NEWS: Oct. 24, 2016
Elections | The Nation
States Reject Russian Election Observers
At least three states have rejected Russian requests to monitor U.S. polling locations during the Nov. 8 election as U.S. officials portrayed the overture as little more than a public-relations stunt. Officials in Louisiana, Oklahoma and Texas said they received requests from Russian authorities in August and turned them down last month.
>> New York Times
Technology | The Nation
Report: Most Federal IT Money
Going to Legacy 'Money Pits'
Federal agencies plan to spend three-quarters--and in some cases 90 percent or more--of their information-technology funds on supporting legacy systems, according to a new industry report entitled "Legacy System Money Pits." IDC Government Insights found that 77.7 percent of proposed fiscal 2012 IT budgets are going to operations and management, with the remaining sliver to systems development and enhancement. Eight years ago, according to an IDC blog post, the O&M percentage was closer to 66 percent.
>> FedScoop
IRS Computer Rooms Short on Security, IG Says
The Internal Revenue Service's computer rooms and tape libraries aren't well enough protected from potential intruders, according to an audit from the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration.
>> Nextgov
Pentagon Expanding Its Bug Bounty Program
The Defense Department is making the pursuit of cybersecurity vulnerabilities easier for the armed services through a new contracting effort expanding on its bug bounty program.
>> Federal Computer Week
The Military | California
Lawmakers: Forgive 9,700 Troops'
Improperly Paid Enlistment Bonuses
Congressional lawmakers condemned a Pentagon effort to recoup enlistment bonuses improperly paid to thousands of California National Guard soldiers a decade ago, saying the overpayments were not the soldiers' fault and calling on the Pentagon or Congress to waive the debts. The Pentagon is demanding repayment of the bonuses--which often reached $15,000 or more--from about 9,700 soldiers, many of whom served multiple combat tours in Iraq and Afghanistan.
>> Los Angeles Times
Poll: Many Troops Doubt Next President on Military Issues
Many service members have serious doubts that the next president will be able to handle the biggest military and veterans' issues facing the country even if their pick for commander in chief wins, according to a new Military Times/Institute for Military and Veterans Families Poll.
>> Military Times
Public Workforce | The Nation
Trump Pledges to Freeze Federal Hiring
Donald Trump promised that his administration would implement a hiring freeze across the federal government, reducing the workforce through attrition while making exceptions for the military, public safety and public health. Trump's proposal appears to go further than what the Republican Party has endorsed through its budget blueprints.
>> Government Executive
Police in California City to Get First Raises in 6 Years
The Glendale, Calif., City Council has signed off on three years of salary increases for police officers at a cost of $11.1 million, culminating nearly five months of negotiations between the city and the union whose members had gone six years without a raise.
>> Los Angeles Times
Education | Pennsylvania
Pact Ends Statewide Faculty Strike
The first faculty strike in the history of Pennsylvania's State System of Higher Education ended Friday with a tentative agreement on a three-year contract with the Association of Pennsylvania State College and University Faculties. The pact, which must be ratified by the system's board of governors, means a return to classes for 105,000 students statewide and 5,000-plus faculty.
>> Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
AG Goes After Convicted Detroit School Officials' Pensions
Michigan Attorney General Bill Schuette initiated civil-forfeiture actions against 12 former Detroit Public Schools administrators convicted of bribery, aiming to strip them of the portions of their pensions that taxpayers funded during the course of the $2.7 million scheme.
>> Detroit News, Detroit Free Press
Public Officials | New Jersey
Christie Knew About Bridge Plan
in Advance, Former Aide Testifies
Bridget Anne Kelly, the former deputy chief of staff to Gov. Chris Christie whose "time for some traffic problems in Fort Lee" email set off the scandal over the 2013 closure of access lanes to the George Washington Bridge, testified that she told Christie in advance about the plan and had gotten his approval for what she thought was a traffic study. The governor has repeatedly denied any advance knowledge of the lane shutdowns.
>> NJ.com
SEC Revives Civil Fraud Charges Against Texas AG
The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission re-filed federal civil fraud charges against Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, reviving a lawsuit that was recently thrown out for lack of evidence.
>> Dallas Morning News
Oregon's No. 2 Corrections Official Resigns Amid Inquiry
Kim Brockamp, the Oregon Department of Corrections' No. 2 administrator who has been with the agency for 25 years, abruptly resigned amid an internal agency inquiry into her conduct.
>> The Oregonian
Emergency Management | The Pacific Northwest
Drill's Lesson: Region Unprepared for Mega-Quake
A four-day disaster drill held in June with 23,000 participants, the largest ever conducted in the Pacific Northwest, found that despite decades of warnings the region remains dangerously unprepared to deal with a mega-earthquake and tsunami. Washington state officials called their own response plans "grossly inadequate."
>> Seattle Times
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VIEWPOINT
Politics | León Krauze
When the Loser
Won't Accept Defeat
Few of Donald Trump's dangerous provocations will stand out quite like his unparalleled refusal to say he would accept the presidential election's results if he loses. Nothing could have prepared the country for that most un-American of figures: the institutional saboteur. Alas, we Mexicans know better. For a decade and a half, Andrés Manuel López Obrador, a charismatic and popular politician, has refused to accept adverse results in consecutive presidential elections, sinking Mexico into political paralysis for over six years, calling into question the viability of some of the country's young democratic institutions, and darkening public discourse.
>> Washington Post | More commentaries
QUOTABLE
“We're mediocre. There's tremendous room for improvement.”
Ben Cannon, executive director of Oregon's Higher Education Coordinating Commission, referring to the likelihood that, if history repeats itself, more than half of this year's freshmen at the state's three largest public universities will not have a degree in four years, which has prompted state lawmakers to set aside $30 million to help keep students in school and on track to graduate
>> The Oregonian | More quotes
DATAPOINT
About 26,000
Pieces of undelivered mail that a U.S. Postal Service carrier in Sterling, Colo., is suspected of hoarding, while also destroying and opening other mail items, between October 2014 and April 2016, resulting in his indictment on a federal charge that could result in a prison sentence of up to five years and a maximum fine of $250,000
>> Denver Post | More data
UPCOMING EVENTS
Coming soon:
ASPA's Annual Conference
The most comprehensive public-administration event of the year is coming soon: March 17-21, 2017, in Atlanta, offering an array of educational options -- panels, workshops, roundtables -- along with hundreds of public-service experts for learning and networking. For more information and registration, click here. |
Center for American Progress
Discussion: "Debbie Allen on Arts and Lived Experience: Race, Violence and Access to the American Dream"
Today, noon-1:30 p.m. ET, Washington, D.C.
Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health and Huffington Post
Webcast: "The Domestic Violence Crisis: Mobilizing the Public and Private Sectors"
Today, 12:30 p.m. ET
American Enterprise Institute
Discussion: "The Opiate Crisis: How Can Public Policy Promote Recovery?"
Today, 3:30-4:45 p.m. ET, Washington, D.C.
National Academy of Public Administration and George Mason University Schar School of Policy and Government
Discussion: "Presidential Transition: Impact on Local Governments"
Today, 4-6 p.m. ET, Arlington, Va.
Brookings Institution and PRRI
Survey release and discussion: "Progress, Nostalgia and Cultural Change: Findings from the 2016 American Values Survey"
Oct. 25, 10:30 a.m.-noon ET, Washington, D.C.
Heritage Foundation
Discussion: "Potential Energy: Taking Advantage of America's Great Oil and Gas Resources"
Oct. 25, noon-1 p.m. ET, Washington, D.C.
American Society for Public Administration
Student and young professional webinar: "Workplace Behavior"
Oct. 26, 1 p.m. ET
Government Technology
Webinar: "Land Mobile Radio: Common Challenges and Innovative Solutions"
Oct. 26, 1 p.m. ET
Association of State and Territorial Solid Waste Management Officials
Annual Meeting
Oct. 27-28, Washington, D.C.
>> Full events listings
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