Everyone hates the IRS, right? Bunch of pencil-pushing money-grubbers whose goal in life is to squeeze every last dime from the poor taxpayer. That’s the old stereotype, anyway. But a new poll from the Pew Research Center shows that over the last decade or so, the tax-collecting agency has improved in public perception more than any of the other 12 agencies included in the survey. The ratings bump could be a result of new, user-friendly online tax software. Or it could just reflect the fact that the IRS was starting from such a low point — its favorable ratings were…
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A couple months ago, I told you about a contest to find the most entertaining and creative video extolling the government’s online information portal, www.usa.gov. Well, the results are in, and the winning entry might have you wondering if punk rockers Green Day have hung up their “American Idiot” creed for a pro-government bent. No, Green Day hasn’t sold out. But the rocking tune from contest winner Peter Sullivan, father of two from Nashville, Tenn., proves that it’s possible to write a song about looking up government information online that might actually appeal to the cool kids. Sullivan won $2,500 from the…
The five healthiest federal chefs in the Washington area will square off Wednesday afternoon at the Office of Personnel Management’s headquarters. The finalists in OPM’s Feds Get Fit Healthy Recipe Challenge will cook their original, tasty meals for judges, and the winner will be published in a special Feds Get Fit cookbook. Recipes will be judged by OPM Director John Berry, nutritionist and chef Robyn Webb, Top Chef finalist Carla Hall, and former New England Patriot Darryl Haley. Berry has made encouraging federal employee wellness a top priority at OPM. The finalists come from the Homeland Security, Housing and Urban Development and…
This is, hands down, the best solicitation I’ve seen in a long time: The mad scientists at the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency are moving forward with their plans to develop a flying car. Seriously. This $55 million flying car will need to seat four troops and their gear, operate like a regular SUV on land, and be able to turn into a vertical-take-off-and-landing aircraft that can fly 250 miles, at up to 10,000 feet above sea level, on a single tank of fuel. “This presents unprecedented capability to avoid traditional and asymmetrical threats while avoiding road obstructions,” DARPA said in its…
Nobody likes paying taxes, of course, but here are two things that might take a little sting out of today. The Onion has the scoop on the U.S. Postal Service’s latest can’t-miss scheme for boosting its dwindling revenue: Late-night post offices to draw in the nightclub crowd. “We’re busier than ever, though to be honest, a lot of these people’s packages never even make it to the processing center,” Loftus continued. “The address will be illegible, or the envelope soaked in beer or hot sauce. You’d be surprised how many people try to mail themselves hot sauce at 2:30 in…
Federal Protective Service contract guards failed to detect guns, knives and other prohibited items brought into federal agencies more than half of the time during covert tests by the agency, the Government Accountability Office reveals in a new report. Sen. Joe Lieberman, chairman of the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, said the new report shows FPS continues to face widespread problems with its contractor workforce. While it has taken some steps forward in recent months, the Federal Protective Service continues to be an agency in crisis. As I blogged earlier, the House Homeland Security Committee, which requested the…
Chances are when you entered your federal office this morning, you passed by a private-sector security guard. Although the Federal Protective Service is charged with protecting employees and visitors at roughly 9,000 federal buildings nationwide, the agency largely relies on contract security guards to get the job done: 15,000 guards to be precise, compared to just 1,225 FPS officers, investigators and administrative staff. The House Homeland Security Committee is debating whether that needs to change. Specifically, the committee will hold a hearing tomorrow morning to debate whether federal guards would provide better security than contract workers. A series of eye-opening…
A 25-year mine safety veteran will lead the federal team investigating last week’s explosion at a West Virginia coal mine that killed 29 miners. Norman Page, manager of the Mine Safety and Health Administration’s District 6 in Pikeville, Ky., will lead the accident investigation team, according to an agency announcement. The 14-member team, scheduled to arrive at the mine today, is made up of employees outside the district office that oversees the Upper Big Branch South Mine. On Saturday, search teams found the bodies of the final four miners who had yet to be recovered, dashing hopes that any of the…
Jacqueline Berrien was sworn in today as chairwoman of the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. President Obama installed Berrien in a recess appointment March 27. Berrien is the 14th person to head EEOC, and was previously the associate director-counsel of the NAACP Legal Defense and Education Fund. Former Georgetown University law professor Chai Feldblum was also sworn in as a commissioner today.
The General Services Administration said today that it’s awarded $4 billion in contracts for hundreds of building construction and renovation projects through the Recovery Act. More than 500 companies across the country have received contracts for the 391 projects GSA has funded so far since the Recovery Act was passed in February 2009. GSA overall received $5.5 billion in stimulus funds for construction projects, including $4 billion to improve the energy efficiency of existing federal buildings. Vice President Joe Biden praised GSA for stretching its Recovery Act dollars further than originally planned. Due to the slumping economy, bids came in lower than anticipated,…