Government

• Senate arms behind closed doors: The Senate Armed Services Committee voted for the National Defense Authorization Act last week. Unlike the parallel House process, the SAIC operates in secret. The details of the bill passed by the SAIC remain unavailable. (POGO)
• Collaborate and listen…to Todd Park: U.S. CTO Todd Park discussed the future of digital government, focusing on the need for continued collaboration across agencies and increased productivity through technology. (O’Reilly Radar)
• Data.github: Data.gov publicly released the source code on which it’s based, called the Open Government Platform, through GitHub. (Fed Scoop)

Campaign Finance

• Everything’s bigger in Texas…Including political donations. According to analysis by the Houston Chronicle, Texans have given $36.5 million to the 20 biggest super PACs, more than donors from any other state.  (Politico)
• How many small donors does it take? The Obama campaign has raised a lot of money from small donors by holding contests to win a chance to meet the President. According to the campaign, the contests are necessary because they don’t accept donations from  lobbyists or corporate interest groups. (Politico)

International

• Open local in Tunisia: Tunisian open government activists have launched the first municipal level open data website in the country. Focusing on the city of Sayada, the website publishes all municipal budget data for the current fiscal year. (Global Voices)
• How to microblog in China: A major Chinese microblogging site instituted new regulations to restrict the political content posted and discussed by its users. Users that continue to discuss sensitive political content could be temporarily blocked, or have their accounts deleted altogether. (Yahoo/AP)

• Data-Powered Journalism Series: Don’t Fear the Math. National Press Club. Tues. 5/29. 9:00 am. 529 14th Street NW, 13th Floor, Bloomberg Room, Washington, DC 20045. 
• Cisco to Release Findings of Global Broadband Survey. National Press Club. Wed. 5/30. 10:00 am. 529 14th Street NW, 13th Floor, Washington, DC 20045.
• Building Integrity, Defining Fraud. IFES. Wed. 5/30. 2:00-3:30 pm. International Foundation for Electoral Systems, 1850 K Street NW, 5th Floor, Washington, DC.
• Driving Your Social Strategy Workshop. National Press Club. Thurs. 5/31. 8:00 am. 529 14th Street NW, 13th Floor, Washington, DC 20045.
• A quest for democratic citizenship: Civil society in Putin’s Russia. AEI. Thurs. 5/31. 2:00 pm. American Enterprise Institute, 1150 17th Street NW, Washington, DC 20036.
• Understanding the Smith-Mundt Modernization Act. Heritage Foundation. Thurs. 5/31. 3:00-4:00 pm. 214 Massachusetts Ave NE, Washington, DC 20002, Lehrman Auditorium.