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| NEWS: Oct. 25, 2016 Elections | The Nation Poll: Most Americans Not Confident Presidential Ballots Will Be Counted Correctly Just 43 percent of Americans are very confident that their vote for president will be counted correctly and most say their ballots will not matter anyway in a political process dominated by corporate interests, according to a PRRI poll suggesting there may be some audience for Donald Trump's claims that the election could be "rigged." >> New York Times Georgia, Civil-Rights Activists Clashing over Ballot Access A growing conflict over voting rights and ballot access is playing out in Georgia, where civil-rights activists say as many as 100,000 voter-registration applications have not been processed and one of the state's largest counties offered only one early-voting site. >> Washington Post Judge Suspends Michigan Ban on 'Ballot Selfies' Michigan voters should be free to take "ballot selfies" for the first time on Nov. 8, a federal judge ruled, suspending a longstanding ban on ballot exposure and polling-place photography that the state is fighting to reinstate with two weeks to go before Election Day. >> Detroit News
Former Attorney General Sentenced to 10 to 23 Months in Jail Former Pennsylvania attorney general Kathleen Kane was sentenced to 10 to 23 months in jail for orchestrating an illegal news leak of grand jury information to damage a political enemy and lying about it to investigators. Kane, the first woman and first Democrat elected as the state's attorney general, was led in handcuffs to the Montgomery County jail. She posted $75,000 bail and was released while she appeals her conviction. >> Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, Reuters Sentencing Set for Former Chicago Schools CEO Former Chicago Public Schools CEO Barbara Byrd-Bennett, who pleaded guilty last year to steering contracts in exchange for kickbacks, will be sentenced in April. Byrd-Bennett faces up to seven and a half years in prison as part of a plea agreement. >> Chicago Sun-Times Law Enforcement | The Nation Respect for Police Surges to Near-Record High Three in four Americans--76 percent--say they have "a great deal" of respect for the police in their area, up 12 percentage points from last year and just one point below the high of 77 percent recorded in 1967, according to new Gallup poll showing substantial increases among both whites and non-whites. Confidence in police had begun recovering earlier this year after falling to a 22-year low in 2015. >> Gallup
18F Smug and Sloppy with Spending, IG Says 18F, the General Services Administration's technology consultancy composed largely of private-sector recruits, has been spending money it doesn't have and doing so with a smug attitude, showing a loss of $31 million between fiscal 2014 and 2016, according to an inspector general's report tying the losses to "inaccurate financial projections, increased staffing levels, and ... staff time spent on non-billable activities." >> Federal News Radio, Nextgov Public Finance | Atlantic City, N.J. Recovery Plan Aims to Avert State Takeover Aiming to stave off a state takeover of Atlantic City's government, the city council approved a five-year fiscal recovery plan to cut 100 more full-time workers, sell a closed municipal airport to the city's water authority and settle with Borgata Hotel Casino & Spa over tax refunds, among other cost-cutting and revenue-raising measures. >> NJ.com, The Press of Atlantic City
Guard Official: Improper Bonuses Were Paid to Troops in Every State The California National Guard told the state's members of Congress two years ago that the Pentagon was trying to claw back improperly paid reenlistment bonuses from thousands of soldiers and even offered a proposal to mitigate the problem, but Congress took no action, according to a senior National Guard official. The official also said that improper bonuses had been paid to National Guard members in every state, raising the possibility that many more soldiers may owe large debts to the Pentagon. >> Los Angeles Times Health Care | The Nation Mid-Level Obamacare Premiums to Rise by 25% Premiums for mid-level health-insurance plans under the Affordable Care Act will increase by an average of 25 percent next year--more than triple the percentage increase of this year's plans--while consumers in some states will find significantly fewer insurance companies offering coverage, federal officials said. >> New York Times, Washington Post Arizona Governor Orders Limits on Opioid Prescriptions Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey ordered the state's employee health-insurance plan and its Medicaid plan to limit narcotic painkiller prescriptions in an effort to cut addiction to opioid drugs. >> AP/Arizona Republic >> Follow GovManagement on Twitter >> Share this edition:
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VIEWPOINT The Military The Navy's Morale Crusher The Navy's recent decision to strip job titles from every sailor is a misstep of epic proportions--one that should serve as a stark lesson for leaders across all the services. This so-called "modernization" effort has been billed as a way to broaden training and career opportunities for sailors. It also satisfies the Navy's desire to strip "man" from titles such as "yeoman." It's been a total morale crusher, with thousands of sailors lobbying for an immediate reversal. A few leadership lessons should be gleaned from the Navy's folly. >> Military Times | More commentaries
“I really hope that's going to get out and they are going to say, 'Holy crap, he challenged the chief and then it was a good discussion.'” Mark Morgan, the former Marine, Los Angeles police officer and FBI agent who as the new chief of the troubled Border Patrol faces any number of complex problems, including bitter controversy over his outsider appointment and his decision to wear the agents' distinctive olive green uniform, after telling agents mustered at the El Paso Border Patrol station that he welcomes being taken to task by agency workers >> Los Angeles Times | More quotes DATAPOINT 540 Average number of days it now takes for individuals to receive a hearing in Social Security dispute cases, according to the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, a figure cited by the Association of Administrative Law Judges whose members hear the appeals and warn that continuing a hiring freeze will further slow the process >> Government Executive | More data UPCOMING EVENTS
Brookings Institution and PRRI Survey release and discussion: "Progress, Nostalgia and Cultural Change: Findings from the 2016 American Values Survey" Today, 10:30 a.m.-noon ET, Washington, D.C. Heritage Foundation Discussion: "Potential Energy: Taking Advantage of America's Great Oil and Gas Resources" Today, noon-1 p.m. ET, Washington, D.C. American Enterprise Institute Book discussion: "Men Without Work: America's Invisible Crisis" Today, 3-4 p.m. ET, Washington, D.C. 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. reStart Events Security Clearance Hiring and Networking Event Oct. 27, 10 a.m.-4 p.m. ET, Linthicum Heights, Md. >> Full events listings |
