by Jaime L. Hartman  Jan 07 2009, 08:00 AM Comments: 0

Love that new flat screen TV you got for the holidays? You might not love it quite as much when you get your first electric bill. Liquid crystal display (LCD) sets use an average 43 percent more electricity than the conventional tube TV, with larger models using proportionately more. Plasma TVs are even bigger energy hogs, needing more than three times as much power as the old fashioned sets.

In California, where the strained energy grid is legendary, regulators are preparing the first rules in the nation that require retailers to sell only the most energy-efficient television sets, according to a report in the Los Angeles Times. If passed, the regulations would go into effect in 2011.

Predictably, the consumer electronics industry opposes the regulations and claims that they could make...

by OhMyGov!  Jan 07 2009, 05:26 AM Comments: 0

As legislators weigh impeaching Gov. Rod Blagojevich and federal prosecutors prepare to indict him on corruption charges, his acting chief of staff and a deputy governor will be keynote speakers Wednesday at an "Ethics in the Workplace" seminar for some 200 state employees.

by OhMyGov!  Jan 06 2009, 09:34 AM Comments: 0

Just when you thought President Bush was so lame a duck he couldn't do anything else to lower his approval rating, a new report was issued by Representative Henry Waxman (D-CA), Senator Claire McCaskill (D-MO), and Rep. Ed Towns (D-NY), which states that the Bush Administration failed to implement over 13,000 recommendations made by Inspectors General - the investigators buried within each agency - since 2001. According to the report, those recommendations, if implemented, could have saved taxpayers nearly $26 billion.

“If someone told me that I was losing change from a hole in my pocket and instead of mending it I kept losing money, shame on me. But that’s what has happened over the past seven years to the tune of $25 billion, as thousands of inspectors general recommendations were ignored...

by Jaime L. Hartman  Jan 06 2009, 09:00 AM Comments: 0

Thinking about a new job? You might consider the Federal Bureau of Investigations (FBI), which announced yesterday that it was launching a "hiring blitz" to fill over 2,100 vacancies this year.

The jobs are located throughout its many field offices and headquarters divisions. The vacancies include a wide variety of fields such as administrative/clerical, engineering professionals, general education and training professionals, language specialists, nursing and counseling professionals, and many more. If you are interested, you need to move quickly - most of the open positions are closing January 16th.

“The FBI is like no other career choice you’ve ever considered,” said Assistant Director John Raucci, FBI Human Resources Division. “Whatever your background or expertise, you will find the...

by seniorexec  Jan 06 2009, 06:11 AM Comments: 0

You don't have to look too far to find the views of former Senate majority leader Tom Daschle, President-elect Barack Obama's nominee to be his health and human services secretary. They can be found in his February 2008 book, Critical: What We Can Do About the Health-Care Crisis , which outlines his provocative ideas, including establishing a Federal Health Board modeled on the Federal Reserve System.

Bottom Line: Former Senate majority leader and current Secretary of Health and Human Services nominee, Tom Daschle, outlines his health care reform views.

Author: Thomas A. Daschle

Publication Date: 2008

What It Covers: Daschle provides his vision for reformed health care, "a seamless, value oriented system that offers affordable health care to everyone. Whatever plan we come up with, it...

by seniorexec  Jan 06 2009, 05:48 AM Comments: 1

Federal employees in the immediate Washington, DC, area will have two holidays in January 2009: the birthday of Martin Luther King, Jr. (Monday, January 19) and Inauguration Day (Tuesday, January 20). The two holidays fall within the same pay period, which begins on January 18 and ends on January 31, 2009. Special pay and leave procedures will be in effect.

Federal employees in the Washington, DC area get an extra holiday on the day a President is inaugurated (January 20 following a Presidential election). Employees are entitled to this holiday if they are employed in:

The District of Columbia; Montgomery and Prince Georges Counties in Maryland; Arlington and Fairfax Counties in Virginia; and The cities of Alexandria and Falls Church in Virginia. The "Inauguration Day holiday" applies to...

by OhMyGov!  Jan 06 2009, 12:05 AM Comments: 0

Faced with dwindling prospects for meeting its recruiting targets, the U.S. Army is reaching out to a bigger set of enlistees, in more than one sense of the word.

Taking a page from "The Biggest Loser," the hit TV show where contestants compete to shed pounds, Army officials have adopted a waiver program that gives overweight enlistees a chance to get in shape after joining.

The Army and other service branches have relied on waiver programs --- essentially, workarounds to the traditional admission standards --- to meet recruiting targets as ongoing wars in Iraq and Afghanistan continue to strain the military. OhMyGov! reported in September on another Army waiver program targeting enlistees who lacked a high school diploma or GED certificate. The Army had previously required a high school...

by Mark Malseed  Jan 05 2009, 10:55 AM Comments: 0

The Virginia Railway Express, facing an abysmal record of delays on the commuter rail service it operates in the Washington, D.C., area, has settled on an all-too-typical government solution to its chronic problem: Tweak the numbers to look better.

Beginning today, VRE is allotting extra time for its scheduled runs in an effort to improve on-time performance. The old 7:13 train to Union Station, for example, is now the 7:19 train. Sure, commuters will have to either get up a few minutes earlier, or be content with arriving a few minutes later to the office, but with the new timetable at least they'll have the satisfaction of arriving "on time."

Since losing a share of its regular riders in 2006 because of poor performance, according to a D.C. Examiner story, the Virginia rail has seen improved...

by Andrew B. Einhorn  Jan 05 2009, 08:52 AM Comments: 0

As your tanned coworkers return from tropical places, the sparkle of the lights begins to dim, and the Christmas spirit is not-so-gradually replaced with a renewed work fervor, you may find yourself thinking about throwing out your Christmas tree. But the mild onset of depression tied to tossing the symbol of the "most wonderful time of the year" may be cured with some insight into how governments are using disposed of Christmas trees in innovative and useful ways to keep the spirit of giving alive...or at least reincarnated.

Take the Louisiana government for example. Through the Department of Natural Resources , individuals can donate their old Christmas trees to protect the Louisiana shoreline. Old trees are lined up in front of coastal wetlands, like those in the Calcasieu Parish coastal...

by seniorexec  Jan 05 2009, 06:49 AM Comments: 1

The Federal Aviation Administration last month reached a settlement with air traffic controller Peter Nesbitt, who charged that he was retaliated against for warning that a takeoff and landing procedure in Memphis, Tenn., had led to near midair collisions. Leslie Williamson, spokeswoman for the federal agency that investigates whistleblower complaints, told the Associated Press that Nesbitt will be allowed to return to air traffic control duties and transferred to Austin, Texas, at the same salary. The FAA will also pay his relocation and legal expenses.

Nesbitt's case was one of many instances recently where FAA employees voiced concerns about safety issues. A National Public Radio story from last June reported a huge increase in the number of safety complaints by FAA employees --- 32 in...