NEWS: Nov. 15, 2016 Cybersecurity | The Nation Breach of Sex Websites Swept Up Thousands of Government and Military Email Addresses The massive hack of AdultFriendFinder.com and related hookup and pornography sites contained thousands of government and military email addresses, according to the group that uncovered the October breach, which said the breach exposed 5,650 .gov and 78,301 .mil addresses. The top password exposed in the breach was "123456." >> Nextgov, Government Technology Teenage Hacker Linked to Attack on 12 States' 911 Centers Emergency 911 call centers located in at least 12 states were the target of a distributed denial of service attack that disrupted normal services and has been linked to a teenage hacker in Arizona, according to Department of Homeland Security officials. >> FedScoop The Military | The Nation Most Female Service Members Feel Unappreciated, Survey Finds Almost three in four female service members and veterans do not believe their military service is understood or valued among the general public, and only 24 percent think military leadership does enough to publicize their work, according to a new Service Women's Action Network survey. Forty-three percent said their biggest military hurdle is assignments and job opportunities. >> Military Times Study: Big Changes Needed for VA Disability Claims The Veterans Benefits Administration has shown progress in eliminating a backlog of disability claims and appeals, but fundamental changes must be made to prevent future backlogs, a review by the National Academy of Public Administration has found. >> Federal Times Cost Questions Scrap VA Plan for Sex-Change Surgeries A proposed Department of Veterans Affairs rule change that would have allowed sex-change surgeries for transgender veterans has been scrapped amid questions over how to pay for it. >> Military.com Public Pensions | Arizona Pension Reform Law Unconstitutional, $220 Million in Refunds Due, Court Rules A state Supreme Court ruling will require refunds to elected officials and public-safety officers who since 2011 were required to pay more for their pensions, with local governments likely to cover the projected $220 million cost to an already fragile Public Safety Personnel Retirement System trust fund. The divided high court upheld a Maricopa County Superior Court ruling that a 2011 pension-reform law was unconstitutional. >> Arizona Republic N.J.'s Credit Rating Cut Again over Pension Funding Standard and Poor's Ratings Services lowered New Jersey's credit rating from A to A-minus, citing declining public-pension funding levels and rising retirement liabilities. It was the state's 10th credit downgrade during Gov. Chris Christie's administration. >> NJ.com CalPERS' Private-Equity Managers Got 14% Cut of Profits The California Public Employees' Retirement System said it shared about 14 percent of the profit made on its $26.4 billion in private-equity investments in the past year with firms managing the money. >> Reuters Higher Education | Charlottesville, Va. Stop Quoting Jefferson, University's President Urged Nearly 500 professors and students at the University of Virginia sent a letter to university President Teresa A. Sullivan asking her to refrain from quoting Thomas Jefferson in her communications to students, as she did in a post-election email urging unity. The letter argues that the third president's legacy as a slave owner "undermines the message of unity, equality, and civility." >> Chronicle of Higher Education, Daily Cavalier U. of Michigan Provost Tapped as President of Cornell Martha Pollack, the University of Michigan's provost and executive vice president, was selected to become the president of Cornell University in the spring. Pollack has been provost at UM since 2013. >> Detroit News U. of Wisconsin Researchers to Study Voter ID Impact University of Wisconsin-Madison researchers are taking up a tricky task after last Tuesday's election: figuring out whether the presence of the state's voter ID requirement affected who voted. >> Milwaukee Journal Sentinel The Presidency | The Nation Trump Team Evaluating Structure of Executive Office of the President President-elect Donald Trump's transition team is evaluating the entire structure of the Executive Office of the President, according to a source with knowledge of the transition efforts. The EOP includes positions at the Office of Management and Budget and the Office of Science and Technology Policy, such as the U.S. CIO and CTO. >> FedScoop Public Safety | The Nation FBI: Attacks on U.S. Muslims Up 67% Since 2014 Attacks against American Muslims surged last year, driving a 6 percent increase in hate crime against all groups, the FBI reported. The agency said there were 257 reports of assaults, attacks on mosques and other hate crimes against Muslims last year, a jump of about 67 percent over 2014 and the highest total since 2001. >> New York Times LAPD Won't Change Stance on Immigrants, Chief Says Los Angeles Police Chief Charlie Beck said he has no plans to change the LAPD's decades-long stance distancing itself from federal immigration enforcement despite President-elect Donald Trump's pledge to toughen immigration laws and deport millions. >> Los Angeles Times >> Follow GovManagement on Twitter >> Share this edition: | DATAPOINT $30,700 and $37,500 Average early-career and mid-career pay for those with early-childhood-education bachelor's degrees, the lowest of 336 college majors, according to the 2016-2017 PayScale College Salary Report, which listed petroleum engineering as the highest-paying major >> San Francisco Chronicle | More data QUOTABLE “I voted for Zena not because she was black or a woman. I voted for her because I felt she was the best person.” D'Ann Riggs, a nurse in Beaumont, Texas, who was among those voting at the same time to elect Democrat Zena Stephens as Jefferson County sheriff and Republican Donald Trump as president, an outcome that will result in Stephens joining Vanessa Crawford in Petersburg, Va., as the nation's only black women sheriffs >> AP/Yahoo News | More quotes VIEWPOINT Public Workforce | Russ Linden The Wrong Kind of Performance Measures After the scandal erupted over the creation by Wells Fargo employees of more than 2 million bogus accounts, the bank's CEO claimed that he was "fully committed to ... fix the issue and strengthen our culture." But what happened at Wells Fargo wasn't about culture. We've seen this movie over and over in the public sector. Teachers and administrators in several public school systems have been caught correcting students answers on high-stakes tests. The same kind of unethical behavior occurred on a wide scale at the Department of Veterans Affairs, again because of high-stakes goals that were virtually impossible to meet. The old saying, "what gets measured gets managed," is true. >> Governing | More commentaries UPCOMING EVENTS
Starting tomorrow: NAPA's Fall Meeting
Nov. 16-18 | Arlington, Va. The theme is "Strengthening Public Administration in a Transition," and attendees will hear from a range of speakers including Elaine Kamarck of the Brookings Institution and former U.S. Rep. Thomas M. Davis III. To register or learn more, click here. |
Heritage Foundation Interview with Deirdre McCloskey: "How the World Grew Rich" Today, noon-1 p.m. ET, Washington, D.C. Urban Institute, New Work Training and American Institute for Innovative Apprenticeship Forum: "Delivering Employer-Driven Apprenticeships" Today, 1-4:30 p.m. ET, Washington, D.C. Brookings Institution Address by Federal Reserve Vice Chairman Stanley Fischer and discussions: "Do We Kave a Liquidity Problem Post-Crisis?" Today, 1:30-4:30 p.m. ET, Washington, D.C. Government Technology Webinar: "Prioritizing Your Cybersecurity Budget" Today, 2 p.m. ET American Society for Public Administration National Capital Area Chapter Book discussion: "The Federal Management Playbook: Leading and Succeeding in the Public Sector" Today, 5:30-7:30 p.m., Washington, D.C. National League of Cities City Summit Nov. 16-19, Pittsburgh Urban Institute Webinar: "Using the New Pay for Success Project Assessment Tool" Nov. 16, 1 p.m. ET, Washington, D.C. >> Full events listings
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