NEWS: March 23, 2016 Homeland Security | The Nation U.S. Security Beefed Up After Brussels Attacks Law-enforcement and transit agencies across the United States beefed up patrols after explosions rocked the airport and a subway station in Brussels Tuesday, killing at least 30 people. Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson said the U.S. has no intelligence that indicates a plot to carry out a similar attack inside U.S. borders. >> Washington Post, Reuters Customs Agency Ready to Expand Virtual Border Fence U.S. Customs and Border Protection said it is ready to expand deployment of a series of sensor- and camera-equipped surveillance towers used to keep tabs on parts of the U.S.-Mexico border. >> Nextgov Public Finance | New Jersey State Gets Negative Credit Outlook over Pensions Standard and Poor's Ratings Services lowered its outlook for New Jersey's finances from stable to negative over concerns with the state's declining pension-funding levels and growing retirement liabilities. Last week, Fitch Ratings assigned New Jersey a stable outlook, but S&P took a dimmer view of the state's financial picture. >> NJ.com Veterans' Services | The Nation VA Official Suspended for Allowing Relocation Scam Danny Pummill, the acting head of the Veterans Benefits Administration, is being suspended without pay for 15 days for allowing two lower-ranking officials to manipulate the agency's hiring system for their own gain in a relocation scam that has roiled the agency for months. Deputy Veterans Affairs Secretary Sloan Gibson said Pummill failed to exercise proper oversight. >> AP/Yahoo News VA: No More Punishments for Hospital Cost Overrun Following an internal investigation, the VA said it does not plan to punish anyone else involved in the construction of a new hospital in Aurora, Colo., that saw its cost balloon by $1 billion. >> Denver Post Public Officials | New York State Governor's Ex-Aide to Lead Ethics Commission The state's Joint Commission on Public Ethics has named Seth Agata, a former top aide to Gov. Andrew Cuomo, as its new executive director. Agata will be the third executive director in the commission's five-year history, all of whom have come from Cuomo's service. >> Albany Times-Union Phoenix Transit CFO Leaving Amid Spending Probes John McCormack, the chief financial officer for the Phoenix region's Valley Metro transit system, will leave his post in June amid investigations over questionable spending within the agency. >> Arizona Republic Wyoming Governor Moves to Boot Sheriff from Office Wyoming Gov. Matt Mead has asked the state's attorney general to start the process of removing Sublette County Sheriff Stephen Haskell, who faces criminal charges, from his position. >> Casper Star-Tribune The Military | The Nation Justice Department Investigating Two from Pentagon IG's Office Current and former key officials in the Defense Department inspector general's office are at the center of a Justice Department investigation. Former acting inspector general Lynne Halbrooks and the office's current general counsel, Henry C. Shelley Jr., are accused by a former colleague of destroying documents relating to possible whistleblower retaliation against a former National Security Agency official. >> Government Executive Army to Test Blending Active, Reserve Forces The Army said it will begin testing a new process to co-mingle elements of its active-duty force with National Guard members and reservists, aiming to make the active and reserve components as compatible during peacetime training as they have been in wartime. >> Federal News Radio House Backs Arlington Burial for Female WWII Pilots House Lawmakers overwhelmingly approved legislation allowing a group of female World War II military pilots to be interred at Arlington National Cemetery, reversing Army officials' orders. >> Military Times Education | The Nation Report Finds Massive Under-Investment in School Construction and Maintenance The nation is spending $46 billion less each year on school construction and maintenance than is necessary to ensure safe and healthy facilities of buildings that on weekdays house some 56 million students and teachers, according to estimates in a new report by two groups that advocate for environmentally sound buildings. >> Washington Post Teacher-Prep Enrollments Still Falling, But Less Steeply The numbers of both enrollments in and completion of teacher-preparation programs continued to decline through 2014, but not as sharply as a few years before that, according to newly released data. >> Education Week >> Follow GovManagement on Twitter >> Share this edition: | QUOTABLE “The Venus Eyes one-day, the Colorcon of monthly type was very popular from the previous. In response to the user's wishes is what was released in One Day type. By Yui Kanno that of the worn. It is very popular.” Google translation of the opening text, which is entirely in Japanese, on electtomweldon.com, which Georgia state Rep. Tom Weldon listed with the Georgia secretary of state's office as his official re-election campaign website heading into tomorrow's primary election but which actually is registered to a Tokyo company that describes itself as "a leading force in the Internet industry" >> Chattanooga Times Free Press | More quotes DATAPOINT 8.7% Decline in the number bachelor's degrees in the core humanities disciplines conferred by American colleges and universities from 2012 to 2014, falling to 106,869, the smallest number since 2003, according to a new analysis from the American Academy of Arts & Sciences documenting a decline due in part to the opening up of science and technology fields to women >> Inside Higher Ed | More data VIEWPOINT The Presidency | William Doyle The Military Experience We Need in the Oval Office American voters are fed up with politicians. Maybe they should be fed up with the entire 2016 presidential field's lack of military experience. It's probably too late for this election, but the Democratic and Republican parties should immediately start recruiting fresh faces and new leaders from the ranks of our former and retired military leaders. Military and combat service has conferred upon hundreds of thousands of Americans a host of strengths critical to the presidency. >> USA Today | More commentaries UPCOMING EVENTS Association of Government Accountants Webinar: "Internal Controls" Today, 2 p.m. ET Partnership for Public Service Webinar: "The Best Path to Pathways: How to Implement Pathways Best Practices" Today, 2 p.m. ET National Contract Management Association Conference: "100 Worst Mistakes in Government Contracting" March 24, Melbourne, Fla. American Enterprise Institute Book event and discussion with retired Gen. Michael V. Hayden: "American Intelligence in the Age of Terror" March 25, noon-1:30 p.m. ET, Washington, D.C. Harvard Kennedy School Executive Education Program on Strategic Management of Regulatory and Enforcement Agencies March 28-April 2, Cambridge, Mass. Rutgers University Institute on Anti-Corruption Studies Webinar: "Green Cards for Sale? The Myths, the Truths and the Challenges of America's EB-5 Immigrant Investor Program" March 28, 10 a.m. ET Brookings Institution Policy forum: "Strengthening Student Learning Through Innovation and Flexibility" March 28, 1:30-4:30 p.m. ET, Washington, D.C. Governing Webinar: "The Modern City: Building Community through Development and Technology" March 29, 2 p.m. ET >> Full events listings
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