{
  "id": "2003-february-database-library-news",
  "slug": "2003-february-database-library-news",
  "url": "https://dwillis.github.io/uplink/article/2003-february-database-library-news.html",
  "year": 2003,
  "month": "February",
  "monthNum": 2,
  "headline": "Database Library News",
  "kicker": "NICAR UPDATE",
  "author_name": "",
  "author_title": "",
  "affiliation": "IRE and NICAR",
  "summary": "The SBA Disaster Loans and 7(a) business loan databases contain hundreds of thousands of records showing which small businesses received federal loans for disaster recovery and general operations, while updated immigration data tracks characteristics of permanent legal residents admitted to the U.S. in 1999-2000.",
  "keywords": [
    "loans",
    "databases",
    "immigrants"
  ],
  "topics": [
    "Data & Databases",
    "Business & Economy",
    "Demographics & Census"
  ],
  "technologies": [],
  "full_text": "Database Library News\n\nSmall Business data (updated): The Small Business Administration won't let natural disasters and setbacks stand in the way of America's love affair with greasy pepperoni. More than $5.5 million has been awarded to businesses that serve cheesy slices and whole pizza pies from 1980 through September 2002.\n\nThe SBA's Disaster Loans database can offer details about how natural and other disasters affect businesses dealing with pizza, burritos, bagels as well as products and services that aren't edible. Journalists can discover who received loans and why.\n\nThe roughly 751,000 records include more than 9,000 recipients receiving almost $1 billion in loans to help them recover from the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.\n\nAs winter storms hit some parts of the country, you also can find snow removal companies to which the SBA has awarded more than $1 million combined through general 7(a) business loans. Since the SBA began in 1953, it has offered loans through the 7(a) program to help small businesses in the United States.\n\nWithin the SBA 7(a) database of small business loans are nearly 830,000 records of companies that have received the guaranteed loans since 1953. Journalists can use this data to determine which lenders give small businesses the most money, as well as which businesses are receiving that money.\n\nAnother database from the SBA contains a list of companies qualifying for the 8(a) minority and other disadvantaged business programs. NICAR has offered this data in the past, but this latest update contains many new fields. Journalists can discover how many women, veterans, blacks, American Indians, Native Americans, Puerto Ricans, Hispanics and other minorities are active in the program.\n\nmoney, as well as which businesses are receiving that money.\n\nAnother database from the SBA contains a list of companies qualifying for the 8(a) minority and other disadvantaged business programs. NICAR has offered this data in the past, but this latest update contains many new fields. Journalists can discover how many women, veterans, blacks, American Indians, Native Americans, Puerto Ricans, Hispanics and other minorities are active in the program.\n\nImmigration data (updated):\n\nNICAR just updated its database of immigrants admitted to the U.S. as permanent legal residents. The data, maintained by the Immigration and Naturalization Service, contains characteristics of the aliens who were granted legal permanent residence in the U.S. during fiscal years 2000 and 1999.\n\nIn fiscal 1999, some 647,000 aliens were granted permanent residence. In fiscal year 2000, there were nearly 850,000. The database includes each immigrant's country of birth and country of last permanent residence, as well as the intended metropolitan area and state of residence. Journalists can track which countries most immigrants come from and which occupations are listed most.\n\nTo order or find out more about these databases, visit www.ire.org/datalibrary or call 573-884-7711.",
  "provenance": {
    "extracted_by": "anthropic/claude-sonnet-4-6",
    "extracted_at": "2026-07-05",
    "verified": true
  },
  "similar": [
    {
      "slug": "2006-january-february-disaster-loans",
      "score": 0.426
    },
    {
      "slug": "2005-january-february-disaster-aid",
      "score": 0.36
    },
    {
      "slug": "1996-august-the-rich-get-richer",
      "score": 0.294
    },
    {
      "slug": "2006-january-february-sept-11-loans-steered-to-the-unscathed",
      "score": 0.29
    },
    {
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      "score": 0.274
    }
  ],
  "html_url": "https://dwillis.github.io/uplink/article/2003-february-database-library-news.html",
  "json_url": "https://dwillis.github.io/uplink/article/2003-february-database-library-news.json"
}