The Goodson Blogson

This guest post was authored by Marguerite Most , Reference Librarian and Senior Lecturing Fellow. The library's National Library Week speaker for 2015 is Zephyr Teachout , Duke Law '99. Teachout, an Associate Professor at Fordham Law School, will talk about her latest book Corruption in America: From Benjamin Franklin's Snuffbox to Citizens United on Tuesday, March 24 in room 3041 . This event is co-sponsored by the Duke Program in Public Law , the student branch of the American Constitution Society , and the Goodson Law Library . The event is open to the public. In 2014, when Teachout sought the Democratic Party nomination for Governor of New York against incumbent Andrew Cuomo, she captured over 34% of the primary vote in a campaign with a central focus on anti-government corruption. Teachout supports public financing of elections and limits on corporate donors, and explores these issues, as well as the abuse of political power and the history of campaign finance ...

Image of the I'm Alone from Newfoundland Shipwrecks On this date in 1929, the U.S. Coast Guard spotted a Canadian vessel approximately 10½ miles off the coast of Louisiana. The I'm Alone was a notorious liquor-smuggling schooner, whose history was well known to the Coast Guard's Wolcott crew. After the I'm Alone crew ignored orders to stop for inspection, the Wolcott fired two warning shots (one of which pierced the Canadian ship's sails), and then pursued the ship for two more days in open water. A second Coast Guard vessel, the Dexter , joined the chase on March 22, lending additional firepower since the Wolcott 's gun had jammed after its second warning shot. The Dexter 's commanding officer again ordered the I'm Alone to stop, warning that the Coast Guard would sink the ship if crew did not comply. According to State Department correspondence, the master of the I'm Alone responded "that he would be sunk rather than stop," ...

If you drive a car, I'll tax the street If you try to sit, I'll tax your seat If you get too cold, I'll tax the heat If you take a walk, I'll tax your feet --The Beatles, Taxman, on Revolver (1966) With just a month left until tax day ( Wednesday, April 15 ), it's time to get serious about completing 2014 federal and state tax returns. This is the first year in which all Americans are required to maintain health insurance under the 2010 Affordable Care Act (see TurboTax overview of the most recent changes ), and your once-familiar tax forms may look a bit different as a result. Although the Goodson Law Library staff cannot answer substantive tax-related questions (such as "what forms do I need to file?" or help with interpreting the form instructions), the Goodson Blogson can recommend some starting places for finding tax assistance .  Before you pay for a professional tax preparation service, consider whether you qualify for the IRS Free File progra...

Today, approximately one-third of active federal judges are women (source: Biographical Directory of Federal Judges, 1789-present ). But it took nearly a century and a half of United States history for the first female federal judges to break the judicial glass ceiling. In 1928, President Calvin Coolidge appointed Genevieve Rose Cline to the U.S. Customs Court (renamed the U.S. Court of International Trade in 1980). It would be six more years before a woman joined an Article III court, when President Franklin Delano Roosevelt nominated Florence Ellinwood Allen to the United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit . In honor of Women's History Month , the U.S. Courts website profiled these and other history-making women on the federal bench . Three of the federal judges covered were also highlighted 20 years ago in remarks by U.S. Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Women in the Federal Judiciary: Three Way Pavers and the Exhilarating Change President Carter Wroug...

The Duke University Libraries recently subscribed to the Financial Times Historical Archive , a facsimile edition of the seminal British finance newspaper from 1888-2010. It's a searchable and browseable collection of every article, advertisement and market listing from the very first issue of the newspaper until the end of 2010. Known as the London Financial Guide when its first issue was published on January 9, 1888 ( view issue ), the tri-weekly paper contained invaluable financial analysis for the low price of one penny. Barely a month later, the paper had expanded to a daily format and renamed itself The Financial Times ( view Feb. 13, 1888 issue ), illustrating its commitment to global financial coverage beyond the city of London. Other fun facts from FT history, including the first printing on its now-iconic pink paper (1893, for you trivia buffs) can be found on History of the FT: An Interactive Timeline or in the 1988 publication The Financial Times: A Centenary Hi...