Government news

• Controversial nominee Gina Haspel confirmed as first female CIA director

  17-05-2018 22:06 via feedproxy.google.com
  CNN: Gina Haspel was confirmed Thursday to be the first female director of the CIA with the help of votes from a half-dozen Senate Democrats.Haspel was confirmed in a 54-45 vote, the culmination of a roller-coaster nomination that appeared to be in danger at several points after she was abruptly selected by President Donald Trump in March.Three Republicans opposed Haspel's nomination: Sens. Rand Paul of Kentucky, Jeff Flake of Arizona and John McCain of Arizona, although McCain did not vote beca
  
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• Following Spending Scandal, HUD Looks to Turn Around Its Finances

  17-05-2018 22:05 via feedproxy.google.com
  Government Executive: The Trump administration has faced an onslaught of questions pertaining to the spending habits of its top leaders, but at least one agency is trying to learn from its own scandal.The Housing and Urban Development Department fell into hot water when officials approved $31,000 in spending on new furniture for Secretary Ben Carson’s office. Carson initially denied any role in the spending before ceding to public pressure and canceling the order.
  
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• The White House Is Discussing Replacements for Homeland Security Chief Kirstjen Nielsen

  17-05-2018 22:04 via feedproxy.google.com
  NextGov: The White House is discussing possible replacements for Department of Homeland Security secretary Kirstjen Nielsen, because Donald Trump is unhappy with how she is running the massive agency tasked with keeping the U.S. safe, according to two people briefed on the situation.Names being discussed inside the White House include Tom Cotton, the senator from Arkansas, energy secretary Rick Perry, and Thomas Homan, the retiring head of Immigration and Customs Enforcement, one of these people
  
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• Can OPM and fed unions agree on civil service reform?

  17-05-2018 22:04 via feedproxy.google.com
  Federal Times: The Office of Personnel Management recently drew congressional and federal employee union ire for proposals that would increase employee contributions to and decrease the payout of retirement benefits.These changes were proposed under a larger civil service reform effort in the March 2018 President’s Management Agenda, which American Federation of Government Employees Policy Director Jacqueline Simon called a “worst practices” document for federal employees.OPM D
  
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• Data Is Improving Government Services, But at What Cost to Citizens' Privacy?

  17-05-2018 21:05 via feedproxy.google.com
  Government Technology: For many policymakers, troves of data can seem impenetrable. It can be hard to parse through the gathered information and even harder to apply that information to policy. Many cities, however, are getting better at using data to fix problems and improve the lives of people in their communities.But at what cost?
  On this episode of "Go Public," recorded live from the Summit on Government Performance and Innovation earlier this month in Los Angeles, Governing's Zach Patton an
  
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• Tulsa's strides with data-driven decisions earn a global civic engagement award

  17-05-2018 21:03 via feedproxy.google.com
  StateScoop: For leading the most deeply engaging civic technology and collaboration projects in the world, three cities were named the final winners in the 2018 Engaged Cities Awards on Thursday.Tulsa, Oklahoma; Bologna, Italy; and Santiago de Cali, Colombia, were each awarded $70,000 for future projects and recognized for their work by Cities of Service, a civic engagement advocacy group backed by Bloomberg Philanthropies. The three cities were chosen out of more than 100 applicants (and 10 fin
  
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• Don't count on feds right after hurricane, FEMA chief tells Florida leaders

  17-05-2018 21:02 via feedproxy.google.com
  Orlando Sentinel: FEMA had a warning for local governments at the annual Governor’s Conference on Hurricanes: Don’t count on Uncle Sam to be there immediately after the next natural disaster.“If you’re waiting on FEMA to run your commodities, that’s not the solution,” FEMA Administrator Brock Long said Wednesday. “I can’t guarantee that we can be right on time to backfill everything you need.”The warning came as Gov. Rick Scott asked everyone
  
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• Little Vermont Uses Big Data to Predict Bridge Repairs and Traffic Jams

  17-05-2018 21:01 via feedproxy.google.com
  Government Technology: Vermont may be a land of bucolic country roads. It is also a land of big data. State transportation engineers are using artificial intelligence, predictive analytics and even wonkier-sounding neural networks to better understand how roads and bridges might be deteriorating and in need of maintenance.
   
  “It’s going to be key that we use that data to understand, and predict, everything from traffic congestion, to road conditions, to where we need signals,&rd
  
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• Trump budget won't rebuild the military, and that's dangerous, think tank says

  17-05-2018 20:38 via feedproxy.google.com
  Defense News: President Trump’s budget plans will fail at “rebuilding” the armed forces, but there’s room for lawmakers to act, according to a new American Enterprise Institute report.The conservative think tank argues the president’s 2019 budget request bets too heavily on research and development for next-generation technologies and that lawmakers must tilt the balance toward procurement of existing technologies to replace aging stocks.“The American military
  
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• Sweeping veterans policy bill passed overwhelmingly in the House

  17-05-2018 20:38 via feedproxy.google.com
  Military Times: House lawmakers advanced a $52 billion veterans legislative package on Wednesday that would overhaul outside medical care options for Department of Veterans Affairs patients, expand stipends for veteran caregivers and launch a review of the bureaucracy’s national footprint.Despite the cost of the plan, the measure easily passed the chamber by a vote of 347-70 and has the blessing of the White House, which said the legislation “will help to ensure that veterans choose
  
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• Lawmakers seek registry for military water contamination cancers, illnesses

  17-05-2018 20:37 via feedproxy.google.com
  Defense News: Lawmakers have introduced a bill to create a registry of military families experiencing cancers and other illnesses they think may be tied to base water contamination.Sen. Jeanne Shaheen, D-N.H. and Sen. Mike Rounds, R-S.D., introduced the “PFAS Registry Act” in April. The legislation would “create a national database for service members and veterans experiencing health problems possibly due to contamination from per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances, (PFAS)”
  
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• How the Army is equipping cyber warriors in (near) real time

  17-05-2018 20:36 via feedproxy.google.com
  Fifth Domain: In cyberspace, seconds matter. That’s why the Army is looking to a new construct to acquire defensive cyber capability to pace advanced threats on the network.By leveraging a contract vehicle known as the IT box, the Army is hoping to cut down timelines from over 500 days to 30.“If it takes 574 days to get a requirement approved in cyberspace, you’re done before you start,” Maj. Gen. John Morrison, commander of the Army’s Cyber Center of Excellence, sa
  
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• Federal appeals court greenlights CSR lawsuit settlement

  17-05-2018 19:08 via feedproxy.google.com
  Modern Healthcare: The inter-branch battle over cost-sharing reduction payments took one big step toward closure Wednesday as a federal appeals court dismissed the U.S. House of Representatives' lawsuit against HHS.The U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit dismissed the appeal lodged by the Obama administration after the House led by former GOP House Speaker John Boehner won an initial claim that HHS did not have the authority to pay out CSRs to insurers in the Obamacare exc
  
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• Johns Hopkins unveils new computational method for precision oncology

  17-05-2018 19:07 via feedproxy.google.com
  Healthcare IT News: One of the ongoing dilemmas faced by provider organizations with precision medicine is that for all the advances made in genomic research, sometimes it can still be hard to translate into routine clinical practice: Physicians don't always know how best to turn genetic-based data into appropriate treatments.A key challenge for clinicians is that each primary form of cancer, such as breast or prostate, may have multiple subtypes, each of which responds differently to a given tr
  
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• CMS to launch $25 billion quality initiative

  17-05-2018 19:07 via feedproxy.google.com
  Modern Healthcare: The CMS wants to consolidate several Medicare quality programs in an effort to identify the highest performing organization and have them scale their efforts under a contract that's worth up to $25 billion.Quality Improvement Networks and Organizations (QIN-QIOs), End Stage Renal Disease (ESRD) Networks, and Hospital Improvement Innovation Networks (HIINs) will now fall under one large contract that focuses on educating and training stakeholders that could affect quality of ca
  
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• Leadership, culture key to surviving a cybersecurity crisis

  17-05-2018 19:05 via feedproxy.google.com
  Healthcare IT News: For a healthcare organization, a security incident that disrupts routine services is on par with a natural disaster. To mitigate this, most organizations put into place response plans to ensure patient care goes on uninterrupted in the event of a crisis.But one of the most crucial elements to making it through a security event is having both the leadership and culture in place to keep the organization afloat. To retired Navy Commander Kirk Lippold, leadership, centered around
  
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• Real Personal Income for States and Metropolitan Areas, 2016

  17-05-2018 14:30
  Real state personal income grew on average 1.1 percent in 2016, after increasing 4.7 percent in 2015. The percent change in real state personal income ranged from 3.3 percent in Utah and Georgia to -3.6 percent in Wyoming. In the District of Columbia, real personal income grew 4.5 percent. Across metropolitan areas, the percent change ranged from 6.6 percent in Jacksonville, NC to -8.1 percent in Midland, TX and Odessa, TX.Full Text
  
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• House Lawmakers Release Spending Bill Covering HUD, DOT Programs

  17-05-2018 00:35 via feedproxy.google.com
  Route Fifty: Federal spending for infrastructure and housing programs that funnel money to states and local governments would remain robust compared to recent years, under fiscal year 2019 legislation House appropriators released Tuesday.The bill, which covers the Department of Transportation and Department of Housing and Urban Development, contains $71.8 billion in discretionary spending, up $1.5 billion from current levels. It comes in the wake of an "omnibus" spending package for the current
  
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• Colorado boosts savings to $730 million, may need more

  17-05-2018 00:35 via feedproxy.google.com
  The Hastings Tribune: Thanks to a boost from a recent tobacco industry settlement, Colorado plans to sock away an extra $90 million next year in the state's reserves. But by one credit rating agency's analysis, it's still woefully unprepared for the next economic downturn.In the waning days of the 2018 legislative session, lawmakers voted to increase the state's reserves to 7.25 percent of general fund spending, or an estimated $730 million for the fiscal year that starts July 1.That's up from 6
  
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• Federal Lawsuit Filed To Block State From Using Energy Conservation Funds To Solve Budget Deficit

  17-05-2018 00:34 via feedproxy.google.com
  Hartford Courant: A federal lawsuit filed Tuesday would block the legislature from taking tens of millions of dollars from ratepayer-funded energy conservation programs to help solve the state’s massive budget deficit, a move energy and environmental groups argue is unconstitutional.The court action is to stop the state from using $175 million that energy ratepayers contributed to three separate energy conservation programs through their utility bills. The bipartisan budget passed by the G
  
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• Vermont becomes first state to allow imported drugs from Canada

  17-05-2018 00:33 via feedproxy.google.com
  The Hill: Vermont Gov. Phil Scott (R) on Wednesday signed a law permitting the import of prescription drugs from Canada into the state.
  Proponents of the law, which has been opposed by President Trump's health officials as well as pharmaceutical companies, believe it will help fight rising drug prices. It was widely supported in Vermont's Democratic-controlled state legislature.  The law must still be certified by the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS).
  
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• Seattle, Houston Buck Declining Bus Ridership Trend

  17-05-2018 00:33 via feedproxy.google.com
  Government Technology: Investments in expanding and improving transit service, as well as redrawing routes, have translated into bus ridership gains in Seattle and Houston, bucking a nationwide transit trend of declining ridership.“[King County] Metro invested in more frequent bus service at all times of the day across many of its 200-plus routes, and restructured the bus network to connect with two new Link light rail stations that opened in 2016,” said Scott Gutierrez, a spokesman
  
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• Kentucky lawmakers held illegal secret meeting to discuss pension cuts, judge rules

  17-05-2018 00:32 via feedproxy.google.com
  Lexington Herald Leader: A judge has ruled that the Kentucky House of Representatives violated the state’s Open Meetings Act with a closed-door conference in August where lawmakers from both parties huddled to discuss their plans to deal with the state’s pension crisis.The Bluegrass Institute’s Center for Open Government, based in Lexington, challenged the private House meeting, arguing that the public should be allowed to watch whenever lawmakers collectively meet to conduct b
  
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• Oregon sheds jobs for the first time in 16 months as economic slowdown continues

  17-05-2018 00:31 via feedproxy.google.com
  The Oregonian: Oregon's total employment fell by 2,900 jobs in April, the first monthly decline since December 2016, according to state jobs data released Tuesday.Statewide unemployment remains at a historic low, 4.1 percent, but Oregon wage growth has slowed after three years of strong gains.Economists have been warning for months that Oregon's economy would cool as the state neared full employment. That's reduced the capacity for additional growth.
  
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• 6 US states accuse opioid maker Purdue of fueling overdoses

  17-05-2018 00:31 via feedproxy.google.com
  The Associated Press: Six U.S. states on Tuesday sued the maker of the opioid OxyContin of using deceptive marketing to boost drug sales that fueled opioid overdose deaths.Drugmaker Purdue Pharma minimized risks and overstated benefits of long-term use of narcotic opioids, according to a civil complaint filed in Nevada state court in Las Vegas.“Purdue’s deception lined the pockets of its owners and led to the deaths and hospitalization of thousands of Nevadans,” Nevada state At
  
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• House bill shortens space between self-driving trucks

  17-05-2018 00:30 via feedproxy.google.com
  The Detroit News: Self-driving trucks would be allowed shorter distances between vehicles under legislation that has passed the Michigan House.Lawmakers voted 64-44 Tuesday for the bill that would provide an exemption from Michigan’s requirement that trucks maintain sufficient space behind another truck or truck tractor – as long as the vehicle is part of an electronically linked group of self-driving trucks, also known as a “platoon.”
  
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• California's Massive Bullet Train Project Isn't Getting Much Play in the Governors Race

  17-05-2018 00:29 via feedproxy.google.com
  Government Technology: It's the biggest infrastructure project in state history, but the California bullet train gets hardly any attention on the campaign trail.The leading candidates for governor have said little, if anything, publicly about how they would fix dire problems in the $77-billion mega-project that has already overrun its initial cost estimate by $44 billion.
  
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• OPM chief battles criticism of 'draconian' benefits proposals

  17-05-2018 00:01 via feedproxy.google.com
  Federal Times: OPM Director Jeff Pon justified four proposals his office recently sent to Congress that would cut or increase employee contributions to retirement benefits, saying at a May 16, 2018, House Oversight and Government Reform Committee hearing that he wanted to create a more flexible retirement system in line with the private sector.“These proposals are to make sure that we’re making decisions around how we can operate the government in the 21st century. I do believe that
  
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• GSA corrects tax law's harmful provisions for relocating federal employees

  17-05-2018 00:01 via feedproxy.google.com
  Federal News Radio: New guidance from the General Services Administration will make federal employees who had relocated for the job this year but were forced to pay hundreds or thousands of dollars in moving expenses, whole again.The regulations in GSA’s bulletin, dated May 14, apply to all federal employees who qualified for relocation reimbursements under the prior federal travel regulations and received “some or all reimbursements, direct payments, or indirect payments on or after
  
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• Senate panel advances Trump's CIA nominee

  17-05-2018 00:00 via feedproxy.google.com
  The HIll: The Senate Intelligence Committee voted on Wednesday to send Gina Haspel's nomination to the floor, setting up a final vote on the nominee as soon as this week.Two Democrats, Sens. Mark Warner (Va.), the vice chairman of the committee, and Joe Manchin (W.Va.), sided with Republicans in approving her nomination in a 10-5 vote during a closed committee meeting.
  
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