries, births, divorces, and more. There are also many links to external databases maintained by Delaware government agencies. 15 January 2008. The News Journal of Wilmington, Delaware makes available a database of data derived from the Delaware Division of Revenue (Department of Finance). You may search by name, city or zip code for information about business licenses. While you may limit queries by type of business, this feature did not work well for us.
The information provided includes the name of the business, it's street address, business category and trade name. Hyperlinked entries provide the license number and effective dates as well as a pinpoint location via Google Maps.
6 May 2008. The D.C. Bar lets you search for attorney status and public disciplinary information by lawyer name or law firm. Results include the name of the lawyer, his/her contact information, membership status, availability of disciplinary information, and the date s/he joined the Bar. 2 June 2003. Administrators in Medicine offers this free site for finding physician state license data. The database covers doctors in participating states. Search by name, location or license number in most states to find the physician's name, license number, license status and expiration date, address and an indication of public disciplinary data on file. DocFinder links to the data as provided by non-participating states. 11 November 2002. Revised 2 November 2007. Consumer advocacy group Public Citizen grades the 50 states on their provision of health-related disciplinary information via the Web. Discover what individual states provide, where they provide it, and how easy or difficult the site is to use. Specifically, the reports cover the availability of information about disciplinary data on specific doctors, the action taken, the offense, a summary narrative, board orders, the doctor's personal information, license number, license expiration date, medical specialty, date of the action, and availability of at least 10 years of data. Another feature loads a chart of the grades for all states. 25 July 2007. Revised 25 July 2007. A Web applications service company has imported e-mail messages released by the Department of Justice, regarding the U.S. Attorney firings, into a database. Given the domain name of the site, the database could be in development for training purposes, which means searchers should note that it may not be complete. In fact, as of this writing, it isn't.
But the advantage it has over the more authoritative source - the listing at the House Judiciary Committee site - is, you can filter results by name. Thus, you can retrieve messages by the name of the person who sent, received or was copied on the e-mail. 11 October 2001. Revised 5 December 2003. The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) offers a database of comments filed with the agency. Search by company name, law firm, attorney, location or other criteria to find public comments, including letters, notices, complaints, memorandum opinions and more, filed since 1992. 31 August 2007. Revised 5 September 2007. Thanks to the efforts of Gannett newspapers and television stations in Florida, a database containing information about FEMA's response to the 2004 Florida hurricanes is now available to the public. Covering the four hurricanes that struck Florida in 2004 - Charley, Frances, Ivan, and Jeanne - it provides information about those who registered for aid. The information does not identify the individual. Rather, it provides the street address, including the city, county and zip, the relevant storm, the dates of application and approval, the amount approved, if any, and the ownership status of the registrant. You may search by complete or partial street address. 26 July 2006. Researcher Tamara Thompson outlines what is available at the Web site of the National Archives for finding information about people in the military. She links to select resources. 4 October 2007. The National Institute on Money in State Politics makes available information on campaign finance at the state level. It develops searchable databases and analyzes the information to determine the role campaign money plays in public policy debates in the states. It also publishes studies and provides technical assistance and training to reporters, academic researchers and public interest groups that work on state policy issues.
A search box on the home page lets you display political giving at a glance by choosing a state and election year. You may narrow the query by candidate, contributor or special interest group. 12 June 2008. Launched as a public beta on 11 June 2008, the site promises to deliver "reviews, ratings and salary details about specific jobs for specific employers." While access to the information requires registration, it is free. The catch? To join, you must provide a review or salary information for a current or past employer.
The type information you will find includes the company name, top executive, its industry, employee size, revenue, Web site address, reviews and salary reports. You may also search salaries or reviews by keyword.
Technical note: We experienced technical difficulty in attempting to register for access. We submitted a bug report. 24 October 2002. Revised 28 June 2007. This easy-to-use tool provides access to federal, state and local government information. To begin, click on the applicable state on the map. Or select "federal government" or "federal courts" from the right-hand or page-bottom menu. State listings offer links mostly (but not exclusively) to official government Web sites. You will find constitutions, legislative, judicial and executive branch resources, and an assortment of additional legal research tools. 8 May 2007. PI Buzz highlights several resources for finding education-related government information. It provides a link for finding state education department Web sites, demographics resources, a directory of schools and school districts in New Mexico, the Michigan teacher certification verification database, as well as Pennsylvania and New Jersey sites for verifying a teacher's certification by SSN. This summary complements another PI Buzz write-up, titled "Verify a teacher certification or credential." (See our summary of it under "Education Law" or "Tools for Finding Public Records." 11 April 2008. The Idaho Transportation Department offers a utility for finding the status of a driver's license. Intended for state resident's who want to reinstate their licenses online, the tool may be used to verify the status of a driver's license. You must, however, enter the individual's full name and date of birth. 4 June 2008. Find civil and criminal case information for trial court matters back to 1995. The site states (and I confirmed) that some older information may be available. Search by personal or company name, partial name, case number, or name and date of birth. Information provided includes party names, year of birth, if known and relevant (criminal matters only), case information (case caption, docket number, citation number, judge, status, violations, and disposition) and case history, when available. 4 June 2000. Revised 17 September 2004. Merlin Information Services provides an extensive collection of links to resources for finding public records and public information. Resource categories include search engines, general sources, regional sources, investigators, associations and government. 20 July 2007. Revised 24 July 2007. The National Center for State Courts (NCSC), publisher of the annual Survey of Judicial Salaries, makes available this Web site, which provides the latest data. You may rank judicial positions by the most current salary data available (but results appear in alphabetical order). You may search salary data by state or region and judicial position as well as the latest reporting period. The easiest way to display the most current data for an individual state is to use the "US Map Interface" feature. The site also provides brief information about how states set judicial salaries.
We encountered one technical issue with the site. When conducting a search, if the query yields no matches, the searcher sees a blank Web page with no explanatory text. Similarly, if you fail to select a required field (e.g., latest reporting period), you receive an ASP scripting error. 26 February 2007. Revised 26 November 2007. Legal information Web site, Justia, offers a database for searching federal district court civil cases. Coverage spans 1 January 2004 to present. Browse case filings or conduct a search by party name, court, type of lawsuit or date. Information provided includes case caption, date filed, court, judge, type of lawsuit and cause of action. Justia also provides a link to the docket sheet. To retrieve it, you must have a subscription with PACER.
Useful features include search-generated RSS feeds. Do a search using the above criteria (e.g., all Civil RICO cases in the E.D.PA) and then monitor new results via the RSS feed. You may also bookmark case information for a specific case using any one of about 20 social bookmarking tools, including Internet Explorer favorites, Del.icio.us, Google Bookmarks and Windows Live Bookmarks. 9 August 2001. Revised 30 September 2005. Designed primarily for those who seek Minnesota or Wisconsin legal information, LawMoose, by Pritchard Law Webs, serves as a portal to state, local and federal law. Find statutes, legislation, court opinions, legal research primers, attorney disciplinary records and more. The public portal is free. Paying subscribers receive access to the Enhanced Edition of LawMoose, which is designed specifically for Minnesota lawyers. 28 August 2000. Revised 11 June 2008. This subscription-based site provides a portal to civil and criminal case information and court docket systems for federal, state and local courts in the United States. In June 2008, it added coverage for real estate and county recorder records as well as UCCs, business filings and professional licenses. The site also offers a Weblog on electronic filing and public records retrieval. 8 November 2007. The Citizen Media Law Project, jointly affiliated with Harvard Law School's Berkman Center for Internet & Society and the Center for Citizen Media, makes available a database of information about legal threats. Threats include intellectual property infringement lawsuits, cease and desist letters, defamation actions, civil rights actions, and more. You may search by a variety of criteria including the type of threat, the parties involved, lawyers' names, verdict or settlement amounts, jurisdiction (not limited to the U.S.), Web sites involved, keyword and more. The information provided includes all the above that is relevant as well as the current status and a summary of the threat. 10 January 2008. Advocating for transparency in government, LegiStorm makes available several potentially useful databases. The Salary Database contains salaries from 2003 to 2007 on congressional staffers. You can't query the database, but you may browse it by the name of the staff person, representative, senator, congressional committee, leadership office, administrative office or state. The site obtains the data "from the official record books: the Secretary of the Senate and the Clerk of the House reports."
The Travel Database "provides a unique window into how private organizations are trying to gain influence in Washington." You may browse or query this database. Search fields include the name of the staff person, trip dates, approving party, sponsor, destination, and more. Search results provide this information as well as a PDF copy of the original trip form (registration required for access).
A third feature, labeled, The Score, "allows you to track the latest happenings on the House and Senate floors, as well as upcoming floor debates and committee hearings."
Note: Use of the site is currently free. Some access requires registration. A note in the field by registering the user's email address indicates future fee-based access is planned. 6 September 2000. Revised 18 April 2008. Exclusively available via LexisNexis (fee-based), CourtLink eAccess provides electronic access to court records in over 4,000 federal, state and local courts. CourtLink eFile - now available in 90 courts - provides online filing services. 18 June 2007. Revised 19 June 2007. LOUIS, which stands for Library Of Unified Information Sources, is a new search engine for finding documents generated by the federal government. Currently, you may query the full-text of 7 categories of documents simultaneously - congressional reports, the Congressional Record, congressional hearings, the Federal Register, presidential documents, GAO Reports, and bills and resolutions. LOUIS updates its database daily from the Government Printing Office (GPO). Date covered is not specified at the site, but it appears to be from 2001 to present. 25 April 2006. The Maine State Archives provides a searchable index of death records for deaths occurring from 1 January 1960 to 31 December 1996. The archive warns that the information provided is unofficial and that it does not have a budget for updating the information. You may search by name, town of death or date. The information provided includes the full name, certificate number, date of death, town of death and age of death. 6 May 2008. The Maryland Attorney Grievance Commission provides summary information about disciplinary actions from 2006 to present. You may browse a list of names, in order by county, for each year. This is not a database. There is no search function. 12 March 2008. The Internet Archive maintains this collection of archival content from the Web sites of Michigan government agencies as well as from the Web sites of the legislative and judicial branches. Archival coverage begins with January 2007. Search it by keyword or URL, or follow the advanced search link for more options. When using the advanced search feature, be sure to limit the institution to the Michigan Department of History, Arts and Libraries and the collection to Michigan Government Web Collection. A keyword RSS feed for monitoring search results is available.
Please note the cautions about technical issues with this collection as posted on the collection home page. These include "due to technical issues certain links in the Michigan Courts collection may take the user to active web pages. A yellow banner at the top of the page will identify archived pages." Additionally, "[t]he search feature in the Michigan Legislature collection does not function. Links to other pages and documents in the collection do work. Copies of bills are not included in this collection." And, "[t]he keyword search capability for this collection is minimal. Users are encouraged to access information via URL." 24 March 2008. The Missouri State Archives makes available a database of information about birth, stillbirth, and death records recorded before 1909. Search by full or partial name.
A death records query returns the name of the individual, age at death, gender, race, date of death and county of death. A "details" button provides more information, when available -- occupation, marital status, nationality, place of birth, length of residence, cause of death, place of death, select details about the cause of death, place of burial, name and location of funeral business, as well as the name and location of the doctor signing the death certificate.
A birth records query provides the name of the child, the place and county of birth, the date of birth, father's name, mother's name, and mother's maiden name. A "details" button offers more information, when available -- gender, number of children by the same mother, race, age of mother and father, father's occupation, and the name and location of the medical attendant. 12 March 2008. The Internet Archive maintains this collection of archival content from the Web sites of Montana state agencies as well as the Web sites of the legislative and judicial branches. Search it by keyword or URL, or follow the advanced search link for more options. When using the advanced search feature, be sure to limit the institution to the Montana State Library and the collection to Archive Montana. A keyword RSS feed for monitoring search results is available. 11 April 2008. New Hampshire Department of Corrections lets you search for current information on inmates. According to the site documentation, "[o]nly the current controlling sentence shows the original minimum and original maximum release dates. Offenders with consecutive sentences remaining to be served, technical parole violators, and/or non-New Hampshire state-sentenced offenders serving sentences in New Hampshire facilities may not include the original minimum or original maximum release dates because this data is either not available or has not been fully calculated."
Search by partial or full name. The information provided includes the inmate's full name, date of birth, prisoner identification number, booked number, booked date, docket number, brief description of the charges, maximum sentence date and facility. 26 March 2007. Revised 4 December 2007. Asbury Park Press makes this database available as part of its DataUniverse collection. (For more information about the collection, see our listing for DataUniverse.) Compiled from public information sources, this New Jersey convictions database lets you search by full or partial name to find a criminal's full name, date of birth, county of conviction, sentencing date, indictment number, type of crime, judge, jail time, penalties and fines. The database covers convictions from 2 January 1997 to 8 February 2007. (See also: New Jersey Superior Court Conviction Records (Database 2)) 4 December 2007. Asbury Park Press makes this database available as part of its DataUniverse collection. Search for New Jersey state criminal conviction records by name or type of crime. Information provided includes the convicted person's name, county, date of birth, brief description of the crime, sentencing date and type of sentence, judge, parole eligibility and more. 10 December 2007. The New York State Office of the Attorney General provides a one-search interface for finding state campaign finance information, lobbyists, corporations and other registered businesses, state-funded projects, charities and state contracts. Search by keyword, which may include the name of a person or company or a descriptive word. Tabbed results provide information in each category, when relevant. The keyword search feature is a partial matching search, meaning that the word you enter may be found in its entirety or as part of another word. 16 April 2008. The State of New York offers a database of licensing and public disciplinary actions on physicians. Search by full or partial name, medical practice type, hospital or office location. The database initially returns the full name of the doctor, the practice location, and field of medicine. Click the doctor's name to his/her NYS license number, date of licensing, education, board certifications, hospital privileges, Medicaid/Medicare availability, legal actions, professional activities (such as teaching), and more. 16 April 2008. Find an index to New York State-sponsored databases and Web sites with professional licensing or public disciplinary information. Currently, the list includes access to information on physicians, insurance agents and brokers, teachers, emergency medical personnel, horse racing professionals, and more. 6 August 2007. While the title of this Web site is an obvious over-statement, the NNDB or Notable Names Database is a useful tool for discovering basic facts about well-known individuals or people who have been in the news. You may search by name or keyword.
Keyword searching might be useful in trying to identify an expert witness. I have used it successfully in certain fact-based research; for instance, to answer questions such as who wrote a certain book or who starred in a certain movie or television show.
There is a certain facetiousness to the Web site. (See, for instance, the bio on Bill Gates.) Also, source information isn't consistent. We recommend verifying what you find here with an authoritative source. 12 March 2008. The Internet Archive with collaboration from The State Library of North Carolina and the North Carolina State Archives maintains archival content from the Web sites of North Carolina State Government Agencies, Occupational Licensing Boards, and Commissions. This collection includes many different types of records, in a variety of file formats (such as text-based information, images, and video and audio files) including meeting minutes, policies, and agency publications.
Search it by keyword or URL, or follow the advanced search link for more options. When using the advanced search feature, be sure to limit the institution to the North Carolina State Archives and the collection to either North Carolina Boards and Commissions, North Carolina Council of State Web, or the North Carolina State Government Web Site, depending on your interest. A keyword RSS feed for monitoring search results is available. 24 March 2008. Joe Beine, the same individual who maintains Online Searchable Death Indexes for the USA, also compiles this guide to sources of information on deaths. Arranged by state, the guide offers an extensive list of links for genealogy researchers. 27 March 2002. Revised 24 March 2008. Find an extensive index of databases covering obituaries, grave sites, and other sources of death information in the U.S. The databases vary in quality and coverage. Some offer information on select time periods for certain geographic regions. The site provides a good collection of what is available via the Web. It appears to be updated regularly. 21 August 2006. The Society of Professional Journalists offers this freedom of information resource, which attempts to address common questions such as how FOI laws work or how they apply to specific situations. To that end, you will find a series of Q&A's on FOI concepts and laws, a report on the role of FOI in daily news coverage, a list of specific subjects applicable to FOI laws and where to find the corresponding records, and FOI resources. While designed especially for journalists, anyone searching for public information will find the resource useful. 24 October 1996. Revised 4 October 2007. The Center for Responsive Politics offers a Web site for discovering lobbyists, campaign financial data, soft money contributions, contribution profiles for presidential candidates, and more. Click the Databases tab to find personal financial disclosures, lobbyists, trips taken by congressmen and their staff, advocacy groups (527 committees) and PACs (political action committees). 24 March 2008. Portland-based publisher, Heritage Trail Press, Inc., makes available a database of death information compiled by the State of Oregon. It covers the years, 1903-1930. For best results, search by partial name. The information provided includes the individual's full name, date of death, county of death, and the death certificate number. Information is provided for researchers who want a copy of the death certificate. An image of the death certificate is not available via this source. 9 January 2003. Philadelphia-based Jenkins Law Library and American Lawyer Media join to provide this fee-based site covering Pennsylvania case law, legal news, verdicts and settlements, court rules, trial listings, and lawsuits filed. The Cases section includes federal, state, and select local court decisions as well as the Digests of Recent Opinions from Pennsylvania Law Weekly (1994 to present) and the unreported opinions of the Disciplinary Board of the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania. Local court coverage includes decisions from District & County Reports, 3rd & 4th Series, as well as from various county reporters. News provides access to The Legal Intelligencer (1995 forward) and Pennsylvania Law Weekly (1994 forward). Court Rules covers state court rules and the local rules of various county courts. Trial Listings provides full-text coverage from The Legal Intelligencer for the current three months. Suits Filed lets you browse or search new lawsuits from the Eastern District of Pennsylvania and Philadelphia Court of Common Pleas. It also provides archival coverage of lawsuits filed in Bucks and Montgomery counties. Verdicts and settlements contains verdicts, awards and settlements reported in Pennsylvania Law Weekly from late 1993 to the present.
Site features include Boolean (AND, OR, NOT) and phrase searching as well as word truncation, but not the use of proximity connectors (NEAR, WITHIN, SAME SENTENCE, etc). Legal professionals may like the ability to download PDF copies of slip opinions. 15 February 2007. The Pennsylvania Department of Revenue publishes a list of companies and individuals who are delinquent in paying sales or employer withholding tax. The list is compiled from liens filed in the respective county of the individual or company listed. You may browse the list by lien amount or county. It includes the name of the company or individual, city or town, county in which the lien is filed and the lien amount. Revised 31 August 2001. Looking for Web access to property records? Check this site first! It offers a comprehensive collection of links to county property records. Most links lead to county sites that permit searching by owner name or property address. 6 August 2007. Revised 7 September 2007. Web search company, Poogee Software Ltd., offers a search engine for finding information about people. Powered by Google, Pipl filters information from select sources in an effort to provide more relevant results. Typically, phone book entries appear at the top of the search results. These appear to come from PeopleData, Google and Yahoo.
Also forced to the top of the list are results from other people finding search tools; e.g., BirthDatabase and RootsWeb.com.
Next are "quick facts," which describe the person you seek. Source information appears to the right of the entry. This is followed by biographical sources.
In essence, Pipl serves to force more relevant Google results to the top of the hit list. You will likely see matches from genealogy sources, social networking sites and white pages. Thorough research, though, may require the use of additional search engines and sources.
We'd also like to see Pipl further filter results for specific top-level hits. For instance, common names still generate too many false hits. If a searcher were to click a biographical entry or phonebook entry, it would be helpful if Pipl then narrowed results based on the click-through data. 31 August 2001. Similar to Personal Property by the University of Virginia (formerly Property Assessments Online), this site offers links to geographic information systems and property record databases in the United States. 1 November 2005. This brief guide by the Securities & Exchange Commission suggests resources for checking out brokers and investment advisors. As the guide mentions, the state securities regulator for the relevant jurisdiction might be the best source of disciplinary information. The guide ends with recommended questions you should ask before you make an investment. 8 May 2001. Revised 7 May 2004. Real estate research company Nationwide Environmental Title Research, LLC (NETR) provides a directory of official sources of county real estate records. Arranged by state and county, the directory links to official online sources. Where none is available, it provides telephone numbers. The site also provides a county locator tool, real estate calculators and a directory of environmental service providers and data resources by state. 22 January 2008. Find a list of public disciplinary actions taken against Rhode Island doctors. The list appears to cover any licensed physician who has been disciplined. Consent orders are generally available (in PDF) for more recent disciplinary actions. There is no search function. You browse the list by the doctor's last name. 21 April 2000. Revised 25 June 2004. Pacific Information Resources, Inc. offers a directory of sources of public records and public information. You can search the directory by keyword or browse it by jurisdiction. It covers free and fee-based sources in the United States, Canada and other countries around the world. Find sources for unclaimed property, civil or criminal lawsuits, vital records, property records, corporate records, professional licenses, sex offenders, and more. 16 May 2008. Coordinated Legal Technologies provides this page for finding business entity databases at state Web sites. The page appears to be current - at least as of this writing. It includes links to UCC, lien and trademark databases, when available. 23 October 2007. The site comprises a collection of links to state corporation search pages. Click the relevant state name to jump directly to the page where you can search for information about business entities.
At the bottom of the page, you will also find direct links for select people search tools as well as a search box for querying Google. 6 August 2001. Sexcriminals.com maintains an index of U.S. sites that provide access to sex offender registries. 12 March 2008. The Internet Archive maintains 3 collections (This resource is one of them.) of archival content from the Web sites of the South Carolina state government. This collection provides archival access to the Web sites of cabinet agencies.
Search each by keyword or URL, or follow the advanced search link for more options. When using the advanced search feature, be sure to limit the institution to the South Carolina Department of Archives and History and the collection to South Carolina State Government Cabinet Agencies and Misc Sites, South Carolina State Government Web Archive (A-L) or South Carolina State Government Web Archive (M-Z), depending on your interest. A keyword RSS feed for monitoring search results is available. 12 March 2008. The Internet Archive maintains 3 collections (This resource is one of them.) of archival content from the Web sites of the South Carolina state government. This collection provides archival access to the Web sites of state agencies (A-L), but not including cabinet agencies. It appears to contain some legislative and judicial archives as well as some overlap with the M-Z archive.
Search each by keyword or URL, or follow the advanced search link for more options. When using the advanced search feature, be sure to limit the institution to the South Carolina Department of Archives and History and the collection to South Carolina State Government Cabinet Agencies and Misc Sites, South Carolina State Government Web Archive (A-L) or South Carolina State Government Web Archive (M-Z), depending on your interest. A keyword RSS feed for monitoring search results is available. 12 March 2008. The Internet Archive maintains 3 collections (This resource is one of them.) of archival content from the Web sites of the South Carolina state government. This collection provides archival access to the Web sites of state agencies (M-Z), but not including cabinet agencies. It appears to contain some legislative and judicial archives as well as some overlap with the A-L archive.
Search each by keyword or URL, or follow the advanced search link for more options. When using the advanced search feature, be sure to limit the institution to the South Carolina Department of Archives and History and the collection to South Carolina State Government Cabinet Agencies and Misc Sites, South Carolina State Government Web Archive (A-L) or South Carolina State Government Web Archive (M-Z), depending on your interest. A keyword RSS feed for monitoring search results is available. 12 March 2008. The Internet Archive maintains this collection of archival content from the Web sites of South Dakota state government agencies, boards and commissions. Search it by keyword or URL, or follow the advanced search link for more options. When using the advanced search feature, be sure to limit the institution to the South Dakota State Archives and the collection to Higher Education, Legislative Research Council, or State Agencies, depending on your interest. A keyword RSS feed for monitoring search results is available. 19 July 2005. Crime Time Publishing Co, Inc., publishers of The Investigator's Little Black Book, offers this resource for validating the accuracy of a Social Security number. Currently in beta, the database determines whether the number provided has been issued. If the number is valid, it also provides the state of issuance and information about a death claim against the number. Moreover, each query is checked against a proprietary list of known problem SSNs. (See, for example, the results for the number, 078-05-1120.)
During the beta test, you may conduct up to 100 free queries daily. After the beta, the site will offer up to 3 free queries daily. 15 December 2000. The FBI offers this compilation of links to statewide sex offender registry databases. 14 January 2008. The Federal Voting Assistance Program of the U.S. Department of Defense offers this list of state Web sites where voters may confirm the status of their voter registration or discover their polling place. Each state provides different requirements. Some require site or mail-in registration; others want you to enter name and date of birth. Each state also offers different results. In some cases, it is possible to discover a person's registered city/town. 20 October 2003. Published by the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press, Tapping Officials' Secrets is a compendium of information on every state's open records and open meetings laws. It provides an outline of the laws and attempts to answer specific questions. For example, are autopsy reports public or closed under the state's open access law? You may browse or search the contents of this publication, or compare the law of two or more states. The publication references a 2001 copyright; therefore researchers should take care to update any information it provides. 23 October 2007. The Employment Standards Administration of the U.S. Department of Labor makes available union annual financial reports as well as reports filed by unions, union officers and employees, employers, and labor relations consultants from 2000 to present. Older reports are available upon request.
The database provides a variety of search criteria, including union name, location, assets, liabilities, and other information. Partial name searching is supported.
You may download search results to a CSV spreadsheet. Actual reports may be displayed online or printed. 25 September 2007. The Salt Lake Tribune and its advertising management company, MediaOne, offer several public records databases containing information about Utah residents or companies. Find criminal court charges - felonies, some misdemeanor DUIs, and other misdemeanors and infractions - for approximately 1997 to 2007. The actual date of coverage depends on the jurisdiction where the case was filed. Search by name only. Note: A name match alone - without independent confirmation of other identifying data (date of birth, Social Security number) - does not constitute positive identification. 25 September 2007. The Salt Lake Tribune and its advertising management company, MediaOne, offer several public records databases containing information about Utah residents or companies. Find criminal court charges - felonies, some misdemeanor DUIs, and other misdemeanors and infractions - for approximately 1997 to 2007. The actual date of coverage depends on the jurisdiction where the case was filed. Search by name only. Note: A name match alone - without independent confirmation of other identifying data (date of birth, Social Security number) - does not constitute positive identification.
Other databases available include Utah public salaries (salaries of public officials at all levels of Utah government, including cities, counties, state government, school districts and other agencies), Utah sex offenders (replication of the Utah Department of Correction's official Utah Sex Offender Registry with a mapping feature added), political contributions (Federal Election Commission records on Utah candidates and contributors for the current election cycle), divorces (divorce decree records from Utah courts), and more. 8 May 2007. PI Buzz highlights government resources for obtaining information about teacher certification. Several states, including Alaska, Indiana, Louisiana, Nebraska, New York, Tennessee and West Virginia, provide ways to search for this information online. The write-up also refers readers to the NBCT Directory for finding national certification, as well as two state sites that provide verification look-ups. PI Buzz also provides a related summary, titled" Government Resources: Education." (See our reference to it under "Education Law" or "Tools for Finding Public Records.") 12 May 2008. The National Insurance Crime Bureau (NICB) offers this public service for determining if a U.S.-based vehicle has been reported as stolen. The "database contains vehicles which have been reported stolen by cooperating NICB members, but not recovered. To perform a search a Vehicle Identification Number (VIN) is required. A maximum of 5 VINCheck searches can be conducted within a 24 hour period."
Please note: NICB has not independently verified the information in the database. Many stolen vehicles do not appear in the database. NICB recommends that you verify with your local law enforcement agency that a stolen vehicle report is active before taking any future action regarding a vehicle in the database. 12 March 2008. The Internet Archive maintains this collection of archival content from the Web sites of Virginia state agencies. Search it by keyword or URL, or follow the advanced search link for more options. When using the advanced search feature, be sure to limit the institution to the Library of Virginia and the collection to Virginia State Government Web Sites Collection or one of the executive branch Web sites, the independent agencies collection, the judicial branch collection or the legislative branch collection. A keyword RSS feed for monitoring search results is available. Revised 24 January 2002. Formerly known as Webgator, the site indexes and categorizes Web-based resources for public records research. Find sites for obtaining criminal records and information, registries of missing persons, state motor vehicle department sites, freedom of information act guidelines for various agencies, and more. 7 June 2000. Revised 25 March 2008. Find information about how to order birth, death, marriage, or divorce records in all 50 states. Some, but not all, states offer the records online. See, for example, Colorado, which allows marriage and divorce verification searches. Most services here incur a charge. 6 December 2007. The Washington State Bar Association offers an unofficial database for finding attorney public disciplinary information. Search by name, keyword, type of action, or . Information provided includes the attorney's name, bar number, discipline notice, rules violated, and the effective date. 22 January 2008. Revised 22 January 2008. Find a list of licensees, who have recently received public discipline. The list is available for the following types of licenses: auctioneers, bail bonds, boxing, wrestling and martial arts, collection agencies, cosmetologists, drying schools, dyed diesel, limousines, notaries public, private investigators, real estate appraisers, brokers and sales people, security guards, travel sales, vehicle dealers, manufacturers, transport and disposal, wreckers and vehicles for hire. There is no search option. 22 February 2005. The Translation Station, a translation and interpretation services firm, offers this search tool for finding patent, trademark or copyright cases pending in federal courts. You may search by case type and party name, court, state or date to find basic case information. There is a charge to retrieve full-text court dockets. However, the information provided is sufficient for retrieval via the less expensive U.S. Party/Case Index. 12 May 2006. The Wall Street Journal Online makes available a one-day index to stories about business people. The stories appear in the print edition, and not necessarily in the online edition. The index refreshes on a daily basis and there is no archive. 13 December 2004. Revised 1 April 2005. Ziggs is a specialty search engine that helps you find information about professionals. Search by last or first name, city/state, company or keyword to find Web pages containing biographies about business professionals. Currently, the database contains links to more than 2 million profiles from business people in 40,000 companies. |
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