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NEWS: Aug. 22, 2011
Guard's New Leader Moves to Reform a Troubled Force Army Maj. Gen. David S. Baldwin returned in April from a tour of duty in Afghanistan to lead the California National Guard and inherited a force plagued by mismanagement and freighted with scandal. To reform its culture, Baldwin has dismissed past leaders and installed new ones while moving aggressively to address ethical lapses that have resulted in a criminal probe by four federal agencies. >> Sacramento Bee I.G. Investigating Pentagon's Personnel Chief The Pentagon inspector general is investigating Clifford Stanley, the former Marine Corps general who oversees the Defense Department's massive personnel bureaucracy, in the wake of allegations of gross mismanagement and abuse of power. >> Government Executive Prosecutor to Head Pennsylvania Gambling Board Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Corbett named Bill Ryan, a former acting state attorney general and long-time prosecutor from the agency that has been investigating the state's regulation of gambling, to be chairman of the state's Gaming Control Board. >> Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
Coast Guard Struggles to Update Its Aging Fleet Nearly a decade into a 25-year, $24.2 billion overhaul to add or upgrade more than 250 vessels for its aging fleet, the Coast Guard has two new ships to show after spending $7 billion-plus. Now it faces an uphill battle persuading Congress to keep pouring money into a project plagued by management problems and cost overruns. >> AP/Yahoo News Public Services | Detroit Feds Slam State Probe of Human Services Agency The federal government accused Michigan's Department of Human Services of failing to properly investigate the possible misuse of tax dollars by Detroit's Human Services Department. The city department spent $210,000 from grants intended to help poor people on high-end furniture and appliances. >> Detroit Free Press Funding Sought to Transfer California Services California lawmakers need to make sure counties receive enough funding to take responsibility for a wide range of programs--including criminal justice, mental health and social services--being moved to local governments, the Legislative Analyst's Office says. >> Sacramento Bee
Public Jobs Fueled 'Texas Miracle' Gov. Rick Perry has leapfrogged to the top tier of Republican presidential candidates largely on the strength of Texas' job-creation success, crediting a lack of government interference for creating a business-friendly environment in the state. But much of that "Texas miracle" has come because of government: The number of government jobs in Texas has grown at more than double the rate of private-sector employment during Perry's tenure. >> Washington Post System Aims to improve Federal Managers' Evaluations A new performance-management system being implemented by federal agencies over the next two years is attempting to bring uniformity to the sometimes uneven and confusing manner of evaluating members of the Senior Executive Service. >> Federal News Radio After Labor Defeats, Boston Unions Rethink Strategy Fear of a second recession and recent political defeats have forced organized labor to rethink its strategy as all of Boston's 42 public-employee unions negotiate new contracts. But a new, more conciliatory approach has so far not been matched by concessions. >> Boston Globe
CIO: No New Federal Websites for Now The Office of Management and Budget has extended a ban on the creation of new federal websites and mandated that agencies complete an inventory of all of their Web domains and develop plans for improving them by Oct. 11. The guidance came in a memo from federal CIO Steven VanRoekel. >> InformationWeek IRS Neglected e-Payment Security, Auditors Say The Internal Revenue Service glossed over computer security in planning for a new tax-return law that applies to e-payment processors, federal auditors said. >> Nextgov Health Care | Maricopa County, Ariz. Report: Jails Still Fall Short on Health Care Despite spending millions of dollars trying to rectify long-recognized problems, Maricopa County still falls short of its obligation to provide adequate health care to jail inmates, according to an audit by a court-appointed expert. >> Arizona Republic Feds Reject New York Mayor's Food-Stamp Soda Ban Federal officials rejected Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg's proposal to bar New York City's food-stamp users from buying soda and other sugary drinks with them, derailing one of the mayor's initiatives to fight obesity and poor nutrition in the city. >> New York Times Education | Washington, D.C. Firm With Ties to Charters to Study Schools Mayor Vincent C. Gray's administration has commissioned an Illinois firm with close ties to the charter-school movement to study how neighborhoods are served by the public-education system and help officials decide where schools should be closed or opened. >> Washington Post Public Records | The Nation Court: White House Visitor Logs Are Public A federal court in Washington, D.C. handed the Secret Service another defeat in its attempts to skirt the Freedom of Information Act and protect White House visitor logs, holding that FOIA applies to the records and the agency must provide copies of them. >> FedSmith >> More news, analysis, resources and events: GovManagement.com >> Follow GovManagement on Twitter >> Share this edition:
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DATAPOINT 54 Number of retired Chicago police officers, ranging in age from 52 to 86, who are receiving pensions while also legally collecting paychecks for continuing to work in law enforcement as members of a Chicago Department of Aviation police force that helps patrol O'Hare and Midway airports >> Chicago Sun-Times VIEWPOINT Human Services | Joel Berg Welfare Reform's Forgotten Goals Fifteen years ago, President Clinton signed welfare reform into law. There will be no ceremony today to mark the occasion. Both Democrats and Republicans want to convince voters that the only thing they care about is the middle class. They act as though the 44 million Americans who are still in poverty--including more than four million still receiving cash welfare each month--don't exist. >> Washington Post
“I think if I go there and I run now, I win.” Former Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick, three weeks after being released from a 14-month Michigan prison stint for violating parole and facing a federal trial next year on 38 counts of extortion, bribery, fraud and racketeering, asserting that he nevertheless could win back the mayor's office if he tried >> New York Times UPCOMING Government Executive magazine Webinar: "Mobile Applications: Impacts on Agency Operations" Aug. 23, 2 p.m. ET American Society for Public Administration Webinar: "Budgeting for Results in Good Times and Hard Times" Aug. 24, 1 p.m. ET Government Innovators Network Online chat: "LAPD and LA Urban League's Neighborhood-based Approach to Fighting Crime" Aug. 24, 1 p.m. ET International City/County Management Association Web workshop: "Leadership, Management & the Key Role of Performance Measurement" Aug. 24, 1 p.m. ET Government Executive magazine Webinar: "Advances in Real-Time Data Analysis: Benefits to Your Agency" Aug. 24, 2 p.m. ET National Association of State Budget Officers Seminar: "Introduction to State Budgeting" Aug. 25-27, Chicago National Institute of Governmental Purchasing Annual Forum & Expo Aug. 25-29, Baltimore National Association of State Treasurers Annual Conference Aug. 27-31, Bismarck, N.D. National Association of State Technology Directors Annual Conference & Technology Showcase Aug. 28-Sept. 1, Omaha, Neb. Center for American Progress, the Clean Energy Project, MGM Resorts International, U.S. Sen. Harry Reid and the University of Nevada-Las Vegas National Clean Energy Summit Aug. 30, Las Vegas Governing magazine Leadership Forum Sept. 7, Austin, Texas 1105 Government Information Group Defense Systems Summit Sept. 7-8, Crystal City, Va. >> Full events listings |
