Government news

• October 22nd is National Prescription Drug Take-Back Day

  20-10-2016 20:50
  Nearly 130 people in the U.S. die every day from a drug overdose, and most of those involve prescription opioids or heroin. The majority of people of people who misuse prescription drugs report that they obtained the drugs from family or friends.But this weekend you can do something about it and help protect your family and friends.This Saturday, October 22, is National Prescription Drug Take-Back Day, organized by the Drug Enforcement Administration. If you have unneeded or expired prescription
  
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• Behind the Scenes: The Affordable Care Act

  20-10-2016 16:00
  Today, President Obama heads to Miami, Florida to talk about the progress we've made for Americans across the country since the Affordable Care Act became the law of the land over six years ago. To help celebrate this landmark legislation, we're releasing never-before-seen footage from the day that the Affordable Care Act was passed and the day it was signed into law. Take a look:The footage includes: President Obama traveling to the Capitol to speak to the Democratic Members of the House and Se
  
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• What Natoma's Letter Means to President Obama

  20-10-2016 15:39
  Watch President Obama's remarks in Miama, Florida at 1:55pm ET.Hanging on a wall outside the Oval Office, there’s a framed letter from a woman named Natoma Canfield. For years, Natoma did everything right. She bought health insurance and paid her premiums on time. But one day, the fear of so many became her reality: She was diagnosed with cancer. She fought for her health and had been living cancer-free for some time, but her insurance company kept raising her insurance rates, year af
  
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• Government in Competition with Private Sector for Cybersecurity Experts

  20-10-2016 13:52 via feedproxy.google.com
  Government Technology: WASHINGTON — Want a career with zero chances of going jobless?Try the booming field of cybersecurity. Companies can’t hire fast enough. In the United States, companies report 209,000 cybersecurity jobs that are in need of filling.It’ll only get worse. By 2019, according to the Cybersecurity Jobs Report, the workforce shortfall may reach 1.5 million. Globally, the shortage could hit 6 million, it added.“The internet is growing faster than the growth
  
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• Arizona execution procedures face review in U.S. court

  20-10-2016 13:52 via feedproxy.google.com
  Reuters: A federal judge in Phoenix will hear arguments this week about resuming executions in Arizona, where a 2014 lethal injection that took nearly two hours raised questions about the state's death chamber protocols and the chemicals it uses to kill inmates.The case is the latest to challenge the drugs used in many states to execute prisoners, and may wind up putting the issue back for review by the U.S. Supreme Court.Arizona last year changed its lethal injection procedures following the tr
  
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• States seek to reassure voters, tighten poll security

  20-10-2016 13:51 via feedproxy.google.com
  AP: Facing unprecedented warnings of a "rigged" election from Donald Trump, state officials around the country are rushing to reassure the public, and some are taking subtle steps to boost security at polling places because of the passions whipped up by the race."This election the environment is unlike any before," South Carolina Election Commission spokesman Chris Whitmire said.Some states are trying to coordinate with local law enforcement to tighten security without making a heavy-handed - an
  
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• California promised public employees generous retirements. Will the courts give government a way out?

  20-10-2016 13:51 via feedproxy.google.com
  Los Angeles Times: California’s generous public employee pensions, shielded for decades by the state’s courts, may soon no longer be sacrosanct.In a potentially huge win for advocates of cutting government pensions, an appeals court in August declared that public retirement plans were not “immutable” and could be reduced. The three-judge panel said the law merely requires government to provide a “reasonable” pension.
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• State may spend Focus on Energy fees on broadband

  20-10-2016 13:50 via feedproxy.google.com
  Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Wisconsin energy regulators are considering a move to expand funding for broadband internet services via fees collected on monthly electric and natural gas bills.The move is being contemplated, the state Public Service Commission says, with an eye toward expanding the reach of the state’s Focus on Energy program in rural parts of the state.The PSC said that based on a preliminary review, utility customers in rural Wisconsin don't participate in the Focus on Ener
  
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• Need for FirstNet Greater Than Ever, First Responders Say

  20-10-2016 13:49 via feedproxy.google.com
  Government Technology: The government organization charged with building the nation’s first high-speed data network for first responders says it will make its first contract award soon. It will likely happen in November, although no firm date is set.With an award on the $7 billion First Responder Network Authority (FirstNet) program potentially just weeks away, first responders say that despite years of planning, they still have more questions than answers when it comes to the future LTE c
  
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• Police Use of Facial Recognition Rarely Regulated

  20-10-2016 13:48 via feedproxy.google.com
  Governing: A new report by a think tank at Georgetown University calls for greater oversight in the use of emerging facial recognition software that makes the images of more than 117 million Americans — a disproportionate number of them black — searchable by law enforcement agencies.While the agencies, including the F.B.I., have historically created fingerprint and DNA databases primarily from criminal investigations, many of the photographs scattered among agencies at all levels of
  
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• Can We Hope for Better Intergovernmental Relations?

  20-10-2016 13:48 via feedproxy.google.com
  Route Fifty: WASHINGTON — The aftermath of this year’s elections will surely focus on healing the wounds left by the bitter campaigning at the top of the ticket.But it will also offer an opportunity to consider changes that would improve public sector programs and outcomes.And while not as sexy as foreign policies, tax policies or immigration reforms, the topic of intergovernmental relations urgently needs attention, according to public administration experts.
  
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• Voter registration system crashes in Va., preventing some from signing up in time

  20-10-2016 13:47 via feedproxy.google.com
  The Washington Post:  RICHMOND — A civil rights group filed a federal lawsuit Tuesday to force Virginia to extend its voter registration period after the state’s online system crashed Monday, the last day to register, preventing an unknown number of voters from getting on the rolls.One registrar estimated that “tens of thousands” of Virginians had been unable to register by the cutoff at 11:59 p.m. Monday, although the state elections commissioner, Edgardo Cort&eacut
  
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• Whoever Wins the White House, This Year's Big Loser Is Email

  20-10-2016 13:46
  The New York Times: Every four years, pundits race to anoint this or that newfangled tech trend as the next disruptive force to forever alter the mechanics of American democracy. The 2016 campaign has already been called the Snapchat election, the Periscope election, the Meerkat election, the Twitter election, the Facebook election and the meme election. (If there were a vomit emoji, I’d insert one here. And then we’d have the emoji election.)Yet for months this bizarre campaign has
  
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• What does an adviser do? Mosul operation highlights elasticity of military support operations.

  20-10-2016 13:45 via feedproxy.google.com
  The Washington Post: As the operation to retake the Iraqi city of Mosul gets underway, American troops are poised to expand their hands-on support to local forces battling the Islamic State. In a sign of the importance of the long-awaited offensive, military leaders are authorized to place U.S. forces advisers with Iraqi army battalions for the first time as they push toward militant lines, exposing U.S. forces to greater risks.Military officials say the troops will remain back from the thick of
  
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• U.S. vows all-out defense against 'grave' North Korean threat

  20-10-2016 13:45 via feedproxy.google.com
  Reuters: The United States and South Korea agreed on Wednesday to step up military and diplomatic efforts to counter North Korea's nuclear and missile programs, saying they posed a "grave" security threat following repeated tests this year.After talks in Washington between their foreign and defense ministers, the countries said they had agreed to set up a high-level Extended Deterrence Strategy and Consultation Group to leverage "the full breadth of national power – including diplomacy, in
  
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• Kerry plays down Syria deal hopes as Russia joins Geneva talks

  20-10-2016 13:44 via feedproxy.google.com
  Reuters: U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry played down expectations of a new Syrian ceasefire deal with Russia after talks in Geneva aimed at agreeing on how to separate al Qaeda-linked militants from opposition fighters in the besieged city of Aleppo.After two failed ceasefire agreements between the United States and Russia to end the fighting in Aleppo, a new round of talks includes Saudi Arabia and Qatar, which support Syrian opposition groups. Syria's ally Iran was not invited, a Western di
  
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• In Colorado, a Ballot Measure to End All the Anti-Fracking Ballot Measures

  20-10-2016 13:43 via feedproxy.google.com
  Inside Climate News: In the wake of helping defeat two recent ballot measures that could have reined in fracking in Colorado, the state's oil and gas industry is leading a campaign to sharply limit future citizen initiatives.A so-called Raise the Bar question will be asked on the Colorado ballot on Nov. 8. It is being promoted as a way to make the controversial process of amending the state constitution more fair. But as the proponents' motto implies, Amendment 71 would increase the hurdles for
  
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• Regulators approve higher health premiums to strengthen Obamacare insurers

  20-10-2016 13:42 via feedproxy.google.com
  USA Today: State insurance regulators across the country have approved health care premium increases higher than those requested by insurers, despite a national effort to keep rates for policies sold on Affordable Care Act exchanges from skyrocketing, a USA TODAY analysis shows.In eight states, regulators approved premiums that were a percentage point or more higher than carriers wanted, said Charles Gaba, a health data expert at ACASignups.net who analyzed the rates for USA TODAY. As of Tuesday
  
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• HHS calls for more funding and data sharing to improve public health efforts

  20-10-2016 13:42 via feedproxy.google.com
  Modern Healthcare: Public health leaders are lauding HHS' call for money and data to drive stronger health initiatives that take into account social determinants.HHS said in a white paper released Tuesday that funding reductions have strained local public health agencies and prevent them from addressing issues such as HIV prevention and infant mortality in some of the country's poorest communities.The paper, which outlined the initiative called Public Health 3.0, looks at income, ethnicity, sexu
  
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• Emergency Room Use Stays High In Oregon Medicaid Study

  20-10-2016 13:41 via feedproxy.google.com
  NPR: Will Medicaid expansion save the country money as people stop using expensive emergency rooms for primary care?Not yet, suggest the latest findings from a landmark study published online Wednesday in the New England Journal of Medicine.The study of Medicaid patients in Oregon who got Medicaid in 2008 found their ER use stayed high two years after they gained the health insurance coverage — even as they also increased their visits to doctors' offices.
  
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• California Wants the Same Drug Discount That Veterans Get

  20-10-2016 13:41 via feedproxy.google.com
  Governing: Drug manufacturers give states discounts on prescription drugs sometimes, but it's not always as big as the one they give veterans.Californians want the same deal as the military, and they may get it come November.Next month, voters could make their state the first to require health agencies to pay the same for prescription drugs as the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, which gets a 24 percent discount off manufacturers' average prices.
  
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• Senator joins calls to stop sexual violence at U.S. Merchant Marine Academy

  20-10-2016 13:40
  The Washington Post: Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.) on Tuesday proposed that cadets at the U.S. Merchant Marine Academy be provided with satellite phones when they train for a year at sea so they can quickly report sexual harassment or assault.The senator added her name to a list of public officials alarmed by reports of widespread sexual misconduct at the little-known federal school that trains sailors to work in the federal government and on commercial ships.
  
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• Lawmakers Concerned 'New' VA Leadership Transferred From Within Department

  20-10-2016 13:40
  Government Executive: The Veterans Affairs Department has reshuffled its top leadership more than it has hired new management since the wait-time and patient data manipulation scandal was unearthed in 2014, according to a new investigation.Lawmakers from both sides of the aisle expressed disappointment in VA’s failure to bring in more new blood, especially after VA Secretary Bob McDonald recently boasted the department had 90 percent new leadership teams in its medical centers. The critici
  
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• Will The New Era Of Limited Federal Monitoring Still Protect Voter Rights?

  20-10-2016 13:39
  NPR: This year's presidential election will be the first in a half-century without the significant presence of federal observers at polling places. That's because in 2013 the U.S. Supreme Court struck down a key provision of the Voting Rights Act, and when the court wiped out that section, the statute that provided for election observers went, too.The landmark decision in Shelby County v. Holder doesn't mean civil rights officials are totally disarmed. The Justice Department will still send out
  
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• Justice Department to dispatch fewer election observers in 2016

  20-10-2016 13:39
  Federal Times: Justice Department officials are warning that they will be dispatching fewer trained election observers in the wake of a Supreme Court opinion that gutted a key provision of the Voting Rights Act.The reduction is likely to diminish the department's ability to detect voter intimidation and other potential problems at the polls. It comes as more than a dozen states have adopted new voting and registration rules and as Republican candidate Donald Trump warns without evidence that the
  
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