Sherman Hemsley, best known for his role as George Jefferson in the hit comedy “The Jeffersons” passed away yesterday. His breakout role on “All in the Family” led to an 11-season run of The Jeffersons and earned Hemsley an iconic place in television history. Before Hemsley’s television career he served in the Air Force for four years and worked at the Postal Service for about eight years while spending his nights attending acting school. Sherman Hemsley, known for his starring role on “The Jeffersons,” has died at age 74. Although the cause of Hemsley’s death is unclear, TMZ reports…
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The General Services Administration has instituted a temporary hiring freeze and suspended 85 percent of executive bonuses through fiscal 2013, according to the agency. The move comes as the agency is undergoing rigorous top to bottom review of all GSA operations, including its performance awards system. GSA also canceled the 2012 GovEnergy Conference after the April inspector general’s report detailing wasteful spending at the $823,000 2010 Western Regions Conference in Las Vegas. Read more about the changes shortly at www.federaltimes.com.
In the USA Today article, Strategize to leap over summer travel bumps, the author highlights key strategies to avoid travel mishaps, given an increase of travelers during the summer months: U.S. airlines expect to carry an average of 2.2 million travelers a day through August, according to the trade group Airlines for America. During last year’s busiest month, July, U.S. and foreign airlines carried 76.9 million passengers to and from U.S. airports on scheduled flights about – 22 million more than in February… How do federal employees, especially federal frequent flyers, handle the stresses and challenges of air and final destination…
If you read our most recent story about telework then you know the numbers of teleworking feds are increasing. As of September 2011, there were 168,558 employees teleworking out of 684,589 deemed eligible to telework. That represents a 48 percent increase over the 113,946 teleworking employees reported in 2009, the last time the government surveyed its workforce on teleworking habits. But how do federal employees deal with the equipment and technology costs if they are able to telework? Does your agency require you to purchase and pay for all the services you need or is the cost shared? Does the…
The Veterans Affairs Department has put an end to the headaches for people trying to unsubscribe from its public listerve. A glitch in VA’s subscribers list setting allowed people to reply all to the entire list, VA said in an apologetic email to subscribers on Tuesday. If you’ve been trying to unsubscribe for the past few days, try this link. Here’s VA’s explanation of the problem: All List Serve Subscribers, We have corrected a glitch in the settings for the subscriber list that allowed individuals to reply to the entire list. We apologize for the confusion and the concern this error has…
Are you a federal employee or contractor who feels unsafe arriving or leaving your office? The Federal Times would like to hear from you. If you are interested in sharing your story please email Andy Medici, at amedici@federaltimes.com.
Rep.s John Mica, R-Fla., is not happy about what he sees as a lack of cooperation from the General Services Administration. At a Tuesday hearing at the Georgetown West Heating Plant in Washington, D.C., Mica, the chairman of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, which oversees GSA, said the agency was not doing enough to sell vacant buildings and make better use of its more than 9,000 building portfolio. “If you think we came here to embarrass GSA then you are right on target,” Mica said. “Any company that allowed this to happen would be bankrupt.” GSA has spent about…
It looks like the end of the road for a long-lived inquiry into possible misappropriation of funds by a (now former) Postal Regulatory Commission employee. In a new activity report covering the six-month period from October through March, the PRC’s inspector general said he referred the case to the U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia, who declined to prosecute. The matter dates back to a 2008 IG audit related to bookkeeping practices at the commission, a five-member panel that oversees the U.S. Postal Service. Among other no-nos, auditors flagged a non-interest-bearing checking account containing almost $192,000. That came as…
Are you a member of the Coast Guard moving to the new headquarters at St. Elizabeth’s in Southeast Washington, D.C. next year? Are you nervous? Excited? Do you have any issues with the move? If you do, please email Andy Medici at amedici@federaltimes.com to sing its praises or air your grievances.
The biggest barrier to agency sustainability efforts is a focus on short-term objectives over longer-term goals, according to 51 percent of federal employees interviewed in a survey released Wednesday More than 36 percent also said they don’t have enough resources for sustainability programs at their agency, according to LMI, a nonprofit organization that helped develop greenhouse gas reporting protocols. Jennifer Bitting, a senior consultant and environmental engineer at LMI, said feds are under pressure to accomplish short-term goals such as acquisitions, construction or budget requests as opposed to longer-term energy efficiency and environmental targets. “Sustainability is like a marathon and…