Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, is keeping pressure on the FBI to reform in the wake of a cheating scandal. Collins sent FBI Director Bob Mueller a letter Oct. 7 that said he should immediately punish those who cheated on an important exam on domestic investigations rules and privacy, and force any cheater who wasn’t fired to retake the exam. Collins also wants the FBI to conduct a department-wide review to find out if there were any other cheaters that weren’t identified by an inspector general investigation. Mueller last month said disciplinary actions are being taken against cheaters and promised to…
Monthly Archives: October, 2010
Are you a recent federal retiree who is still getting a partial annuity check each month? Federal Times would like to hear from you. We’d like to find out how long you’ve been waiting for your full check, how much less you’re getting paid than what you’ve earned, and what you’ve heard from OPM when you inquired about the problem. E-mail me at slosey@federaltimes.com. If you’d like to speak off the record or not have your name used in my story, that’s certainly fine.
HHS, VA, CMS, Blue Button, health records, electronic health record
I was hoping to get some fed input on the results of our new poll on the Combined Federal Campaign, which was based off of some comments we have received from feds across the government… Sep 30, 2010 – Appeals for pledges to the Combined Federal Campaign at my agency are: Overbearing. People feel pressured to contribute whether they want to or not. : 60 % Appropriate. Pledges are for good cause. : 35 % Insufficient. More effort should be made to increase donations. : 5 % Do you feel pressured to give to the CFC, even if you don’t…
The White House continues to push renewable energy projects during National Energy Awareness month this October. The latest is from the Interior Department, which has announced what they call the largest solar energy project on public lands. From Ken Salazar, Interior Secretary The Tessera Solar Imperial Valley Solar Project and the Chevron Energy Solutions Lucerne Valley Solar Project will both be built in the California desert. Together, the projects could produce up to 754 megawatts of renewable energy, power 226,000 – 566,000 American homes, and support almost 1,000 new jobs. At the Department of the Interior, we have a special…
The Federal Employees Health Benefits Program premiums will go up 7.2 percent on average next year, the Office of Personnel Management said last week. For the most popular federal plan — Blue Cross Blue Shield Standard — self-only premiums are going up 6.9 percent and self-and-family plans are going up 7.6 percent. Also, six health care plans are dropping out of FEHBP: Louisiana’s Vantage Health Plans; Nevada’s Pacificare of Nevada; New Jersey’s AmeriHealth HMO; New York’s Community Blue; Rhode Island and Massachussetts’ BlueCHiP Coordinated Health Plan; and the multistate UnitedHealthcare Insurance Company, which included a high-deductible health plan option and…
As October kicks into full swing, it will take some sorting to figure out what month it really is. President Obama and various federal agencies have issued statements about various causes and concerns for this month. Click on links for the President’s statement on each of these months. National Arts and Humanities Month National Breast Cancer Awareness Month National Disability Employment Awareness Month National Domestic Violence Awareness Month National Cybersecurity Awareness Month National Energy Awareness Month Also, it is Fire Prevention Week. Also, feel free to comment below on any other commemorations that are happening this month, and we will…
Postmaster General John Potter is standing by his agency’s policy of paying the full cost of health insurance premiums for senior executives. According to a recent audit, the U.S. Postal Service could save about $567 million in fiscal 2011 if its employee contribution rate matched that of the federal government. For most employees, the Postal Service contributes 79 percent, compared to 72 percent elsewhere in the government. But postal executives don’t do as well as feds in other ways, Potter suggested at an end-of-the-fiscal-year news conference Friday. “Postal managers do not get locality pay,” he said. “Postal managers only get…