Just think, snowed-in feds — should Washington D.C. break its snowfall record next year, perhaps you can catch up on episodes of Ron Howard’s planned Internal Revenue Service comedy. It’ll almost be like you’re back in your offices! FedLine has blogged about Howard’s planned Fox series before, which will be shot “documentary style” like NBC’s The Office and Parks & Recreation. Now we’re learning that Howard has started casting the show, with Numb3rs star David Krumholtz in the lead. Krumholtz will lead the action in an IRS regional office, according to Michael Ausiello over at Entertainment Weekly. What say you,…
Monthly Archives: February, 2010
Federal researchers have been hard at work trying to develop alternate sources of clean renewable energy, and yesterday they announced a major breakthrough in their efforts. Scientists from the Agriculture Department and the Energy Department’s Joint Genome Institute for the first time have sequenced the genes of a wild grass species. The research, which is published in the current issue of the journal Nature, will help researchers develop grasses specifically tailored for use as biofuel, said Molly Jahn, Agriculture’s acting undersecretary for research, education and economics. Energy security looms as one of the most important scientific challenges of this century.…
The company formerly known as Blackwater — now known as Xe (pronounced Zee) — allegedly billed the government for the X-rated services of a prostitute by marking the charge a “Morale Welfare Recreation” expense, according to this Washington Post report published today. Here is the paragraph if interest, as penned by the Post’s Carol D. Leonnig: The [plaintiffs] assert that Blackwater officials kept a Filipino prostitute on the company payroll for a State Department contract in Afghanistan, and billed the government for her time working for Blackwater male employees in Kabul. The alleged prostitute’s salary was categorized as part of…
A Pennsylvania college student sued the federal government Wednesday, saying that TSA and FBI officials detained him at an airport because he was carrying a set of English-Arabic flashcards, reports The Washington Post. Nicholas George, 22, of Montgomery County, Pa., is a senior majoring in physics and Middle Eastern studies at California’s Pomona College. In his lawsuit, he argues that he was detained for five hours in August at the Philadelphia airport because three Transportation Security Administration officers, two Federal Bureau of Investigation agents and two Philadelphia police officers were suspicious of his flashcards and semester studying abroad in the…
Earlier, I mentioned that the Government Printing Office continued to churn out key publications that enable the business of government, such as the Federal Register, despite the snow closures in the D.C. area. Thanks to the dedicated GPO workers who braved poor roads and spotty public transportation service, Defense procurement officials — and the civilian agencies they buy from — have clear and final guidance on how to carry out interagency contracting deals. Today’s Federal Register includes the final version of an interim rule published in July. The rule, which was mandated by the 2008 Defense authorization bill, allows DoD…
With D.C. offices in their fourth day of closures (check back later to see if it will be a five-day sweep), the business of government marches on. And that includes publications from the Government Printing Office, many of which are needed to implement new policies and regulations. Although most D.C. federal offices were closed this week, GPO reports more than 200 of its workers “braved the elements to print important materials for the White House and Congress.” Among the key publications they ensured went out on time, the Economic Report of the President, the Congressional Record and the Federal Register,…
The Environmental Protection Agency is asking for the public to help it comply with an Obama administration directive to make government operations more open and transparent. EPA has created a special website through which people can submit and vote on ideas for how the agency can solicit more feedback from the public, improve the quality and availability of information posted online and work better with groups inside and outside government. Ideas will be accepted until March 19. EPA will use the suggestions to help write its first-ever Open Government Plan, said Linda Travers, EPA’s principal deputy assistant administrator, in an Feb. 10 e-mail to…
Federal agencies in the DC area are closed again tomorrow, according to OPM. Emergency employees are still expected to show up for work, and teleworkers may have to work, too.
Rep. Gerry Connolly wants to know if the federal government would have been able to stay open during this winter’s snows if the area’s public transportation system was adequately funded. The Metro, Washington D.C.’s subway system, has suspended or limited above-ground rail service since Friday, contributing to Office of Personnel Management Director John Berry’s decision to close the federal government Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday. Hundreds of thousands commute on Metro daily, and suspension of rail and bus service makes it nearly impossible for many to make it to work. Connolly, a Democrat who represents suburban cities in Northern Virginia, sent…
My colleague Elise Castelli posted a blog earlier this week about the White House’s launch of a new open government dashboard, which you may have missed for all of the Snowpocalypse/Snowmaggedon/snOMG news. Not much information is posted yet on the dashboard’s Web site, which is part of the administration’s move to make government operations more transparent. President Obama signed an executive order Dec. 8 giving agencies until April 7 to detail how they will open up data to the public, and more will be added to the dashboard once agencies have released their transparency plans. But until then, the first…