The U.S. Agriculture Department’s headquarters off the National Mall is closed today because of a fire in an adjoining structure, a spokesman said this morning. Some 6,300 employees are on administrative leave. A small electric in the complex’s South Building occurred during routine maintenance early this morning, Justin DeJong said in an email. Firefighters responded, he said, and Potomac Electric Power Co. (Pepco) shut off electricity. Besides the South Building, the Jamie L. Whitten Building, which houses USDA Secretary Tom Vilsack’s office, and the Cotton Annex are closed, DeJong said, adding later that employees at the Reporters Building have also…
Browsing: U.S. Agriculture Department
The Fiddlin’ Foresters may live on, but their web site’s apparently defunct. Monday morning, the U.S. Forest Service string band found itself in the unenviable position of being panned by President Obama. Not for its music, but for a web site that Obama held up as an example of a taxpayer-funded Internet presence in urgent need of pruning. “Did you know that the federal government pays for a web site devoted to a folk music ensemble made up of forest rangers?” Obama asked in a video posted on the White House’s own site. The video then features a screen shot of…