NEWS: April 5, 2016 Public Workforce | The Nation Report: Agencies Struggling to Share Talent Federal-government hiring managers are happier with the quality of the candidates coming through their doors, but agencies are finding it hard to share that workforce talent with each other, according to the latest progress report describing as at risk three-quarters of the milestones related to multi-agency workforce pilot programs. >> Federal News Radio Chicago Police Overtime Surges Amid Retirements The Chicago Police Department spent a record $116.1 million on overtime in 2015--up 17.2 percent from the previous year--to mask a personnel shortage that has mushroomed under Mayor Rahm Emanuel, with police retirements outpacing hiring by 975 officers. >> Chicago Tribune Top VA Health Execs Could Earn More Under Proposal Senior health-care executives at the Department of Veterans Affairs could earn more money but also could be fired more easily under draft legislation that Secretary Bob McDonald has sent to Capitol Hill. >> Government Executive The Military | The Nation GAO: DoD's Cyberattack Command Lines Muddled The Pentagon does not have a clear chain of command for supporting civilian agencies in responding to a massive cyberattack on domestic targets, according to a General Accountability Office report saying some documents assign responsibility to U.S. Northern Command and others give the lead role to Cyber Command. >> Military Times, Nextgov Suicides Up 23 Percent for Reserve, Guard The number of active-duty military personnel who died by suicide in 2015 declined slightly from 2014, but the reserve component, including the National Guard, saw a 23 percent increase to 209 from a four-year low of 170 in 2014, according to Pentagon data. >> Military Times Spending/Finance | The Nation New Orleans Ranked Tops for Efficient Public Spending New Orleans topped the rankings in an assessment by the personal-finance website WalletHub of how efficiently 78 of the nation's largest cities spend taxpayer dollars on the key expenditure categories of education, law enforcement, and parks and recreation. New Orleans was followed in the rankings by Miami, Philadelphia, Cleveland and Houston. Washington, D.C., ranked last. >> WalletHub Denver Auditor: Zoo Obstructing Poop-to-Energy Probe City Auditor Timothy O'Brien says Denver Zoo officials are obstructing his office's attempts to investigate the zoo's spending on a discontinued $3.7 million project to turn animal waste into energy. >> Denver Post Flint Mayor: Water-Sewer Fund Has $35 Million Deficit Flint, Mich., Mayor Karen Weaver says will not ask taxpayers to pay more for municipal water to help plug a projected budget deficit of nearly $35 million in the city's Water and Sewer Fund. >> Detroit Free Press Public Officials | California Tax Agency's Top Executive Sidelined The California Board of Equalization has assigned its executive director to a temporary role and promoted her No. 2. Cynthia Bridges, who was appointed executive director of the tax agency in June 2012, will work as a consultant through June 30. David Gau, the agency's chief deputy director, was promoted to executive director. An audit in November blasted the agency for incorrectly sending $47.8 million in retail sales taxes to the state's general fund and for lax employee travel accounting. >> Sacramento Bee Ex-Minnesota Tax Court Judge Charged with Tax Evasion Diane Kroupa, who retired in 2014 as a federal Tax Court judge and previously served as chief judge of Minnesota's state tax court, has been charged along with her husband with tax evasion in connection with her husband's political consulting business. >> St. Paul Pioneer Press Higher Education | The Nation Poll: Most College Students Support Curbs on Offensive Speech Most college students embrace the ideal of an open learning environment that exposes them to all types of speech and viewpoints, but a large majority also believes that schools should be allowed to restrict slurs and other intentionally offensive language, according to a new Gallup survey. Nearly half of students believe in curtailing the news media's access to campus events in certain scenarios. >> Washington Post, Chronicle of Higher Education University of California's In-State Enrollments Up 14.7% Facing political pressure to enroll thousands more California residents, the University of California announced that it has accepted 66,123 freshmen applicants from across the state for fall 2016, an increase of 8,488, or 14.7 percent, over last year. >> Sacramento Bee Retirement Expected for Minnesota Universities' Chancellor Faculty leaders say they expect Steven Rosenstone to retire next year after six years as chancellor of Minnesota State Colleges and Universities, the state's largest higher-education system. >> St. Paul Pioneer Press >> Follow GovManagement on Twitter >> Share this edition: | VIEWPOINT
The Presidency | Andrew Trees The Founders Would Have Dumped Trump Each day seems to bring a new reason for Republican leaders to contemplate how they might derail Donald Trump at the GOP convention, along with hand-wringing over whether it would be appropriate to violate the will of the people--or at least the will of most Republican primary voters. But there is one group that would wholeheartedly support party officials: the Founding Fathers. They were far more worried about a demagogue seizing power than about following the voice of the people. That is why we have the Electoral College. >> USA Today PLUS: Elliott Abrams on why the presidency still matters in policymaking--a lot. >> Washington Post | More commentaries DATAPOINT $3.04 billion A consultant's estimate of investment returns that the California Public Employees' Retirement System's 15-year ban on tobacco-company stocks has cost the pension fund, leading it to consider ending the ban as part of a broader re-examination at its divestment policy >> Sacramento Bee | More data QUOTABLE “What a ridiculous piece of claptrap!” Sean Van Leeuwen, vice president of the Association for Los Angeles Deputy Sheriffs, in a blog post underlining the denunciation by some police unions, street officers and police chiefs to training proposed by the Police Executive Research Forum to teach officers to avoid conflict and stressing the "sanctity of life" of everyone involved--ideas that critics say would cause dangerous hesitation at times when officers need to be decisive >> Washington Post | More quotes UPCOMING EVENTS Government Innovators Network Webinar: "Exemplary Conservation Leadership in New England and Across Six Continents" Today, 11 a.m. ET Government Social Media Government Social Media Conference and Expo April 6-8, Reno, Nev. Brookings Institution Book event and discussion: "The Smartest Places on Earth: Why Rustbelts are the Emerging Hotspots of Global Innovation" April 6, 9:30-11 a.m. ET, Washington, D.C. Partnership for Public Service Webinar: "Announcing the Truth: Exploring Effective Job Opportunity Announcements" April 6, 2 p.m. ET International City/County Management Association Webinar: "GASB in 2016: What Local Government Professionals Need to Know" April 7, 1 p.m. ET Urban Institute Webinar: "Elevating the Pay for Success Debate: Your Guide to the Urban Institute's New Pay for Success Web Portal" April 7, 2 p.m. ET, Washington, D.C. Heritage Foundation Book event: "Washington's Immortals: the Untold Story of an Elite Regiment Who Changed the Course of the Revolution" April 8, noon-1 p.m., Washington, D.C. >> Full events listings
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