The Air Force is looking to employ some live birds–falcons to be precise– to protect its metal ones, the Washington Post reported today. The enemy: other birds. Apparently, small birds, like songbirds, pigeons or Magpies, fly in the vicinity of U.S. military aircraft at Bagram Air Base in Afghanistan, posing a hazard that they’ll be ingested in the planes’ engines and disable them. The Post reports 125 “bird strikes” in the last year, up from 78 the year before. So far, other traditional means of bird control, such as firing shotguns, have not worked. If the military awards the contract,…
Monthly Archives: November, 2008
Feds in Anchorage, Fairbanks and Juneau, Alaska, will have to tighten their belts a little after Dec. 3. That is the day those employees’ cost-of-living allowances will drop from 24 percent to 23 percent, the Office of Personnel Management said in a Nov. 3 Federal Register notice. The reductions are based on cost-of-living surveys OPM conducted in 2006. And the COLA in those cities could drop even further. OPM in August proposed reducing the allowance to 22 percent. That reduction would not occur until December 2009 at the earliest. The COLA for federal employees in other parts of Alaska will remain unchanged at…
A curious memo may halt spending on many earmarks intended for federal agencies. OMB Director Jim Nussle issued a memo Oct. 23 detailing conditions that must be met for agencies to spend earmarks embedded in the fiscal year 2009 continuing resolution, which also contains the Defense, Homeland Security and Veterans’ Affairs appropriations. In order for an agency to allocate funding for an earmark, the earmark must meet three conditions. They are: 1. It must have been in the FY 2008 appropriations bill; 2. It must continue in 2009 and beyond (no one-time, non-recurring projects or grants); and 3. The affected…
Earlier today we mentioned Barack Obama’s slight fundraising edge among federal employees in the presidential race; he’s received about 13 percent more from feds than his rival, John McCain. In case you’re wondering how this compares to recent elections: In 2004, George W. Bush received three times as much from federal employees as John Kerry did. Bush hauled in about $249,000 from government employees, compared with Kerry’s $80,000. If feds vote with their wallets, they’re significantly more excited about Obama’s candidacy than they were about Kerry’s.
T’is the season — open season, that is. Beginning next Monday, Nov. 10, you have four weeks to choose your insurers for health, dental and vision coverage in 2009. You can also set up flexible spending accounts for pretax savings on health and dependent care expenses. You can start your planning today, as the Office of Personnel Management has posted premiums and other details on the 2009 plans. Happy shopping.
This has been an astoundingly expensive presidential campaign — more than $1 billion spent since the primaries. How much did federal employees contribute? We decided to take a look at the donor database for both candidates. Barack Obama seems to have the fundraising edge among feds: his donations outpaced John McCain’s by about 13 percent. Defense Department employees contributed nearly half of the total amount donated by feds — not surprising, since Defense is by far the largest federal agency. The Agriculture Department seems to have contributed the least: just $250 for Obama, and nothing for McCain. The agency-by-agency numbers…
Hard to believe, but after nearly two years of campaigning, we’re just 24 hours away from voting for a new president. Voter turnout tomorrow is expected to reach record highs — so be prepared to spend some time waiting in line at your polling place. Not sure where that is? Maryland: Polls are open from 7:00 am to 8:00 pm. Check your polling place here. Virginia: Polls are open from 6:00 am to 7:00 pm. Check your polling place here. District of Columbia: Polls are open from 7:00 am to 8:00 pm. Check your polling place here. (If you live…