Government news

• Email from Kevin Durant: How We Can Help Students Succeed Together

  25-10-2016 17:27
  Born and raised in Seat Pleasant, Maryland, I grew up in a community with higher rates of poverty and lower graduation rates than most of the state. For me, having the support of my mom was critical, but the support of mentors like the people I met at the local Boys and Girls Club, or people at my community activity center, or my youth basketball coach also helped ensure that I was able to graduate from high school and pursue my dreams.That’s why I’m proud to be part of the My Brothe
  
  Read more

• Compare Your County to the 3,143 Others in the U.S.

  25-10-2016 13:31 via feedproxy.google.com
  Route Fifty: How does your county stack up against the other 3,143 in the U.S. when it comes to per-capita income? What about domestic water use? Or degreed residents?If such questions have ever nagged at you, you’ll be happy to know there’s now an artificial intelligence-based County Benchmarking Engine able to answer them empirically.
  
  Read more

• U.S. courts: Electronic surveillance up 500 percent in D.C.-area since 2011, almost all sealed cases

  25-10-2016 13:30 via feedproxy.google.com
  The Washington Post: Secret law enforcement requests to conduct electronic surveillance in domestic criminal cases have surged in federal courts for Northern Virginia and the District, but only one in a thousand of the applications ever becomes public, newly released data show.The bare-bones release by the courts leaves unanswered how long, in what ways and for what crimes federal investigators tracked individuals’ data and whether long-running investigations result in charges.Yet the list
  
  Read more

• Data Sharing and the Death of Government Silos

  25-10-2016 13:30 via feedproxy.google.com
  Government Technology: Sharing data across major programs is evidence cited by Minnesota CIO Tom Baden that traditional government silos are starting to break down. At the annual NASCIO conference last month in Orlando, Baden talked about how data analytics is helping the process along. He calls the phenomenon a "major inflection point for government."According to Baden, there's reason to be optimistic. Asked whether data analytics technologies have lived up to the transformational hype that was
  
  Read more

• Advertisement

• Wyoming voters to weigh investing more state money in stocks

  25-10-2016 13:29 via feedproxy.google.com
  Scottsbluff Star Herald: CHEYENNE, Wyo. (AP) — Looking to stretch Wyoming's finances in the face of a combined downturn in energy revenues and the sagging bond market, state lawmakers are asking voters to allow them to invest more state money in stocks.A ballot measure going before voters in the November general election would change the Wyoming Constitution to allow the investment of billions more dollars of state funds in stocks.Proponents, including Wyoming Treasurer Mark Gordon, say th
  
  Read more

• Voters With Disabilities Fight For More Accessible Polling Places

  25-10-2016 13:29 via feedproxy.google.com
  NPR: More than 35 million eligible voters in the U.S. — about one in six — have a disability. And in the last presidential election, almost a third of voters with disabilities reported having trouble casting their ballots — whether it was getting into the polling place, reading the ballot, or struggling with a machine.Despite some improvements, many of these voters are expected to face similar problems again this year.Ian Watlington, of the National Disability Rights Network (N
  
  Read more

• A growing conflict over voting rights is playing out in Georgia, where the presidential race is tightening

  25-10-2016 13:29 via feedproxy.google.com
  The Washington Post: A growing conflict over voting rights and ballot access is playing out in Georgia, where civil rights activists are trading accusations with Republican elected officials and where the stakes have risen considerably with the state’s new status as a closely watched battleground.Activists said this month that as many as 100,000 Georgia ­voter-registration applications have not been processed. One of the state’s largest counties offered only one early-voting site
  
  Read more

• Former Pa. Attorney General Sentenced To 10-23 Months In Jail For Perjury

  25-10-2016 13:28 via feedproxy.google.com
  NPR: Pennsylvania's former attorney general, Kathleen Kane, has been sentenced to 10 to 23 months in jail after she was embroiled in a scandal that shook the state's political establishment.Kane, who was once viewed as a rising star within the Democratic Party, was "convicted on all nine counts – including perjury, obstruction and official oppression – in connection with a complicated case in which she leaked grand jury information about an investigation in retaliation against a poli
  
  Read more

• Advertisement

• A New Era of Internet Attacks Powered by Everyday Devices

  25-10-2016 13:26 via feedproxy.google.com
  The New York Times: WASHINGTON — When surveillance cameras began popping up in the 1970s and ’80s, they were welcomed as a crime-fighting tool, then as a way to monitor traffic congestion, factory floors and even baby cribs. Later, they were adopted for darker purposes, as authoritarian governments like China’s used them to prevent challenges to power by keeping tabs on protesters and dissidents.But now those cameras — and many other devices that today are connected to th
  
  Read more

• Homeland Security making progress hiring cyber talent

  25-10-2016 13:25 via feedproxy.google.com
  Federal Times: The Department of Homeland Security is reporting positive results from its first-ever DHS Cyber and Tech Job Fair, which was held July 27-28 in Washington, D.C.The DHS event saw 14,000 applicants, 2,500 walk-in candidates, 842 on-site interviews, 400 prospective job offers and 120 new employees within 60 days, according to a statement by Secretary Jeh Johnson as part of October’s National Cybersecurity Awareness Month celebrations.
  
  Read more

• Philippines' Duterte softens stance toward U.S. before Japan visit

  25-10-2016 13:24 via feedproxy.google.com
  Reuters: Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte softened his remarks about a "separation" from long-time ally the United States on the eve of a visit to Japan, a country worried about Manila's apparent pivot away from Washington and towards China."The alliances are alive," Duterte told Japanese media in Manila on Monday, Kyodo News reported. "There should be no worry about changes of alliances. I do not need to have alliances with other nations."
  
  Read more

• DHS Pandemic Preparedness Needs Improvement

  25-10-2016 13:24 via feedproxy.google.com
  Homeland Security Today: Although the Ebola and Zika outbreaks in the United States never reached the catastrophic heights projected by some public health experts, these crises demonstrated that the United States is not immune to potentially devastating pandemic events threatening the health and security of the nation.However, major gaps in the pandemic preparedness efforts of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), one of the primary agencies leading the nation’s public health prepared
  
  Read more

• California Guard vets told to repay millions in recruitment bonuses

  25-10-2016 13:23 via feedproxy.google.com
  CNN: Ten years after the Pentagon enticed soldiers to reenlist by offering hefty bonuses, officials are demanding thousands of those veterans pay the money back.Christopher Van Meter is one of the affected veterans in California. He earned a Purple Heart after he was hurled from an armored vehicle in Iraq. By 2007, he had already served 15 years in the Army and was about to retire -- until the military encouraged him to reenlist.
  
  Read more

• Florida Ballot Measure Could Halt Rooftop Solar, but Do Voters Know That?

  25-10-2016 13:22 via feedproxy.google.com
  Inside Climate News: Floridians will vote on a constitutional amendment that is couched in pro-solar power language but would actually give utilities, which are funding the ballot measure, more power to block rooftop solar development in the Sunshine State.Amendment 1, if approved by 60 percent of voters in November, would write people's right to own or lease solar panels and other equipment into the state constitution.But it would also make it unconstitutional to require a utility's non-solar c
  
  Read more

• States levy taxes on hospitals to cover Medicaid expansion costs

  25-10-2016 13:21 via feedproxy.google.com
  Modern Healthcare: States are beginning to turn to hospitals to cover the cost of Medicaid expansion once the federal match begins to drop next year.The Affordable Care Act provides 100% federal financing for those made newly eligible for Medicaid under the law. The federal match rate falls to 95% in 2017, 94% in 2018, 93% in 2019, and then 90% in 2020 and beyond.State Medicaid spending is projected to jump to 4.4% in 2017 compared to 2.9% in 2016, according to a report by the Kaiser Family Foun
  
  Read more

• AARP Sues U.S. Over Rules for Wellness Programs

  25-10-2016 13:21 via feedproxy.google.com
  The New York Times: Employers have raced to offer workers a hefty financial incentive to sign up for programs meant to improve their health, submitting personal medical details in the process. But as these programs have spread, so has resistance from employees dubious about sharing that information with employers.On Monday, that tension erupted in a federal lawsuit against the government agency that handles the rules on these so-called wellness programs. It is the first major legal challenge of
  
  Read more

• Obamacare premiums to soar 22% on average

  25-10-2016 13:20 via feedproxy.google.com
  CNN: Obamacare premiums are set to skyrocket an average of 22% for the benchmark silver plan in 2017, according to a government report released Monday.The price hike is the latest blow to Obamacare. Insurers are raising prices and downsizing their presence on the exchanges as they try to stem losses from sicker-than-anticipated customers. Enrollment for 2017 will be closely watched since insurers want to see younger and healthier consumers enroll.
  
  Read more

• Hiring Freeze Will Cause Longer Delays in Disputing Social Security Claims, Group Warns

  25-10-2016 13:20 via feedproxy.google.com
  Goverment Executive: Federal administrative judges tasked with overseeing Social Security claims are warning a hiring freeze will further slow an already delayed appeals process.Citing a figure from the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, a left-leaning think tank, the Association of Administrative Law Judges said it currently takes 540 days for individuals to receive a hearing on disputed cases, and that number will only climb thanks to current Social Security Administration plans. SSA pree
  
  Read more

• Is the Supreme Court counting on getting a ninth justice in January?

  25-10-2016 13:19 via feedproxy.google.com
  The Washington Post: Sen. Jeff Flake’s call to confirm Merrick Garland for the Supreme Court if Hillary Clinton wins next month has reignited the public debate over the stalled nomination — and the court’s own calendar suggests that the eight current justices may be watching to see if that is a real possibility.In an interview Thursday with Politico, Flake — an Arizona Republican who serves on the Senate Judiciary Committee — said Republicans should move sooner rath
  
  Read more

• Former IRS special agent charged with multiple counts of tax fraud

  25-10-2016 13:19 via feedproxy.google.com
  Federal Times: A former IRS criminal investigation special agent could be facing several decades of imprisonment, as well as substantial fines, if found guilty of falsifying tax returns, theft, obstructing justice and destroying evidence.  Alena Aleykina, of Sacremento, California, has been indicted on multiple counts of filing false income tax returns for herself, family members, trusts and partnerships, making false statements to Treasury Department representatives and destroying evidence
  
  Read more

• Election May Be a Turning Point for Legal Marijuana

  25-10-2016 13:19 via feedproxy.google.com
  The New York Times: SAN FRANCISCO — To the red-and-blue map of American politics, it may be time to add green. The movement to legalize marijuana, the country’s most popular illicit drug, will take a giant leap on Election Day if California and four other states vote to allow recreational cannabis, as polls suggest they may.The map of where pot is legal could include the entire West Coast and a bloc of states reaching from the Pacific to Colorado, raising a stronger challenge to the
  
  Read more

Follow @NL_Government on Twitter!