National News

• After taking some time off 7-Eleven, the convenience store chain known for helping cure the munchies at all hours of the day or night, is re-opening its corporate PAC. Recently, the chain has been interested in immigration reform and attempting to become eligible for the SNAP program. (Roll Call)
• After some delay, the Senate approved President Obama’s two recent nominees to the FEC. Republican Lee Goodman and Democrat Ann Ravel were approved by unanimous consent and will join the board shortly. (Public Integrity)
• Aneesh Chopra, the first ever US CTO, argued that APIs are the wave towards open data in the future. After an unsuccesful run for public office, Chopra recently joined up with Apigee, an API manegment and strategy company. (Government Technology)

International News

• China is planning to lift its restrictive internet rules, including its ban on Facebook, but only within the Shanghai Free-Trade Zone.  (SCMP)
• A new report looks at fledgling FOI laws in emerging democracies, identifying a number of ways that existing FOI legislation can be improved. (NDI Democracy Works)
• Before his speech at the UN yesterday President Obama spoke at a roundtable on ways that Civil Society can be supported around the world. He argued that the future of democracy depends on support for NGO and citizen involvement in public affairs. (POLITICO)

State and Local News

• The Center for Urban Science and Progress, a new research center launched in downtown Brooklyn, aims to become the world’s authority on “urban informatics.” It is housed within New York University and takes advantage of private funding from IBM, Microsoft, Cisco, and more. (The Atlantic Cities)
• New York kept rolling out open data news this week. Yesterday it was the Big Apple releasing their Open Data Compliance Plan, which was a requirement of the 2012 open data law and outlined a timeline for release of more than 400 data-sets through 2018. The release is surely impressive, but some noted important data sets that weren’t mentioned. (Tech President)

Events Today

• Is Democracy the Best Form of Governance in Africa? SAIS. 12:30 – 2:00 pm. Johns Hopkins SAIS, Bernstein-Offit Building, Room 500, 1717 Massachusetts Ave NW, Washington, DC.

Events Tomorrow

• Executive Business Meeting to consider S. 42, the Criminal Antitrust Anti-Retaliation Act and the nomination of Patricia Wald to be a member of the Privacy and Civil Liberties Oversight Board. Senate Judiciary. 10:00 am. 226 Dirksen Senate Office Building.
• Open Hearing: FISA Legislation. Senate Intelligence. 2:00 pm. 216 Hart Senate Office Building.

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