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Congress' private reports are now public.

For decades, the Congressional Research Service has provided its advice and cost estimates to federal politicians on current issues and pending legislation.

But those reports were not available to the public unless a representative or senator released them, usually because they were politically beneficial. 

Over the weekend, the Web site Wikileaks published 6,780 CRS reports online. A few contain some interesting facts related to North Carolina:

* A recent hike in cigarette taxes will lead to an estimated loss of about $1.5 billion in revenue to the states through the tobacco settlement.

* Under state law, emergency management workers in North Carolina cannot advocate the violent overthrow of government.

* Only about 30 percent of the money from the tobacco settlement has actually been spent on health care, while 23 percent filled budget gaps.

A full list of reports is available here. See something related to North Carolina? Post the name of the report or a link in the comments thread and we'll add it to the post.