NEWS: Oct. 28, 2016
Public Safety | Oregon
Acquittals in Refuge Takeover
Are a Blow to Government
in Fight over Public Lands
A federal jury delivered an extraordinary blow to the federal government in a long-running battle over the use of public lands when it acquitted all seven defendants charged with conspiring to prevent federal employees from doing their jobs in their armed occupation early this year of the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge in rural southeastern Oregon. Defense attorneys--who themselves were surprised by the acquittals--spent five weeks arguing that the takeover amounted to time-honored First Amendment protest and civil disobedience.
>> The Oregonian, AP/ABC News, Reuters
Dozens Arrested in Massive Scams from India Call Centers
Federal prosecutors brought charges against dozens of people accused of taking part in a giant international crime ring that relied on telephone call centers in India to bilk some 15,000 Americans out of more than $300 million with callers posing as IRS tax collectors, U.S. customs agents, police officers or other authority figures.
>> New York Times
Obama Shortens Prison Sentences for 98 Convicts
President Obama shortened the prison sentences for 98 convicts serving time for drug-related offenses, including for 42 people serving life sentences. Obama so far has granted 872 commutations.
>> Reuters
Public Workforce | Arizona
Agency Director Had Do-Not-Hire List,
Misled Governor, Says Fired Assistant
Arizona Department of Economic Security Director Tim Jeffries created a do-not-hire list of public employees he had fired, tried to prevent them from getting other state jobs and later misled Gov. Doug Ducey's Office about it, according to a former DES assistant director who was among 475 DES employees fired by Jeffries and the third former high-level DES employee to say a do-not-hire list exists. Jeffries, who Ducey has stripped of his power to fire state workers, has adamantly denied the existence of such a list.
>> Arizona Republic
$12,000 Raises Sought For Texas Child Protection Workers
Texas child protective services caseworkers and supervisors would get $12,000 raises under a plan submitted by Department of Family and Protective Services Commissioner Henry "Hank" Whitman aimed at reducing sky-high employee turnover at the agency.
>> Dallas Morning News
Federal Government Exceeds Hiring Goal for Disabled
The Obama administration announced that between 2011 and 2015 it had hired 109,575 part- and full-time federal employees with disabilities, exceeding its five-year goal of hiring 100,000.
>> Government Executive
Audit: L.A. Schools Struggle to Resolve Teacher Cases
Years after a series of high-profile abuse cases, the Los Angeles schools still have problems resolving allegations of wrongdoing by teachers and holding down costs related to them, a state audit says.
>> Los Angeles Times
National Security | The Nation
Company Hires Ex-FBI Director
in Wake of Massive Data-Theft Charge
Booz Allen Hamilton has hired former FBI director Robert Mueller to conduct a review of the firm's security processes after one of its employees was charged with stealing huge amounts of classified data from the National Security Agency. Prosecutors said Harold T. Martin took at least 50 terabytes of digital data and had six boxes of files, many left open in his house or car.
>> Washington Post
Technology Management | The Nation
White House: Centralize IT for Cybersecurity
Obama administration cybersecurity officials plan to urge the next president's team to drastically centralize information-technology services, including consolidating IT operations for small agencies, to reduce the risk of another massive data breach.
>> Nextgov
Guidance Aims to Help Agencies with Legacy Systems
The White House issued proposed guidance to help federal agencies identify and prioritize their legacy systems in need of upgrades, starting agencies down the path of developing modernization plans for "specific high-risk, high-priority systems."
>> FedScoop
GSA Taps Former Pixar Exec to Head Tech Transformation
The General Services Administration has tapped Rob Cook, a former Pixar executive and Oscar-winner, to be the commissioner of the agency's new Technology Transformation Service.
>> Federal Times
Transportation | Philadelphia
Amtrak to Pay Up to $265 Million
in High-Speed Crash that Killed 8
Amtrak has agreed to pay up to $265 million in one of the largest rail-crash settlements in the United States for claims related to a high-speed derailment in Philadelphia last year that killed eight people and injured more than 200. The train was traveling 106 mph as it entered a curve where the speed limit was 50.
>> New York Times
Higher Education | The Nation
Rules Aim to Help Defrauded Student Borrowers
The Department of Education released the final version of controversial regulations spawned by the collapse of Corinthian Colleges that will allow student-loan borrowers to have their debts discharged if they were victims of fraud or misrepresentation.
>> Inside Higher Ed, Chronicle of Higher Education
Jury Awards Former Penn State Coach $7.3 Million
A jury ordered Pennsylvania State University to pay $7.3 million to former coach Mike McQueary, who blamed school officials for destroying his life and coaching career after he emerged five years ago as the star witness in the Jerry Sandusky child-sex-abuse case.
>> Philly.com
Politics | The Nation
Half of Governors' Races Look Like Tossups
As the 2016 election nears its conclusion, lots of gubernatorial races remain up for grabs. Montana's has shifted in the GOP's direction while races in Washington state and Oregon have shifted toward the Democrats, leaving half of the 12 races in the tossup category.
>> Governing
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VIEWPOINT
The Nation | Gerald S. Rose
The Best of Times for America
A significant segment of Americans sees this nation in decline, if not free fall. Never has the United States been in such bad shape, they say, and it is getting worse. Nothing could be further from the truth. I would ask today's naysayers to identify a period in our recent history when the nation was in better shape--economically, socially or in any other way--than now. It certainly could not be any time between 1925 and 1950, a period of economic depression, war and its aftermath. It could not be the 1950s or '60s, with the Korean War, the Vietnam conflict, riots and unrest. Would they select the 1970s to 1990s and the mortal dangers of the Cold War? Perhaps they would select the dawn of the new century to 2008, as we slid into the worst recession since the Great Depression. This is the best of times, not the worst of times. To argue otherwise is to deny history and reality.
>> Washington Post | More commentaries
QUOTABLE
“If you think technology is going to solve your problems, it's not.”
Anna Rigney-Phillips, chief of financial support for the Department of Veterans Affairs' Financial Service Center, agreeing with other IT experts that as federal agencies consider overhauling their customer-service operations they need to ensure that the chatbots, self-service channels and other technology they deploy is laser-focused on serving customers' needs
>> Nextgov | More quotes
DATAPOINT
More than 24,000
Average number of federal retirees dialing the Office of Personnel Management's toll-free customer-service number with questions about their benefits who reached a busy signal during fiscal 2015, according to a new report from the agency's inspector general saying more than one in four of the 1.9 million calls to OPM's Retirement Services were ignored entirely
>> Government Executive | More data
UPCOMING EVENTS
Coming Soon:
NAPA's Fall Meeting
Nov. 16-18 | Arlington, Va.
The theme is "Strengthening Public Administration in a Transition," and attendees will hear from a range of speakers including Elaine Kamarck of the Brookings Institution and former U.S. Rep. Thomas M. Davis III. To register or learn more, click here. |
Heritage Foundation and Foreign Policy Initiative
Book discussion: "American Power and Liberal Order: a Conservative Internationalist Grand Strategy"
Today, 11 a.m.-noon ET, Washington, D.C.
American Public Health Association
Annual Meeting and Exposition
Oct. 29-Nov. 2, Denver
Governing
Summit on Health and Human Services
Oct. 31-Nov. 1, Arlington, Va.
Brookings Institution
Discussion: "Nuclear Arms Control Choices for the Next Administration"
Oct. 31, 2-3:30 p.m. ET, Washington, D.C.
Urban Institute, Duke University, The New School and Insight Center for Community Economic Development
Report release and discussion: "The Color of Wealth In the Nation's Capital"
Nov. 1, 11 a.m.-1:15 p.m. ET, Washington, D.C.
American Society for Public Administration
Webinar: "Recent Changes and Pitfalls in Federal Grants"
Nov. 2, 1 p.m. ET
Association for Public Policy Analysis and Management
Fall Research Conference
Nov. 3-5, Washington, D.C.
American Society for Public Administration
Webinar: Public Safety Applicant Testing and Assessment"
Nov. 3, 1 p.m. ET
>> Full events listings
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