Federal Eye

Feds get early dismissal on Wednesday

Tue, 24 Nov 2009 17:07:14 -0500

Some federal workers will get to take an early dismissal on Wednesday for the Thanksgiving holiday if it's granted by their agency bosses, the Office of Personnel Management announced this afternoon. The early pass is appropriate only for nonessential executive branch employees scheduled to work on Wednesday. In a statement, OPM Director John Berry cited President Obama's Thanksgiving message, which asks Americans to lend a hand to needier family, friends and neighbors during the holiday. "I ask all Federal employees to reflect on the president’s message and renew their commitment to serving their communities," Berry said. Despite Wednesday's early dismissal and Thursday's holiday, Friday is a normal work day for federal employees -- unless they take a vacation day.

GSA relocating workers for major renovation

Tue, 24 Nov 2009 15:33:44 -0500

A rendering of GSA's Washington headquarters once renovations are completed in 2016. (Courtesy Shalom Baranes) Roughly 1,200 General Services Administration employees will temporarily relocate starting in Spring 2011 as the agency's headquarters undergoes a massive renovation. The workers will move from the agency's F St. NW location to One Constitution Square, at 1275 First Street NE in the rapidly gentrifying "NoMa" district. GSA headquarters -- site of the Teapot Dome Scandal -- is one of Washington's older federal buildings and is in definite need of a makeover. (The Eye has seen the place. Nothing personal, but woah.) The agency will temporarily displace workers in two waves, with individuals in two of the building's four wings moving at a time. The entire project should be completed by early 2016, GSA said. GSA Senior Sustainability Officer Stephen R. Leeds said the building "will be transformed into an iconic national landmark of

Chat with The Eye!

Tue, 24 Nov 2009 13:00:00 -0500

Highlights of Tuesday's Post Politics Hour live chat with The Eye: St. Paul, Minn.: Hi Ed -- Thanks for taking questions today. Another publication had an article yesterday talking about how the dismal jobs picture could be Obama's "Katrina." What do you think about that notion? Even though I support the president, I tend to agree...the public isn't really paying attention to health care or Afghanistan. Unemployment is the big issue, and it doesn't look like the administration is getting that, at least not right now. Ed O'Keefe: This is why you saw President Obama speak for 8 minutes after Monday's Cabinet meeting mostly about jobs -- not health care or the Afghanistan plans. It's pretty clear to folks at the White House that it's all about jobs right now, which is why you see an urgency to get the Afghanistan decision made and health care passed by the State

Officials: Census worker hanged himself

Tue, 24 Nov 2009 11:53:24 -0500

By Ed O'Keefe and Carol Morello Updated 2:43 p.m. ET The Census Bureau employee found dead in September killed himself and staged his death to look like a homicide, state and federal law enforcement officials said Tuesday. William E. Sparkman Jr. died of asphyxiation and was found with hands, feet and mouth bound with duct tape, a rope around his neck and the word "FED" written on his chest, investigators concluded. Passersby spotted his body on Sept. 12 in a remote area of the Daniel Boone National Forest. Witnesses said Sparkman had discussed ending his own life, recent federal investigations of public officials in Kentucky and negative perceptions of federal agencies expressed by Clay County, Ky. residents, investigators said. Sparkman also secured two life insurance policies that would not pay out for suicide shortly before his death, investigators said. Authorities decided to share some, but not all of the details

Eye Opener: Paying to put men back on the Moon

Tue, 24 Nov 2009 06:00:00 -0500

Some lawmakers really want President Obama to fund trips back to the Moon -- and beyond. Happy Tuesday! On a day when President Obama spent some time discussing the importance of math and science education, a bipartisan group of lawmakers urged him on Monday to adopt the recent recommendations of a blue-ribbon panel that studied the future of NASA. The nation's economy and national security depends on future human space flight, according to the lawmakers. The NASA House Action Team, co-chaired by Reps. Suzanne Kosmas (D-Fla.) and Ken Calvert (R-Calif.), most especially want Obama to give NASA a $3 billion annual budget increase, as recommended by the so-called Augustine panel. Obama established the group earlier this year to study the future of Space exploration. "Congress will continue to fight to maintain America's leadership in space exploration in order to inspire this and future generations to imagine, innovate, and create

Sponsors back out of climate seminar

Mon, 23 Nov 2009 13:00:00 -0500

Updated 1:46 p.m. ET A Monday seminar on climate change has lost two sponsors following the organizer's decision to not open the event to the press. Contrary to earlier reports, organizers insist the event is indeed open to the press with one condition: That participants and audience members abide by the "Chatham House Rule," which could severely hamstring reporters eager to share the thoughts of certain people in attendance. Tonight's speakers include a mix of government and private climate change experts from the U.S. and Great Britain. The seminar's organizer is Natalia Galin, a Fulbright scholar at NASA's Goddard Space Center. In an e-mail she explained that the rule "would allow for the speakers and audience to engage in free and unrestricted discussion for the benefit of all present." The rule dates back to the late 1920s and states that "participants are free to use the information received, but neither

McCain blocking USDA nominees over Arizona snow

Mon, 23 Nov 2009 10:00:00 -0500

Sen. John McCain has a message for the Agriculture Department: "Let it snow! Let it snow! Let it snow (in Arizona)!" The former Republican presidential candidate said he will block the confirmation of USDA nominees until the U.S. Forest Service allows an Arizona ski resort to make artificial snow with treated wastewater. McCain's decision means at least two USDA nominees remain in limbo awaiting Senate confirmation, according to The Post's Head Count. President Obama has not nominated anyone to fill three other political positions at USDA. McCain and Grand Canyon State colleague Jon Kyl (R) first wrote to Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack in June asking why the Forest Service had not approved the Arizona Snowbowl's request to use snowmaking equipment on its peaks in the Coconino National Forest. The agency has the legal right to approve the request following years of litigation by several Native American tribes that had fought

Eye Opener: Nov. 23, 2009

Mon, 23 Nov 2009 06:00:00 -0500

Happy Monday! Follow The Federal Eye on Twitter and submit your news tips and events listings here. • The Government's Art: A cool Wall Street Journal sideshow depicts some of the most notable pieces from the collections of the House, Senate and State Department. • More Obama Nominees Announced: The president on Friday tapped Maria Sally Matiella to serve as assistant secretary of the Army for financial management; Paul L. Oostburg Sanz to serve as the Department of Navy's general counsel; Solomon B. Watson IV to serve as the Department of Army's general counsel; Kathleen S. Tighe to serve as the Education Department's inspector general; Orlan Johnson to serve as chairman of the board of directors of the Securities Investor Protection Corporatio; and Sharon Y. Bowen to serve as the vice-chair of the board of directors of the Securities Investor Protection Corporation. Track all of Obama's nominees with The

The Eye discusses the Postal Service on MSNBC

Mon, 23 Nov 2009 05:00:00 -0500

Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy Watch above as The Eye discusses the Postal Service's Letters to Santa program on MSNBC on Sunday morning.

GOP investigation ties Rhee to IG firing

Fri, 20 Nov 2009 17:00:00 -0500

By Bill Turque in The Post's D.C. Wire blog: D.C. Schools Chancellor Michelle A. Rhee had several conversations last year with a federal inspector general investigating Sacramento Mayor Kevin Johnson for alleged financial misconduct and inappropriate behavior with female students at a charter school he operated, The Los Angeles Times reported Friday. D.C. Schools Chancellor Michelle A. Rhee The paper said Rhee, who once served on the board of the St. Hope school, spoke on behalf of Johnson -- whom she is now engaged to -- calling him "a good guy." Rhee's previously undisclosed involvement in the investigation is described in a 62-page congressional report on the White House's firing earlier this year of Gerald Walpin, the inspector general for the Corporation for National and Community Service. The report is scheduled to be released today by Rep. Darrell Issa (R-Calif) and Sen Charles E.Grassley (R-Iowa). Johnson has not been charged

Coco-crazy town's post office saved

Fri, 20 Nov 2009 11:56:37 -0500

Coconuts helped save one Florida town's post office. Updated 3:46 p.m. ET Among the post offices saved in the latest round of cutbacks announced Friday is the one in coconut-rich Lantana, Fla. Eye readers will recall that the town's residents sent hundreds of coconuts (yes, hundreds, not thousands as initially thought) to Postmaster General John E. Potter in an effort to save their post office. Reached Friday for comment, Lantana city manager Michael Bornstein said "“We’re thrilled. Our approach of raising awareness in an unusual way… apparently it worked.” Bornstein convinced the mayor, councilmembers, the Palm Beach County commissioner and local schoolkids to pay between $4.00 and $17.00 to mail coconuts to Washington. (Yes, you can mail a raw coconut in the mail.) “We’re going to go back to the schools and talk to the kids who did the coconuts and complete the circle about the history and the

4 D.C.-area postal locations to stay open

Fri, 20 Nov 2009 11:08:00 -0500

Three postal service branches in Maryland and one in the District that have been considered for closure, as the U.S. Postal Service looks to trim costs, will remain open, the agency announced Friday. Eight locations in the District remain candidates for closure, according to an updated list released Friday by the Postal Service The District's Northeast branch office on Maryland Avenue NE will stay open, as will Bethesda's Friendship Heights branch, the Landover Hills branch in Hyattsville and the Silver Spring Center branch. Nationally, 241 sites remain under consideration, down from 371 sites listed last month. Here are the eight locations in the District that might close: Station Branch Name Address Columbia Heights Finance 3321 Georgia Ave. NW Fort Davis 3843 Pennsylvania Ave. SE Ledroit Park 416 Florida Ave. NE Naval Research Laboratory 4555 Overlook Ave. SW Navy Annex 2 Navy Annex USPS Room G073 Petworth 4211 Ninth St. NW

Featured Advertiser

Fri, 20 Nov 2009 11:08:00 -0500

Orszag on health care reform

Fri, 20 Nov 2009 10:00:00 -0500

Office of Management and Budget Director Peter Orszag delivers the Obama administration's health-care reform sales pitch in a Washington Post op-ed today by focusing on the economic impact of the efforts. "If we do nothing to slow the skyrocketing cost of health care, the federal government will eventually be spending more on Medicare and Medicaid than all other government programs combined," Orszag writes. "It's time to move toward the high-quality, lower-cost health system of the future, and the reforms under discussion in the House and Senate will put us firmly on that path." He notes that the Congressional Budget Office (his former employer) determined that the House health-care reform bill would reduce the deficit by $109 billion over the first decade "and potentially by more than that over the second." The Senate version would reduce the deficit by $130 billion in the first decade and by more than half a

Eye Opener: No smoking near federal buildings?

Fri, 20 Nov 2009 06:30:00 -0500

Happy Friday! A New York lawmaker is trying -- yet again -- to ban smoking within 25 feet of federal buildings. Rep. Eliot Engel (D-N.Y.) introduced a bill this week that bans the practice, even though the General Services Administration last year banned puffing within 25 feet of federal building doorways and intake ducts. The policy closed interior smoking rooms, but does not apply to federal buildings in which people are "voluntarily or involuntarily residing," such as prisons. It also allows for "instances where an agency head establishes limited and narrow exceptions that are necessary to accomplish agency missions." Federal employees have fought the existence of interior smoking rooms, outdoor smoking areas other loopholes in the GSA policy that might allow some colleagues to carve out indoor and outdoor smoking areas. Engel's bill appears to help those efforts, if it ever passes. "This is common sense legislation," Engel said

Postal Service's Letter to Santa program lives on

Thu, 19 Nov 2009 15:56:40 -0500

(Spoiler alert: This report contains some details potentially unsuitable for the young and old that believe in Santa.) Have no fear, kids: The Postal Service's Letters to Santa program lives on ... just not at the post office in North Pole, Alaska. Postal officials disputed an Associated Press report Thursday that said the entire program was bust. The program will continue at participating post offices, so long as they abide by strict guidelines designed to protect young children. "We're not Grinches," insisted Postal spokeswoman Sue Brennan. The Postal Service's Letters to Santa program began in New York City in 1912, in an effort to respond to letters from needy children seeking some holiday cheer. (It is separate from several other, privately operated letter programs.) Volunteers to assist the jolly old elf in answering his mail -- many of whom are postal employees -- adopt a letter, write a response