National Taxpayer Advocate Nina Olson has testified in front of Congress on your behalf, and as a result, some of you may be $1000 richer when the IRS makes mistakes.  Nancy Trejos reports in the Washington Post that Olson has called for a $1 million fund that would enable the IRS to pay miffed taxpayers from $100 to $1000 for IRS mistakes.  Olson also called for the abolition of private debt collection, a function the IRS has been outsourcing for several years.  Read Nancy Trejos here.

Elizabeth Williamson of the Washington Post profiles Consumer Product Safety Commission head Nancy Nord, who is having to adjust to a larger budget for her agency.  Though this would seem to be a dream for any federal manager, the Bush Administration had called for a miniscule increase in CPSC’s 2008 budget, in spite of a flood of recalls and problems with toys from China in 2007.  Congress raised CPSC’s budget by $17 million, and Nord and her team now have to decide how to use that money to protect U.S. consumers.  Read Williamson here.

Jacques Leslie of Mother Jones magazine has written a rigorous, real-life look at China’s environmental problems, problems that are already America’s and the world’s.  You may already know about Chinese dust storms leaving their mark from California to Maine, but did you know that the cashmere sweater you just bought was one of the reasons?  Leslie, who drove out from Beijing to look at China’s rapidly-growing deserts, talks about solutions that might help in China, if the U.S. is willing to change as well.  Read Jacques Leslie here.