NEWS: Nov. 8, 2016
Elections | The Nation
Polls Brace for a Chaotic Election Day
State leaders, voting experts and advocates say they are preparing for an unusual level of confusion and chaos today as voters cast their ballots in a historically bitter presidential race. Early voters in some states have faced hours-long lines for the past several days. Democrats have filed a flurry of last-minute lawsuits alleging voter intimidation by Donald Trump supporters. Election monitors are especially worried this year about the specter of voter intimidation after Trump's calls for his supporters to stake out polling places and watch for fraud.
>> Washington Post
Justice Department Monitoring Polls in 28 States
The Justice Department is deploying more than 500 people in 28 states to monitor Election Day practices and guard against intimidation and disruptions--a sharp decrease from the 2012 election, when the department had more than 780 personnel in place.
>> New York Times
Half of Florida's Voters Cast Early Ballots
Powered by a historic number of early voters, Florida's pre-election turnout hit a record 6.4 million Monday, more than any other state and equal to half of the state's nearly 13 million voters.
>> Tampa Bay Times/Miami Herald
Public Workforce | The Nation
Key Congress Races Could Impact Federal Workers
The spotlight may have been on the presidential campaigns, but there are a number of congressional races whose outcomes could influence federal agencies' budgets, employee pay and benefits, efforts to hold federal workers accountable for their job performance, postal reform, and a host of other management issues.
>> Government Executive
OPM Loses Ground on Feds' Retirement Claims
The Office of Personnel Management received nearly 400 more retirement claims in October over the previous month. That, combined with a lower number processed, erased much of the gains OPM made in September in reducing its inventory of unprocessed claims.
>> Federal News Radio
Wake County Employees to Get Paid Parental Leave
Wake County, N.C., commissioners voted unanimously to allow county employees--male and female, full- and part-time--to be paid for up to six weeks while on leave taking care of a new child.
>> Raleigh News & Observer
| | Paul Ciancia, Gerardo Hernandez |
Public Safety | Los Angeles
Airport Gunman Who Killed
TSA Agent Gets Life Sentence
The gunman whose 2013 rampage at Los Angeles International Airport left a Transportation Security Administration officer dead and three other people injured was sentenced to life in prison for the premeditated attack in which he targeted federal officers. Paul Ciancia had pleaded guilty to the murder of TSA agent Gerardo Hernandez and other charges as part of a deal in which federal prosecutors withdrew their decision to seek the death penalty.
>> Los Angeles Times
Colorado City to Pay $2.6 Million in Police Slaying Case
Aurora, Colo., will pay $2.6 million, the largest settlement in the city's history, to the family of an unarmed black man who was shot to death by a city police officer in March 2013. The settlement includes changes to improve oversight of officer conduct.
>> Denver Post
Philippines President: We Won't Buy U.S. Police Rifles
Philippines President Rodrigo Duterte ordered the cancellation of the purchase of some 26,000 police rifles from the United States after U.S. Senate aides said last month that Washington was halting the sale due to concerns about human-rights violations.
>> Reuters
Higher Education | Charlottesville, Va.
Former UVa Administrator Awarded
$3 Million in Rolling Stone Lawsuit
A federal jury awarded $3 million in damages to a former University of Virginia associate dean after finding that a discredited and retracted Rolling Stone magazine article sullied her reputation, career, and physical and mental health by alleging that she was indifferent to allegations of a gang rape on campus. Nicole Eramo had sought $7.5 million in her defamation lawsuit.
>> Washington Post, Charlottesville Daily Progress
Penn State Challenges $7.3 Million Award to Ex-Coach
Pennsylvania State University asked a judge to overturn the verdict in Mike McQueary's defamation case, labeling as "exorbitant" the $7.3 million a jury awarded the former assistant football coach, who was a central witness in the Jerry Sandusky child-sex-abuse case.
>> Philly.com
All Frat, Sorority Events Banned at Washington State U.
Citing assaults, rapes, injuries and other alcohol-related incidents, Washington State University's Greek community has imposed a ban on all social events hosted by fraternities and sororities--regardless of the presence of alcohol--until the beginning of spring semester.
>> Tacoma News-Tribune
K-12 Education | Kansas City
Schools Hit Accreditation Target
for First Time in Three Decades
Kansas City school officials hung balloons and struck up the band Monday for a long-awaited celebration. For the first time in nearly 30 years, the district has scored at full accreditation level on the state-issued report that measures progress in a number of performance areas, including how well students did on standardized tests.
>> Kansas City Star
Spending | Montana
Tribe Repays $2 Million in Misspent Federal Funds
Montana's Crow Tribe has reimbursed the federal government more than $2 million that was intended to pay for the construction of a new transit building but instead was put into the tribe's general budget. A 2013 federal audit of the tribe confirmed the misuse of the money.
>> AP/Billings Gazette
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VIEWPOINT
The Election | Edward B. Foley and Charles Stewart III
It Might Not End Tonight. That's OK.
After all that's happened in this bizarre election, we need to brace ourselves for the chance that it might not end tonight, or even tomorrow morning. No one wants to relive the 2000 recount, but the good news is that we don't have to. Some of the reforms adopted in the aftermath of 2000 have had the unintended but unavoidable consequence of increasing the possibility that a presidential election remains undecided for days or weeks. Yet such uncertainty would likely be a sign of the electoral system functioning as intended, not of a massive failure. And an election without a clear victor after the voting ends need not be as disorderly or as protracted as the 2000 mess.
>> Washington Post | More commentaries
QUOTABLE
“I hate it when they say, 'He gave his life for his country.' Nobody gives their life for anything. We steal the lives of these kids.”
Rear Adm. Gene La Rocque, a decorated Navy veteran who spoke out against the wastes of war, was labeled a traitor by some, and went on to found the Center for Defense Information, a private think tank that was described as both pro-peace and pro-military, and who died recently at the age of 98, in an interview with Studs Terkel for a 1984 book
>> New York Times | More quotes
DATAPOINT
$219,995.93
Amount that Liang Zhao Zhang, a janitor for the San Francisco region's Bay Area Rapid Transit, was paid in salary last year, adding $162,050.06 to his base pay of $57,945.87 by working more than 2,400 hours of time-and-a-half and double-pay overtime, bringing his total compensation including benefits to $276,121.07
>> San Francisco Chronicle | More data
UPCOMING EVENTS
Writing a CV
Tomorrow | Noon ET
This webinar is part of a series designed for ASPA's student and young professional members. For more information on the webinar or to register, click here. |
U.S. Office of Personnel Management
Webinar: "Monitoring and Measuring the Impact of Engagement"
Today, 11 a.m. ET
American Society for Public Administration
Student and young professional webinar: "Writing a CV"
Nov. 9, noon ET
Brookings Institution
Discussion: "Election 2016: Results and Implications"
Nov. 9, 2-3:30 p.m. ET, Washington, D.C.
GovLoop
Online training: "How Maps Derived from Imagery Help Government Understand the Whole Story"
Nov. 9, 2-3 p.m. ET, Washington, D.C.
American Enterprise Institute
Discussion: "What Will the 2016 Election Mean for Education?"
Nov. 10, 9-10:15 a.m. ET, Washington, D.C.
Heritage Foundation and American Enterprise Institute
Report release and discussion: "A Post-Election Analysis: the Future of the Constitution in a New Administration"
Nov. 10, noon-1:30 p.m. ET, Washington, D.C.
Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health and Huffington Post
Webcast: "The Chronic Pain Epidemic: What's to Be Done?"
Nov. 10, 12:30 p.m. ET
Governing
Webinar: "Post-Election Briefing"
Nov. 10, 2 p.m. ET
American Society for Public Administration and Penn State Harrisburg
Northeast Conference on Public Administration
Nov. 11-13, Harrisburg, Pa.
>> Full events listings
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