Best of the Web: Government & Law

The official site of the New York City government, contains links to all city agencies and departments, the mayor's office and other elected officials, and much more.

Helps you to find and use the courts in New York State by providing courthouse information, a guide to selecting the right court for a particular problem, lists of court administrators, answers to frequently asked law questions, links to official court system forms, and other useful information.

Discusses Desk Appearance Ticket (DAT) procedures in the criminal justice system primarily in New York City. Offers detailed explanations of what offenses qualify for DATs, what DATs mean, how to hire a lawyer for a DAT, what to do, and more.

Provides information on specific charities and wise giving practices and also advises charities on how to meet and maintain high ethical standards of operation. Search their database for free charity reports.

Obtain biographical and contact information for Assembly Members, search for current bills by number and keyword, obtain full-text legislative reports, and access the New York State Constitution and statutes.

Search or browse New York Consolidated Laws on the FindLaw site.

Many of the New York State Court System's decisions are available online. Select a court from the menu listed to search through its decisions.

Contains many links to New York state government information, World Trade Center Emergency information, and Governor David Paterson's homepage.

Search the current database of NYS legislative bills, summaries, sponsor memos, floor votes, and resolutions on the Website of the NYS Legislature.

Access useful guides to courts throughout New York State, juror information, court rules, and the future court appearance system to find all pending cases.

From the New York City's Mayor's Office.

Telephone numbers to call about noise in New York City, whether caused by garbage pickups, bars or other sources of noise.

Information on voter registration (including downloadable forms), polling places, dates of elections, how to become a candidate, and how to volunteer as a poll worker, plus much more.

View the Mayor's Management Report and the Preliminary MMR from fiscal year 1997 to the present. These reports provide performance highlights and statistics for NYC agencies.

Includes links to the Office of the Mayor, city agencies, business resources, attractions, and events.

Links to NYS Family Court and Surrogate's Court forms as well as forms for uncontested divorce and name change.

"Online License Verification" allows you to search by name and license number for license verification of individuals in 38 professions. Also includes summaries of Regents Actions on Professional Discipline and "A Consumer's Bill of Rights."

The New York Law Reports Style Manual is issued by the Law Reporting Bureau and provides a guide for court opinion writers and editors in five primary areas: citation, abbreviation, capitalization, quotation, and word style.

An FBI publication explaining the complexities of online child exploitation.

This NYS Department of Health Website offers links to "Your Rights as a Hospital Patient in New York State" (available in English and Spanish), a Consumers Guide to Arranging a Funeral, and Before Prepaying Your Funeral, Know Your Rights.

This Library of Congress site provides authoritative, in-depth information about the nations and other areas of the world.

Includes background information on each President and First Lady, election results, cabinet members, and links to historical documents, including inaugural addresses.

Background information, election results, cabinet members, notable events, and some points of interest on each of the presidents.

PPS is a nonprofit organization dedicated to creating and sustaining public places that build communities. They provide technical assistance, education, and research through programs in parks, plazas and central squares buildings and civic architecture transportation and public markets.

RPA recommends policy initiatives and physical and human infrastructure investments in the New York-New Jersey-Connecticut metropolitan area.

This site, created by the American Bar Association, provides tips for safely shopping online.

An alphabetical listing by state with subcategories for statewide offices legislative, judicial and executive branches and cities and counties.

Statistics on social and economic conditions in the United States. Selected international data are also included.

Covers the most common events and procedures in the Housing Part of the Civil Court of the City of New York, more commonly known as Housing Court.

Definitions and explanations of legal terms, phrases, and concepts. Browse terms alphabetically.

The National Commission on Terrorist Attacks Upon the United States (9/11 Commission) offers links to two staffmonographs that provide much more detailed treatment of two important subjects covered by the Commissions statutory mandate: terrorist financing and immigration, border security, and terrorist travel.

The Manhattan Institute is a think tank whose mission is to develop and disseminate new ideas that foster greater economic choice and individual responsibility.

Information about the First Family, the Cabinet, and agencies and commissions. Also provides access to the text of speeches, press releases, briefings, and other documents. Includes an area for children.

An indispensable tool for legislative research from the Library of Congess, and a companion to Federal material available through the US Government Printing Office. Users can search theCongressional Record, track the status of a bill, access full-text versions of bills, public and private laws, check roll call votes in the House and Senate, as well as look at the schedules ofboth houses and their committees. Thomas has links to other Library of Congress legislative sites and historical documents.

Links to U.S. Embassies and Consulates throughout the world.

Millions of documentary treasures spanning a century of life in America.

U.S. Census Bureau home page. Censuses of Population and Housing, Economic Censuses and many more statistical sources, both current and historical.

Find law-school law libraries listed by state. Links to the law schools' Websites, online library catalogs and law journals are provided.

Developed and maintained by the Board of Elections in the City of New York, this site explains how to register to vote, gives upcoming election dates, locates polling places, and provides candidate lists and other information about New York City elections.

Information about how to file a complaint, file a claim to the tuition reimbursement fund, obtain information about cancellation policies and regulations governing private school agents.

From this sites home page select the Your Action Center tab at the top of the page. This will lead you to many useful articles and resources concerning your rights with regard to medicaid, health insurance plans, hospital emergency treatment under federal law advocacy issues such as when to seek legal advice and how to prepare for a meeting with legal counsel.